“Lesser” issues like the death penalty and the arms race are necessary

Last updated on: October 1, 2015 at 8:00 am by Billy Kangas

“Lesser” issues like the death penalty and the arms race are necessary 2015-10-01T08:00:50-04:00 Billy Kangas

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Last week was powerful for me. The Pope’s visit helped to stoke my passion for the gospel and renewed the sense of urgency that I feel about working to address many of the issues of injustice we are facing. I can think of few times I felt more proud of my Catholic faith then listening to the Pope address congress. I was brought to tears by his message. He spoke with conviction and boldness but also with an openness to others that has become, for me, a target to hit in my own conversations. However, I’ve been troubled by a lot of the conversations I’ve been having lately. Many of the Catholics I talk to have been upset that he did not address the issues they believe are most important with more firmness and clarity, particularly the issue of abortion. They were hoping for a prophetic word on the “real” issue, but instead got prophetic words on “lesser” issues like the death penalty and the arms race. This attitude reminded me of a great lecture by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin on the seamless garment idea he so powerfully articulated. The lecture was called “A Consistent Ethic of Life: Continuing the Dialogue.” Here is an excerpt:

I am convinced that the Catholic moral vision has the scope, the strength and the subtlety to address this wide range of issues in an effective fashion. It is precisely the potential of our moral vision that is often not recognized even within the community of the Church. The case for a consistent ethic of life—one which stands for the protection of the right to life and the promotion of the rights which enhance life from womb to tomb—manifests the positive potential of the Catholic moral and social tradition.

It is both a complex and a demanding tradition; it joins the humanity of the unborn infant and 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. The potential of the moral and social vision is appreciated in a new way when the systemic vision of Catholic ethics is seen as the background for the specific positions we take on a range of issues.

In response to those who fear otherwise, I contend that the systemic vision of a consistent ethic of life will not erode our crucial public opposition to the direction of the arms race; neither will it smother our persistent and necessary public opposition to abortion. The systemic vision is rooted in the conviction that our opposition to these distinct problems has a common foundation and that both Church and society are served by making it evident.

A consistent ethic of life does not equate the problem of taking life (e.g., through abortion and in war) with the problem of promoting humandignity (through humane programs of nutrition, health care, and housing). But a consistent ethic identifies both the protection of life and its promotion as moral questions. It argues for a continuum of life which must be sustained in the face of diverse and distinct threats.

A consistent ethic does not say everyone in the Church must do all things, but it does say that as individuals and groups pursue one issue, whether it is opposing abortion or capital punishment, the way we oppose one threat should be related to support for a systemic vision of life. It is not necessary or possible for every person to engage in each issue, but it is both possible and necessary for the Church as a whole to cultivate a conscious explicit connection among the several issues. And it is very necessary for preserving a systemic vision that individuals and groups who seek to witness to life at one point of the spectrum of life not be seen as insensitive to or even opposed to other moral claims on the overall spectrum of life. Consistency does rule out contradictory moral positions about the unique value of human life. No one is called to do everything, but each of us can do something. And we can strive not to stand against each other when the protection and the promotion of life are at stake.

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