"Resisting a Throw Away Culture" - Rev. John Paul Kimes at ND Vita Institute 2020

I'm Carter Sneed I'm the director of the de calais Center for Ethics and culture I'm also a professor of law and concurrent professor of political science here at the university of notre dame and again we're delighted that you guys could join us for the fifth night in a row the de Nicholas Center for ethics and culture exists our principal mission is to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching research and public engagement across a variety of disciplines at the very highest level both here at Notre Dame on campus and in the global public square as Notre Dame the Vita Institute is our flagship offering in our culture of life series of programming and initiatives this webinar series will give you a small taste of our week-long Vita Institute intellectual formation program that every summer since 2010 has brought pro-life leaders from around the world to the campus of Notre Dame to study the fundamental issues that are necessary to building a culture of life including social science biology philosophy theology law communication and counseling we have almost 900 alumni both from our local Vita Institute here on campus at Notre Dame as well as the satellite Vita Institute's and we'll say a little bit about the end about how many wonderful people have been participating in our webinar which is pretty exciting now although I'm not going to spoil that for you until the very end you you can you can wait for that good news our full video Institute program though includes more than 20 presentations covering the full spectrum of topics including racial inequality disability adoption euthanasia assisted suicide public health policy epidemiology integral human development and many others but in this week's condensed series of presentations we've been highlighting issues surrounding the beginning of life tonight father John Paul Keim is our speaker will widen out the conversation to encompass larger questions that Pope Francis has drawn our attention to situating the culture of life question that we've been talking about all week within the larger question of resisting a throwaway culture and caring for our for our neighbor and respecting the intrinsic equal dignity of all all people born in unborn a brief note about the four Matt of tonight's presentation our speaker this evening has pre-recorded his talk as we watch the video together we invite those of you who are logged in to the zoom webinar to submit your questions using the Q&A function will select representative questions to poster our speaker who will join us live during the question period following the conclusion of his prepared remarks now I'd like to introduce our speaker my good friend our beloved father John Paul Kimes of Notre Dame law school born in Birmingham Alabama father Kimes graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1995 after completing his priestly formation studies in Rome he was ordained a priest for the EPP our key of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles in the year 2000 he obtained a doctorate in canon law for the Pontifical oriental University or rather the Pontifical Oriental Institute in 2005 and served as an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2009 until 2019 he is the Raymond of Pena for fellow and canon law at the de Nicholas center for ethics and culture and we are all fortunate that he's returned to Notre Dame full time to join the Law School faculty this summer summer of 2020 is an associate professor of the practice teaching canon law and related subjects so without further ado we're delighted to listen to father John Paul Kimes speaking on resisting a throwaway culture good evening ladies and gentlemen that's my pleasure my privilege to be with you here this evening for the last the talks in the 20/20 virtual Vita not what any of us had hoped for but hopefully the week has gone as well for you as it has for us tonight's topic is resisting the throwaway culture finding a language for preaching the culture of life the gospel of life in the 21st century for those who have been involved in the pro-life movement in the past years we're used to hearing this language of the culture of life and we take that from primarily from pope john paul ii and his great his great encyclical Evangelium vitae and one of the most famous quotes here is where he pits what he calls the culture of death against the culture of life this dichotomy he says between good and evil between death and life and pope john paul ii says we find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily in the midst of this conflict we are all involved we all share in it with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life for so many of us these powerful words have aided us in our conviction in the necessity of preaching the gospel of life Pope Francis however in his homily does inaugural Mass emphasized the need for all humans not just Christians to be protectors of creation setting the stage for what would become a central theme of his papacy the role as protector however does not mean simply buying green or recycling plastic as so often was reported in many of the media outlets for Pope Francis it goes far beyond the question of eco-friendly practices and it goes to a deeply human level being protectors of one another as well as of the physical world Pope Francis as it means respecting each of God's creatures and respecting the environment in which we live it means protecting people showing loving concern for each and every person especially children the elderly those in need those whom we often think about as being the last means caring for one another's and our families the Pope says husbands and wives first protectors is one other one another and then as parents in caring for their children and the children themselves in time become protectors of their parents means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust in respect and in goodness in the end everything has been entrusted to our protection and all of us are responsible for it to communicate this message more powerfully Pope Francis has developed a new language if you will about the culture of life where he puts it is not a conflict between life and death but he puts it as a conflict between the throwaway culture and the culture which recognizes the intrinsic value of human beings but in this linguistic struggle he focuses on the language of the throwaway culture and if we stop and think about it immediate image that comes to our mind you know we see we see on the slide those of us who were old enough to what a repair shop is we grew up when something broke you took it to the repair shop someone who had the specific talent could fix it whether it was a clock or a washing machine or even a television set with all these things would be prepared and then returned to the home and then be used that's not the case today we all know that most of what we consume in today's world is meant to be thrown away this culture this throwaway culture this