The Price of Consistency

Why is it that some people can't let the Catholic Church be? The Vatican keeps being viciously criticised for its standpoint on themes such as Abortion, Use of Condoms, Stem-cell Research etc. and it seems to me that most of these critics have not stopped to think that all the Vatican is doing is to pursue consistency between what it preaches and what it condones.It is my view that the Catholic Church is no-longer the political influence it once was during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and doesn’t wish to be. Unlike what critics seem to suggest between the lines of their blind condemnation of the Church’s morality, the Catholic Church has distanced itself from politics considerably and seeks to act more in the area of its competence, which is to say matters of Faith, Charity and Ethics. It is true that the Vatican State pronounces itself before the world about issues of political relevance, but it is clear to me that this is done where political events overlap with humanitarian issues, questions of ethics and matters of faith. I don’t think that the Vatican seeks to overthrow the sovereignty of any country, as I see no sign at all to that effect.

Yet, how can the Vatican remain silent about what it perceives to be destructive to Christians and, in fact, destructive all Mankind? This is because the Church nowadays remains the guardian of the Universal Truth as Catholics see it. As such, it is the Church’s obligation to safeguard and preach this Universal Truth to those who want to listen to it, and as a consequence, the Church must be consistent with what it preaches. Remember that Catholics and the Catholic Church believe that we received this Universal Truth from God and from Christ whilst he walked among us here on Earth. This means that the Vatican cannot resort to a democratic process to change Truth; after all it is a Universal Truth and we cannot hope to supplant God’s wisdom.

Hence, I think anyone with a sparkle of logic in them will see that the Catholic Church cannot advocate one behaviour and then condone another that presents stark contrast to the first. In order to preserve its consistency with the Universal Truth it defends, the Catholic Church must be unswerving where new trends and new technologies endanger the object of its precepts. For example, if the Church preaches that all life is precious, that murder is wrong and that human life begins at conception, how could it accept abortion? If the Church advocates monogamy and no pre-marital sex, how could it condone the use of condoms? Moreover, why would a monogamous married couple that is not supposed to prevent child birth need condoms at all? The Church must advocate and support only that which is consistent with what it expects of its followers, regardless of what the world thinks of it and what the current scientific trends are.

Finally, let’s face it: Nowadays being Catholic is a personal choice. It is not a compulsory act, nor is it socially mandatory. In the eyes of the Christian Faith, we are each and all free to chose, but the Church’s responsibility is to inform us of the Truth and the consequence of our choices. In this sense, one could think of the Church as a private club where you are not obliged to enrol, but if you so choose, you must follow the rules of the club. You either choose to be Catholic or you choose not to be, so why criticise the Church when it is only preaching to those who chose to be Catholics?

When governments opt to fight a nation’s perceived enemy by pre-emptively striking at their homes overseas, more often than not the initiative results in a new and bitterer generation of enemies. When citizens forgo common sense and let themselves be fooled by foolhardy politicians even in the face of evidence, they surrender themselves to convenience and corruption and condemn their offspring to perpetual strife.

A Little Bit of Hope

The World never needed Hope like it does today. That is not to say that the World, as the term translates to our Global Society, hasn’t always needed and continues to need hope. Yet, as a Society we once had several sources from which to draw this hope, in the form of Religion, Values, Family, even Government, but these things are less in vogue nowadays (in fact one can be severely criticised by his intellectual peers for being a religious person or for wishing to build a family, so many simply keep quiet about it).

Claiming independence from all these sources of Hope of the past through Science and Humanist Wisdom (both aspects I value when not misused to drive other important things away), we have replaced the old sources of Hope with Consumerism and the desire for Fame, Wealth and Power at any cost and without regard for the consequences. This was supposed to keep us placated in the present that we would not need to hope for the future. As usual in History, this served the purposes of a relative few to the detriment of all (including them), until now we find ourselves victimised by our own global-social-greed to an extent where we desperately need Hope and have almost nowhere from which to draw it.

A week ago, I have refilled my personal bucked of Hope a little bit more by witnessing the conclusion of the 6th Jogo da Cidadania (roughly translates to Citizenship Game). In short, this event selects, tests and congregates college undergraduates of different disciplines into teams and coaches them with an impressive infrastructure of dedicated employees and volunteers to enable these idealists to come up with original projects in CSR that are judged and implemented by leading frontline national and multi-national enterprises. It is a demanding process that exacts these youths to their limit, and more than a few drop-out as they realise the practicalities of doing good may not be easy at all if you want it to be sustainable over a long period.

Yet, those that hang on and deliver often produce projects of such quality as to impress seasoned professionals. Having seen the winners and the runners-up delivering hope in those pages and presentations; and then being rewarded for it was once more an experience of hope that our Society may have begun its healing process.

If you don’t speak your mind against a wrong, you are consenting to it by your silence.

Is Self Extinction our Answer?

Something impresses me today and that is our inability to say NO to our children. It used to be that when a child came with any absurd proposal to his parents, the parents themselves would filter that proposal by simply saying NO to it. Yet, nowadays when we are too consumed with our daily chores and ambitions to raise our children properly, we find ourselves feeling guilty of the fact and inundating them with material gifts and facilities to compensate for our absence. Naturally, as a result of our complacency, our children grow to become selfish and tyrannical; sometimes becoming frustrated and delivering themselves into the use of drugs, the practice of violence and utter hopelessness that affects our world. Their destructive approach to frustration is, first and foremost, the product of all the NO's we have not said to them that they would not learn that the world goes beyond their needs and wants.

Ironically, instead of arguing this point as it should, post-modern couples argue instead that the cruel world that our parents created through us, their offspring, is far too hazardous for new children. I have heard countless times that "it is an irresponsibility to put a child in this world" or that "it is a selfish act to have children". Such defeatism is the product of nothing but fear and is itself the selfishness it pretends to avoid.I for one wish to share with my children the wonder that is to be alive. The beauty that the world insists to offer us despite our many faults to it. The summer sunsets and the winter frost, the sound of rainfall and of the waves, the flowers and the creatures that I have had a joy to know. How can I deny posterity to the sensation of love and love's first kiss, the experience of an adventure, the thrill that is learning nature's secrets and man's minds. I firmly believe that these things far outweigh the murders on TV, street violence, the wars and the poverty of so many; each and all ugly reflections of the evil that is human greed.

No. Denial to generate new life will not solve our responsibility to our children, which goes beyond making them content and goes well into making them truly capable of happiness. As with all things, we must take responsibility for our actions and we must have faith in that there is more than our own competence to thank for the successes necessary to bring new hope to our battered reality. Hope lies not in our extinction, but in our good conduct in upbringing the next generation that they become reflections of our love for them.

Moral inconsistency is the most frequent flaw in contemporary institutions. Moral unaccountability is the most dangerous one. Greed is the most harmful, for it corrupts everyone and constitutes the source of the other two.

Another Day

by Noel-Morgan:

The alarm-clock roars ominously
With tyrannical command to threat
The slumbering arm slowly unfolds
To quiet herald presently

The dawn awakes inexorably
‘Tis not the day his cause to fret
Nor matin’s frost to make him cold
But futile toil of untold aim

For money work to money spend
He works all day always the same
Though he will never understand

There is no fun nor is there play
For he who works towards no end
A slave; a curse to all of Man