Friday, March 9, 2007 at 12:12am
A consistent ethic of life
Column: God Said What?
Most of us have an either/or mentality. At least when it comes to social, political and moral issues.
You know what I mean. We think that we must be either pro-life or anti-war. We either advocate for social justice or personal morality. We either are against capital punishment or for universal health care.
Our choices are one or the other. But never both.
Well that should've changed in December 1983. That's the year when the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, the former archbishop of Chicago, attempted to move us from an "either/or" mentality to a "both/and" mentality. That's when he unveiled his vision for a consistent ethic of life at Fordham University in New York City.
This was the cardinal's vision for explaining how all issues that detrimentally affect the dignity and welfare of human beings are connected. Each issue is distinct in its complexity and its solutions, for issues such as abortion and nuclear proliferation are very different, yet each is connected because of their shared consequences for human life.
Twenty-two years later, Cardinal Bernardin was still trying to get us to accept this idea. He had successes and setbacks, yet he remained committed to evangelizing American culture about life issues. In a lecture in February of 1995, the year before he passed away, the cardinal explained, "Because we esteem human life as sacred, we have a duty to protect and foster it at all stages of development, from conception to natural death, and in all circumstances. Because we acknowledge that human life is also social, society must protect and foster it."
He continued, "When human life is considered 'cheap' or expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred, and all lives are in jeopardy. Ultimately, it is society's attitude about life — whether respect or non-respect — that determines its policies and practices."
In this way, the cardinal's consistent ethic of life "joins the humanity of the unborn infant with the humanity of the hungry; it calls for positive legal action to prevent the killing of the unborn or the aged and positive societal action to provide shelter for the homeless and education for the illiterate. A consistent ethic identifies both the problem of taking life and the challenge of promoting human dignity as moral questions."
What's more, he pointed out that this is not a new concept but one that arises from the long Christian and Catholic tradition. In recent times, this concept was proclaimed at the landmark Second Vatican Council, the Council the brought the Catholic Church into dialogue with the modern world, in the document Gaudium et Spes. As the cardinal observed, "In a single sentence the Second Vatican Council condemned murder, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, mutilation, torture, subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and disgraceful working conditions."
In other words, the Council was proclaiming that the dignity of human life was of utmost importance. From this Cardinal Bernardin found inspiration and a mandate. His consistent ethic of life was rooted in Vatican II theology and in his deeply held conviction that human life is both sacred and social.
When we as Church and society acknowledge both tenets of the cardinal's vision, the sacred and the social, we are compelled to lose our either/or mentalities. We can't have one without the other. We must embrace both and create what the cardinal deemed the "seamless garment" of life issues; the recognition that there is a theological and ethical framework that shows how all issues that affect human life and well-being must be spoken of together.
Now Cardinal Bernardin's idea has had its share of controversy. Both within the Church and in our culture at large. For example, the pro-life factions and the social justice factions didn't appreciate being linked together. Even today, it's difficult to get these two groups to see that they're really on the same side and should be working together.
Maybe they need a good dose of "both/and" thinking instead of "either/or." But then again, so do all of us. And by focusing on the sacred and the social, we lay a foundation for a consistent ethic of life. We take the first step toward helping our society recognize what should be obvious: that human life matters most and that it must always be of utmost importance in our society.
That's controversial when we take it seriously. And it challenges our beliefs on political, social and moral issues, no matter whether we call ourselves liberal, conservative or in the middle. But I think that's what Cardinal Bernardin was attempting to do. To have us as a people set aside self-interest in order to embrace the sacredness of human life and work for its flourishing.
This challenge is part of the legacy of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. And I, for one, am praying that we have the courage to carry it on.
———
Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Recently he was married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and reads his columns to see if they make sense. He and his wife live on the South Side of Chicago. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Kevin Considine
You know what I mean. We think that we must be either pro-life or anti-war. We either advocate for social justice or personal morality. We either are against capital punishment or for universal health care.
Our choices are one or the other. But never both.
Well that should've changed in December 1983. That's the year when the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, the former archbishop of Chicago, attempted to move us from an "either/or" mentality to a "both/and" mentality. That's when he unveiled his vision for a consistent ethic of life at Fordham University in New York City.
This was the cardinal's vision for explaining how all issues that detrimentally affect the dignity and welfare of human beings are connected. Each issue is distinct in its complexity and its solutions, for issues such as abortion and nuclear proliferation are very different, yet each is connected because of their shared consequences for human life.
Twenty-two years later, Cardinal Bernardin was still trying to get us to accept this idea. He had successes and setbacks, yet he remained committed to evangelizing American culture about life issues. In a lecture in February of 1995, the year before he passed away, the cardinal explained, "Because we esteem human life as sacred, we have a duty to protect and foster it at all stages of development, from conception to natural death, and in all circumstances. Because we acknowledge that human life is also social, society must protect and foster it."
He continued, "When human life is considered 'cheap' or expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred, and all lives are in jeopardy. Ultimately, it is society's attitude about life — whether respect or non-respect — that determines its policies and practices."
In this way, the cardinal's consistent ethic of life "joins the humanity of the unborn infant with the humanity of the hungry; it calls for positive legal action to prevent the killing of the unborn or the aged and positive societal action to provide shelter for the homeless and education for the illiterate. A consistent ethic identifies both the problem of taking life and the challenge of promoting human dignity as moral questions."
What's more, he pointed out that this is not a new concept but one that arises from the long Christian and Catholic tradition. In recent times, this concept was proclaimed at the landmark Second Vatican Council, the Council the brought the Catholic Church into dialogue with the modern world, in the document Gaudium et Spes. As the cardinal observed, "In a single sentence the Second Vatican Council condemned murder, abortion, euthanasia, suicide, mutilation, torture, subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and disgraceful working conditions."
In other words, the Council was proclaiming that the dignity of human life was of utmost importance. From this Cardinal Bernardin found inspiration and a mandate. His consistent ethic of life was rooted in Vatican II theology and in his deeply held conviction that human life is both sacred and social.
When we as Church and society acknowledge both tenets of the cardinal's vision, the sacred and the social, we are compelled to lose our either/or mentalities. We can't have one without the other. We must embrace both and create what the cardinal deemed the "seamless garment" of life issues; the recognition that there is a theological and ethical framework that shows how all issues that affect human life and well-being must be spoken of together.
Now Cardinal Bernardin's idea has had its share of controversy. Both within the Church and in our culture at large. For example, the pro-life factions and the social justice factions didn't appreciate being linked together. Even today, it's difficult to get these two groups to see that they're really on the same side and should be working together.
Maybe they need a good dose of "both/and" thinking instead of "either/or." But then again, so do all of us. And by focusing on the sacred and the social, we lay a foundation for a consistent ethic of life. We take the first step toward helping our society recognize what should be obvious: that human life matters most and that it must always be of utmost importance in our society.
That's controversial when we take it seriously. And it challenges our beliefs on political, social and moral issues, no matter whether we call ourselves liberal, conservative or in the middle. But I think that's what Cardinal Bernardin was attempting to do. To have us as a people set aside self-interest in order to embrace the sacredness of human life and work for its flourishing.
This challenge is part of the legacy of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. And I, for one, am praying that we have the courage to carry it on.
———
Kevin Considine is a graduate student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Recently he was married to a most wonderful woman who keeps him in line and reads his columns to see if they make sense. He and his wife live on the South Side of Chicago. He welcomes comments, feedback or fits of anger and can be reached at {email considkp@yahoo.com}considkp@yahoo.com{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Kevin Considine