North of the Shire

There is a website/blog that calls itself First Things. I highly recommend it by the way, in particular for its serious treatment of the bigger issues that face us. But in this series of posts I would like to usurp the generic term “first things” because it is the only way to get at the current discussion underway in America in particular but in all of the western world to some extent. I am speaking of the discussion of socialism vs. capitalism, and in particular the Catholic perspective on the debate. I say “the” Catholic perspective in reference to Catholic teaching in the area of Revelation, faith, morals and social teaching and how we can apply them to the secular issue of the best form of government.

I am coming at this from a Catholic perspective. That is to say, the presumptions I make are those that any Catholic must, as a matter of faith, accept. There is much room for prudential judgment as to politics for a Catholic, no doubt, but I think that there is less room that some would have us believe. However, there is an intense debate in the Catholic world over this precise issue; that is, what system of economics and politics is more closely aligned with Catholic teaching. Of course this has very serious and practical ramifications for the average Catholic in the voting booth, as well as those in politics per se, and those whose calling it is to lead the faithful.

We can never come close to recognizing what system of government is the best for mankind unless we understand the nature of mankind himself. To do that we have to go back to the beginning, in the Book of Genesis, to the time when God breathed life into man. We can all recall the account of the sin of Adam and Eve and the change that occurred in the world as a result, particularly the change in man himself. This we call the Fall of Man, or original sin. Its effects we know as sin and death and even for the Christian, the lasting side-effect called concupiscence. For the Christian, baptism removes the guilt of that original sin but physical death still remains, as well as the capability to sin again and the susceptibility to temptation. This concupiscence is not absolute in the sense that we can overcome temptation, and we can live a holy life, but not without grace given from God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that we can have what we need to overcome sin in this life but it is always a matter of our own free will to ask for that grace, to seek God and desire to become closer to God.

But as a practical matter, we call our human nature “wounded” and although we are not happy to sin or see others in sin, we are also not surprised. And we know what it is that is necessary to be reconciled with God.

Now when we are speaking of first things we must also recognize the simple fact that, as free willed human beings, there are many who reject the reconciliation with God that is the entire point of the Christian faith. At any given time in history since Jesus Christ there are many unbelievers, even in those nations and territories who are nominally Christian and/or who have a Christian leader or Christian government. At some points in some nations it was not wise to promote or evangelize this disbelief and it is really the rise in the modern interpretation of the concept of separation of church and state that has facilitated the proselytization of unbelief.
But we must accept the fact, at least in this modern era, that the governance of a society at large, a nation, is not the same thing as the governance of the Church, precisely because the ideals and moral principles, dogmas and teachings of the Church are not all held in common in the larger society.

The Church is part of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. If we look at the Gospels closely, we find that Jesus was preaching the Kingdom. That was the good news, the gospel, that he brought to the world as God incarnate. His parables mostly were illustrations of the Kingdom. “The Kingdom of God is like…” We understand that as Catholics we are already part of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Those who have died and are being purged are part of the Kingdom and those who are in heaven are part of the Kingdom. It is already underway and when God decides that it is complete, that will be the end of the world. In Jesus’ absence here on earth his appointed prime minister who holds the keys of the Kingdom governs this temporal part of the Kingdom with the Bishops of each diocese. At the end of time, when the King returns, this governance will no longer be necessary. With the resurrection, all subjects of the King will be on the same mode of existence together with the King and the Kingdom will be complete. That is the eschaton, the final end and goal of all things.

Thus, wherever and whenever we are on earth as Catholics, we belong to a Kingdom that supersedes all other kingdoms and or governments. If we keep this firmly in mind as we discuss the politics of earthly nations and kingdoms, we can keep our wits about us and also keep our perspective. We will not then be so married to political ideology that we find ourselves jeopardizing our membership in the Kingdom of God. Moreover we will recognize that ultimately, even if we are unable to influence the political circumstances in which we live, we have that hope that despite what we suffer we will see the final completion of the Kingdom of God.

FIRST THINGS PART TWO