disposable culture power isn't limited to mere goods the problem is that it has seeped into the way that we treat one another and Pope Francis's insight into preaching the culture of life the gospel of life to today's generations in the 21st century is this insight that we have begun to treat one another as disposable so how does the Holy Father identified the throwaway culture he says that the throwaway culture is a mentality in which everything has a price everything can be bought everything is negotiable it's a way of thinking that leaves room only for a few select and discards all of those who are unproductive we already see in this language the scenes of the way that we need to fight this struggle in today's world when we think about everything having a price everything being bought everything being negotiable that includes us it includes human beings it includes the vulnerable and the weak when we think of those few select who are productive when productivity becomes the exclusive category of value we see how this will enter into our mentality how we treat one another and how detrimental it can be on our society part of the problem that many in the pro-life movement have had sort of warming up to Pope Francis at least in his early years were quotes like this we would see in the New York Times in another media outlets that the Holy Father would say I want us all to make a serious commitment to respect and care for creation and this was touted by the news media as oh the Holy Father is embracing the environmental movement the Holy Father has gone green finally the Catholic Church is going to care about creation what they didn't report was what the Holy Father said it meant to respect and care for creation which is that it means to pay attention to every person it means to combat a culture of waste and a culture that he later returns to calling a throwaway culture so as to encounter to his foster a culture of solidarity and encounter this is the language that Pope Francis latches on to to urge us in the 21st century to preach the gospel of life to see it as a question of solidarity and to see it as a question of encounter now this year's talk has been particularly difficult for me in preparing because we've all been through so much in these past months and just when we thought we figured out what this you know so-called new normal was going to be things changed again one of the most positive aspects however of this global pandemic of kovat 19 what is brought out is the language of solidarity we've seen it everywhere in these past few months all across the world this language of being in this together we're in this pandemic together created a new feeling a new sense of solidarity not only within our neighborhoods and in our countries but across the world now many have made little jokes like this sign so we're all in this together now please go wash your hands but the sense of solidarity I think is genuine and just when we thought this was going to be the most important development in the world things changed again but what hasn't changed is the human face of the throwaway culture this is what the Holy Father has called our attentions to he speaks of it as reducing everything including people to mere things whose value consists in being bought and sold used and discarded when their market value has been exhausted the inherent irreducible value of inefficient and burdensome human beings is simply ignored by a throwaway culture which finds these people to be inconvenient and who are these people who are reduced to their market value they're the homeless they're the suffering children they're those who are marginalized because of their race and ethnicity rather and most profoundly in our culture here in the United States we've seen that the value of human life must be connected to the struggle for racial justice as well we know that race is an important component in those of us who would preach solidarity and encounter the love that Christ compels us to is allow the 360 degrees a love that makes no distinctions of race of culture or of creed the Holy Father has powerfully said that every conflict is emblematic of the throwaway culture wherever there is conflict there is a lack of solidarity and where there's a lack of solidarity there we have failed to preach and affect the culture of life now in the pro-life movement we're used to focusing on the infant on the question of abortion and if there's there is no doubt the question of abortion is fundamental because we see rationale like this like Peter Singer this quote which is so well known to those who have fought for the dignity of human life for years the Peter Singer back in 1979 think about how much time has passed since then Peter Singer spoke of human babies is not being born self-aware or capable of grasping that they exist over time they are not persons he says most powerfully says that the life of the newborn is of less value than the life of a pig of a dog or a chimpanzee now there is no question that you and I know what the value of a human life is there is no question that we understand well the teaching of the Catholic Church that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception that from the first moment of it of its existence a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person among which is the enviable right of every innocent human being to life the teachings and the catechism are clear we know these teachings we live these teachings we promote these teachings but we've used a language for years that happ's has become passé because of the impact that language has on our culture and one of the Holy Fathers insights is that this notion of contractual language has seeped into our very discourse our everyday way of treating and speaking to one another we commonly refer to ROI in terms like this that I mean I'm you know I've trained you know in theology trained in Canon Law I'm a priest I don't you know I I don't have a business background why should I use language like a return on investment why should why should this be part of my vocabulary but we do and everything we speak about the value the return on investment and in using these categories we've allowed them to color our language of speaking about one another all of these terminologies that come to us from business place the emphasis not on the intrinsic value of the human person but on the worth that a life can bring in its productivity herein lies the difficulty in combating the throwaway culture the Holy Father says the victim of this culture are precisely the weakest and most fragile human beings the unborn the poor the sick and the elderly the handicapped those who are in danger of being thrown away being expelled from a system that must be efficient at all costs when efficiency and return and value are is the language in which we speak we have forgotten that the intrinsic value of human being comes from the fact that all are created in the image and likeness of God this notion seeps into us as well through our consumption that let the the culture of consumerism