Loras College – Fr.

Wathier – 12/9/19

Catholic Heritage Final Cumulative

Essay: Human Dignity, Holy Men and
Women of God, and Faith and Science
By: Darby Callahan

Darby J. Callahan
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Catholic Intellectual Tradition involves many different disciplines in academics. I will be

discussing three main points of Catholic Intellectual Tradition to show what I have learned in

Catholic Heritage. The three main points I have chosen are the importance of human dignity in

the Catholic faith, the Holy men and woman of God, and the importance of faith and the

sciences; reason and evolution.

Human Dignity within Catholic Intellectual Tradition

Human dignity is one of the most important values in the Catholic faith. Catholics must

protect life at all costs. Catholics must reject abortion including infanticide, euthanasia, and

death penalty. Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God or Imago Dei. It is

hard to defend life when living in a culture of death, but as Catholics, we must rise to our duty

and protect life in all stages. Society says that it is ok to kill in some cases. Society and the

Catholic faith should be one in the same. Our society use to say abortion was socially

unacceptable before Roe vs. Wade in 1973. What was once socially and morally unacceptable is

now socially acceptable and remains morally unacceptable. Morality is being diminished in this

country and overseas. As mentioned by Fr. Wathier in his Catholic Heritage lecture on human

dignity in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Imago Dei says that “what is given by God must

not be violated by humans” (Wathier). That quote cultivates what it means to be human. To be

human is to be the chosen ones by God. He chose humans to be the care taker of the world in

which He created. An example of how human dignity within Catholic Intellectual Tradition

affects other disciplines is politics. Now, it is a federal felony to abuse animals in the United

States of America but abortion and death penalty are still legally allowed to take place. God did

not intend for this to be the case. There should not be more protections for animals than

humans because God has a unique place in creation for humans that have a higher dignity.

Politics and science play important roles in how society views human dignity, but Catholic

Intellectual Tradition takes into account those two as well, so there should be no difference

between societal and religious views. Many popes write the role human dignity has in our world

as a whole, rather than just the Catholic faith.

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The first concern of human dignity in which the Church took a strong stance was

during the workers’ rights movement in which Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical, Rerum

Novarum. The encyclical was published in 1891. The workers’ rights movement came during a

time in which capitalism and industrialization were considered hardships for some people. This

gave a reason for a rise in socialism and communism as ideologies in society and politics. The

idea that the pope is writing about ideologies and policies goes along with this idea that

multiple disciplines come back to Catholic Social Teaching including history, which

industrialization and capitalism fall under history of the world economy. To tie this to Catholic

Intellectual Tradition, and the idea that humans are made in the image and likeness of God,

Linnane says in The Dignity of the Human Person, “To understand the person as the Imago Dei

indicates both God’s unique relationship with human kind as well as the potential for

individual, personal union with God” (Linnane 194). The quote by Linnane mentions the

theological fact that human beings have a unique place in the creation story in which we are to

take care of each other and all of creation.

The idea of human beings being above all species is mentioned in the biblical creation

story in which God said that man would have dominion over all creation.

The dignity of the person is also supported by the Catholic natural law tradition. This

tradition, which claims to be accessible by human reason alone and so is not dependent

upon special revelation, finds its classical statement in the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

For Aquinas, natural law suggests that human reason is capable of determining—by

reflection of individual and communal flourishing. (Linnane 194)

The idea that we have a natural law is given to us by God and known to us through our human

ability to reason. Such natural law would tell us to take care of each other. It would tell us why

we are called to abide by the Ten Commandments because each commandment can be tied

back to God and human love.

This human dignity ties to the four foundations of Catholic Intellectual Tradition;

historical, intellectual, cultural, and social. Human dignity is historical because humans have

been around for thousands of years with ancestors being around for even longer. Humans are
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the ones who do all of our historical research in which we learn knew species that once existed.

Without humans, the Church would not exist, but God gave humans dominion over the Earth,

so humans must protect that right to govern which goes to social and political dimensions. The

intellectual foundation or dimension is the idea that people can use research, knowledge, and

reason to advance Catholicism and morality to bring people closer to God, our creator. It is

through this dimension that people can use Catholic Intellectual Tradition in all academic

fields in one way or another. Cultural dimension consists of how different cultural

backgrounds may celebrate the faith in their own way. For example, Catholics in Mexico have a

deep devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe due to her appearances in the country that brought

people back to the faith after the reformation had taken place. This is an outstanding

foundation because it goes to show how universal our heritage as Catholics truly is. The social

dimension or foundation is the one that brings politics into the equation. The social

phenomenon of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition is one that many people may believe is the

only one. The Catholic Church is a universal Church in which practices the faith in an

individual and communal way. With all of these dimensions and foundations, people of the

faith should always remember to treat all humans with dignity that they deserve.

