“Poor and vulnerable people have a special place in Catholic social teaching. A basic moral test of a society is how its most vulnerable members are fairing. This is not a new insight; it is the lesson of the parable of the Last Judgment (see Mt 25).”
Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching
USCCB, 1991; n. 401-5
The premise of this article is two fold: (1) to examine the situation that exists with poverty in the United States and (2) to investigate the call to conversion by the Catholic Church in the context of social concern. This paper is organized into three major sections: poverty, the need for transformation, and the theory of conversion. This paper shows how a process of conversion will change society from a materially conscious and avaricious society to one that considers the needs of people that are less fortunate who still struggle to meet basic necessities, such as food, shelter and clothing. Catholic social teaching described in several documents published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Papal encyclicals, and Bible references are the basis for the argument to consider the needs of the poor. Bernard F. J. Lonergan’s theory of conversion is the model used to encourage intellectual, moral and religious conversions in our society.
POVERTY
Children suffer profoundly and disproportionately due to the poverty in their lives. Prolonged poverty produces in the oppressed a pattern of internalized oppression manifested in a fatalism that intensifies the cycle of poverty (O’Brien, 1994). Family income has quite substantial effects on child and adolescent well-being. Family income appears to be more strongly related to children’s ability and achievement than to their emotional outcomes (Brooks-Gunn, 1997). Poverty in the United States may not be as intense as it is in underdeveloped third-world countries, but it still affects a significant portion of the country. 12.4 percent in the United States, while not living in absolute deprivation, consistently fail to share in the minimal patterns of sociocultural life and survive in extreme alienation (O’Brien, p.770). A change in the way individuals live and the way corporations do business in necessary in order to serve the poor in the United States. This change could bring about a better society and in turn possibly affect the entire global community. Expectations of the Catholic Church are clearly defined: that the poor are a responsibility of all, especially to those who have been given more than enough to live. “From those who have received much, much will be required” (Lk 12:48). Basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter are still out of reach for some Americans; while other Americans live in luxury and have an excess of material goods. A balance of wealth is needed in this country in order to live in a world of justice.
It is a moral obligation to care for those in need. There is a long standing tradition that continues to be practiced by the Church today to stand for the rights of those people who have no voice, no power, and no ability to stand up for themselves. The Catholic Church has taken a clear position on outreach to the poor. In the National Conference of Catholic Bishop’s document Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching (1991), it is eloquently stated:
Our faith calls us to work for justice, to serve those in need, to pursue peace; and to defend the life, dignity, and rights of all our sisters and brothers. This is the call of Jesus, The challenge of the prophets, and the living tradition of the Church (p. 1).
The deeds that our faith calls us to are straight forward and well-defined. Unfortunately they are some of the most difficult actions to take. These actions require great courage, sacrifice and perseverance. The results of these actions have made significant changes in the world over several generations. Change does not come about easily, or quickly, and reality can revert back into negative trends if change is not reinforced over time, but there is proof that the Catholic Church has obtained results from holding fast to a call for change in injustice economic structures.
Some Startling Statistics
In recent years, about one in five (20%) of American children-some 12 to 14 million-have lived in families in which cash income failed to exceed official poverty thresholds (Brookes-Gunn). Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of families. The wealthiest 1% of households owns roughly 33.4% of the nation’s net worth, the top 10% of households owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of households owns less than 1% (Hill, 2007). These families pay the majority of income tax in the United States, but these taxes need be used to train the poor so that they can participate in this wealth. Would these families be willing to pay even more taxes if on a national and private business level, it enabled our poor children to attend a college, university or trade school? The unequal distribution of wealth only exacerbates the gap between prosperity and poverty and creates an economic structure in which a few have abundance and many others struggle to meet fundamental needs of existence. Through proper and consistent education of the problem, a conversion of mind and heart can begin to take place in America, in order to bridge the gap of poverty on a local, national and international level.
Pope John Paul II (1999) in his Apostolic Exhortation to America, The Church in America, notes the seriousness of neglecting the needs of the poor. The Pope states, it is a question not only alleviating the most serious and urgent needs through individual actions here and there, but of uncovering the roots of evil and proposing initiatives to make social, political and economic structures more just and fraternal (p. 34). Through a conversion of mind and heart, the mindset of the American people might be changed in order to think of brothers and sisters in need as a connected community in God’s plan that should live together in harmony. In the United States, many have been given much in terms of opportunity and wealth. Through a turning away of the fundamental value of hoarding material goods and a turning towards a life of giving to those in need, the United States could see a considerable change in the way people thrive in the economy and become part of the contribution to the entire country.
