Viewpoints

18 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

Bishop Robert Barron

Equity, diversity and inclusivity are crucial moral values but not absolute

In the wake of the French Revolution, the triplet of “liberty, equality, fraternity” emerged as a moral compass for the secular society. Something similar has happened today with “equity, diversity, inclusion.” For most pundits and social activists, at least in the West, these three values function as fundamental norms, self-evident moral truths of absolute value that ought to guide our behavior at both the personal and institutional level. But this cannot be right. For whatever plays that determining role must be good in itself, valuable in every and any circumstance, incapable of being positioned by a higher value. Neither equity, diversity nor inclusion enjoy these prerogatives, and this can be shown readily enough.

First, let us consider equity. Fostering equality is indeed a high moral value in the measure that all people are identical in dignity and are equally deserving of respect. This ethical intuition is embedded in the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” It is, accordingly, a moral imperative that all people be considered one and the same before the law and provided, as far as possible, parity of opportunity in the educational, economic and cultural spheres. But equity in all things? Absolutely not.

Many inequalities in human society – differences in intelligence, creativity, skill, courage, energy, etc. – are naturally given and could be eliminated only through a brutally imposed leveling out. And what follows from these natural inequalities is dramatic inequity in outcome: varying levels of attainment in all arenas of life. To be sure, some of these differences are the result of prejudice and injustice and, when this is the case, strenuous action should be taken to right the wrong. But a blanket imposition of equity in outcome across all of our society would result in a massive violation of justice and would be made possible only by the most totalitarian sort of political arrangement.

Now, let us look at diversity. Arguably the oldest problem in the history of philosophy is that of the one and the many – which is to say, how to think clearly about the relationship between unity and plurality at all levels of existence. I believe it is fair to say that, in the last 40 years or so, we have massively emphasized the “many” side of this matter, celebrating at every opportunity variety, difference and creativity, while tending to demonize unity as oppression.

God knows that the awful totalitarianisms of the 20th century provided ample evidence that unity carries a dark side. And multiformity in cultural expression, in personal style, in modes of thinking, in ethnicity, etc. is wonderful and enriching. So the cultivation of diversity is indeed a moral value. But is it an absolute value? Not at all – and a moment’s reflection makes this plain. When the many is onesidedly emphasized, we lose any sense of the values and practices that ought to unite us.

This is obvious in the stress today on the individual’s right to determine his or her own values and truths, even to the point of dictating one’s own gender and sexuality. This hyper-valorization of diversity effectively imprisons each of us on our own separate islands of self-regard and gives rise to constant bickering. We loudly demand that our decisions be respected and our stances tolerated, but the ties that bind us to one another are gone.

Finally, let us cast a glance at inclusivity. Of the three, this is probably the one most treasured in the secular culture of today. At all costs, we are told over and again, we should be inclusive. Once again, there is an obvious moral value to this stance. Every one of us has felt the sting of unjust exclusion, that sense of being on the wrong side of an arbitrary social divide, not permitted to belong to the “in” crowd. That entire classes of people, indeed entire races and ethnic groups, have suffered this indignity is beyond question. Hence the summons to include rather than to exclude, to build bridges rather than walls, is entirely understandable and morally laudable. Nevertheless, inclusion cannot be an absolute value and good.

When a person wants to be included, she wants to become part of a group or a society or an economy or a culture that has a particular form. For example, an immigrant who longs to be welcomed to America wants to participate in an altogether distinctive political society. When someone wants to be included in an Abraham Lincoln society, he seeks entry into a very circumscribed community. In other words, he or she desires to be included in a collectivity that is, at least to some degree, exclusive! Absolute or universal inclusivity is operationally a contradiction.

Perhaps this principle can be seen with greatest clarity in regard to the Church. On the one hand, the Church is meant to reach out to everyone – as is suggested symbolically by the sweeping Bernini colonnade outside St. Peter’s Basilica. Yet, at the same time, the Church is a very definite society, with strict rules, expectations and internal structures. By its nature, therefore, it excludes certain forms of thought and behavior. Cardinal Francis George was once asked whether all are welcome in the Church. He responded, “Yes, but on Christ’s terms, not their own.” There is a healthy and necessary tension between inclusion and exclusion in any rightly ordered community.

Having shown that none of the three great secular values are in fact of absolute value, are we left in a lurch, forced to accept a kind of moral relativism? No! The supreme value that positions every other value, the unsurpassable moral good in which all subordinate goods participate, can be clearly named. It is love, which is willing the good of the other as other, which indeed is the very nature and essence of God. Are equity, diversity and inclusivity valuable? Yes, precisely in the measure that they are expressions of love; no, in the measure that they stand athwart love. To grasp this is of crucial importance in the moral conversation that our society must have. catholicnewsherald.com | December 3, 2021

Jesuit Father John Michalowski

‘Behold, the Kingdom of God is among you’

When asked when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus responds, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21).