culture that seeks to define our value by how much we have what we accumulate over life or in the newer generations not so much the quantity of things we have but the style of things that we have we here in contemporary advertising language that we don't need to be concerned about generations anymore that we need to be concerned about tribes tribes are transgenerational groups that are identified by the items that they buy not necessarily the accumulation of wealth but how they display themselves in their in their imaging but all of this is based on consumption all this is based on consumerism and we've used for years the language of Rights we speak about the inalienable rights to life we've speak about in the words of Pope Benedict is your minds as the God's love does not differentiate between the newly conceived infant in his mother's womb and the child or the young person or the adult or the elderly person and here we have language that's focused on love but we immediately change that and speak about life as a right and this language of Rights stems from a different place it doesn't come or it's not communicated in the language of the gospel anymore we need to begin to to to look at the language that we use to describe the love that we have for one another that the the the the life that each lives and its value not that it stems from rights which it does but in communicating this message of the gospel of life we have to move beyond this and find the language that resonates more with contemporary society particularly with the young as we want to instill these values in them the Holy Father has said over and over again he's spoken about individualism and here he says that indifferent individualism leads to the cult of opulence which is reflected in the throwaway culture which is all around us we have a surfeit of unnecessary things but we no longer have the capacity to build authentic human relationships which are marked by truth and mutual respect and my friends these are the values that we must transmit in our preaching of the gospel of life to the new generations that we must seek to build with them authentic human relationships which are marked by truth and mutual expect the mutual respect these are the ways in which we will reach out and begin to preach the gospel of life for the 21st century and as we look we have to go back and understand how our culture has changed where the seeds of these cultural movements for these linguistic movements were born and if we go back to a work published back in 1985 by Neil postman he maintained that the issue with television was in 1985 remember that that the issue of television is not that it is entertaining but that it is made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience think about this inside in 1985 fast forward to 2020 his words ring true today truer today than they did in 1985 for sure that the natural format for the representation of all experience is entertainment I can assure you that the language of Rights that reading a papal encyclical is not deemed entertainment by anyone even by those of us who were supposed to do it for a living so how then do we begin to in this cultural concept and this cultural construct of the 21st century how do we begin to preach the same gospel of life that we have preached from the very beginning that all life is created in the image and likeness of God and it is valuable because of that and nothing else our worth our dignity stems from the fact that God has loved us and in his love has created us nothing more and nothing less so as we look at the 21st century and those of us who are a little older who are Generation X is classified by advertising experts or those who are older still a baby boomers or even those who belong to what is now known as the Silent Generation we have to be honest with ourselves that we come to this world to this digital universe we come as strangers become as tourists we're not we were not born into the world of the digital media of the digital culture these symbols for us some of us may not even know what's up what they what they represent but to the younger generations this is their universe this is where they encounter one another this is where they seek to define themselves and to display who and what they are for one another this is how they begin to show themselves in their minds as persons now this is one of my favorite images and I use it all the time because I think it's very implementing of the way that the culture has come to define the worth of an individual again for those of us who are not digital natives this image strikes us as silly at best we have a child who is who's screaming who is upset because he has no likes and no followers but it's in this image that we begin to see the necessity of moving beyond the traditional means of communication moving beyond the traditional means of preaching the gospel of life and learning how to communicate to those who were referred to as digital natives to what we classify as Millennials and Gen Z and these are people that you know we may not be comfortable with naturally these are not people who necessarily look like us who talk like us who act like us who think like us but they are those to whom we are called to preach the gospel they are those to whom we are with whom we are called to share the message of God's love these are people who grew up in a world where a person dying wouldn't make the news necessarily but a five-point move in the stock market certainly would that's the tragedy they were raised with now in recent days we've seen the tragedy the tragedy of a loss of a human life can still be powerful and can still move people so we we see in this the roots if you will the seeds where we need to go those seeds that we need to nurture to show them that the gospel of life is just that it is a gospel that affects all life that sees the intrinsic value of all life but these words and similar statements about caring for the poor and love of the environment that the Holy Father in particular has made made headlines because they sounded radical but they shouldn't they take us right back to the heart of the gospel to Jesus is one commandment to us to love one another as he has loved us as he has loved us this kind of love is indeed radical because it doesn't see the distinctions that culture would would impose on us rather it sees the unity of all humanity as being created in the image and likeness of God the challenge of the gospel to us is to no longer see the other when we look around but to see in all a brother and the sister in Christ to see in all even the non even non-christians a brother and sister who are created in the image and likeness of God that love of God makes no distinctions no other can exist now when we look at the society today as I said as we look at these generations known as Millennials and Gen Z it may shock you to know that already today in 2020 they make up half of the US population and that number jumps dramatically when we look at the global population when Millennials and Gen Z compose over 60 percent