The white smoke has arisen. A new pope has been elected. Around the world hope is reinforced. One would be hard pressed to gainsay the need for it in the native land of Pope Leo XIV.
Conventional wisdom has it that the USA is ‘post-Christian’. It asserts that the surging godlessness of such ‘isms’ as nihilism, materialism, and relativism is greasing the already slippery slope of secularism and portends our irreversible descent into collapsed civic order. It is easy to understand how such a gloomy prediction could develop. How easily so many of us forget – or never learned – that our founding fathers understood a vibrant republic rested on the foundation of a virtuous public who more or less share an awareness of a supreme Deity and more or less abide by the morality concomitant with such awareness.
Why are these ‘isms’ so toxic? Simply put, it is because their proponents deny the existence of absolute truth and, of course, of God. When a society fails to recognize – let alone accept – absolute truth it begins to deny the existence of natural law and natural morality. In this post-Christian mindset, the fundamental tenet of the ‘imago-dei’ is lost, and lost with it is the recognition of the God-like dignity each of us possesses. This rejection of ‘imago-dei’ leads to totalitarianism (another ‘ism’) where dignity is denominated only in terms of power and each person, depending solely on his ‘usefulness’, is either a means or an impediment for those with greater power.
The abandonment of the traditional Judeo-Christian ethic has already given way to the prevalence of practices considered taboo not long ago: abortion, euthanasia, medically assisted suicide, sexual promiscuity, the dissolution of families, etc. Firmly grounded in its Jewish roots, Christianity has since its founding successfully thwarted these abominations and enabled the rise of what has been called ‘western civilization’. With its disappearance, modern day prophets warn us about the resurgence of paganism where, with no regard for human dignity, the strong control – and even eliminate – the weak.
Catholic philanthropy – indeed any comparably inspired philanthropy – has a promising role to play in the ominous environment of this post-Christian world. Such philanthropy involves more than an eleemosynary impulse to address the material exigencies of those in need. Equally, if not more important, it has an evangelical imperative. It is obliged to address the needs of those who are spiritually poor, those who are ignorant of the Good News that all of us are endowed with the ‘imago dei’ and subject to the blessings and obligations it entails. As we reflect on the compassion we are required to exhibit in the parable of the sheep and goats in chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel (“What you do to the least of these …..”), we would do well to remember Jesus’ words recorded in chapter 4: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”.
Perhaps with the help of philanthropy we ‘post-Christians’ will rediscover in ourselves the sensus fidei which has safeguarded civilization since the days of pagan Rome. What’s more, we may now well be the cogent force that heralds the new springtime Pope Saint John Paul II foresaw.
How ironic it would be. Catholicism, once scorned by the established society at the time of our nation’s founding, may provide the hope and the means by which she rediscovers her moral roots. Ironic indeed.
The path on which the Kingdom advances may be straight and narrow, but, surely, there are occasional curves of irony.
Leave a comment