Catholic values in a hostile political climate

As the previous and present administrations of our government continue to destroy our highly successful political experiment of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; we need to turn back to the wisdom of Church teaching. Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical “caritias-in-veritate” contains not only Pope Benedict XVI’s own very extensive wisdom, but also contains references to previous Pope’s encyclicals which clearly and incontrovertibly outline where our social and economic problems lie. Before “we the people” can expect our leaders to learn from this wisdom, we ourselves need to come to an understanding of the truth of this teaching.

With all of the negatives that our technology brings us, there is at least one very powerful good that many of us are ignoring. In the past, before the age of the internet, the vast accumulated knowledge of mankind was difficult to access for the average person. Not so with the age of the internet, all of the various Pope’s encyclicals and more are available to us with a simple click of the mouse. Every thinking American should be taking advantage of this wealth of wisdom at our finger tips.

For those who have doubted the wisdom of Church teaching in the past, or even those who have accepted it but not thoroughly understood it, now is as good a time as ever to jump into this pool of knowledge and then begin to share your new found wisdom with those around you.

Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical is an extremely good place to start. Don’t let the length or sometime unfamiliar words deter you. Read slowly, take your time, stop and mark your place when you get tired, use on line encyclopedias to look up unfamiliar words, and use the hyper links provided to take quick looks at referenced material; but do get started.

Most of this material has been skimmed in a very cursory manner by left wing news agencies and dismissed with obvious ridicule because it does not fit their ideological mind sets, however, for any open minded thinking individual, the evidence of truth is overwhelming. The wisdom and prophetic messages of previous Popes such as Pope Paul VI will astound you. Pope Paul VI was so clear about what would happen if we followed the path being proposed in the 1960’s. You will be convinced he was indeed a modern day prophet.    

The following is a short excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI’s “caritias-in-veritate” to get you started.

14. In his Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens of 1971, Paul VI reflected on the meaning of politics, and the danger constituted by utopian and ideological visions that place its ethical and human dimensions in jeopardy. These are matters closely connected with development. Unfortunately the negative ideologies continue to flourish. Paul VI had already warned against the technocratic ideology so prevalent today[26], fully aware of the great danger of entrusting the entire process of development to technology alone, because in that way it would lack direction. Technology, viewed in itself, is ambivalent. If on the one hand, some today would be inclined to entrust the entire process of development to technology, on the other hand we are witnessing an upsurge of ideologies that deny in toto the very value of development, viewing it as radically anti-human and merely a source of degradation. This leads to a rejection, not only of the distorted and unjust way in which progress is sometimes directed, but also of scientific discoveries themselves, which, if well used, could serve as an opportunity of growth for all. The idea of a world without development indicates a lack of trust in man and in God. It is therefore a serious mistake to undervalue human capacity to exercise control over the deviations of development or to overlook the fact that man is constitutionally oriented towards “being more”. Idealizing technical progress, or contemplating the utopia of a return to humanity’s original natural state, are two contrasting ways of detaching progress from its moral evaluation and hence from our responsibility.

 caritias-in-veritate