I was explaining Situation Ethics to a Year 10 class – the idea that the same action can be right or wrong depending on the circumstances.
“So why did this Pope Pius XII not like it then?” she enquired.
Pius XII had banned seminaries from discussing this case-by-case approach to making ethical decisions. He thought such it was “an individualistic and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions” to justify going against God’s will.
“It was because he believed it might lead to anarchy and lawlessness,” I replied, “and people might just follow their conscience and forget about the rules”.
Then the student’s riposte: “So did Jesus forget about the rules and cause anarchy when he didn’t approve of the stoning to death of the woman caught in adultery?” asked one of them.
Now I was on the run, and the pack scented blood. “Surely he did the most loving thing when he gave the woman another chance. He put some compassion into the law,” they implored.
I am sure my pupils are not readers – unfortunately – of The Tablet but they were very much in tune with Cardinal Walter Kasper’s ideas about looking for ways to show “mercy” to people in irregular relationships. This was a much-discussed theme at the bishops’ recent Synod on the Family in Rome, of which the final document was published in English yesterday. Pupils have a raw, uncomplicated honesty and clarity that illuminates everything, even the dreariest and most tired outlook.
I teach in Catholic schools, yet the majority of pupils I have taught do not attend Mass on a regular basis. Yet they are generous, socially aware and decent young adults. Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP noted: “The young especially are interested in spirituality rather than doctrine. They are interested in God more than the Church”.
The challenge is how we attract people to belong as well as to believe. How do we attract these lively, passionate and talented young people to the Church? How can we encourage them to make a difference now?
The Church has a vital role, even a missionary role, to a generation of young people who, for whatever reason, find themselves swamped by relentless tides of a seductive and opulent secularism.
But what alternative should it offer? If we want our young people to belong then we have to offer them something attractive to belong to, something which reaches out to them in whatever circumstances they might find themselves. If the gospel is good news, they should be pleased to hear it. What attracted the early followers of Jesus was not his insistence on Pharisaic rules but his embodiment of love and justice for all. Such ideals can inspire the hearts and minds of our young people too. I have seen it!
They were genuinely interested when I told them about the synod in Rome, and the issues that were being discussed – homosexuality, marriage, divorce and so on. They are young, inexperienced and innocent but they are also open-minded, tolerant, non-judgmental and honest. They are fully aware of so-called “irregular” relationships. They live and have their being in a landscape very different from that in which I was brought up. I admire their openness.
When I told them of the final document from the synod, and the three sections relating to the pastoral care of gays and Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics – that didn’t get the backing of the necessary two-thirds of the bishops – here was a genuine sense of puzzlement. The feeling was best summed up by one of them: “What is the Church for if it can’t do the most loving thing for those who need it? I thought it was supposed to do what Jesus did.”
Daniel Kearney is head of RS at Leweston School, a Catholic independent school in Dorset
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I find this column very strange. Neither Jesus' command to the woman to sin no more nor his condemnation of the self-righteous people who were to stone her suggests that Jesus was indulging in situation ethics. I cannot understand why you could not handle that question. If we are to use "what would Jesus have done" as a supposed conversation stopper we do at least need to think about the question with a bit more rigour. Perhaps if the students and their teachers did attend Mass more their formation and understanding of these situations would be better - though maybe not. If young people are interested in God then why are they not interested in the institution Christ founded? Perhaps there is a relationship between them being taught that they can privately think whatever they like about matters of right and wrong depending on the situation and their rejection of the social institution that Christ founded.
'Then the student’s riposte: “So did Jesus forget about the rules and cause anarchy when he didn’t approve of the stoning to death of the woman caught in adultery?” asked one of them. Now I was on the run, and the pack scented blood.'
Why were you on the run Mr Kearney? Surely Jesus' command to the woman to 'go and sin no more' would have provided the ideal springboard for further discussion - or has sin no place in the discussion of situation ethics?
I have recently been taking an interest in reading about philosophy - I am very much an amateur. I am having a look at Greek philosophers - how they were looking at the changing and unchanging in nature: visible and invisible.
I then noted how the Hebrew scriptures had quite a bit of the view that God was quite changeable - God can become angry, for example, when God's people were worshipping the golden calf.
Fully appreciating that the opponents of Jesus 2000 years ago were not necessarily without rigid laws, I still wonder if St Paul and other early apostles did not get to the Greeks first, but went instead to the Chinese. What would it be like if the first line of St John's Gospel was not "in the beginning was the logos", but "in the beginning was the tao"? I wonder what kind of Christianity would we get - if we recall the first lines of the Tao Te Ching suggested to us: "The tao that could be named is not the eternal tao, the name that could be named is not the eternal name".
Would we have a soften and less "constant" view of morality?
The synod on the Family thankfully has kept faithful to Christ's perennial teachings on marriage, sex and family life. homosexual relationships can never be equated with marriage. They are inherently wrong and disordered. Divorced and remarried Catholics are directly contradicting Christ who taught on the indissolubility of marriage. We Catholics must adhere to Our Lord's teaching. Offer compassion to those who find themselves in irregular situations,these people are part of the Church but not to falsify sin and the need for repentance. Eternal souls are at stake. We all need to remember this life is short but eternal life last forever.
Catholics should be grateful to Saint John Paul II for his theology of the body for showing the complementarity of Male and Female for married life. We as a Church must reject Cardinal Kasper's error.Thank God for Cardinals Pell Burke and Muller.
Daniel, this is beautiful reflection that I wholeheartedly agree with - thank-you for sharing it and God bless your pupils.
Daniel: I am glad you emphasized "tomorrow's church." Those of us who have witnessed the judgmental attitude of the last 40+ years of Catholic clericalism know that prohibition is still the overwhelming force of this generation.
These children you are teaching will certainly not tolerate what they don't know from their own experience to be the right way to deal with others.
A word to the wise church should be sufficient.
The recent Synod on the family was a success because it was a golden opportunity to freshly listen to God's people. The Church is a servant of the Kingdom of God whose leaders have the delicate responsibility of listening to all voices and discerning viable pastoral ways, aware of the richness and fluidity of traditions. This has to be done carefully, and the responses can be as diverse as grains of sand. We are faced with very tough questions today. As we reflect on the way forward, we keep in mind that human beings, images of God, are called to be fully human;because full humanity is imbued with the divine. The two intense weeks of the Synod were successful because of the debates, the frankness, the boldness, the bravery, the freedom to talk, to vote, to agree and to disagree openly. It was a grace. Now it is time to ponder and in many ways look out for the signs that the Lord may be giving; and this needs some depth and time.
I had a dream recently: " That in preparation of the next similar gathering, next year, the Bishop of Rome would soon appoint a group of 12 women from all corners of the world; primarily to air out thoughts on, and experiences of family life, regardless of their status. They would first meet him in private, and then they would meet and address the Group of Eight (G8) cardinals who advise on democratic and spiritual governance of the Church in the world." At this point, i awoke and realised i had been deep asleep.
Aloysius Beebwa
abeebwa@hotmail.com