During my lifetime, I can remember four or so instances where fundamentalist preachers declared that the Kingdom of God would come in a particular year or in the near future. In the 1970s, there was the book “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” As the year 2000 approached, some warned that “Y2K” would mean the collapse of the power grid, the internet and the international banking system, chaos would result, and the Son of Man would come on the clouds of heaven. Of course, that never happened. One preacher even sent out a booklet saying that, although Jesus said, “But of the day or hour, no one knows; neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32), he was sure of the month and the year of the Second Coming. He, too, was wrong. Both the Seventhday Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses were founded on the prediction of Jesus’ imminent coming. And unfortunately, there are some fundamentalist Christians who are hoping for a war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran, for they believe that this will force Jesus Christ to come again and bring about a thousandyear kingdom.

What all of these get wrong is to see the Kingdom of God as a place, a political or national or international entity. As Scripture scholars have pointed out, it is better to translate the Greek as the Reign of God, rather than the Kingdom of God. In fact, this is what we pray for each time we pray the Our Father. We pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Where God’s will is lived out is where God’s kingdom has broken into the world. When Jesus says, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is among you,” He is speaking of Himself. Jesus lives out the Father’s will in obedience and shows us what the fullness of humanity is called to look like.

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus gives what I like to think of as His inaugural address in the synagogue in Nazareth. He reads from the prophet Isaiah: “‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’ … He said to them, ‘Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:18-19, 21). Jesus then goes out to begin His work of healing, of freeing the possessed, and restoring lepers to health and community. God’s will is one of mercy, healing, reconciliation, forgiveness and love. Each time we see this happening, we get a glimpse into what the fullness of God’s reign will look like in heaven.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). As a sign of who we are called to be as His disciples, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. “The greatest among you must be your servant.” Jesus goes on to speak of the vine and the branches. Will we allow ourselves to root more deeply into Christ and, through the Holy Spirit, bear much fruit? Will we open ourselves to allow Him to live in us, and we in Him?

If we do this, then the Kingdom of God will begin to break more fully into a hurting and hungry world. Then glad tidings will be brought to the poor, captives to consumerism and substances will begin to be freed, those blinded by envy, lust and anger will begin to see, and all will work together to create a world acceptable to the Lord. Then truly we can say, “The Reign of God is coming among you.”

Letter to the Editor

Say ‘yes’ to volunteering

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”

Many of us have heard this prayer before. But how often in daily life do we actually hear the Holy Spirit? We may think we are listening, but we get so caught up in our routines that we don’t even realize we have been touched by the Holy Spirit until someone points it out.

After reading the “Volunteer Voice” column in St. Mark Parish’s bulletin one Sunday, I realized I have been touched by the Holy Spirit – numerous times.

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us out of our comfort zone. It leads us to say “yes.”

I once heard that real volunteering is about doing what is needed, not what you want to do. I have certainly found that to be the case for me.

One Sunday while I was at St. John Neumann Church, it was announced that volunteers were needed for RAIN, the Regional Aids Interfaith Network. This wasn’t what I considered one of my “causes,” but people were needed, so I signed up. To this day, even though I have since moved away and attend a different parish, I am still friends with one of my teammates from RAIN.

Another example: One Sunday years ago at St. Mark Parish, one of the ushers asked me if I spoke English and would be willing to read at Mass, as they didn’t have an English lector for the bilingual liturgy. At first I said no, I would be too nervous. As I went to my seat, I realized I was reacting selfishly; a lector was needed, and I shouldn’t be concerned about being nervous. So I found the usher, volunteered that day and ended up doing readings on numerous Sundays after that.

Now the usher and I talk whenever we see each other at church. So not only did I have the honor of reading Holy Scripture, I made a new friend!

More recently, I joined the Eucharistic Ministry for the Homebound. I used to find the idea of aging a little intimidating. Since I started going to the local nursing home to bring the residents Holy Communion, I have discovered it is a beautiful (although sometimes difficult) stage on our life’s journey to the Father. And I have met some people with amazing life stories, including a woman who served in the French Resistance in World War II and who smuggled forged papers to help Jewish residents escape from the Nazis.

So the next time you hear volunteers are needed, sign up! Even if it isn’t a ministry you ever thought you’d be interested in or good at doing, you may surprise yourself. Listen to the Holy Spirit calling you.

DIANA PATULAK ROSS lives in Charlotte.

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