The big divide between Catholics (especially in the US as a result of the proximity to pick-and-choose Protestantism) is between those who, on the one hand, believe that the Church cannot err when teaching on faith and morals (only) and those who do. The former group recognizes the important, yet basic distinction between dogma and Tradition (immutable) and tradition (mutable). This key distinction is one of the most basic elements of Catechesis 101, but unfortunately, it has been poorly understood (if at all) by many Catholics who simply never received proper formation in the fundamentals of the faith, and here in the States, there are scads of such Catholics. Tradition and Dogma (otherwise known as the Magisterium) by its very definition, cannot change. Jesus is, as St. Paul tells us, "the same yesterday, today and always." What the Church taught about Christ after the first Council is the same as what the Church teaches today, albeit the language has developed somewhat, but more on that later. Similarly, with regard to morals and the ethical life, the teachings of the Church cannot change because they deal with guide posts set out by "nature and nature's God" in order for humans to reach their end, qua persons made in God's image and likeness. Why would a benevolent God leave His children with no way of knowing with certainty which actions are pleasing to Him and which are not? Or, perhaps even better put: Why would God tell us that action X is wrong yesterday but not today? What kind of confusion would result from such ambiguity? Look at the Episcopalians and you'll see the answer to that query. They are splintering off left and right, with no sign of stopping. God, in His love and mercy, provides us with the teachings of the Church in order to help us along the way to Him. This is not an exercise in triumphalism or arrogance, to suggest that the Church, when teaching the essentials about life and the articles of faith, is infallible. No, it is simply a recognition of our status as creatures in need of God's assistance, and that is nothing but an embrace of realism, not a dance with utopian naïveté. It is precisely because of our incredible weakness as human beings, from laymen to priests, popes and bishops, that the Holy Spirit graciously illuminates us on the essentials via the Church's teachings. We cannot do it on our own. We need help. This constitutes a firm rebuttal to the narcissistic, stomach turning "Yes we can" mantra of a secular political campaign. I am fond of Archbishop Chaput's thoughts on the meaning of true hope:
For Christians, hope is a virtue, not an emotional crutch or a political slogan. Virtus, the Latin root of virtue, means strength or courage. Real hope is unsentimental. It has nothing to do with the cheesy optimism of election campaigns. Hope assumes and demands a spine in believers. And that’s why – at least for a Christian -- hope sustains us when the real answer to the problems or hard choices in life is ‘no, we can’t,’ instead of ‘yes, we can.’
Again, this is pretty basic stuff for those of us who have studied Socrates, Cicero, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Newman, JPII, et al. Human nature does not change; a man of one-million years ago has the same basic needs (physical and spiritual) as any of us today. Murder and theft were wrong then, and are wrong now. Eating a balanced diet was good for mankind then, and it is good for us today. Let's not over-inflate the vague notion of "change" so as to justify any newfangled idea the crops up today or tomorrow. In that regard, I'm more of a Burkean conservative than a Rousseaunian revolutionary. A lot of people like to say that because change happens, the Church must adapt with the times, etc.. In other words, the Church should change her stance on the whole gamut of issues to better suit my needs today. Interestingly enough, this is the same apparatchik that peddles the "living Constitution" theory in politics; a theory stating that the Constitution is a "living document" that needs to grow with the evolving standards of the times, etc. No, it is emphatically not a living, organic document. Scalia is right in this regard. The document was written down precisely for that reason, i.e., so that it wouldn't bend and curve to fit different demands. Constancy is why we write things down. Now, there is a way to change the Constitution, and it's called the amendment process, which the Founders intentionally made cumbersome and hard to do...for a reason. In any event, those who believe that faith, the moral life and even politics, should be dictated by change hold one overarching world view in common and that is relativism. Sure, how we understand doctrine can develop, in terms of the language we use to grasp this or that teaching, but that does not mean that the teaching itself changes. (I recommend reading Newman's excellent work on the development of doctrine.) Again, the question doctrinal development is a fundamental tenet of the Church's teaching that many miss because of poor catechesis. And so, we arrive at the second group of Catholics in the States.
