Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
That Human Decency Stubbornly Persists is Hopeful

That Human Decency Stubbornly Persists is Hopeful

Last updated on: March 5, 2015 at 4:30 pm by Russell Shaw

That Human Decency Stubbornly Persists is Hopeful 2015-03-05T16:30:47-05:00 Russell Shaw

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

A man I know was walking his dog when a neighbor woman approached him and inquired about his wife. Not having seen her out and about in quite some time, the lady wondered: Was she well?

“Not really,” the man said, going on to explain what that meant.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said when he finished. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not really,” the man said again. “Except—say a prayer.”

The woman hesitated a split second, and he could see she was calculating. Then she said: “I’ll send a card. Would she like that?”

“I’m sure she would,” he answered. And he thought to himself: All things considered, I guess that sending a card will earn her as much merit in God’s eyes as actually saying a prayer would do.

As the woman promised, the man tells me, the card—a stylized Christmas tree—arrived a few days later.

In telling this story, I don’t mean to equate greeting cards with prayer. But this little encounter was one of those signs of the times that bears reflection. As faith declines in our increasingly secularized society, religious believers need to make adjustments in how they think about the non-believers all around them—not to place non-belief on the same level with belief, but to factor in God’s immense generosity and try to share in it just a little.

This is in line with the thesis lately advanced by Joseph Bottum in an interesting essay in The Weekly Standard. With the collapse of the mainline Protestant churches in America, Bottum argues, something he calls — borrowing from author Flannery O’Connor — the Church of Christ Without Christ has taken their place.

One consequence, in his view, is that America is “awash in unconsciously held Christian ideas broken from the theology that gave them meaning” and now finding expression in appropriately secularized ways. Sending sick, bereaved, or otherwise troubled people sympathy cards instead of praying for them is, I believe, one fairly common instance of that. The substance — compassion for someone else in pain –remains, but it’s externalized in a very different form.

If that is so, it’s good news. It means that human decency stubbornly persists alongside the all too evident human tendency to cruelty. And this small flame of decency burning in secularized hearts itself has merit in the eyes of God.

But let’s not leave it at that. Perhaps the stubborn residue of decency could serve as the starting point for making some progress in the great project of new evangelization for which popes and other Church leaders have been calling for years.

Maybe that’s what the controversial interim ratio or report on discussions at last October’s world Synod of Bishops was trying to say — but said in a muddled way — in speaking of “gradualism” as an element in the pastoral approach to people in so-called irregular unions. These include divorced Catholics without annulments who’ve entered into second marriages, same-sex couples, and the like.

Like the woman who can’t manage a prayer for a sick neighbor but can send a sympathy card, if people in such situations can find it in their hearts to take some first small step toward conversion, it’s possible other steps will follow.

Supposing Bottum is right, there’s no way now at hand to reverse the secularist tide sweeping America. But instead of going back, there could be a way of moving ahead. Don’t be too quick to knock sympathy cards. The human decency they express may point to something better.

Russell Shaw is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C., and the author of twenty books, including American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America is available on Kindle. You can email him at [email protected].

Previous Post

March 3, 2015

Look up from your phone; see someone; smile. That's Communication.

Next Post

March 9, 2015 The Poor on the Periphery, the Treasure of the Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion abuse art and culture Books Catholic and Gay Catholic identity Catholic Laity Catholic Vocations Catholic Youth Catholicity Cinema clergy scandal Community of Sant’Egidio Culture of Life Editorial Faith Family Father Robert Barron Guest Post In Defense of Christians Marriage Mary Middle East New Evangelization Parenthood Patheos Catholic Poetry politics Pope Poverty Prayer Priesthood Race in America Sacred Art Saints Series sexuality Shaw Synod Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2023 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 November 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2017 July 2017 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 December 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To what place did Jacob flee after stealing his brother's blessing?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Haran Bethel Egypt Nineveh