Editorial Fr Gavan Jennings

EDITORIAL P O S I T I O N P A P E R S

As I write, Dublin and Donegal are under a Level 3 lockdown and there is talk of other coun�es having to follow suit soon. While these lockdowns are not as severe as the complete lockdown of last Spring, there are factors which make this �me around feel a li�le worse: we’re heading into Winter, not Summer, the financial damage is beginning to show as is the emo�onal toll of half a year of already spent with COVID. Furthermore the buoyant na�onal esprit de corps has faded to be replaced with an esprit of complaints and recrimina�ons. Civic life is shadowed by a slightly dystopian atmosphere, created by those omnipresent signs demanding masks and hand-washing, the convoluted one-way systems in public spaces, the pedestrians nervously stepping off paths to avoid on-coming pedestrians, and those heated overreac�ons to poor unfortunates who forget to don their masks on entering shops. In a recent general audience, Pope Francis (con�nuing his catechesis on the Church’s social teaching) suggested that the principle of subsidiarity has been lacking in interna�onal efforts to tackle COVID. The principle of subsidiarity is the (much neglected) principle that States should minimise their direct interven�on in the life of a society where subsidiary social bodies – such as families, small businesses, voluntary organisa�ons, churches, trade unions – exist to carry out that same func�on. These social bodies, says Pope Francis, should not be side-lined: “When a project is launched that directly or indirectly touches certain social groups, these groups cannot be le� out from par�cipa�ng … Let everyone speak! And this is how the principle of subsidiarity works. We cannot leave out the par�cipa�on of the people; their wisdom; the wisdom of the humbler groups cannot be set aside” (General Audience, 23 Sept 2020).

A State which arrogates to itself all responsibili�es and all wisdom (as does the Nanny State) does not seek the input of subsidiary social reali�es, or hears their voices only with great reluctance. And where social par�cipa�on is side-lined by the State, the sense of solidarity amongst ci�zens will be damaged. Such a situa�on is quite detrimental when society is faced with a crisis such as the one we now face: In fact, there is no true solidarity without social par�cipa�on, without the contribu�on of intermediary bodies: families, associa�ons, coopera�ves, small businesses, and other expressions of society. Everyone needs to contribute, everyone. This type of par�cipa�on helps to prevent and to correct certain nega�ve aspects of globaliza�on and the ac�ons of States, just as it is happening regarding the healing of people affected by the “

pandemic (General Audience, 23 Sept 2020).

It seems that here in Ireland, for instance, it has not been an easy task for the Church to have its voice heard by government with regard to public policy around COVID. Ideally the opposite should be case: the State should be posi�vely drawing on the wisdom, experience and evident good will of an ins�tu�on such as the Catholic Church. Furthermore, we have seen here a heavy-handed response to health care professionals who call into ques�on the wisdom of the State’s COVID policies, as well as the derision poured on private individuals who have raised legi�mate ques�ons about the propor�onality of the measures being imposed on the country. That said, despite the shortcomings inherent in the autocra�c approach of States to the COVID crisis, ci�zens must act responsibly. In the words of the Holy Father: “To emerge be�er from a crisis

like the current one, which is a health crisis and is, at the same �me, a social, poli�cal and economic crisis, every one of us is called to assume responsibility for our own part, that is, to share the responsibility” (General Audience, 23 Sept 2020). Each of us, faced with this ongoing crisis, must respond with resilience, imagina�on and op�mism. Resilience is the a�tude of the person who rejects sterile lamenta�on but rises to the challenges presented by COVID. Imagina�on is needed to find crea�ve solu�ons to the many new problems COVID has brought in its wake. This approach is exemplified in a recent news report concerning a Brazilian born chef – Giselle Makinde –who has taken to collec�ng surplus fruit from local Irish growers and suppliers whose sales have been hit by closures of cafes and restaurants impacted by Covid-19. She is turning this fruit into ice-cream, giving a new twist to the “make lemonade from lemons” adage. And finally op�mism – of the supernatural not the facile kind – allows us to see the loving hand of God behind all the events of our lives. Seen this way, all the real – o�en exhaus�ng – trials brought on by the COVID pandemic are ul�mately viewed as blessings in disguise, some�mes in heavy disguise, but blessings nonetheless.

Fr Gavan Jennings, Editor

Fr Gavan Jennings is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature and the editor of Posi�on Papers.