by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace
The ancient philosopher Aristotle held that there is such a thing as “civic virtue.” Others have fleshed out this thought, specifying that civic virtue depends on the kind of political order one aspires to create. Pope John Paul II further declared that civic virtue is a “firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good…”
The best reflection on Catholic citizenship (civic virtue) in the United States today comes from Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego. It would be helpful to look up the cardinal’s entire essay on it in the June 2018* issue of Commonweal as a meditation for this July 4 holiday. His piece walks the fine line between articulating the Gospel imperatives in social virtue while not falling into partisan politics.
Pax Christi USA has practiced this dimension of Christian discipleship throughout its 50 years. It has exercised what is wonderfully called the “Catholic imagination,” bringing to the realities of our “American experiment” the wealth of Catholic Social Teaching.
An important aspect of “civic virtue” is loyal opposition to what is contrary to authentic human development in the life and policies of a nation. In fact, this opposition is obligatory to all conscientious citizens because every nation has policies and practices which militate against the common good and need to be called out. Loyal opposition is an act of genuine love for country.
That aspect of civic virtue is especially urgent as we celebrate the founding document of our country’s history, the storied Declaration of Independence. It articulates the noble experiment that is the United States of America and which was reaffirmed decades later by President Abraham Lincoln in his well-articulated epic Gettysburg Address: “[O]ur forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
As our country has developed and taken a dominant place in the family of nations, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence has largely become over-the-top self-congratulations of the United States’s exceptionalism, done with a significant militaristic tone. It totally fails to mention the list of unfinished objectives that were articulated in 1776 and are still before us today in various ways. This is where civic virtue calls for loyal opposition.
The unfinished agenda or even one might say, the deviations from that original vision are well known. Just a refresher:
- “…all men are created equal” (and women?)
- “They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (and the ongoing effects of Jim Crow laws and practices?)
- Statements like “the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions” (translated today for example into cruel immigration policies.)
Today our U.S./Catholic imagination must grapple with these faults in our national life. For example, the Declaration spoke about “truths that are self-evident.” Today our public discourse, particularly in modern social media, tends to deny that any truths are self-evident, and that truth itself is what the individual wants it to be.
The Declaration spoke against the tyranny of the British Empire. At the same time the U.S. has become the most powerful empire in human history with an unimaginable global economic, militaristic and political reach – and guilty of the same sins as other empires.
The Declaration condemned the British king for “keeping among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.” The United States has 750 military bases in 80 countries and colonies around the world.
This synodal moment in our Church gives movements like Pax Christi USA a new opportunity to exercise the “Catholic imagination.” The synodal vision brings to us the opportunity of joining with the People of God for what the Instrumentum Laboris calls Conversations in the Spirit: listening, sharing, making space for others and group discernment.
*Edited to correct the date of the Commonweal publication.
Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.
Thank you 🙏
Here is an attempt to apply the” Catholic Imagination” to Catholic Schools:
Catholic schools are too expensive for the poor.
Practically speaking, the Catholic Schools must give up general education in those countries where the State is providing it. The resources of the Church could then be focused on “Confraternity of Christian Doctrine” and other programs which can be kept open to the poor. These resources could then be used to help society become more human in solidarity with the poor. Remember, the Church managed without Catholic Schools for centuries. It can get along without them today. The essential factor from the Christian point of view is to cultivate enough Faith to act in the Gospel Tradition, namely, THE POOR GET PRIORITY. The rich and middle-class are welcome too. But the poor come first.
Instead of abandoning Catholic Schools in countries where taxpayers fund public schools, Catholics in the United States should work to use their tax money to fund Catholic Schools. Catholics in some U.S. states like Arizona have already been successful in directing their taxpayer dollars to fund Catholic schools. The governments of many highly developed and less developed countries around the world already fund Catholic and religious schools. These include countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Chile, England, Israel, India, Cameroon, Pakistan, Belgium, South Korea, Spain, Ireland, Côte d’Ivoire, Ireland, and Sweden.
In several European countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland, school choice is a constitutional right. Article 24 of the Belgian constitution, for example, provides “all pupils of school age have the right to moral or religious education at the Community’s expense.” Belgium enacted universal school choice in 1958 in what it termed the “School Pact”; school choice was seen as a way of avoiding strife between Catholic and Protestant schools.
Other European nations’ experiences with robust school choice refute the canards that are raised against vouchers in the United States. Some have argued, for example, that vouchers lead to balkanization and to the funding of extremist schools. This has not been the case in Europe. As Charles Glenn points out, “The Dutch example is particularly telling since there is a constitutional guarantee of freedom of the religious or philosophical character of schools…and two-thirds of pupils in the country attend nonpublic schools.
Chile has both municipal and private subsidized schools financed through vouchers. In South Korea, government funding of private schools has been present since the end of the Korean War. In Côte d’Ivoire subsidies are given to private schools per student enrollee. Students may attend school of their choice if they can make it over the entrance restrictions. Cameroon provides subsidies to faith-based private schools for accepting poor students. Bangladesh has a program which covers 80 percent of teacher salaries in private schools. Vouchers or various other financial support structures from the government appear to be widely available in and embraced by developing countries as a means of increasing enrollment at the bottom end of their socioeconomic ladders.
India, a country of over a billion people, supports private schools at taxpayer expense. As of 2012, private schools made up 21.2 percent of India’s schools, and more than one in four of these schools (5.16 percent of total schools) were publicly supported. India’s neighbor, Pakistan, also supports private schools.
There are two issues of Commonweal for the month of May 2018 and neither one has the article by Cardinal McElroy. The correct issue with the article is June 1, 2018.