Catholic Church, indispensable
Pope Benedict ’s visit prompted Michael Gerson of the Washington Post (StarTribune, 4/23/08) to note that the Catholic Church has endured attacks from without and within, and has "remained an indispensable institution for several reasons." First, it defends reason against the "dictatorship of relativism". The Church affirms that human reason can arrive at objective truths and that humanity is not served well by the belief that subjectivity alone, that is, a kind of "whateverism" –that everyone’s personal belief is absolutely true.
Second, the Church defends human dignity against secularism. Here, Gerson quotes John Paul II. Noting the dangers of the materialistic view, John Paul wrote: "The criterion of personal dignity is replaced by the criterion of efficiency, functionality and usefulness: others are considered not for what they ‘are’ but for what they ‘have, do and produce’. This is the supremacy of the strong over the weak." Catholicism, writes Gerson, is the main defender of human dignity and has applied this high view of humanity with remarkable consistency –to the unborn and the elderly, the immigrant and the disabled. The author continues: "An institution accused of superstituion is now the world’s most steadfast defender of rationality and human rights. It has not always lived up to its own standards, but where would those standards come from without it?" Every institution is flawed, being made up of human beings. But the Cathoolic Church remains a rare vessel entrusted with an exceptional wisdom born from suffering and experience that might just save humanity from itself.