Number six. The Sin-od goes full on pantheistic pagan.
From First Things
By Xavier Rynne II
“Guests” on Planet Earth?
At a gathering of like-minded scribes and media commentators shortly
after Synod-2019 began, one of our members flagged what seemed to him an
ominous shift in the language some Catholics use to describe humanity’s
relationship to the natural world. That shift is worth pondering,
because it illustrates some of the deep ideological currents that have
thus far shaped the conversation at the Special Synod on Amazonia.
To begin at the beginning: In the Book of Genesis, God the Creator
makes humanity in the divine image “to rule over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, over the wild cattle, and over all creeping
things that crawl along the ground,” and then instructs his human
creation to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the world and subdue it”
(Genesis 1:26–28). This divine command to “rule” over the natural order
is confirmed a few verses later, in Genesis 2:19–20, where God instructs
Adam to name every living creature. Humanity, in the biblical view, is
to bring order into the natural world and exercise dominion over it, and
thereby fulfill our common human destiny as creatures made in the
divine image and likeness.
In a genuine development of doctrine (which is always the deepening
of an original, revelation-based truth), the Catholic Church’s social
doctrine under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis has moved beyond the
language of “dominion” and spoken of humanity’s “stewardship” of
creation. In this image, our stance toward the natural world is that of a
steward toward an estate or a patrimony, which we are called upon to
develop but never to abuse. Humanity still retains its priority in the
created order, for we alone are made in the divine image and likeness.
But as “stewards” of creation, we must resist the temptation to despoil
the natural order for selfish purposes; our responsibilities extend to
the future, not just to the present, and our development and use of the
goods of the natural world must be ordered accordingly. This
“stewardship” imagery has been a useful corrective to Enlightenment
views of nature as mere material to be manipulated according to human
willfulness and is thus another important contribution of Catholic
social doctrine to putting the modern aspirations to freedom and
solidarity on a firmer foundation.
Now, however, something else is afoot. For at Synod-2019 (and
certainly in the Off-Broadway parallel synod being orchestrated here in
Rome by well-funded European non-governmental organizations) another set
of images has come to the fore. No longer does humanity hold dominion
over the natural world as that part of the divine creation charged with
bringing order out of primordial chaos; nor do human beings stand toward
creation as stewards of a planetary patrimony. Rather, we are “guests”
on Earth, which some commentators (prominent in currently powerful
Catholic circles) are referring to as “Sister/Mother Earth”—a locution
drawn less from Francis of Assisi than from that crossroads where the
extreme elements of global environmentalism intersect with radical
feminism.
More than one observer of Synod-2019 has noticed that a lot of the
conversation in Rome this month drinks more deeply from the wells of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Margaret Mead than from the living waters of
biblical revelation. The notion of human beings as “guests” on the earth
would seem to ratchet this unbiblical notion of benign nature way up,
and the equally unbiblical notion of a benign humanity way down,
however. For if we are “guests” on the Earth, and our “host” has a
certain moral (dare I say “metaphysical”?) priority over us, precisely
as “host,” then perhaps some of us—even most of us—are unwelcome guests.
And before too many more conceptual moves are made, we are into the
fever swamps of those radical environmentalists who seem to think of us
less as guests than as a pestilence, and certainly one that should be
limited and controlled by governmental fiat.
Those of this cast of mind not infrequently argue for draconian
measures of population control that will bring today’s world population
of some 7.7 billion down to a bit over 1 billion. How this could be
achieved without tyranny of a sort that would make the world of Orwell’s
1984 seem like the world of Christopher Robin and Winnie the
Pooh is not easy to imagine. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine, for it
could not be achieved otherwise. Yet this population-control mania
continues to infect national governments, international organizations,
and many of the great philanthropies, despite the fact that the direst
predictions of population controllers like Paul Ehrlich (who fifty years
ago confidently forecast billions of deaths-by-starvation on an
“overpopulated” planet) have been empirically disproven time and again.
As the parallel language of “Sister/Mother Earth” suggests, this
imagery of humanity as guests on Earth also lends itself to pantheism,
and to a virtual worship of the natural world that is incompatible with
biblical religion. Rather a lot of this—or at least simulacra of it with
a vague Christian overlay—has been on display before and throughout
Synod-2019, in venues ranging from the Vatican gardens behind St.
Peter’s Basilica to the venerable Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina, a
few hundred yards down the Via della Conciliazione from St. Peter’s
Square. Its relevance in a Catholic context is not self-evidently clear.