Shrinking the Wealth Gap
Systematic change is needed in the country if there is to be justice and charity for those in need. The level of inequality and fairness has risen to such incredible levels that it is attracting attention from unlikely sources. Ben Bernanke, Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, has called rising inequality “a concern in the American economy” (Hill, 2007, p. 1). Hill offers the first step toward fairness, a modest legislative solution to the problem of excessive executive pay. The Income Equity Act, first introduced in 1997, and most recently reintroduced in 2005, would amend the tax codes to deny corporations a tax deduction for payments of excessive compensation. Excessive compensation, according to Hill, is defined as pay that is greater than 25 times the pay of the lowest full-time worker in the company. Given the importance of the inequality issue, the broad popular support for restraint on executive compensation, and the savings to taxpayers that the Income Equity Act would bring, passage of this bill should be easy, Hill contends. An intellectual conversion of the situation would require a change in the mindset that there are some who are worthy of excess riches, while there are some that are not worthy of having basic needs met like food, shelter, and clothing. The disparity creates evils that are most evident in an ability to be resilient and successful in our society. A moral conversion would require that a change occur in the values of society to reflect concern for the poor. No longer would our society value a new car every two years, but a distribution of wealth and resources for the most needy. A religious conversion would associate God’s love and generous mercy to us as a call to act lovingly and merciful to those in need.
In 2003, according to the Census figures, about 1.3 million more Americans fell into “official” poverty. Moreover, the Congressional Budget Office report documented that America’s richest 1 percent will see over 70 times more tax savings than middle-income Americans (Swetlick, 2004, p. 22). Households in this elite top income one-tenth of 1 percent, a Tax Policy Center analysis reveals, saved $170,459 from the George W. Bush tax cuts in 2004. The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the “death of democracy”. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this type of wealth gap. The upcoming election says something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good (Keiller, 2004, p. 13). The death of democracy happens when a class of people is unable to meet certain standards of living, while others accumulate more and more wealth. Chief executives of America’s 500 biggest companies got a collective 38% pay raise last year, to $7.5 billion. That’s an average $15.2 million apiece. However, the average person receives a 4% raise (DeCarlo, 2007). Just wages and reasonable compensation for all people will shrink the wealth gap in the United States, but the mindset of our major corporations needs to change in order to influence the discrepancy in just wages. Corporations that donate their excess earnings to charitable organizations who concentrate on training struggling people would make a significant impact on our country.
Charity
Charitable donations could decrease the gap between the elite and the working poor. The five most generous states where those who reported incomes of $200,000 or more on their tax returns were Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Utah. These generous states gave an average of 1.1 percent of their assets to charity (Lipman, 2006, p. 43). What is the secret to inspiring the call to conversion and kindness from these states? According to Tim Stone (2006, p. 3), Executive Director of the New Tithing Group, it is a change of mindset from the community. “Unless there is a conscious culture of philanthropy in a community, people generally tend to give emotionally to charity. People who are quite affluent eyeball how much they can afford to give but they have a tendency to underestimate that.” The hope would be that contributions to people in need would increase if individuals with excess wealth realized the valuable change it could make in the lives of the poor.
Charitable giving would jump by 27.5-billion a year if every wealthy American donated the same rate as the most affluent people in the nation’s five most-generous states, according to a new study by a San Francisco charity. That amounts to a 15 percent gain in the amount individuals contribute annually (Lipman, p. 207).
A 15 percent gain in the amount individuals contribute annually would make a significant impact on our nation’s poverty. With a call to conversion, which needs to be spoken about again by the Catholic Church and by other denominations in our country, the increase could be as large as 20 percent or more, which could considerably shrink the gap between prosperity and those in need.
The Evolution of Change in the Church
The Catholic Church stands for social justice issues and is a model to other denominations around the world. The Church’s heritage began with the Old Testament and became solidified in the life of Jesus who chose poverty and solidarity with the poor over a life of affluence and power. In Peter Henriot’s book, Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret (1985), he discusses Papal reactions to the struggle of the working poor. He writes:
The Church’s social teaching in the modern period dates from 1891, when Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical letter, On the Condition of Labor (Rerum Novarum), spoke out against the inhuman conditions which were the normal plight of working people in industrial societies (p. 7).
According to Henriot, because of the principles which Pope Leo XIII set forth to guide the formation of a just society, this document has become known as the Magna Carta for a humane economic and social order. Henriot writes that in 1931, Pope Pius XI composed the next major social encyclical, The Reconstruction of the Social Order (Quadragesimo Anno). Writing in the midst of a severe, world-wide economic depression, Pius XI addressed the issue of social injustice and called for the reconstruction of the social order along the lines originally set forth by Leo XIII. He reaffirmed the right and the duty of the Church to address social issues.
