Last week, Salve Regina University rented space for a high-end political fundraiser on the campus in Newport. I only learned of the decision on the night before the event while away on retreat. I expressed my concerns to the administration to no avail.
In some ways, this situation illustrates the fraught nature of these moments and the polarized state of our society. Apart from arguments over tax-exempt status, this event has divided Catholics from one another. Many of you have written or called to express distress that the fundraiser featured a speaker who has a record of actions and rhetoric that violate the Church’s cherished conviction that human life is beautiful and sacred. That the event occurred on the Feast of Our Lady only intensified the sense of scandal for many of you. Again, permit me to express my apologies to all who were hurt by this decision and my shared sorrow that the divisiveness of the political culture has frayed the fabric of our communion in the Lord.
In the previous column, I also spoke about the need to form our consciences and discern how we engage in the political process. Permit me to speak further on that matter.
The Lord has given us the tools to discern His will. We have His Sacred Word that forms us in faith and action. He gives us the gift of the Sacraments to sustain us on the way of faith. He confers the Spirit upon His Church, and He gives us the gift of that family of faith to assist the spirit inspired discernment of God’s will across cultures and across the centuries. We are the inheritors of a vast and rich tradition of prayerful reflection upon morality and the life of faith. All of these have shaped the Catholic teaching that guides the Church and our own personal conscience.
The formation of conscience is not a merely personal matter — it is not about our “feelings” or “instincts.” It is a matter of entering into a trusting relationship with the Lord Jesus and allowing Him to challenge and shape us as His disciples through these and all the graces that he offers to us. The Lord Jesus lived the truth of unselfish self-gift, of solidarity with the suffering, and compassion for the lost and vulnerable. In all things we begin with His redeeming love. He taught us to love each other as He has loved us. He gave us the parable of the Samaritan to teach us love of neighbor and Matthew 25 to remind us “whatsoever you do to the least of these…”
Most of you reading this belong to one or another political party, but remember always that you were not baptized democrat or republican, conservative or liberal. You were baptized into “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified!” The culture around us often imagines that our cherished convictions are just another partisan political stance. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our reverence for the God-given dignity of all human life, our compassionate engagement with those in need, and our commitment to the common good are integral to the faith. This is how we participate in Divine Mercy.
“Every human being has the right to live with dignity and to develop integrally; this fundamental right cannot be denied by any country. People have this right even if they are unproductive, or were born with or developed limitations. This does not detract from their great dignity as human persons, a dignity based not on circumstances but on the intrinsic worth of their being. Unless this basic principle is upheld, there will be no future either for fraternity or for the survival of humanity.” -Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, no. 107