Holy Men and Women of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

There are many contributors to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Some of these men

and women are still living. Some are deceased and have become saints, other have not become

saints but may later. No matter their current standing in life, the following have contributed to

the Catholic Intellectual Tradition in some way; Mary Gordon, Jean Vanier, and Thomas

Aquinas.

Isabella Albano presented on Mary Gordon. Mary Gordon was an author in which the

context seemed to stem from Catholicism. “She does not like to be called a Catholic writer, but

her novels clearly have a Catholic context,” (Albano 11/26/19). Gordon is a Catholic writer, but

does not describe herself as such. She wrote many books including; Final Payments and The

Company of Women. She wanted to be a nun before she became a writer according to Albano.

She was a feminist and anti-war activist. Her contribution to Catholic Intellectual Tradition
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would include her activism in society and politics. She has been through some hardships such

as losing her father to heart failure in 1957. She was a writer professor at Duchess County

Community College in London as well. Through her writing and activism, she was able to bring

people to know the faith. She has been noted saying that being Catholic should not be a walk

in the park or easy; she said sometimes it makes her angry. Being human brings emotions and

people going to be angry and contemplate life because that is human emotion. The truth of God

is found throughout emotions if the person is actively seeking God and answers through faith

and reason, which is found in the third section of my Catholic Heritage essay.

Shae Slaven presented on the next holy man, Jean Vanier. Vanier contributed greatly to

the Catholic Intellectual Tradition such as joining Eau Vive, which is a spiritual and theological

formation for lay people according to Slaven. Dominican Thomas Philippe headed Eau Vive.

After working with Eau Vive, he assisted Fr. Thomas at the institution for men with intellectual

disabilities. He has witnessed their “cry for friendship” according to Slaven. He moved in with

Raphael and Philippe, who he met at the institution. He found the meaning of life in living in

community with the two men that he was influenced to found other homes. In the end, he

founded one-hundred fifty-four communities on five continents. He named these communities,

L’Arche that has expanded into the United States, including one in Clinton, IA. Jean Vanier

said, “Essentially, they wanted a friend. They were not very interested in my knowledge or

ability to do things, but rather they need my heart and my being” (Vanier, quote presented by

Slaven Nov. 26, 2019). He believed that the Catholic Intellectual Tradition was rooted in the

incarnation and is communal according to Slaven. Jean Vanier connects to the four

dimensions because his history lives on through each community that is still being ran today.

His communities are influence not only the men who live there but also the employees or

missionaries in which would be a better name for the people that help and work in each

community.

The third and final person in which needs to be mentioned is a holy man by the name of

St. Thomas Aquinas. Jake Nilles presented on Thomas Aquinas. Nilles presented that Aquinas

grew up in wealthy family. He was forced out of his hometown when the pope’s army came
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through and the family sided with the emperor who was at war with the pope’s army. He joined

the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in which his parents were not very supportive. He studied

under St. Albert the Great, which had a great impact on his contributions to the Catholic

Intellectual Tradition. He wrote Summa Theologica, which was meant to explain theology to

seminarians. He wrote Summa Contra Gentiles, which was against unbelievers. The structure

is a series of objections yet to be stated, a short counter-argument, the actual argument, and

finally individual replies to the preceding objections. The structure was according to Mr. Nilles’

presentation.

Through these holy men and women of God, the Catholic Church can see how to live

out the Church’s history, intellect, culture, and society in a multitude of ways. Mary Gordon,

Jean Vanier, and St. Thomas Aquinas are three very different people, but they all share in one

thing, and that is, they all contributed to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition in some way.

Catholics can be reminded by Gordon that even though Catholics may publicize their Catholic

identity in their fieldwork, by their deeds and works, they can show others how to be like

Christ just as she did in her books. She also can remind us what it means to be Catholic in a

nation full of politics that we must take a stand against war and injustices. Jean Vanier

reminds us what it means to take care of others and put others above ourselves. He did a great

job of following the two greatest commandments. Finally, St. Thomas Aquinas did a great job

teaching us theology and connecting it to everyday life.