Several documents, letters and messages have been issued by the Vatican over the last five decades on the obligation of the Church and the people of God to be mindful of the poor. One document Economic Justice for All (1986) calls for followers of Christ to avoid a tragic separation between faith and everyday life. The message addresses the fact that as Catholics, we are heirs of a long tradition of thought and action on the moral dimensions of economic activity. According to the message in Economic Justice for All, the life and words of Jesus and the teaching of his Church calls us to serve those in need and to work actively for social and economic justice (no. 16). The words of Jesus challenge us not only as believers but also as consumers, citizens, workers, and owners. In the parable of the Last Judgment, Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink…As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me” (Mt 25: 35-40). Clearly, Jesus encourages us to serve the less fortunate in the community. If this does not happen naturally, freely, or easily, then a reminder of the basic precepts of Christianity needs to be stated openly and directly, in order to bring about a change in the mindset of Americans.
Love in Action: Caring for the Less-Fortunate
Not until we have imagined with sensitivity the value of persons and what befits their well-being will we have reached the sort of experience that makes authentic moral living and moral reflection possible (Gula, 1989). The well-being of persons is sometimes as simple as providing for basic needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. There are people in our local, national and global community who still lack these basic needs, while there are people who are wealthy enough to afford second or third homes, several luxury cars, 3 million dollar yachts, and $30,000 wrist watches. However, if the wealth gap can be minimized throughout the world, it would probably change the face of the educational systems, the prison systems, and the welfare systems and make the world a more peaceful, and loving place. In Richard Gula’s book Reason Informed by Faith (1989) he states that by exploring the foundational experience of love, we discover not only what morality is but also what love is, since to be moral and to be loving imply one another. Gula goes on to state,
The capacity for love, that is, the ability to appreciate and respond to love in all forms, is the beginning of moral consciousness. Carol Gilligan’s studies of moral development have shown that authentic moral living is not possible until a person is capable of empathy. When empathy is born, care is born, and with it, morality. Morality explores the implications of the discovery and appreciation that someone other than one’s self is real and valuable (p. 14).
Without love and morality in the world, this earth would be a living hell. Individuals would only be concerned for themselves and their own well-being, and the slippery slope of where my needs and wants end could be infinite. Taken to an extreme, we would probably be living in the worst situation imaginable - worse than a third-world country, worse than a corrupt regime, and worse than a cast system. People would lose hope for improvements in their lives, and possibly take desperate actions in order to survive.
Inadequacies of Moral Relativism
According to the theory of moral relativism, the obligation to take care of the poor would be an individual decision. Social relativists look to what society approves in order to know what is morally right or wrong (Gula, 1989, p. 16). Society seems to approve of materialism, consumerism, hoarding of wealth and greed. Society also seems to judge those in need by labeling them as lazy, deserving of their status, and chemically dependent; therefore, unworthy of aid. If social relativism dictates the action that the United States takes toward the poor and hungry, those in need will probably fall more deeply into despair, crime, and those ways of living that people generally turn to when they have no other options.
Cultural Relativism suggests a simple test for determining what is right and what is wrong: all we need to do is ask whether the action is in line with the code of the society in question (Rachels, 2007, p.32). The society in question here is the United States, and this society’s moral code seems to be steeped in selfishness and arrogance.
Cultural Relativism holds, in effect, that societies are morally infallible—in other words, that the morals of a culture can never be wrong. But when we see that societies can and do endorse grave injustices, we see that societies, like their members, can be in need of moral improvement (Rachels, p.33).
The difficulty of Cultural Relativism is easy to comprehend. Society cannot be the judge of what is right or wrong, for it has a precedence of choosing those things that are self-serving and beneficial to only the elite and powerful. The poor and needy in this county have no power, political or otherwise, and will therefore fall into decline if left up to this culture’s code of “take care of oneself, first and foremost.” Cultural Relativism does not set forth an obligation to those who have more than their share of wealth and material goods to care for those who, through inherent human dignity, need concern and care.
The first dignity proper to human beings is the dignity that is theirs simply as living members of the human species, which God called into being when, in the beginning, he “created man in his own image…male and female he created them” (Gn 1:27). Every living human body, the one that comes to be when new human life is conceived, is a living word of God (May, p. 41).
Human beings by nature of the inherent dignity have the right to have basic human needs like shelter, clothing, and food. Locally, nationally, and globally, the United States struggles to recognize inherent human dignity and chooses to turn its back on those in need. Therefore, a call to conversion needs to take place in our churches, our schools, our political parties, and our institutions of higher learning, in order that the United States begin to change the course of Cultural Relativism.
Social Sin
The notion of social sin articulates how social structures can shape our existence for the worse. It describes the consequences of individual choices which form structures wherein people suffer various forms of oppression and exploitation (Gula, p. 116). The welfare system and the inability for the average family to pay for their basic necessities because of the inadequacy of minimum wage and the failure of the health care system in this country is a social sin. This country spends more money on prisons then it does on technical schools and training programs. We need to understand how to assist the poor not just to live but to be able to earn a living and hence maintain their dignity. This is a transformation from the “pride form” to the “Christ form” (Van Kaam, 1998). This is the call of the Christian community: to transform their lives from the selfishness that is inherent in human nature to the community-building life of respecting the human dignity of all people.
THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMATION
Transformation literally means “a change of form,” but the word can be used in many different ways to indicate many types of change (Baynham, 1993, p. 968). A transformation in the way Americans view their wealth and how it can be shared with those who are less fortunate would benefit this country.
Economies of countries can undergo a transformation from centrally controlled to market; nations can undergo a transformation in cultural attitudes; persons can undergo a transformation of character or clothing style or, more fundamentally, of consciousness (Baynham, p. 967).
Proposed in this paper is a transformation of economy from greed to a fair distribution of wealth; a transformation in social class attitudes, so that less judgment and more generosity is shown to people in need; and personal transformations from selfishness to thoughtfulness. The change that is denoted in this paper is one that should come from a variety of sources so that across the country there is a change of mindset towards the poor. This regeneration approach to the country does not begin or end with religious conversion and spiritual transformation; it should be introduced and integrated into all facets of community life and endeavors. The task of elementary, middle and high schools, universities, the media, government initiatives, churches, and the like is to develop an infrastructure providing a multi-faceted transformation in the way people deal with people in need.
Our personal transformation and that of our society and the world are not separate, privatized events but are rather closely linked. Our own transformative journey is also that of the whole of God’s people (Baynham, p. 968). The transformation of an individual is connected by its result to the rest of the community. The metaphysical link and quantum connectedness expresses itself in transformation.
As an act of the whole person, flowing from the center of the personality, faith does more than just provide the believer with more knowledge. It permeates the believer’s whole being as a person and influences the way in which the believer acts and lives. First, it transforms the individual believer. Second, faith transforms the believer’s relationship with others. Third, faith has the capacity to transform the world itself by transforming the structures of society (Baynham, p. 967).
The call to transformation of the individual by faith can lead to a change in the way they interact with others, and eventually how they interact with society. Transformation can be understood as the heart of conversion (Lonergan, 1972, p. 267). There are several theories and hypothesis of conversion, but one theory of conversion is central to Catholic theology and methodology.
THE THEORY OF CONVERSION
Canadian Jesuit, priest and theologian, Bernard J.F. Lonergan (1971) has a threefold theory of conversion: intellectual, moral, and religious. Lonergan observes, “As intellectual and moral conversion, so also religious conversion is a modality of self-transcendence” (p. 241). The theory contains intellectual, moral and religious conversion, which is used as a method to the process of metanoia, a turning from sin and the world, and epistrophe, which emphasizes more the visible characteristics of an external act (Walter, 1987, p. 233). Both terms signify a turning around of the whole person and a returning to the original relationship God intends to have with God’s people.
The transformation is to an authentic personhood or subjectivity, whose intellectual, moral, and religious constituents are explored with rigorous consistency and ever more comprehensive inclusiveness as he moves from an account of understanding to a position on judgment, then to an analysis of the constituents of responsible choice, and finally to a description of religious love (Lonergan, 1978; p. 225).
Lonergan explains conversion as a set of judgments and decisions that move the human person from an established horizon into a new horizon of knowing, valuing, and acting. Lonergan’s method of conversion may prove useful to establish a foundation for the need of the American culture to convert its thinking about local, national, and international hunger, in order to understand the crucial need to transcend its current way of living and reach out to others in need. The self-serving way of life that focuses on accumulating material possessions and not on sharing the gifts that have been given to the most fortunate, only perpetuates the devastating effects of poverty in the local and international community.
The call to conversion is one of the most important religious and moral themes found in both the Old Testament and New Testament (Walter, p. 234). Albeit conversion can be defined in a variety of ways and applied to a diverse range of events in an individual’s life, it seems characteristic of the experience is a radical change in a person’s existence. Conversion is a complex process of transformation involving various conscious operations of the human person. The phenomenon of transformation influences the person and cultural dynamics of being and acting within history. Conversion is connected to the mystery of grace operating within human transformation and the potentiality for persons and cultures to become a new creation (Fragomeni, 1993, p. 230). An argument can be made that in the United Sates culture there is dire need of conversion, in order to turn away from self-centeredness, and an avaricious existence toward an active compassionate movement for the less-fortunate.
Intellectual Conversion
Intellectual conversion is a radical clarification of and, consequently, the elimination of an exceedingly stubborn and misleading myth concerning reality, objectivity, and human knowledge (Lonergan, 1971, p. 238). Lonergan goes on to clarify that knowing is not just seeing; it is experiencing, understanding, judging, and believing. A radical change in the way a person thinks and perceives reality is marked by an intellectual conversion. A person no longer understands his objective reality the same way, and is therefore, irrevocably changed. Thus intellectual conversion allows the human person to differentiate various levels of meanings, to grasp the horizon of one’s own knowing and not to confuse sense perception with objectivity (Fragomeni, 1993, p. 234). If limited experiences keep viewpoints closed, then an expansive experience can influence the mindset of an entire culture. Therefore once a profound experience has exposed individuals to a new set of values and knowledge, a change can begin, not only individual understanding, but in communal actions as well.
