Negotiable Intelligence

To the Editor:

A space-limited newspaper letter column is a poor forum for issues raised by Trish Dardine [“Consigning Democrats To Hell,” Letter Hive, 5/4/12]; nonetheless, her comments require correction.

First, the video she references wasn’t my cup of tea, but it had nothing to do with “hellfire” and nothing to do with anyone being condemned to it. The fire shown was a blacksmith’s refining fire, symbolizing the strength of millennia-old principles arising not only from religion, but human culture and reason. Whether one likes the presentation or not, why disagree that the essence of any principles, religious or otherwise, is that they must be lived? As the 1948 UN Declaration on Human Rights says, freedom of thought, conscience and religion means being able to “manifest” one’s beliefs in “practice,” not just privately.

Second, some people cobble together worldviews from unexamined assumptions, journalistic hack-jobs, and unconsciously held shreds of philosophical theories long discredited — all the while claiming, “I think for myself!” Done for expediency’s sake, that’s “negotiable intelligence.” Neither the video nor the Church suggests any such thing (though such videos aren’t the place to explicate the intellectual justifications behind principles). The Church’s open respect for the intellect is shown by the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, which includes scientists of every religion and atheists like Steven Hawking; almost a quarter are Nobel Prize winners. The same respect is shown in every field, from ethics to social sciences to health. The Church never just tells people what to think, but rather asks them both to enter into a deeply personal encounter with reality, the beauty and mystery of which makes love of creation, neighbor, and life so compelling, and to engage in warranted reasoning. It is up to Catholics to avail themselves of the great wealth of resources before dismissing something as “arcane dogma.”

Third, the heart of the Vatican’s document on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, summarizing several years’ research, was doctrinal, well within their purview (Post-Vatican-II Canon Law: “Conferences of major superiors are to have their statutes approved by the Holy See, by which alone they can be erected…and under whose supreme direction they remain”). No one would object to PETA questioning one of their chapters planning a big-game hunt; similarly, the Church can reasonably question speakers saying, to take one example, that Christians need to get beyond Christ! Anyone is free to say such things in other contexts, just not when representing a Conference under the Church’s direction.

Finally, the document doesn’t “vilify” the Conference for their “focus on helping the poor rather than” other issues. It commends them for that work. But Catholic social teaching is a seamless garment, a living organism, which cannot be hacked to pieces. Remaining completely silent on fully one-half of that teaching reveals a profound misunderstanding of the interdependency of all its parts. Fortunately, that bifurcation is increasingly being seen as shamefully outdated; for example, the upcoming national Catholic Climate Change symposium will specifically shine light on the inextricable, constitutive relationship between “human ecology” (life issues), poverty, and environmental issues.

Mary Taylor

31 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook                                     May 8, 2012