of the world's population they're more than 4.6 billion people who fall into these generational categories if we are not capable of talking to them then the gospel of life has lost the intrinsic value of human life that we seek to share with others that we seek to to engage others with so that they too will see the value of all human life if we can't eeeek to these younger generations we have already lost 60% of the audience in the world and again we must be honest with ourselves when we look around in the pro-life movement how many of us are baby boomers how many of us are Gen X when we see a chart like this if we're not reaching the Millennials and we're not reaching Gen Z then the passion for that movement the passion for life the conviction of the intrinsic value of human life will die with us if we are not capable of sharing it with the new generations and why do I say will die with us I don't mean to be overly dramatic that song no this is I'm not a scare tactic kind of person that's not what I'm trying to do but I say well die with us because what we have seen over the years is a dramatic shift in cultural mores we have seen that Millennials and Gen Z are more open than any generation in history to date to changing the status quo but what does that change been the change hasn't been an eradication of abortion the change has been in the acceptance of same-sex marriage the change has been appropriate in some circumstances as we see currently in the fight for racial equality but it hasn't been infiltrated if you will by the teaching or gospel of life and that's where we have to go we have to take the power of our message of love and share it with these generations now how do we begin to talk to them and begin to talk to them by identifying who they are and how they think it's like anyone we have to begin to we have to understand with whom it is we're speaking to whom we must teach to whom we must share this gospel and I already mentioned the phrase digital natives not you I am certainly not a digital native anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a digital native and there are a few things in my life I have done that or that are more uncomfortable for me than to give this lecture staring into a camera rather than to talking to a roomful of people that we had all hoped to be together so I'm clearly not a digital native but what does it mean to be a digital native it means to be not only technologically savvy these are not only the people that know how to make the iPhone work and sync it for their I watch and do this and do that things that for some of us are just remain if you will the true mystery of the universe but they grew up in a way where their connections to other people are principally defined by their digital relationships not by their personal encounters they grew up swiping an iPad longer long before they learned how to talk they're the first generation to be entirely raised in the era of smartphones teenage members of Gen Z statistically are connected almost every waking hour of the day the digital universe isn't digital to them it is their universe and if we are not in that universe if we are not speaking if our voice is not heard in that universe then we are not talking to them they're also however more entrepreneurial they grew up in a generation that has seen such businesses as uber and shipped and Airbnb they've seen how easy it can be with their own time and their own resources and their own ingenuity not only to make money but to make a mark to make a difference and for me this is what they want to do their definition of success is not necessarily the accumulation of wealth a definition of success tends to be creating and projecting themselves as an individual and this is because they are the most diverse generation that we have seen to date in the American in the American context it's clearly a generation where the idea of an african-american president isn't exceptional they've seen it it's it can be the norm gins ears in particular the Millennials less so but Millennials and Gen Z have grown up in a culture where diversity is an important and defining factor simultaneously they have grown up in a culture where religious identification is no longer important in 1966 only 6.6 of incoming college freshmen reported being unaffiliated with any religion in 2015 that number was nearly 30-percent just think about that 30% of college freshmen enter University with no religious affiliation with no religious identity that means that when they project their image of themselves into this world into this digital world religion isn't a part of it now they may speak about being spiritual they may have values that are religious but they no longer have a religious identity or they no longer see organized religion in particular as being important to their identity the question then becomes whether young people today are truly moving away from religion or whether they're seeking to define it differently for us this is a space where we must be present where we must go in and preach with them share with them that that vetting encounter them this face-to-face encounter with them to instill in them to demonstrate to them the importance that religion has in life and the importance that religion has in understanding the intrinsic value of human life that comes to us from God who is our one and common Creator another difficulty that we will face is that this generation finds formerly clear distinct dividing lines to be blurry technology and the digital universe have blurred the lines between home and work which we've all seen in this Cova da m'q it's also blurred the lines between study and entertainment and it has certainly blurred the lines between the public and the private jinn zis have had a different experience of family many of them grew up in not many but they've grown up with same-sex households not only with working moms but with stay-at-home dads with a family experience where the nuclear family will make up less than one-third of all families in the United States of America by 2026 according to statistical analysis and of course as well gender and the notions of romance have become blurred as well they also describe themselves as overwhelmed now we may scoff at this idea of thinking of them as overwhelmed but trust me this is nothing to laugh at the statistics of depression in teenagers and young adults are through the roof they find themselves oppressed in a certain sense overwhelmed if you will by the digital universe in which they live they find themselves fretting over career and climate change and sexism and racism and all of these things are our sources of angst of anxiety for them 68% of Gen Z report feeling overwhelmed by everything they need to do each week another characteristic that we see in the djinns E's and Millennials is their reporting be of the sensation of feeling lonely three million adolescents so this is teenagers between 12 and 17 3 million of them have had have reported a major depressive episode in the year 2018 there's been an increase in anxiety and