Lonergan describes four successive levels of consciousness: experiencing, understanding, judging, and deciding. Through experience, there is only sensory data, but through understanding, there is the use of the intellect, and then there is reason that comes into play in making a sound judgment, and finally there are moral actions that result from an ability to decide right from wrong. Lonergan’s work is not only a theory about human desire, but it is an invitation to name our own desires, but to enhance our freedom to choose the good (Gregson, 1988 p. 32). In order to change a known reality, a person must experience a new reality, understand that new reality and change their judgments and beliefs about a situation. In order to change a sinful, selfish thought process when thinking about or working for justice, a person must have a firsthand experience of the poor and hungry in their community, an understanding of their reality, the desired effect by a community-led effort, and finally, the judgments and beliefs about the needy in their community must change from a judgmental, critical view, to an empathetic, compassionate view. The reality known is not just looked at; it is given in experience, organized and inferred by understanding, and then put forward by judgment and belief (Lonergan, 1971, p. 238).
There is a process that a person undergoes when a viewpoint is changed. It is usually a slow, deliberate process and it takes cognitive effort in a new dimension in order to change this old mind-set. To be liberated from a blunder, to discover the self-transcendence proper to the human process of coming to know, is to break often long-ingrained habits of thought and speech (Lonergan, 1971, p. 239). Since these habits of thought and speech are often long-ingrained, it usually takes years, if not an entire lifetime to change. When thinking about sharing wealth with others in need, this new notion probably requires repeated presentations before seriously considered. Teaching responsibility for those in need can start at a young age and continue through educational systems, church structures, political parties, and the media. Issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and environmental awareness have improved over the past three decades due to campaigns such as the one described here that would improve the American mindset about poverty.
Intellectual conversion is the awakening to the realization we will only discover what is true when we use our most personal human capacities, when we devote ourselves to experiencing, understanding, judging with all the resources available to us. Intellectual conversion implies that the world we live in – the personal, interpersonal, and social dimensions of our existence – is principally constituted not by sense data but by human understandings, judgments and decisions. The world we live in is affected by human meanings (Gregson, p.28).
The human meaning of poverty in the world affects communal harmony. The effect of compassionate giving could change educational systems, criminal systems, and welfare systems. Gregson provides further comments:
The nature and structure of progress is relatively easy to grasp. It is the cumulative effect of our personal and communal response to the imperatives of our consciousness: Be attentive; Be intelligent; Be reasonable; Be responsible. It is the cumulative effect of being true to ourselves. Its flourishing means that new understandings of experiences are discovered, new truths are verified, and new decisions which genuinely improve the situation are made. It is individuals and societies, healthy and growing, meeting problems and challenges and surmounting them (p. 28).
If Christians are to be attentive; be intelligent; be reasonable; be responsible, then concern for the poor can be applied to this formula. Being attentive to the needs of the poor, being intelligent about the way those needs are met, being reasonable about the generosity we show and finally, being responsible for those who are in need, especially for those who through no fault of their own are born into poverty, is crucial to a reorientation of thought and action. To recognize the implications of the method, which is our desire, is to undergo a change of perspective radical enough to be called a conversion, an intellectual conversion (Gregson, p. 29). A radical change in viewpoint can lead to different actions, more specifically, moral actions. Taking care of the poor in our community, our nation, and our world is a moral obligation. To ignore the needs of the poor because of our self-centeredness and greed is morally reprehensible.
Moral Conversion
Moral conversion changes the criterion of one’s decisions and choices from satisfactions to values (Lonergan, 1971, p. 240). The move from a change in the way we think to a change in the actions we take is an on-going process.
This radical dynamism of the human spirit that drives us to cognitive self-transcendence, to going beyond ourselves in affirming what is true, also thrusts us to going beyond ourselves in action. Practical reflection, then moves from a realm of fact into that of value when we deliberate about the goodness of a possible course of action (Conn, 1988, p. 22).
A radical change of values happens when a moral conversion occurs. Rather than living a disconnected life, a morally converted person chooses to be authentic. Opting for authenticity is a radical change in orientation (Conn, 1988). A person may fall short of moral perfection, but that person should continue to develop a pattern of practice that expresses the new internal values. Authenticity is a lifelong pursuit, but without that pursuit, life is shallow (p. 24).
