What Is a Christian Attitude?

Irish Jesuit Province

What Is a Christian Attitude?Source: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 68, No. 808 (Oct., 1940), pp. 550-553Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20514783 .

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550

What is a Christian Attitude ?

A GHRISTIAN attitude may be one of five things.: 1. It may be a truth of Christianity that is part of

the Revelation of the New Testament. What these truths are is known by Catholics from the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church. For Catholics there is never doubt about

what these truths arc-that is to say, there is never any doubt

about the objective content of Catholic faith. Although Catholics individually may be ignorant of all the details of tbis content of faith; they know that they can get, with infallible accuracy, all that they should know about these details. That is what is behind the Act of Faith as made by Catholics: " 0 my God, I most firmly believe all the sacred truths which Thy Holy Catholic Church believes and teachies, because Thou hast revealed them Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. " Here and now I am simply stating this belief of Catholics; I am not giving the arguments for this belief.

2. A Christian attitude may be described also as that assem

blage of laws and rules by which the Christian revelation is applied to the lives of believers. For Catholics this would be

contained in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church. In this law are contained all the rules and regulations by which the lives and conduct of the members of the Church are directed, so that the

teachings of Our Lord may be realised in every Catholic life. The Canon Law of the Church may be said to be the mechanism

by whidh the Catholic Church carries out the command of Christ " Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com

manded you ".



WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE ? 551

Now the attitudes briefly described in the two preceding para graphs are official attitudes of the Catholic Church. Such official

attitudes are not left to the private judgment of any Catholic or group of Catholics. Catholics can Ihave no doubt about the

fact that any attitude is or is not an official attitude because such a one is clearly and unmistakably made known in the authentic declarations by the Church.

3. Apart from the two auithentic attitudes which, in the Catholic teaching, may be called official Christian attitudes, there is another group of human activities that are applications of the principles of Catholic Faith to the life of Catholics, such applications beiing made by the authorities of the Church to suit particular circumstances. Perhaps the most outstanding example of these applications is the practice of the Catholic Church at the present time in the matter of Catholic Action. Catholic Action is the participation by the laity in the apostolic work of the hier

archy-this is the official description of Catholic Action. Please notice that Catholic Action is described as " participation ". Participation implies a two-sided activity; lience there can be no authentic Catholic Action withouit confirmation, or approval, or inaugturation, by the Bishop of the diocese in wh lich a particular phase of Catholic Action is organised or functions. It is the duty as well as the responsibilitv of the Bishop to determine the extent of Catholic Action in his diocese. This he nmay do either singly or irn concert with the other Bishops of the region or nation.

4. A fourth group of attitudes which, in Catholic practice, may be taken as representing the Catholic standpoint on problems of peace and war, as well as on culltural, national or international matters, would be the unanimouisly, or nearly unanimously held opinions, regarding the freedom or persecution of the Clhurch in certain countries, as in Russia, loland, Mexico,



552 THE IRISH MONTHLY

Germany, and in what was Loyalist Spain during the Spanish civil war. In the case of some of these disabilities and perse cutions the Catholic attitude was often more than a mere

majority Catholic opinion-it was a definite standpoint taken by the hierarchy, or by the Holy Father himself. I miight give as an example the Pastoral of the Spanish Bishops during that civil

war; and the Encyclical of the late Pope Pius XI, addressed to the Catholics of Germnany. There could be no doubt about the existence of a Catholic attitude in the instances referred to in

Spain and in CGermany.

5. Somletimes an opinion or pronouncement is called a

Catholic attitude when it is not a pronouncement of the Papacy or the hierarchy, but it is the opinion of a single Catholic or of a

group of Catholics. Such an opinion may be based on principles of Catholic faith or morals, but the deductions from those prin ciples are the deductions of the persons or group of persons. They rest entirely on the correctness of the processes of thought by

which the deductions are made. In such cases the pronounce ments made as a result of such deductions are the attitudes of

Catholics; they are not a Catholic attituide in any one of the four senses already explained. Of such unofficial attitudes we say that,

while they may represenit the opinions of Catholics, they are not official Catholic opinions. Let me give an example. In the present horrible world war there are millions of Catholics fighting on both sides. It is to be presumed that these millions are in good

faith, whether they are on the side of the Axis, or on the side of the Allies. Undoubtedly Catholics on both sides are convinced that they are fighting in a just war. Hlere you have twvo contra dictory opinions held by millions of Catholics; but these are not Catholic opinions. A similar opinion exists among the millions of non-Catholics on botth sides. The duty of the Catholic Church



WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE ? 553

is not to settle the question of justice between the two sides in

this war, though there is no doubt that the Holy See wouild gladly arbitrate between both sides if the belligerents would ask for

arbitration, as the Holy See has so frequently done in the couirse of history, and done successfully, too. The Holy See vindicates, explains, and urges the principles of justice and charity on all the

rulers of the world; it is the dtutv and responsibility of those

rulers to apply those principles in their critical misunderstand ings and differences. In commenting on these crises only the

other day the Holy Father said: " To find peace again men must learn again what Christ and

His Church Ihave preached for centuries: make the sacrifice of

one's aspirations and desires when they appear inconmpatible with the rights of others or with the collective interest." But the

Holy Father did not sit in judgment on the consciences of

Catholics on either side of the struggle. The Catholic Clhurch does not condemn those who are in good faith. The Chuirch has the mechanism of the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance, and in this tribunal the individual conscience is judged, instructed, corrected and disciplined, and aided by divine grace to correct its fatults and enlighten its ignoranee. Perhaps some of the failures of rulers arise from the failure to tap this source

of divine light and strength. This was evidently in the mind of the Pope when he said, on the occasion referred to above, that if

the peoples of the world wish to come ouit of the present crisis permanently, society must be rebuilt on less fragile foundations, that is to say, more in accordance with Clhristian morals the fundamental soulrce of any real civilisation.

-The Pilot.



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What Is a Christian Attitude?