Inserting “guests of the Earth” ideology into Synod-2019 is thus
another example of the real “colonialism” at work in Rome this month:
the neo-colonialism of decadent Western preoccupations and passions
being imposed on the developing world in the name of the people of the
Amazon. One expects nothing better from the United Nations these days,
just as one sadly expects nonsense from the U.N. on human rights. But
for senior Catholic churchmen to adopt this “guest” imagery bespeaks
either a sorry lack of biblical literacy or the triumph of progressivist
ideology over revelation.
It must be hoped that, in the last week of Synod-2019, voices in
defense of the biblical view of the natural order and humanity’s
responsibility to care for and develop the natural world so that it
serves human flourishing come to the fore: for the sake of the
impoverished people of Amazonia, and for the integrity of Catholic
faith.
—George Weigel
The World Youth Alliance is an international network of young men
and women dedicated to promoting human dignity and building a global
culture of life. WYA founder and leader Anna Halpine is a native of
Canada, who took up her current vocation after confronting pro-“choice”
non-governmental organizations at the United Nations while she was doing
graduate studies in music in New York. The United Nations and similar
international organizations are constantly lobbied by non-governmental
organizations whose agendas have little to do with the culture of life,
and a lot to do with its antithesis. One day, more than two decades ago,
Ms. Halpine decided that these NGOs “aren’t speaking for me”—and with
some xeroxed flyers, started her work as a pro-life lobbyist in
international forums. Since that modest beginning, WYA has expanded to
become a potent, global educational organization with striking success
in a wide variety of cultural and economic settings.
WYA has been remarkably creative and successful in “translating” a
Catholic vision of the human person and Catholic social doctrine into a
grammar and vocabulary that can be engaged by those of other religious
traditions, not least in the developing world. Yet WYA’s leadership was
not invited to participate in the 2018 Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops on Youth, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, nor was WYA
invited to participate in this year’s synodal special assembly.
So in the spirit of “free discussion” applauded by the synod general secretariat, LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD-2019 asked Anna Halpine what WYA would say to the Special Synod on Amazonia, had she and her colleagues been invited to do so. [XR II]
WHAT THE WORLD YOUTH ALLIANCE WOULD SAY TO THE SPECIAL SYNOD ON AMAZONIA
Anna Halpine
When the World Youth Alliance (WYA) was founded twenty years ago, no
one could have predicted that it would grow to become a global coalition
of young people, linked by a common goal to defend the dignity of the
person. Today, WYA members located in 135 countries defend the dignity
of each human person from conception to natural death. While some
members maintain WYA’s advocacy presence at the United Nations and the
European Union, most members study together in order to have the
philosophical and policy tools with which to propose a robust defense of
the human person at home. In local chapters and contexts, universal
principles are studied and applied to local situations.
Violations of the dignity of the person abound in the twenty-first
century: human trafficking, forced migration, abortion, pornography,
violence. WYA’s trained members enable local responses that recognize
and respect the principle of subsidiarity and allow those involved to
engage topics and debates in culturally and linguistically appropriate
ways. This approach generates a powerful network of young people, who
speak with one voice in defending the human person and decry abuses as
they emerge at both the local and international level.
Distortions and false ideas of the human person lead inevitably to
cultural and ideological colonization. Women, children, and other
marginalized and vulnerable groups are often further exploited for
political ends. In particular, gender and sexual education can be
powerful tools for the promotion of ideology, since they shape the moral
imagination and provide a clear vision of what it is to be a human
person. Instead of gender ideology, formation rooted in a true
anthropology is needed today throughout the world.
Women, too, can be victims of ideological manipulation when false
narratives or the priorities of Big Pharma and Western drug companies
override concerns for education about a woman’s own body and health.
This is all too often the situation in many communities today—from the
Amazon to the most developed regions—since less than 3 percent of the
world’s women understand and know how their own bodies and their
fertility works. Educating women empowers them to understand their
dignity and worth and allows them to choose to manage their health and
fertility in ecologically sound and humanly ennobling ways.
World Youth Alliance has developed the Human Dignity Curriculum (HDC)
to provide a strong formation in human anthropology and values that
educates young people about their dignity and worth. Our partnership
with the women’s health program FEMM (Fertility Education and Medical
Management) links our young people to the latest in science and
evidence-based knowledge, which women and couples can access directly
through the free FEMM app, and a global network of health educators and
medical providers who provide support, diagnosis, and treatment when
needed.
The HDC begins at age four and continues through age fourteen. Each
year, the curriculum engages the following questions: Who am I? What am I
made for? To whom, or what, will I give my life? To help children think
about these questions, they first learn about the objective value of
each person (human dignity), and that the purpose of freedom is to act
in ways that respect their own dignity and that of others. Participants
explore the hierarchy of being and come to know the similarities and
differences between human beings, plants, and animals. Learning that
human beings have the unique ability to think and choose, they learn
that they can engage their moral responsibility wisely so that they
develop the habits that make for human excellence.