depression as well among high school students which has been on the on the rise since 2012 this upsurge cuts across all demographics it has nothing to do with race it has nothing to do with economic status has nothing to do whether you live in a city or whether you live in the suburbs or you're live out in the farm there is a rise and the sensation of loneliness while djinns ears plan to get married and to have children and buy a home statistically they plan to do so at a later date than previous generations they're also surprisingly less likely to drink to smoke and take drugs yet at the same time they hold more progressive views on issues like the legality of marijuana morality of same-sex marriage and in many cases also abortion one of the hallmarks of Millennials and Gen Z is the notion that they are individualistic but they're individualistic in a way that is different than previous generations they're individualistic because they they seek to have things personalized for them it's not an individualism that excludes the other it's an individualism that seeks to to show the the person to show Who I am so to show Who I am I need things that are distinct that are different that are in fact personalized and we see this in marketing we see this in in many of the things I mean just think about a car dealership whereas before we had you may have had to pick the car color and maybe you got to pick whether you wanted leather seats or cloth seats but when you walk into a car dealership today think about the hundreds of options that you have to do what to personalize your car this is just one small example of a phenomenon that is being driven by Millennials and Gen Z in the world of marketing and in the world of consumption but it's something that we need to take note of if we are going to be able to preach to them that we need to be able to specify a message to the person we need to recognize the individual and we need to speak to that person specifically but guess what friends this is the heart and soul of what we do this is who we are because we don't see the intrinsic value of life as being something generic it's not a blanket statement it's a statement about each and every individual human life this is our strength and this is where we can make inroads in preaching the gospel of life to generations that are ready for a change and the other thing they're ready for is authenticity if it's one thing that Gen Z and the Millennials speak about over and over again its authenticity we must preach a gospel of life a culture of life that does not focus on one issue over another we must preach a gospel of life that looks at life in all of its stages in all of its forms and seeks to protect it everywhere and always this doesn't mean that we set abortion arguments aside it doesn't mean that we set arguments against euthanasia aside what it means as that we expand our vocabulary and that we begin to preach the gospel of life in a way that sounds - Jin Zee and Millennials is authentic it sounds that way because it is that way because that's what we believe we don't come at them like marketers or advertisers we're not selling a product we are sharing a fundamental truth about humanity and all are created in the image and likeness of God and that begins from the moment of conception and it carries through the entirety of life this is the authenticity of our marriage of our of our language of our of our preaching this is who and what we are this is who and what we believe we don't need to be overly romantic or critical about Gen Z's and Millennials what we need to do is we need to get to know them we need to get to understand the way they think and we need to begin to share the truth with Pope Francis says powerfully that the throwaway culture is not up Jesus the other is my brother beyond every barrier of nationality social extraction or religion this is the language of authenticity this is what we must share with Gen Z and Louie Niels and everyone this is the strength of our argument it's the truth a throwaway culture is not up Jesus anything that seeks to distinguish one human from another is not of God now this doesn't mean that in preaching this gospel we have to agree with everything that everyone believes it doesn't mean that we have to condone behaviors that are contrary to the gospel that's not it but what we have to do is love we have to love and in sharing that love we must seek to convert others and bring them into the love of God one way that we at the de Nicola Center for ethics and culture speak this new language of the culture of life is by preaching what has we've dubbed radical hospitality we see this as a hallmark of the culture of life and in its preaching in the 21st century well beyond the language of downsizing and decluttering and simply getting back to basics which the language of the throwaway culture may imply we want to talk about radical hospitality because it's in these two words that we see the power of the truth of the gospel of life even the Holy Father in talking about the throwaway culture speaks about the necessity of transformation how do we transform we transform by sharing with each other this hospitality this love of Christ and we do that in solidarity with them but to be in solidarity with them we must do that in an encounter now while we must encounter them in the digital universe we must go to where they are but that's not enough it's an S it's necessary it must be done and we must learn how to do it better as I was famously quoted years ago I can't save a soul in 140 characters no tweet will save the soul but if with that tweet or with that post on Instagram with that with with that message on Facebook on Facebook with all of those things if I can invite someone into a deeper conversation if I can invite them into an encounter if I can meet them in solidarity then I can begin to preach to them the gospel of life we must offer this invitation of radical hospitality by every means necessary to invite all into a dialogue into a conversation about the intrinsic value of all life the Holy Father says very powerfully we must never allow the throwaway culture into our hearts because we are brothers and sisters no one is disposable we must always remember this fact and only when we do so we will be truly rich when he spoke in an Angeles Address and has returned from World Youth Day in 2017 Pope Francis spoke particularly to the youth the need to turn away from materialism and all that is rampant in the throwaway culture and to embrace a life in something which is grounded deeper and what is that the Holy Father said very powerfully it is the encounter with the Living Christ in his great family which is the church that fills the heart with joy that fills us with true life this is a goodness that endures that will not tarnish that cannot be thrown away he warns us against the poison of emptiness which is crept into our society based on profit and possession and consumerism which can deceive not only the young but us all in this message of radical hospitality we reach out to all generations