Denver Catholic

23 DENVER CATHOLIC | SEPTEMBER 22-OCTOBER 12, 2018 more that, in our age, he is with us and he desires a deep, deep cleansing of his Church. Which is why we need you. And me. And everyone who loves this Church. The Church needs us. We need to pray, and to humbly but persistently speak up. We need to do whatever we can to be the hands and feet of the Holy Spirit as he purifi es his Church. The good guys in the Church need us. I have worked in and around the Church my entire adult life. I have known lots of priests, and lots of bishops. I have run across a few bad apples in my day. But for every bad priest, I have known 50 good ones — wonderful, holy, devout, amazing, dedicated men. The same goes for bishops. We have heard awful reports of awful things from a handful of them. But we have been blessed with some wonderful men in the hierarchy as well. These faithful priests and bishops need us to stay, to support them as they minister to the people of God in these incredibly di‹ cult times. But even if the numbers were reversed — even if there were 50 problem priests for every good one, we would still need the Church. Because, regardless of the failings of her leaders, the Church is Christ's instrument to bring us the sacra- ments. The Eucharist is the bread of life. Christ was very clear, in John chapter 6, that we need that bread. And no matter how corrupt the priest whose hands consecrate the Host, that consecration still happens. The bread still becomes the Eucharist, our heavenly food. I'm not going to let some corrupt clergymen come between me and Christ's presence in the Eucharist. No way. Do you know what will purify the Church? We will. The grace of the Holy Spirit, working through holy men and women — lay and clergy — fully on fi re for God, will renew the Church that he promised not to abandon. Be one of those people. Turn your- self over even more fully to him, and allow him to work through you. If you leave, you're letting the corrupt and the predators win. You're abandoning Christ's Church to them. But it isn't their Church. It's his. It's ours. Let's take it back. Searching for wisdom in a confused world J ordan Peterson became an overnight celebrity with the success of his book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Random House, 2018). A viral interview from January of this year with Kathy Newman of England's Channel 4 News brought immediate attention to Peter- son's newly released book, which has sold over two million copies since its release. The interview proved emblematic of Peterson's popularity for attempting to retrieve common sense and to push back against the ideology overtaking our society. Why has Peterson proved to be so popular? A clinical psychologist, who teaches psychology at the Univer- sity of Toronto, Peterson addresses issues that people care about: fi nding meaning, relationships, parenting, and gender, to name a few. People are looking for a guide, they desire wisdom — knowing how to order and make sense of reality — and Peterson has o„ ered some needed insights. He tells his readers, "Don't underesti- mate the power of vision and direc- tion. These are irresistible forces, able to transform what might appear to be unconquerable obstacles into traversable pathways and expand- ing opportunities. Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Defi ne who you are. Refi ne your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being " (63). This quote illuminates both the allure of Peterson's writing, helping people to seek defi nition for their lives, but also its limits, as the defi nition of self he recommends lacks mooring. Writing from the viewpoint of secular psychology, Peterson can help us to refl ect, but his 12 Rules for Life can come across as sophisticated self-help devoid of deeper wisdom. He engages the Western tradition, including the Bible, and o„ ers a fresh, but ultimately unsatisfying, refl ection of the stories that defi ne our tradition. He does bring needed common sense, such as "stop doing what you know to be wrong," (which should not even need to be said) but fails to provide answers to the ultimate questions that defi ne meaning and identity (157). Greater depth and wisdom can be found in Leon Kass' Leading a Worthy Life: Finding Meaning in Modern Times (Encounter, 2017). Kass, a Jewish medical doctor and bioethicist, draws from his lengthy experience in science and teaching the Great Books at the University of Chicago to take us deeper into the human condition and point us toward a richer understand- ing of the human person — body, mind and soul. Kass, like Peterson, does not write from a religious perspective, but engages the same general themes and classic works, such as the Bible, though with a more convincing explanation of their meaning. Kass' book has four major sections, treating themes of love, human dig- nity, education and our higher aspira- tions. Kass guides us to reconsider the importance of the foundational goods of life — fi nding meaning in work and married life — as well as calling us to "the cultivation in each of us of the disposition actively to seek the truth and to make the truth our own" (256). We pursue this liberation by entering into the great tradition of Western thought, which provides an "education in and for thoughtfulness. It awakens, encourages, and renders habitual thoughtful refl ection about weighty human concerns, in quest of what is simply true and good" (ibid.). The thoughtfulness encouraged by Kass is needed more than ever to address the key concerns he raises: a collapse of courtship and marriage, biomedical challenges to the integ- rity of human nature, and a decline of citizenship. The fi rst two themes share a common source in the "the rejection of a teleological view of nature," which fi nds no intrinsic pur- pose in the human body or even life itself (54). Speaking of the threat of biotechnology and transhumanism, but in a way applicable to gender as well, he relates that "only if there is a human givenness that is also good and worth respecting — either as we fi nd it or as it could be perfected without ceasing to be itself — does the given serve as a positive guide for choosing what to alter and what to leave alone" (149). We must learn to appreciate and cultivate the good of our nature, rather than manipulating and con- trolling it to our own demise. The same is true of our nation, as Kass, drawing on Abraham Lincoln, points to the need for "enhancing reverence for the Constitution and its laws" (377), as we appreciate, preserve and advance the heritage of our country. Kass, drawing on his unique background, guides us through an integrated discovery of the good and points us toward the wisdom we need to live a worthy life. The Catholic Reader R. Jared Staudt, PhD, is a husband and father of six, the director of formation for the Archdiocese of Denver, a Benedictine oblate, prolifi c writer, and insatiable reader. DR. R. JARED STAUDT In the Sept. 8 edition, on page 20, the credits given for the photos were incorrectly written. The photos of Annunciation Heights and The Catholic Foundation Evening of Appreciation were taken by Nissa LaPoint of Catholic Chari- ties and should be credited to her. We apologize for the error. CORRECTION I'm not going to let some corrupt clergymen come between me and Christ's presence in the Eucharist. No way. MARY BETH BONACCI "

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