Faith and Science: Reason and Evolution

Faith and science must go together according to the Catholic Heritage. Catholicism is

historical, intellectual, cultural, and social, and Catholics must remember that this involves

the sciences because without science, human beings cannot know how they were created. God

created everything, and this includes science. Two subareas that need to be discussed the most

in the Catholic Church today are faith and reason; and, faith and evolution

Studying faith and reason called philosophy meaning the study of thought. According to

Shanley, philosophy entered Christianity from the beginning because Christians had to

compete with the popular Greco-Roman world religions and beliefs of Stoicism.
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…the Christian message has had to contend with competing philosophical claims to

truth about the deepest questions of human life: what is human nature? What is

destiny? How does it achieve that destiny, what is right and wrong? What form ought

human community to take? Who or what is God? Underneath all of these questions lies

the most basic inquiry, posed to Pilate by Jesus: What is truth? (Shanley 65).

The prior quote sums up why philosophy is so important to the Catholic Church and its

heritage and intellectual tradition. What is truth? Through philosophy, truth is found through

God passed on by humans including the one fully divine, fully human, Jesus Christ, our Lord

and Savior. Without reason, humans would not be able to answer the hard questions such as

What is truth? Or, who is God? God gave humans philosophy in order that people may find

Him and the truth behind all of His creation. Faith can be found through truth and through

reasoning. Humans use the brain given to them by God in order to answer both basic and deep

philosophical questions, so that they may spread the Gospel, which is the truth directly from

God’s inspiration. The idea of faith and reason has always existed especially during that time

when Jesus asks Pilate, “What is truth?” The correct answer is Jesus Christ, God’s only Son

who came down from Heaven to save humanity, but without reason, humanity may still never

know the true meaning of truth and what faith truly is.

Faith and Evolution are crucial to the Catholic Heritage. The idea goes with intellectual

and historical because without being able to look at history, humanity would not know what

has taken place in the past. Scientists may not be religious, but they are still loved and given to

others by God. They were given the intellect to teach the rest of humanity what is wrong with

living a world full of changes in the atmosphere. Through changes to the Earth no matter how

they came about, extinctions take place, and new species are found in relation to other species.

The new species can be contributed to evolution. The early Church taught that humans could

not believe in evolution because it went against the biblical creation story, but that is no longer

the case. Throughout history, the Church has come to see the truth of how God created the

world over time while still being outside of time. Seven days can be interpreted in different
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ways; the most reasonable is that days in the eyes of God are not twenty-four hour periods, but

instead millions of years apart.

How can divine creation and human evolution be compatible? One might say that if God

created humanity, God did so through evolution. However, this merely begs the

question of how to envision the divine concurrence in the biological process. Underlying

this specific question is the more general of how God acts in an evolving world. What is

needed to respond appropriately is a metaphysical account of becoming that integrates

theological concepts with biological ones (Putz 315).

The quote poses a very valuable question, how can Christians use theology and biology to come

up with an answer to how was the world created by God through evolution. This one question

may seem hard to grasp an answer to, but people have been studying it for years. Then, if

through evolution humans were created, what relationship with God did human ancestors

have? Why did the early hominids go extinct? Putz also asks, “Why does biological evolution

with it much suffering? … How could an omnipotent, omniscient, and most of all

omnibenevolent God responsible for creation of humans through evolution let some of these

humans go exist?” (Putz 316). It is hard to imagine that God would allow such disease, pain,

and death just to provide diversity of life whether it is human or non-human life. In order that

evolution be taught under Church teaching, Pope Pius XII finally declared in his 1950

encyclical, Humanis generis that evolution is in accordance with the Catholic Church as long

as men experienced in both theology and evolutionary biology teach it. This would help clear

things up. The thing to remember that Fr. Wathier mentioned in his Catholic Heritage

discussion as a possible answer to the questions posed by Putz is that God could have been

shaping the way humanity is today through evolution. This is the most plausible answer that I

believe. The bible mentions that Adam and Eve were created from dust, which I believe they

were through evolution just as God shaped the way humanity is seen today with only one

species of humans. Extinction was and is an act by God. God started over numerous times

according to the bible when there was mass sinning, God gathered two of each species and put

them on a Ark and flooded the Earth. God wanted to one day shape humanity as it is seen
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today, and all history had to take place in order for that to be fulfilled. Pope Francis reminds us

in his address to the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, “In the Encyclical Laudato Si’ I stated

that “we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he

desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness” (53).

(Francis’ address 1). This quote reminds humanity that they were shaped by God and only God

may change or alter creation in which He does by evolution. Evolution should not be influenced

by human action. God saw the beauty in humanity and shaped humanity as such.

Catholic Intellectual Tradition involves many different disciplines in academics. The

three main points I have chosen are the importance of human dignity in the Catholic faith, the

Holy men and woman of God, and the importance of faith and the sciences; reason and

evolution. These three points place numerous roles in the Catholic Church, which connect to

history, intellect, culture, and society; therefore, they shall be remembered.