4. THE THEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF THE VARIOUS CONCEPTS OF HUMAN DIGNITY IN
4.6. THE PRIMACY OF MORAL NORMS IN HUMAN DIGNITY DISCOURSES
emphasis on the fact that the progress of each person and the advancement of society hinges on good interrelationships with one another, thereby calling for the proper integral development of each individual person and society. It is therefore in this sense that the Council advocated the Church as the conscience of society. Gaudium et Spes represents a landing place for the many questions experienced in the twentieth century, gathering together, and making connections that shines the light of a Church’s presence in the world.878 Gaudium et Spes places the Church at the centre of all reality of human life. The Church, as the conscience of society, has something unique to offer in the process of achieving integral human development by saying;
“We must never lose sight of the fact the church’s objective is to evangelise and not to civilise.
If she criticises it is by means of evangelisation.” 879
From this quotation, the Council recognised that the Church, by virtue of the Gospel committed to her, proclaims the rights of the human person, acknowledges and greatly esteems the dynamic movements of today, by which these rights are everywhere fostered.880 Riccardi said that these movements must be penetrated by the spirit of the Gospel and protected against any kind of false autonomy.881 Surely it is no longer possible today to speak of the church without touching the pertinent questions that confront the human person.
Gaudium et Spes speaks volumes as far as the discourse is concerned and sets proper foundation and bases for theological discussion.
informs every human person, regardless of religious affiliation.883 Gaudium et Spes gives us an option of what would be called a common ground of understanding human realities of life.884 Gaudium et Spes in addressing the human condition, in this case the situation of the children with disabilities, engages several avenues in the process of articulating pertinent questions concerning human beings.885 Bushman’s commentary on Gaudium et Spes stated that the Council stressed the positive value of scientific research that leads to deeper knowledge of the human person.886 The values achieved through scientific research set before us a common ground as the starting point for researching the truth about human life.887 The human person, as expressed above endowed with reason and free will, has the capacity to venture into scientific research in the process of seeking answers for certain realities of life that put the mind of the person in a quandary. It is the human being’s capacity to reason and his free will that calls for responsibility on the side of the human person.888 According to Bushman, the human person is compelled by nature and is also bound by the moral obligation to seek the truth about the meaning and destiny of the human person.889 In all this activity, we then affirm what was stated previously that the human person is bound to follow his or her conscience guided by the social order as enshrined in the social doctrine in order to maintain the natural order of reality. Therefore, human reason and free will obliges the person to take into consideration the inner voice, i.e. the conscience, before he or she can undertake any decision to act. This is basically unique knowledge which ought to be assimilated, viable and applicable to every person, believers, and non-believers alike.
Gaudium et Spes provides us with this forum as a means of discovering our decisions and actions.890 When the mother is confronted with the birth of a child with disabilities, reason and free will, guided by conscience, ought to assist her in discovering the truth about the meaning and destiny of human life, particularly the life that is in a state of being challenged
883 Ibid.
884 Flannery, A., (2010), Commenting on Gaudium et Spes On Pastoral Constitution of the Church, (The Conciliar Document), Volume 1, New Dehli: Rekha Printers Pvt. Ltd, Article Nos.2 and 3. 794-795. It says, the world which the Council has in mind is the whole human family seen in the context of everything which envelops it, it is the world as the theatre of human history bearing the marks of its travail, its triumphs and failures, the world in which Christian vision has been created and is sustained by the love of its maker.
885 Ibid.
886 Bushman, D., (2008), Pope John Paul II and the Christ-Centered Anthropology of Gaudium et Spes, as presented in http://www.ignatiusinsight.com, Posted on 07/01/2014. 20:00 GMT.
