On October 28, the Holy Father met with a number of Brazilian bishops making their ad limina visit. His address was in Portuguese, a language I cannot read, but excerpts of it were published in English by Fides, the information agency for the Pontifical Work of the Missions. He spoke of the need for a purification of reason and the reawakening of the forces needed to build a just and fraternal society.I wish to speak to you today about how the Church’s mission to serve as the leavening of human society through the Gospel teaches human beings their dignity as children of God, and their vocation to the unity of all mankind, whence derive the need for justice and social peace in accordance with divine wisdom…. You must contribute to the purification of reason, and to the moral awakening of the forces necessary to build a just and fraternal society. Nonetheless, when required by the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls, pastors have the binding duty to emit moral judgments, even on political themes…. It would be completely false and illusory to defend, political, economic or social rights which do not comprehend a vigorous defense of the right to life from conception to a natural end…”
The purification of reason. I recall back in college, in philosophy classes, how we were essentially challenged to do the same, i.e., clean up our reasoning, examine our assumptions and the conclusions we were drawing, look at the objective world around us and come to know it as it is, not how we might construct it. In philosophy, we were always being taught to purify what we were thinking, advocating, purporting. We were told to do so, for in doing so, one could apprehend the metaphysical realities and be more solid citizens of the society in which we lived.
The predominance of relativism, of indifference, of individualism has left us with cluttered thinking and a breakdown in our ability to dialogue and debate in constructive ways.
Our Minnesota bishops have begun a Marriage Initiative in which they are trying to educate all Catholics about the Church’s constant teaching on the human, social and sacramental natures of marriage. Let us listen to them as they attempt to purify our reasoning about this very important topic today.