The value of love is the very heart of the moral matter (Conn, 1986). When the value of love is lived out in our communal life, it is difficult to turn away from those in need. The great commandment (Mt 22:37-38) is a formal moral imperative. In Matthew’s version, the emphasis on the inseparability of the love of God and love of neighbor is the key to making love the right interpretation of the law and the prophets (Gula, 1989). When people live by the values of love of God and love of neighbor, certain actions naturally fall into place. There is a desire to authentically show God through words and deeds that life is a mode to imitate God. The foundation of Jesus’ ministry was to bring to good news to all people, especially the marginalized, the ostracized, and the poor. Jesus wanted people to know that the least of our brothers and sisters were to be the first in God’s kingdom. Jesus also wanted to express that life on earth should reflect life in heaven – putting the last, first for example. Jesus also gave a model for how to care for the poor: “Give to everyone who asks” (Mt 5:42); “Do not store up riches on earth” (Mt 6:19). Jesus proclaims these difficult statements because they transcend human nature and calls for a change of mind and heart for others in order to live as God intends – in love.
Moral conversion is the shifting of one’s criteria for decision-making from satisfaction of the self as a basis of choice to the discovery and pursuit of value. Moral conversion, therefore, allows the person to opt for the truly good. The morally converted person is able to perceive the inherent biases in the self, in culture, and in history, thus allowing for authentic decision-making (Fragomeni, p. 234).
Authentic decision-making allows a person to choose the morally good, rather than a morally disconnected choice. Moral disconnect happens when a person lives for themselves and exceeds the basic needs for themselves to a drastic measure. Rather than sharing the wealth with those less fortunate, a morally disconnected person hoards goods and purchases items that far exceed necessity. Luxury items and unnecessary items plague our society. The United States culture has a competitive standard with wealth that maintains, “nothing is ever good enough,” and “there needs to be more.” Perhaps the United States culture needs a deeper intellectual, moral and religious conversion when it comes to wealth distribution and recognizing the plight of the poor.
Religious Conversion
Religious conversion is being grasped by ultimate concern. It is other-worldly falling in love (Lonergan, 1971, p. 240). Religious conversion is falling in love unconditionally with God, leading to surrender to the transcendent, and a gracious being-in wholeness. God is the reason, through grace and the Holy Spirit, for a religious conversion. For Lonergan, God is part and parcel of human authenticity, because human authenticity requires constant self-transcendence or unfurling (p. 241). Unless a person is moving toward narrower capabilities, refusing to let lower levels of consciousness determine his or her meaning, that person is not living an authentically human life (Carmody, 1988). If it were not for the ability as humans to rise above our basic levels of instinct and selfishness, then we would be developmentally similar to animals. Animals have no understanding of God’s love and no understanding of how to live a life that connects once again with our Creator. Religious love gives a renovated outlook in terms of purpose in life and duty on earth (p. 57).
When we are moved by divine love, a faith-filled view of poor people in our society goes beyond mere economics and sociology, helping us to “know” that life below the poverty line is evil and destructive. As well, it helps us to “see” the victories that the human spirit may win even below the poverty line: the pot of geraniums on the slum window, the continuing toil that one’s children may have a better life (Carmody, p. 67).
God’s love transforms, once conversion takes place, to live in God’s image, to love others unconditionally, and to give generously of time, talents, and treasures. There is a resistance in judging others and encouragement to meet the needs of others.
Religious conversion is the turning-around that resets consciousness in terms of unrestricted love. When religious conversion occurs, the heart — the center — opens to embrace whatever is good, noble, true, and humanizing. When the love of God is unrestricted, fear and selfishness is lost and all is given to the glory of God. Acknowledgement of God’s unconditional love, mercy and compassion yields to a need to be compassionate and generous to others.
Religious conversion is a total being-in-love as the efficacious ground
of all self-transcendence, whether in pursuit of truth, or in the realization of human values, or in the orientation man adopts to the universe, its ground, and its goal (Lonergan, p. 241).
When a religious conversion occurs, the person surrenders to the notion that God loves them unconditionally and in turn, the person wants to serve God unconditionally. The person has a single-minded goal to put into action the love that binds God and the individual.
Because intellectual, moral, and religious conversions all have to do with self-transcendence, it is possible, when all three occur within a single consciousness, to conceive their relations in terms of a fuller realization within a richer context (Lonergan, 1971, p. 242). Prior knowledge is not destroyed; it is simply clarified in its proper framework. Information is carried forward into a new basis, so that the good or moral thing to do is made clear. If all three conversions take place, a person has a good chance of making value rich decisions in the proper perspective. When a full conversion occurs on all levels, it is a profound experience that changes a person to the core and allows the person the encouragement to put love in action. The United States Catholic Bishops (2002) remarks on conversion are powerful. The document, Go and Make Disciples, states:
This is crucial: we must be converted—and we must continue to be converted! We must let the Holy Spirit change our lives! We must respond to Jesus Christ. And we must be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who will continue to convert us as we follow Christ. If our faith is alive, it will be aroused again and again as we mature as disciples (p. 9).