887 Ibid.
888 Ibid.
889 Ibid.
890 Flannery, A., (2010), Commenting on Gaudium et Spes On Pastoral Constitution of the Church, (The Conciliar Document), Volume 1, New Dehli: Rekha Printers Pvt. Ltd, Article Nos.2 and 3. 794-795. And so, the Council as a witness and guide to the faith of the whole people of God, gathered together by Christ, can find no more eloquent expression of its solidarity and respectful affection for the whole human family to which it belongs than to enter dialogue with it about all these different problems.
physically and mentally. In the context of an infant born with physical and mental disabilities, human identity is seriously challenged in some circumstances and quarters of human existence as seen in the previous chapters, which also changes a person’s attitude towards the child. The situation of being in a state of being disabled thus far creates an atmosphere of uncertainty regarding the future of the child as such. Some people would wrestle within themselves on how they could best accept and nurse the child. It is a difficult process to come into terms with reality and it is one of the crucial realities of life that many families confronted with the birth of a child with disabilities might face. Gaudium et Spes affirmed the above, saying: Man, is the spirit within himself 891 When a family is confronted with the birth of a child with disabilities, it is bound to develop an internal family crisis. The unfortunate part is that, in most cases, people compromise the dictates of their conscience due to the gravity of psychological burden lying ahead of them. For example, some people would opt to use human freedom that compromises human responsibility or, when human science about the case under study, contribute to the loss of the sense of guilt.892 It is when the human person reaches this level that she finds no sense of remorse in abandoning, dumping or killing a child with severe disabilities. Gaudium et Spes stated that more harm comes to those who commit acts that are opposed to life and human dignity than to those who are victims of such acts.893 The general understanding is that the effects of our bad actions breed violence and a culture of death among those who engage themselves in such deplorable behaviour. It is from this point that we all come to terms with reality, whereby we acknowledge that it is our duty as moral agents to always do good and avoid evil. The constitution of the Church in the modern world invited all people of good will to be agents of morality, a morality that aims at doing good at all times and avoiding evil.894 It was from this context that Gaudium et Spes, introduced certain considerations of moral order that ought to be taken into account on any question over pressing issues that confront the human person in the modern world.895 Bushman added that, in the context of dilemmas facing the human beings and the achievement of moral order in the world, which is more human and more worthy of human dignity, the human person ought to learn to conduct himself as a
891 Gaudium et Spes, Art. No. 13.
892 Ibid.
893Ibid.
894 McCormic, R.A., (1986), Laborem Exercens and Social Morality, in Curran, C.E. and McCormick, R.A., (Eds), Readings in Moral Theology No. 5, Official Catholic Social Teaching, New York: Paulist Press, 219- 230.
895 Vatican II, (1965), Gaudium et Spes, A Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, in Neuner, J. and Dupuis, J., The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, Seventh Revised and Enlarged Edition, Bangalore: Theological Publications, 60.
moral agent.896 In concrete terms, the above statement would imply that we ought to be guided by the dictates of a well-informed conscience. It is therefore in making proper use of human reasoning and free will, guided by a well-informed conscience, that we can achieve the objective good. The present project places the primacy of moral norms highly for any human conduct and the ordering of all human action and human relationships. The primacy of moral norms in the various discourses on human dignity is indispensable if we are to achieve order in the world. It is the desire of every person that when he or she is born, in whatever state, desires inwardly to become fully human and alive. It is therefore unjust to simply deny any child the glorious opportunity of life. O God, my Father, don’t let me die without having really lived and really loved.897 Many innocent children, though confronted with lack of the most basic faculties of human life, share the above aspiration with all human beings to be fully human, to live and to be loved. On one occasion as cited, two men looked out through prison window bars, one saw mud and one saw stars. 898 The above idiomatic expression portrayed a picture that each of us perceives circumstances differently. In the pursuit of the fullness of human life, as Powel put it, everything depends in this frame of reference, the basic vision of life.899 The project makes use of Powell’s wisdom, saying that if we are to change, to grow into persons who are more fully human and more fully alive, we shall certainly have to become aware of our vision and patiently work at redressing its imbalances and eliminate its distortions.900
4.7. EVANGELIUM VITAE: THE DOMINANT PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN DIGNITY