to share with them the truth and if you'll allow me to quote from the encyclical Caritas in Veritate artists his powerful words about love and truth charity or love in truth to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection is the principle driving force behind the authentic development of every person and all humanity my brothers and sisters the message that we must share in this throwaway culture is just that that love is found in the truth the truth is found in Jesus Christ who bore witness to this truth by his life by his death and by his resurrection and most profoundly for us by his one commandment of love love the Holy Father says is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace that is justice and peace for for the young it is justice in peace for the old it is justice in peace for all of the marginalized whether because of race or sex or religion all who are marginalized find justice and peace in the authentic love of Christ each person finds is good the holy father says by adherence to God's plan in order that it be fully realized in God's plan we find truth and as in here instead we become free authentic human freedom comes to us by adherence to the truth which is revealed to us and love this is the call that we have to be radically hospitable to one another called by God's love we must love one another and encounter them and in this encounter we must be with them we must walk with them as Pope Francis says still often we must show them solidarity and in that solidarity they will see the authentic message of love that love that calls us to the truth that love that calls us to see in every life its intrinsic value because it is created in the image and likeness of God finally again from Caritas in Veritate is the search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from its impoverishment that our humanity brings to it we find the richness of love and truth in the person of Christ and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us is found in Christ because it is in Christ that love becomes the face of a person you and I who dare to call ourselves Christian are called to wear the same face of love to share that same love with all around us and then sharing love to call them into God's truth thank you so much father crimes we are now joined with the real father crimes joining us from Birmingham Alabama where he just celebrated a wedding and we have some great questions from our participants this evening and let's just turn right away father crimes picking up on something that you said a moment ago you were talking about our identity as Christians and how radical hospitality and radical love of neighbor is part of our identity as Christians and we have an obligation to do that let's one one questioner wondered how do we communicate these ideas that transmit ideas of human dignity solidarity radical hospitality to those in our pluralistic society who don't who don't identify themselves as Christians who don't share our Christian faith nor Christian metaphysics or Christian sense of of Julie ology well Carter I think that's a great question and I apologize in advance if anyone can hear sort of the background noise of a wedding but know that it's a joyous occasion two wonderful young people have been joined in holy matrimony and their families are now celebrating right now as I stand here and entertain questions with you and share time with you so I I think that you know the the the fundamental truth of our reality today in a pluralistic society a pluralistic society that when we're honest with ourselves while founded originally with Christian values more often than not does not share those traditional Christian values any longer so I think it is just that radical call to love that Christ gives us remember when he gives us the commandment to love he says love love one another as I have loved you and this is a love that does not count the cost this is a love that Christ prepared us as to his disciples to know that the world would not love us back that often we would be misunderstood even mistreated but our only response can be that of love it is the only thing that you and I can do how do we how do we deal with people who disagree with how do we deal with people they come to us from different faiths with different mentalities from different metaphysics different different points of view we love them we love them radically we embrace them as brothers and sisters we see in them their their Creator we see in them the face of Christ the Christ who died for all and our message is an all-encompassing message regardless of the other's faith regardless of anything that the other may have or not have that agrees or disagrees with Christianity we are called to love them this is this is what Christ calls us to do and we can only keep loving until that love is is accepted even in the face of its rejection even in the face of its humiliation we must continue to love thank you that is a nice segue to the to another question that was raised during your you're very rich comments namely about the role of friendship and the role of friendship being important to changing hearts and minds not instrumentally or cynically but as as a prerequisite to to the encounter that you describe one person wanted to know how do we think about that role of friendship and the role of connection when we are saturated with social media when we're set when we have Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and things that I don't even know the name of that my teenagers and other names of how do we how do we figure how do we translate that that necessity of encounter to these media which are which rewards snarkiness they reward one-liners they they reward tribalism they're they indulge virtue signaling and and savaging other people how do we how do we do that yeah that's that's a great question I wish I had an equally great answer I think the answer lies in in the fact that you you and I have to use social media for the good that it has that it can do and the good that it can do is to serve as an invitation now it's clear that many people in the Catholic sphere who have tried to engage in the Twitter sphere or in other forms of social media they they they either have been disappointed or sometimes their words have been co-opted so we know that there is a virtual minefield waiting there for us but I think what we can do is continue to put out a positive message a very simple message of friendship I think of love and invite people into as I said earlier a richer dialogue a dialogue that has to happen offline or at least a dialogue that has to happen on an individual level remember we we you know Christ came and he didn't convert hundreds of thousands of people with the wave of his hand you know in in in in the great words of st. Newman we talked about the heart speaking to the heart and we can use social media and display our heart display our faith and use that as an invitation to others and yeah we know that it's a place where we're not welcome we're not welcome because of all of those