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ADDRESS OF THE HONORAND President O'Donnell, Chairman Bethel, distinguished Faculty Members and guests, dear students, ladies and gentlemen: This solemn commencement ceremony in which the Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters has kindly been bestowed on me, is a most gratifying occasion for me to address these few words to you. First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to this entire academic community. Ever since its establishment in 1977 by lay Catholic educators, Christendom College has sought to form its students by using a challenging curriculum centered on faith and the truths of Divine Revelation as taught by the Roman Catholic Church and by natural reason as derived from natural law and human experience in fidelity to the Magisterium. The objective of your College, "instaurare omnia in Christo", to restore all things in Christ, is laudable. In the Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio we read: "Faith
and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation
of truth". Today widespread confusion results from a lack of confidence
in reason, or from an exaggerated exaltation of reason to the point of
no longer acknowledging the limits to reason, which is human, limited
and not divine. We are men, creatures, with the wonderful gift of reason,
not supermen! Many times reason is obscured or limited, and ontology,
and thus anthropology and morality, are buried. On the other hand, only
scientific reason is recognized, but its limits or its being measured
by ethical principles is not accepted, and so anything that can be done
scientifically is possible. The contemporary problems in bioethics show
how dangerous science can be when it is full of hubris and arbitrariness.
Let us recall the example of cloning. Humility in the service of truth
is necessary for scientists too who are not exempt from ethics! Science
must be placed under the watchful eye of God and at the service of men,
of all men! Man needs God just as our lungs need oxygen. We are beings
thirsting for truth and love. We are the fruit of love, of a Living God
(who is not mute and cold like idols that cannot communicate). God has
spoken to us and it pleases him to dialogue with us. He has spoken to
us; He has revealed Himself totally and definitively in Christ. In His
Son the Father has revealed everything. We do not need to go in search
of new truths or a new revelation. Apparitions, when approved by the Church,
lead us more and more to the one same Truth. For today's world, the restoration of a concept of the family tied to a correct and sound anthropology that is far removed the aberrations and ambiguities of erroneous concepts about the human person—"the only creature on earth whom God wanted for himself", is a real challenge. The family based on marriage is indeed a moral reality, an authentic moral value to be rediscovered by today's culture and protected and promoted also by politicians and lawmakers. In this sense, the deplorable harassment to which marriage and the family are being subjected in many places implies not only a deterioration of the common good in the present, but also serious damage to future generations. One of the most important fields of work for our Department of the Roman Curia, the Pontifical Council for the Family, is dialogue with politicians and legislators on the family. We hold many meetings with them on a wide range of topics from the rights of children to the great good of the family at the heart of society. We are more and more convinced that the heart of the confusion today lies in the failure to recognize the truth. In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul says that the truth is incarcerated and suffocated by injustice: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against the irreligious and perverse spirit of men who, in this perversity of theirs, hinder the truth" (Romans 1:18). And, in another place he comments: "Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie" (Romans 1;25). The truth about God is the source of the truth about man. The major problem today is a genuine anthropology: Is the human creature created as an image of God from the very beginning, from the moment of conception, or is he just a thing? The human being as an image of God possesses the eminent dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone, as the Catechism says. Many today do not accept the fact that a human being is a gift of God and that "gloria Dei est vivens homo; vita autem hominis est visio Dei", i.e. that "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God". The enlightened teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas also open up a way to resolving this question of humanity or inhumanity. The terrible risk is to forget what the human person is: an image of God and, through the Redeemer, a son. Secularism and a positivist mentality reject this truth and become incapable of discovering the mystery of man that depends on the mystery of God: "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear". Today, in many parliaments and forums around the world, a kind of new ideology is trying to impose a "political truth" that is far from reality and far from the good of the human person and society. This crisis is also leading to a new conception of the family and human life which closes the future for the human family and can turn into suicide. The current profound crisis of truth, the anthropological illusion, has also moved some parliaments to recognize de facto unions as families, thereby attempting to make ‘fact' prevail over ‘right'; this is an evil alternative proposed in place of real marriage as the foundation of the family. Furthermore, this new ideological vision, which is also a fruit of technical progress, presumes to justify the separation between family and life, between sexuality and procreation. A further danger inherent in the current mentality is that it renders the family, based on marriage, socially irrelevant and denies its true essence of being a natural good and the best means of socialization, humanization of society, and the formation of human capital. Indeed, children are the first gift of marriage, as Saint Augustine said. Parents are the ministers and servants of life. Thus the place most suited and most excellent where life can be received, desired, loved and geared towards a process of integral formation is within the family. The family is the only communion capable of forming the heart of a human person. The birth of a new child within the communion of its parents is a gift, the first gift of the Creator to the creature. A child realizes the common good of the family and transmits the genealogy of the family. In a word, the heart of humanity, its test and general direction is reflected in the family. Its identity and dignity converge in its attitudes regarding life and, in particular, life which begins at conception. Without the inner tenderness that springs from the human family, children, as can be seen in the many forms of contradiction and incoherence around the world, can be treated in ways contrary to their dignity as persons. The most terrible kind of poverty for children is to not have a good family and real love. The Church is deeply engaged in the battle for human dignity and real freedom, a freedom linked to the truth. In concluding these words of deep gratitude for the Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters conferred on me by this illustrious College, I would like to say that I attribute this great honor not to my own poor personal merits, but to the significance of the mission which Pope John Paul II has entrusted to me. The future is being built today, perhaps more than in any other historical era, by guarding and fostering the values of the family and life. Efforts must be increased in favor of the culture of life and responsible family policies in a renewed approach to the family's fundamental place in the Church, in culture and in society as a whole. I am very happy to be here to receive this doctorate and to know that this very important College has this mission in the depths of its heart. Thank you very much. |