One of the great blessings of living the Catholic life is that we have the Church to show us the path of life that Jesus lays out for us to walk with him. One of the great challenges is navigating the Christian path so often hidden and distorted by the refuse thrown on it by some of the baser aspects of our culture.
It is no secret that we are living through what can accurately be called an unprecedented decline in our American society. From the threats to personal safety that many feel on the streets and in our neighborhoods to the crudeness displayed by our cultural elites to the harsh and vicious rhetoric of our politics and in the media, there is a sinking feeling that our lives cannot continue down this deteriorating path.
In many ways there is a common thread to this downward spiral. It is a thread that is at the heart of our faith. It is a distortion of freedom that is based not in being the best of what God has made us to be, but a freedom that involves ignoring the great value and dignity of every human person. That value and dignity comes from recognizing that the world and each one of us in it is a reflection of God Himself. As our society (and really much of the formerly Christian Western world) embraces a vision of secularism that too often excludes God from life, respect for the human person commonly becomes something that is not recognized in others but is conferred by other men and women upon those fortunate enough to qualify for that respect.
If we think carefully, we can see how such a vision is present in the challenges of our day. We have been fighting for decades to maintain and strengthen our respect for God’s image and presence among us. This is why the right to life of the unborn has been at the forefront of our Catholic discussion for so long. If we do not recognize God in the weakest and most vulnerable among us, without drawing an arbitrary line of “when life begins,” we not only commit a grave offense against the rights of the unborn, but we open the door to other implications.
Because we respect the very beginning of life, we must also respect the sacredness of the means of the transmission of life as God has entrusted it to us. Both reason and faith help us to see clearly that God’s creation of man and woman was not an accidental detail but a fundamental element of nature designed to come together in unity and support. It is also to be the means for the continuation of man, God’s highest creation on earth. This is why the joining of a man and a woman as the basis for marriage and children is not bigotry or a worn out concept of bygone ages. It is the continuation of God’s plan. This is also why the Catholic teaching about the sacredness of the marital act logically leads us to understand that artificial contraception, sterilization and artificial means of conception place one in opposition to God’s good order. In short, we need to call such practices what they are: sinful, even if they are well intended.
These foundational elements that recognize God’s hand and our human dignity in the world are often caricatured as harsh and “out of touch” with the modern world. But in fact they are the Good News that frees us to build stronger families and a more loving society. What’s more, it is increasingly obvious that these issues are not separate but are linked together.
It is this linkage that explains a change being made by the Diocese of Rockford in the coming months. Shortly, the diocese will be joining together our Respect Life Office and our Family Ministry Office into a new joint structure that will be called the Life and Family Evangelization Office. Its task will be to build upon the decades of outstanding work that has taken place in the Diocese to defend life, promote natural family planning and strengthen marriage and the family. But just as the challenges to our religious freedom and to life and family coming from society are joined and build upon each other, so must our response as followers of Christ. As always, we need to convey the truth in a manner that is positive, Christ-like and that responds to the questions of our time. The answers need to be given in our parishes, our schools and our adult education programs. In short, they need to be given wherever we are.
I look forward to this new structure. And I ask your prayers for its success. Just as the attacks against life and human dignity have evolved, so must our response. But we remain positive and hopeful because in the end we have the promise that Christ will guide us through every challenge, including those of our modern society.