things you mentioned Carter the snarkiness and and the vitriol and and oftentimes it can just appear to be a font of hatred but I think one one positive aspect we've seen or at least we've seen recently during you know the sort of kovat pandemic is we did see in social media at least at the beginning we saw as kernel seeds of genuine solidarity that was there and I think you and I can pick up on those seeds of solidarity and we can continue to nurture them by adding to them but we really can't do much more than that unfortunately we can only add to those seeds of solidarity and use the social media as an invitation into that richer dialogue of friendship there's a related question from our participants one and it's in it's pointed it says how do you how does the church how can we speak to and reach out to those people who feel especially the younger generations who feel that the in the words of this questioner that the church has polarized the nation with abortion apologetics and not prioritized accompanying people and the challenges of their lives how do we now yeah I'll just put that to you exactly as it was put to us yeah I mean I can I can relate a personal story when I was preparing for this lecture I spoke to my 26 year old nephew who has become very engaged socially over the past few weeks in the wake of George Floyd it's killing and everything that's happened afterwards my my nephew has become very engaged and when I told him oh hey I've got to give this pro-life talk and I I want to extend it to two issues of racism and to take it beyond sort of traditional talk only of abortion you know my nephew said to me he said it's about time it's about time so I think we I think we we have to acknowledge in a certain sense that I don't think we take responsibility for polarizing this nation on anything to be perfectly honest I don't mean to be defensive but I think what we have to do is we have to realize that our that our language perhaps it would has been insufficient that we haven't done a good job of showing what it is we truly believe because we're so focused on the horror of abortion and it is a horror and it deserves focus and attention but because we appear to have done that exclusively we have given the impression to the younger generation who don't have the same formation in the faith that you and I may have been blessed with you know we've given them the impression the only thing pro-life movement cares about our unborn babies and that's not true it's never been true it has been the focus it's been a vocal focus naturally because we stare down the face and millions of abortions every year and we can't sit silent before that but what we have to do is we have to add to that we have to we have to express what it is we genuinely believe because we can't believe in the in the inherent sacredness and then the inherent value of the unborn child if we don't preach the same inherent and sacred value of all life all those that are living that are created in the image and likeness of God they deserve our same concern now if we put our focus on the unborn because it is truly the horror of our age we shouldn't be faulted for that what we can be faulted for I think rightly is for not speaking out enough about the other aspects of the gospel of life about not being as loud or as vocal or as consistent sometimes I we are on the issue of the unborn yeah and I mean I I really I may have related this anecdote earlier in the week I'm not sure I did as well but I think it captures what you're saying namely the single greatest advocate for a culture of life aside from st. John Paul the second is Mother Teresa and mother Teresa spoke in her actions and there's no one that I'm aware of in modern life who accompanied others in their suffering the way she did who picked up people who were dying people who were the the most vilified members of the society in which she worked picked them up and saw the face of Christ and and accompanied them and they're dying usually and when she addressed the National Prayer Breakfast and spoke to the most powerful people in the United States in Washington DC and said stand up for the life of the unborn child it's utter violence to take her life in the womb people listened in a way that they wouldn't listen to somebody who had not lived in the way that she had so I think there's a deep lesson there that being consistent across all in one's behavior you can prioritize the issue and as you for reasons you point out we should I mean Pope Francis talks about a field hospital and and in implying the the metaphor of triage and so there are reasons that people like the de Nicholas center for ethics and culture focus in an intensive way on the question of the intrinsic equal dignity of the unborn child but also we try and I'll talk a little bit more about this a little and and your entire remarks this evening show the cohesiveness of the worldview that puts the divan well at the center of the picture and it protects them all from discrimination and lethal violence that leads to another question that we have here some one of our listeners wanted to know how to think about the role of persons with disabilities and people developmental disabilities in the church within the framework of accompaniment and and intrinsic equal dignity that you sketched out in your remarks yeah I mean I think the question of those with disabilities you know with children with disabilities and adults with disabilities in the church you know again I think we have to to recognize our failings and we have to say perhaps we have not done enough to reach out and to accompany to - to be with to stand with our brothers and sisters and their disabilities you know the church has the church has done tremendous work not you know in the disabilities community in in recognizing the sanctity of those with disabilities of their their the value of their lives that would otherwise be discarded in a society that only sees value in someone who can be quote unquote productive but I do think we have I think do you think as a church and as a society as whole as a side as a whole we have a great task ahead of us as to learn how better to include those with disabilities to have better resources for catechesis for for the disabled whether they're which I have better access for the disabled I remember years ago I just graduated college and I was working in the Bishops Conference and I met one of the most beautiful advocates I'd ever met she's a blind woman a tremendous woman of Catholic faith who had founded an organization to give aid catechetical aid for the blind and and these are the sorts of organizations these are sorts of efforts that we need more of you know we can think of local local efforts in parishes where parish communities have have strived and striven to to begin Kath a chemical support for children with disabilities as we notice so many now need extra support and extra care but we have to go beyond that I just I only think that we we can we can never emphasize the value of the disabled in our Catholic in our in a pro-life way