The continual process of conversion is graced by the Holy Spirit in order that a relationship with Jesus Christ becomes more concrete. The ability to become more Christ-like takes constant effort. It is a challenging, yet fulfilling venture while working towards authenticity. Emotional and spiritual maturity takes place when there is a dedication to faith in action.
The Urgency of the Call to Conversion
Pope John Paul II (1999) requests an immediate call to conversion in American society in terms of initiatives on behalf of the elderly, the sick and the needy. In speaking of conversion, the New Testament uses the word metanoia, which means a change of heart and of mentality. The pope insists that it is not simply a matter of thinking differently in an intellectual sense, but revising the reasons behind ones actions in the light of the Gospel (John Paul II, p. 44). Pope John Paul II clarifies that conversion urges solidarity, because it makes us aware that whatever we do for others, especially for the poorest, we do for Christ himself. Conversion fosters a new life, in which there is no separation between faith and works in our daily response to the universal call to holiness. The pope poignantly remarks,
In order to speak of conversion, the gap between faith and life must be bridged. Where this gap exists, Christians are such only in name. To be true disciples of the Lord, believers must bear witness to their faith, and “witnesses testify not only with words, but also with their lives (p. 44).
In this life, conversion is a goal which is never fully attained: on the path which the disciple is called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, conversion is a lifelong task (p. 47). Although the Pope acknowledges that conversion is a life long process, he points out that conversion is incomplete if we are not aware of the demands of Christian life and if we do not strive to meet them. The Johannine text states, “If any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him” (1 John 3:17)? The change of mentality (metanoia) means striving to assimilate the values of the Gospel, which contradict the dominant tendencies of the world. In this society, attainment of wealth and material possessions seems to be a predominant value. It would take a drastic change of mentality to have individuals give away excess prosperity to those less fortunate.
Conversion, to which every person is called, leads to an acceptance of the new vision. This requires leaving behind our worldly way of thinking and acting, which so heavily conditions our behavior (John Paul II, p. 53). Pope John Paul II is optimistic in his belief that conversion of the wealthy can and should happen. The Catholic Church is a leader in promoting the idea that the mindset of the world needs to change in order to consider the needs of the poor as a priority.
Preferential Option for the Poor
Thinking of the poor as an important focus for an individual, country, or the church requires a shift of one’s thought process and actions. The Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez observes:
To make an option for the poor is to commit oneself to resisting the injustice, oppression, exploitation, and marginalization of people that permeate almost every aspect of public life. It is a transforming society into a place where human rights and the dignity of all are respected. This option, or choice, can be made by individuals or by communities or even by a whole church (Boff, p.755).
The concept of an option for the poor is a central element in the liberation theology that emerged in Latin America during the 1960s. Gustavo Gutierrez is generally recognized as the father figure of liberation theology.
Gutierrez played a key role in the Medellin Conference of 1968, where the Latin American bishops committed themselves to being in solidarity with the poor, to giving preference to the poorest and most needy sectors of society, and to arousing the consciousness of oppressed groups and helping them become agents of their own development (Boff, p.756).
Gutierrez set forth the idea of an option for the poor, but the decision to choose this option is still a very personal choice. A conversion of mind and heart needs to be made by the individual, who can then influence communities, but most importantly, the institutional Catholic Church, at every level, faces the challenge for making an option for the poor. The way in which this can be done is to have church leaders act on behalf of the church as a whole, and in a manner that shows that they have the backing of most of the membership of their churches (Gutierrez, pg. 759). An option for the poor makes the consideration of the poor a priority, which needs to be made in order to significantly change the face of poverty and its effects on the world.
CONCLUSION
Conversion may be intellectual, moral, or religious. While each of the three is connected with the other two, still each is a different type of event and has to be considered in itself before being related to the others (Lonergan, 1971, p. 238). An intellectual conversion is a change in the mindset of a person. A moral conversion is a change in the decision-making process of a person from satisfaction to values. A religious conversion is a complete falling-in-love with God and therefore a desire to act as God would want. All three conversions has to do with transcending basic selfish instincts and coming to a better understanding of the world as part of a loving community provided to us by God for the glory of God. Conversion is an on-going event, which takes a lifetime, but it ideally should bring us closer and closer to the people God intended for us to be: holy and righteous, and in a close relationship with God.
Individuals in the United States, especially those with excessive wealth, should go through an intellectual, moral, and religious conversion in order to put the needs of the poor foremost in their lives. Pope John Paul II calls for a conversion of the United States and he calls for the country to encounter the living Christ in order to create community and solidarity with the poor. The pope asks us to consider the way Christ acted towards the poor and advocated for the poor, and to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann (1977) maintains that conversion is a covenantal process. He states,
Conversion, as it is understood in the Bible, is an act of entering into covenant with a new covenant partner. This means coming under a new set of demands; conversely it also means entering into a different history, embracing a different memory, and living with different promises (p. 20).