Children love the curriculum because they love being entrusted with
“big ideas.” One ten-year-old girl was astonished: Did adults really
think she could be excellent? When this was affirmed, a huge smile lit
up her face. A young Muslim girl (age eight) was able to compare and
contrast the HDC with her previous “values” curriculum: “In the old
curriculum we were told to be nice. In the HDC, we first learn about who
we are as a human person, and this makes us want to change the way we
act.” An eight-year-old boy in the Caribbean told us that knowing he had
the power to think and choose made him feel like he “could fly.” The
expansion of the human heart when encountering the truth about the human
person is transformative.
The HDC aims to deepen and ennoble the human personality by providing
answers to questions of human identity and meaning. A strong personal
identity is critical to human formation and a strong predictor of
healthy long-term friendships, accomplishments, and human development.
The integration of local culture and tradition enhances the transmission
of objective realities of the human person, such as our built-in
dignity and value. For this reason, local partnerships and inculturation
in the delivery of the content and program elements has been and will
remain critical to HDC’s development.
FEMM teaches women to understand the signs of hormonal changes in
their bodies and to understand the health and fertility information that
this indicates. FEMM teaches women the importance of hormonal health
for the functioning of every system in her body, from brain and healthy
bone development to mood, energy, and quality of life.
For too many women, genetic or externally caused hormonal imbalances
are simply suppressed through the provision of hormonal birth control.
Underlying causes and symptoms are not treated, and usually get worse
over time. Teaching women to understand their bodies, and the signs of
healthy hormonal activity (along with where and how to get help when
imbalances are identified) is critical to their own health and fertility
outcomes, and to a proper personal and community ecology.
FEMM responds to many of the challenges facing women and local
communities throughout the world. By instructing women and teenagers
online, and by providing additional support via email and free phone
apps, vulnerable populations that have traditionally been under-served
are reached. Similarly, FEMM is able to train trainers online or in
person, which also expands the possibility of reaching local leaders and
equipping and supporting them to work with women in their local and
regional contexts.
Many women are not provided with the information essential to
understanding the biological changes taking place in their bodies. As a
result, they do not know how to identify signs of health or
abnormalities; nor do they understand their fertility. Empowering women
to know how their bodies work, and teaching men to understand the
essential differences between the male and female bodies, has led, in
our experience, to increased respect between men and women.
Young men provided with education through a related program,
“teenMEN,” have told us that it has led them to greater respect for
women and a deeper understanding of ways in which they can better
support them. Young women report that “teenFEMM” helps them to make
better health and relationship decisions, which in turn assists them in
seeking health education and medical support when needed.
FEMM teaches women and families to respect the ecology of their
bodies. It helps individuals to make informed decisions about their own
health care, without relying on Big Pharma or invasive and harmful drug
interventions. Empowering and supporting individuals and couples to
understand their health integrates human ecology with environmental
ecology.
The HDC has been tested with street children in Mexico, in the slums
of Manila, and in the Caribbean islands. In Africa, FEMM is currently
being provided to urban university students as well as to women who have
been traumatized by Boko Haram. Within the United States, program
results for both HDC and FEMM are similar in the poorest sections of the
Bronx and among the wealthy in Manhattan.
Similar outcomes have been identified at many diverse implementation
sites. This confirms the universality of the anthropological truth about
each human person, as well as the science that informs both the HDC and
FEMM. Translation of content and approach is critical; but essential
questions about who we are and how we should live are universal.
FEMM and the HDC are exciting new programs that can provide important
support to women, children, and families in Amazonia. There, as in
other places around the world, individuals, families, and communities
struggle to understand how to live in ways that respect both the human
person and the surrounding environment. Tools to explore foundational
questions of identity and meaning can assist young people and families
to deepen their understanding of themselves, as well as their local
cultures and environments. Empowering men and women to understand and
manage their bodies without ideologically-based medical interventions
preserves essential interpersonal communication, and promotes a
deepening of individual and environmental-ecological awareness.
The FEMM app and program are already available for free in Spanish
and Portuguese; they can also be translated into other local languages.
The HDC is being translated into Spanish and can also be translated into
Portuguese and local Amazonian languages. This translation process
includes the inculturation of local traditions, history, and content,
ensuring that the exploration of what it is to be a person, respecting
the dignity of each and every person, can be communicated as clearly as
possible to each one.
Anna Halpine is the Founder of World Youth Alliance and the Chief Executive Officer of FEMM.
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