sufficiently but I think we also have to do a better job of dedicating more resources as well to help them particularly in you know I as a priest I wonder sometimes for for catechesis what do we have what can we have that that would better help families to khattak i as children with disabilities or what better physical care or comfort or aid can we can we offer as the church to adults with disabilities you know the the the challenges are the great difficulty of being consistent in our ethic of life and being truly and truly being lawyers against the throwaway culture is that we will always have work to do and we will never have the resources that we need so we have to as mother Teresa did we roll up our sleeves and we do what we can each one of us and we dedicate ourselves to that whether it's helping whether it's helping the disabled in our parish in our larger community or helping you know to with you know mothers who are preparing to to give up children for adoption who you know whatever it is whatever we can each do in our in our own small way we roll up our sleeves and we and we live out that love than we are called we don't just talk about it we have to live it out and Carter thank you for bringing in mother Teresa she is the ultimate example of what each of us is called to do the last question we have father cons is what about further reading are there any authors in particular or any any sources that you would direct our participants to to deepen their understanding of the themes that you've been describing I would strongly reach out and to even from their own experiences so those in youth ministry too to share with with others effective tools that they've had in reaching and reaching the youth unfortunately there's not a lot of good resources that aren't specifically designed either at I mean the culture of life resources we all know they're all out there they're there you know probably the hallmark encyclicals like Evangelium vitae or any of Pope Francis as many comments on the throwaway culture but it's you know it's the it's the second it's a second part of that the question of reaching out of going beyond ourselves and the sort of transgenerational education that we just need better work and within within the sphere the pro-life community yeah and we were just for our listeners we will you know in coming weeks try to assemble a reading list yeah cast around and talk to other experts friends and so on and try to assemble further reading from up for all of our lectures other times thank you so much for giving us thank you very all so the beautiful tree behind you that we to enjoy remarks and fortunately nothing he not the humidity in which I'm yeah no I remember and give the bride and groom are our best and thank them for sharing you god bless you Carter and God bless everyone that's participated this evening thank you so much thanks for other crimes so friends that that brings us to the conclusion of our amazing week here together if you missed any of the previous talks in this series or wish to review them at anytime we've archived them on our website at ethics center dot nd dot edu slash Vita to 0 to 0 that is ethics Center dot nd dot edu slash Vita to zero to zero I'd like to again thank our faculty this week our extraordinary faculty Frank Beckwith father Nicholas Rocco Jess Keating father John Paul Kimes an extraordinary array of people and minds sharing sharing their their thoughts with you we're very blessed to have them for our virtual Vita and also for our in-person Vitas we'd like to give a special word of thanks to all of our benefactors and friends who made this possible especially Neil and Anne Ramsey who have generously provided regular funding for our Vita Institute's both on campus off campus as well as in cyberspace as always we're grateful to the center's executive advisory committee including of course co-chairs Toni and Kristy to Nicola we'd like to thank our colleagues in the Office of Information Technology and endi Studios who have managed the technical aspects of this webinar series especially Tim cheque Lee Richard Alan and Eric Knisley and most of all a huge thank you to the peerless staff of the de Nicholas Center especially our culture of Life program manager Petra Farrell who normally this week would have been running around coordinating all aspects of travel and hospitality for more than 70 speakers and guests but instead found herself coordinating this webinar series for more than wait for it 1200 participants over the course of the week and she did it with aplomb as she always does and with Petra our intrepid communications director Ken hollenius is the cine qua non of our virtual presence this week Ken and Petra worked tirelessly to make this week a success and to do do all and to allow us to plant the vita institute flag in the ether of the internet thanks as always to the balance of the greatest staffs in the history of staffs bargain Zurich Margaret cabinets Pete lab C Tracy Westlake and Hannah brown as I mentioned a few times earlier this week later this summer please join us for our event a virtual event entitled race is a life issue which will explore how the core Goods surround grounding a culture of life radical hospitality solidarity human dignity respect for the intrinsic equal value of every member of the the human family how these goods are generative of a commitment to fight racial discrimination in all of its forms and accompany our brothers and sisters who have suffered from racial discrimination and who are who continue their quest for genuine equality we will be hearing from five extremely distinguished and interesting african-american speakers in three women and two men including including Gloria Purvis radio personality Catholic radio personality Gloria Purvis NFL Super Bowl champion Benjamin Watson Harvard University lecturer in sociology Jacqueline rivers Louisiana State Senator Democrat Katrina Jackson who sponsored the legislation that's before the Supreme Court right now in Louisiana as well as Notre Dame Law School Zone Dean Marcus Cole this they will all engage in conversation and the conversation will be moderated by English professor and member of the de Nicola senators faculty Advisory Committee Ernest Morelle it's gonna be interesting thank you it's gonna be an extraordinary evening and we appreciate it very much we would appreciate it very much if you joined us finally friends please do visit our web page ethics center dot nd edu to stay up to date on the other activities and lectures until then thank you again for tuning in and please take care of yourself and take care of each other god bless you and good night from the DES Nikolas Center for Ethics altar at the Blessed mother's University Notre Dame

Channel: de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture ndethics

Views: 226

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: prolife, pro-life, abortion, dignity, catholic, pope francis, respect, hospitality

Id: lkm38YyON48

Length: 64min 24sec (3864 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 23 2020