What is the true mark of human accomplishment?

What is the true mark of human accomplishment? For some it is technological progress.  Humanity is served well by the many advances in science and technology.   Medicine and medical science have done much to improve health and longevity.  Technology has improved the quality of our lives immeasurably, making everything from housekeeping to manufacturing more efficient.  Biological science is unlocking the mysteries of our DNA and is on the cusp of eradicating even the most stubborn and debilitating diseases.  Astrophysicists are discovering the wonders of the universe that are too immense and strangely beautiful to comprehend.

With all these amazing advances, there comes a risk that technology becomes an end in itself.  There is a point at which we must ask if the use of these new capabilities crosses over the line of morality.  When medical science is used to take a life, rather than preserve it, are we becoming more or less human?  Four States now condone the use of physician-assisted suicide.  Is this an accomplishment or a diminishment in the dignity and value of human life?  When human embryos are created solely for medical research, or to harvest stem cells, are we raising up humanity, or treating these nascent human lives as commodities?  

Last week the world celebrated International Day of Happiness, established by the United Nations three years ago.  Apparently the idea is “to promote a more inclusive, equitable, and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and well-being of all people.”  The problem with this Utopian idea is that it smacks of socialism in which the elite, super-smart planners determine what everyone should believe, and how government will care for the masses.  And of course, the nitty-gritty details of how this is to be accomplished is where the rubber meets the road.  For example, can we make progress in reducing poverty by making abortion a basic civil right?  Do we improve equality by insisting that everyone recognize gay marriage, even though it violates the rights of children to be raised by both of their biological parents?  By forcing private citizens to violate their religious convictions are we promoting happiness, or increasing the polarization of beliefs? 

Is happiness advanced by attacking religion and forcing religious institutions to sacrifice their moral code on the altar of absolute human freedom?   This may sound a bit extreme, but in recent weeks the City Council of Washington D.C. voted unanimously to revoke a decades old ordinance that protects religious institutions from being forced to violate their beliefs.  This change must now be ratified by the U.S. Congress before going into effect.  Hopefully the Republican majority in the House will prevent this travesty before priests, ministers, and churches are forced to perform gay marriages, and Catholic Hospitals forced to perform abortions.   In San Francisco, Archbishop Cordileone has asked every Catholic school teacher to sign an agreement that they will teach and publicly live what the Catholic Church teaches.  However, the City Council and teachers’ union have filed lawsuits in an attempt to prevent the diocese from making this a requirement of employment.  The whole point of Catholic education is to impart Catholic beliefs. 

In his address on this subject last month, Archbishop Cordileone explained in detail what Catholic schools do, and why it is important to the students and to society at large.  His address was a primer in the importance to teaching virtue.  In it he argues that the true index of human accomplishment is growth in virtue.  Teaching virtues is hard work and it requires instructors to adhere to the settled teachings of the Catholic Church, and to model them in their lives.  This cannot be accomplished if teachers speak against the credos of the Church, or if they act publically in ways at odds with Church principles.   However, the increasingly intolerant Tolerance Police find the Archbishop’s stance intolerable.  Imagine demanding that a Democratic congressman must hire staffers who vehemently disagree with the Congressman’s party platform and agenda!

This very clear dichotomy between the beliefs of Church and State represent the front lines of the fight over religious freedom.  The stark contrast between the two views is emblematic of ‘the way of flesh’ and ‘the way of the Spirit.’  Here’s what St. John Paul II wrote in his beautiful encyclical, Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth):

“Those who ‘live by the flesh’ experience God’s law as a burden, and indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom.  On the other hand, those who are impelled by love and “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16), and those who desire to serve others, find in God’s law the fundamental and necessary way to practice love as something freely chosen and freely lived out.  Indeed they feel an interior urge… to live our moral life out in a way worthy of our sublime vocation as sons in the Son.”  (The Splendor of Truth – August 1993)

Subsequently, Pope Benedict XVI warned about ‘the dictatorship of relativism,’ a phrase he coined to warn about the increasingly strident demands of secular society.  Pope Benedict’s prediction has come to fruition as our own government now demands that religious convictions be set aside in the name of the god of absolute freedom.  Ironically the very people violating our religious freedom (the State) is demanding that we adhere to their doctrine of secular humanism.  Our government thinks it knows the best road to happiness, and it insists that we all comply or be punished.  But look where this pseudo-freedom has taken us.  If it leads to happiness, why is there so much human trafficking? Why are 20% or more of all adults taking anti-depressants?  Why has the poverty rate remained the same for the past 50 years, despite 50 million abortions, and trillions of dollars spent on anti-poverty programs?  Why has the national debt soared and the workforce participation rated plummeted? 

Perhaps the reason for so many failures is that our government has a mistaken notion about human achievement and happiness.  The answer lies in Sunday’s gospel, in the words of Jesus:  “Whoever loves his life will lose it.”  Human happiness does not lie in absolute freedom and release from moral law.  God’s law is a guide to leading a virtuous life.  It is the path to authentic freedom and the fullness of life.  It enhances our dignity and helps us become the healthy, happy, fully human persons that God intended us to be, not by loving ourselves, but by loving God and one another.  This is the true measure of human achievement.