The call for conversion in this paper is to ask that hardened hearts open to the possibility that if resources are shared with those in need, many evils of our world and society might be relieved. Our society, even our world can become a place of mutual love, respect, and concern. It will never be a utopia, or a Garden of Eden, but it can become better, rather than worse, which is the direction the world seems to be going under the current conditions.
If we are called to be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible, then we can apply these precepts to the way we interact with the less fortunate of the world. The ultimate basis of both transcendental and categorical precepts will be advertence to the difference between attention and inattention, intelligence and stupidity, reasonableness and unreasonableness, responsibility and irresponsibility (Lonergan, 1971, p. 53). If the connection between global poverty and terrorism is valid, then it would serve our country well to be generous to those in the rest of the world who struggle to meet basic needs of food, shelter, and education. It causes great strife, both nationally and internationally to have the unbalanced economic structure we have in place today. The structure as it stands now has a few excessively wealthy elite with power and influence and the desperately poor that get increasingly angry and resentful. The gap between the rich and the poor could be bridged in a logical, systematic way. The global community would reap the benefits of a societal conversion. The on-going process would bring about significant change in many areas of our world including hunger, housing, health care, education, and opportunity for a reasonable standard of living.
Fred Kammer, in his 1991 book, Doing Faithjustice, describes the way people can “stand with the poor” and he describes it in terms of an intellectual, moral and religious conversion. “Standing with the poor begins with and introduces us into a new way of seeing the world around us [intellectual conversion] (p. 147).” Second, Kammer describes the way to judge differently; “Seeing differently and knowing new things breeds a new consciousness, an awakening of insights into how society is organized and what its ways of organization have to do with the day-to-day life of poor person (p.149).” Third, Kammer describes a moral conversion, in which we act differently as a result of our desire to do the ultimate good: “The preferential option also means moving from personal contact, new insights, and judgments to action (p. 154). Finally, Kammer describes a religious conversion in terms of a realization that the love God has for us influences us to show love to others: “We are called to stand with them with the same love with which Christ Jesus reached out to the outcast and ostracized, to make the poor the horizon of consciousness against which we address questions of our personal lifestyle (p. 160).” Kammer then sums up his recommendation to stand with the poor in the same way this paper is designed to: “To create and nurture that mindset, it is important that every Christian be in regular contact, not with poor people, but with tangible persons living in poverty. Work in a soup kitchen; visit a nursing home; tutor in a G.E. D. or E.S.L. program; join a prison prayer group; volunteer at the local public hospital; or whatever keeps you in contact with Christ in the poor (p. 160).” Kammer points out the fact that we cannot turn our backs on the poor, avoid eye contact with the poor, and try to forget about the poor. We must face the issues of poverty in America head on and hope to make an impact in changing the way the poor are treated, or mistreated, in our society.
It would be prudent of the Catholic Church to lead this conversion of mind, heart, and action in relation to the poor. The people of God, the leadership and members of the Church, are a living example of the Gospels and should prioritize their lives after Jesus’ teachings.
In the U.S. Catholic bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter Economic Justice for All, the bishops acknowledge: “Jesus takes the side of those most in need physically and spiritually. The example of Jesus poses a number of challenges to the contemporary Church. It imposes a prophetic mandate to speak for those who have no one to speak for them, to be the defender of the defenseless, who in biblical terms are the poor” (no.52). This demands “moral priorities for the nation,” and this implies a shift in both ecclesial and political spirituality (Hellmann, 1993, p, 746).
It is a challenge to do without luxuries and share with those who are less fortunate, but unless this happens, we cannot say we are being true to the call of conversion. Let us follow in the footsteps of the leaders in the Catholic Church and shift the priorities of our lives.
The United States of Catholic Bishops state in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults that the financial scandals that periodically occur in our culture remind us that greed is a constant threat to moral behavior (p. 449). They also point out this biblical reference:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, not thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also your heart be. (Mt 6:19-21) (p. 449).
The words are simple, but the concept is more complex. A change of mind, heart and action needs to take place in order to change a value system. The USCCB go on to say that:
the way to authentic happiness and moral living is to detach your self from material goods and practice generosity. These values enable us to have a preferential love for the poor and to be witness of justice and peace in the world. They also enable us to adopt a simplicity of life that frees us from consumerism and helps us preserve God’s creation (p. 449).
The preferential love for the poor that the USCCB refers to is the shift that is needed in the conversion process that will significantly change the face of poverty in the world.
Tell a Friend
0 Responses to “A Call to Conversion”