Whether we identify them as relativists, or by the more cheeky nomenclature of "Cafeteria Catholic, the modus operandi is always the same, rooted in the following assertion: "The Pope is not infallible when he speaks on matters faith and morals, but I am inerrant because I say that the pope isn't." That is pretty much the logic of those Catholics who are pro-abortion, pro-contraception, pro-gay "marriage", etc., and go around believing themselves as Catholics in good standing with the Church. They take it upon themselves to declare what is true for them. For such folks as these, "Truth" is in itself an offensive idea because it implies objectivity, which, down the road will, by necessity, imply a personal commitment by means of conforming one's life to that standard of objectivity. This is a process that begins and ends with an important virtue often lacking in such people: humility. And as an aside, the Church is very clear about what issues are not open for compromise. Some on the left gain a lot of mileage by throwing the death penalty and war in with the aforementioned scourges on humanity, but these two cases are not intrinsically evil, as abortion. Here is what then-Cardinal Ratzinger had to say on this very point back in '04:
Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
Quod erat demonstrandum, I might add.
But, hey, if you're a Cafeteria Catholic, the solution is easy: you can just agree to disagree with the very man who is now the successor to Saint Peter. What a convenient strategy! Pick and choose whatever sounds nice to you at the time. Isn't that what Luther and company finally decided to do, after all? Why bother with the Church of Christ if I can have the Church of me, myself and I? Tu es Petrus..."big deal", these people say, "ego sum Petrus", or rather, "ego sum Deus". Ironically, for those who do not believe that God provided one way to discern the most important questions about life (through the Magisterium that is safeguarded by the Pope), by necessity they must confer upon themselves an almost God-like power to define the most fundamental questions of reality on and by their own authority. What hutzpah! Either that or despair in utter existential nihilism because there's no point to anything...so why even bother? Take your pick, relativist.
The problem with contemporary education is not so much that people are being programmed to believe that there is no such thing as truth, but rather it is that students are being convinced that "my" truth is just as valid as "your" truth. Truth is debased to the level of mere feeling and the level of the subjective. This is problematic for the Catholic because for us, Truth is not just an idea or concept, but rather a Person. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." And again, "Christ is the same, yesterday, today and always." (Hebrews 13:8)
Let's do a little logical syllogism based on Scriptures:
- Christ is Truth
- Christ is always the same
- Ergo, the Truth is always the same
In other words, TRUTH DOES NOT CHANGE.
To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of the hackneyed and intellectually barren talking points put out by liberal Catholics espousing all this relativist drivel; it's insulting to the intellectual and spiritual patrimony of Athens, Jerusalem and Rome. Sadly, these people are better versed on the inane ramblings of MSNBC talking heads like Rachael Maddow and Michael Moore than on the timeless wisdom of Aquinas and von Bathasar. As we well know, the Catholic Church has a beautiful, ancient culture and boasts an array of rich traditions going back about two-thousand years. Many of these are on display most conspicuously during the liturgy, when properly celebrated. I'm fed up with seeing all of this beauty watered down and erased by the demands of liberal ideologues (and vulgarians, I might add) pushing a political agenda and harboring a chip on their shoulder. If anyone claiming to be Catholic doesn't hold fast to the totality of the Church's teachings, why not join the Episcopalians, you can get the incense, bells and vestments without having to be inconvenienced by a "restrictive" moral code. To hold on to the noble things of the past and to the teachings of Christ, as passed on to us through His Bride, the Church, both in and out of season, is not old-fashioned and mossy but rather admirable, even heroic. It's the stuff from which Saints are made. Why else do we admire and honor the martyrs of the Church? Martyrs gain instant access to heaven precisely because of their final decision to cling unreservedly to the Christ and His Church, even unto a bloody, painful death.
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