Core values at heart of Fidelity Month

By Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Large parts of eastern Oregon want a divorce.

Eleven rural counties east of the Cascade Mountains want to secede from the urbandominated western counties to form a state called Greater Idaho.

This is a dramatic example of division in America, but by no means the only one. Americans seem polarized over many things: race, religion, politics, economics, lifestyles, worldviews and more.

Is American society becoming unglued? Are we falling apart?

Not if professor Robert P. George and his friends have anything to say about it. George has begun a movement to inspire Americans to rededicate themselves to the core values that bind together and strengthen the nation.

He decided to pick the month of June to promote these core values and call it Fidelity Month. “Fidelity” means “faithfulness.”

George, a Catholic, is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University in New Jersey. He will begin his 39th year as an educator at Princeton this fall.

He’s an author of several books and magazine articles and has a long list of accomplishments and honors. George has been called one of the foremost philosophers and public intellectuals in the United States.

“Fidelity Month is a movement and an invitation to Americans of all faiths to rededicate ourselves to the core values that used to be sources of strength and unity in our pluralistic society,” said George. “These values are faith in God, faithful marriages and fidelity to family, and love of country and service to community.”

All the evidence indicates that Americans’ commitment to these values has significantly weakened over the past 10 years.

“I point to the most recent polling by the Wall Street Journal that shows that Americans’ belief in the importance of faith in God has declined, our belief in the importance of the family has declined, our belief in the importance of patriotism and love of country has declined. The only value that has seemed

A day of fasting and prayer

The Fidelity Month team is inviting all to join them in fasting and praying on June 30 in accordance with their religious traditions for an increase in fidelity to God, family and country. For more information, go online to: Fidelity month.com.

to have gone up significantly is people’s sense of the importance of money.”

George floated the idea three or four months ago, and the response from several people was enthusiastic. Soon, a core group of supporters developed to help George. A kick-off webinar to promote Fidelity Month was held on June 1.

“When I saw his proposal to establish June as Fidelity Month on Facebook, it resonated with me,” said Deacon Michael Forrest from the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts. “As a deacon, I hear from so many who are worried about the moral direction of the country and about the fractures that are becoming increasingly bitter and deep.

“The idea of initiating a positive movement to restore our common commitment to the importance of fidelity to God, spouse and family, and country and community — irrespective of one’s religion or political affiliations — struck me as just the medicine we need right now.”

This is truly a grassroots movement.

>> See “FIDELITY” on page 4