Humanist Philosophies Versus Catholic Doctrine

THE PRINCIPLE of humanism and of these personalist philosophies is to set up the human person as an absolute. It becomes the point of reference to everything else. These philosophers attribute therefore an unlimited human dignity to the human person, a dignity which nothing can alter nor diminish, a dignity which man did not receive but has per se by himself, a dignity which is the source of the value of all things. They do not say in what this "dignity" consists; they take it for granted. Such an attitude is that of Satan, an attitude of pride without measure.

The first consequence is that human actions take their value not from their object, but from the subject of these actions, i.e., from this human person, set up as an absolute. Actions are only considered as a projection and continuation of self. Thus according to them, all human acts are to be respected because of the human person who did them. In their view, therefore, not only is man free to think, to say, to do what he wants, but we must respect the thoughts and actions of our neighbor—whatever they are—be they abortions, thefts, or "gay" rights. Significantly enough, a group of "gays" calls itself "Dignity," and claims that their abominable actions have to be respected as all human action. False religions are also to be respected because of the human person of the worshippers, regardless of their moral codes and of the errors on God which abound in them.

The second consequence is the rejection of all authority, of all dogma, of all moral law. Indeed, if the human person is such an absolute and has a dignity independent of anyone else, then nothing can be imposed on man; no one can impose anything on man—not even God! "Man must be given the liberty to accept God or reject Him." "God must respect our Liberty." Satan would not say worse! All laws are regarded as restrictions of man's liberty, and so are evil (in their view). Thus the fewer laws there are, the better for the humanists. Each decision has to be left to each man (twentieth-century men are adults!), be they abortion, drugs, etc. State laws must be reduced to their minimum, and are considered by them as a "lesser evil." The ideal society for them would be one without laws, where each individual would be absolutely free to do what he wants.

The third consequence is the refusal of guilt. When there is an evident evil in a man, modern philosophies strive to excuse him, saying he was under pressure—social pressure, peer pressure, the pressure of his passions, etc. In the courts it can be seen that the rights of the innocent victims are forgotten and people worry about the rights of the criminal, excusing him, pitying him, and forgetting that precisely because of his crime, he lost his rights! See the heretics. Many people try to give them the excuse of "invincible ignorance." It is one thing not to judge the individual ("Judge not and thou shalt not be judged"), and quite another thing to excuse systematically. Heresy is one of the most grievous of sins! To be prudent and reserved in one's judgments is good; to excuse systematically is wrong.

The fourth consequence is a complete relativism. Since the human person is set up as an absolute, there being many human persons, it makes many little absolutes each independent from all the others. Each has the right to think what he wants, to say what he wants, to do what he wants. In short, each man makes his own truth and his own code of morals. Even God becomes, in these philosophies, a production of the human mind, an option of man. This is pure Modernism.

I have described the utmost of these proud philosophies. Not everyone is contaminated to the degree described but, unfortunately, very often many people are infected by some of these ideas. Even many Catholics are deceived. Let us now see the Catholic Truth, remedy for these errors.

COMMON  SENSE and the experience of all men shows that man received his life through his parents, and that he is born dependent upon his parents and upon many others (for food, clothes, protection, etc.). He knows nothing at his birth and has to spend long years learning. In one word, man is a creature. In this word you have both the human limits and the human greatness: man is created in the image of God.

Thus the human dignity is not an absolute; it is all relative to God as an image in the mirror is relative to the object. Whatever brightens this image increases human dignity; whatever darkens this image decreases human dignity. With original sin, and by each sin, man darkens this image of God in his soul. By his sins, the sinner loses his dignity and his rights; e.g., normally, a man if free to go where he wants, but the thief should be put in prison. By his theft, he lost his right of freedom.

But God the Father, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, deigned to send us a Savior to restore the Image of God in man and even to elevate it, to make of man a Child of God, a member of the Mystical Body of the only-begotten Son of God! "Agnosce, O Christiane, dignitatem tuam—O Catholic acknowledge thy dignity," exclaimed St. Leo the Great—not an independent and absolute dignity, but the dignity of an adoptive son of God, all relative to the Father. This is wonderfully expressed in the Mass: "O God, Who established the nature of man in wondrous dignity, and still more admirably restored it, grant that through the mystery of this water and wine, we may be made partakers of His Divinity, Who has condescended to become partaker of our humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy Son Our Lord." This dignity can be lost by sin. Indeed, St. Leo continues and says: "…et Divinae consors factus Naturae, noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversatione redire—…and made partaker of the Divine Nature, do not return in thy former vileness by a degenerate conduct."

This is true human dignity: that which man received from God the Father through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Ghost. This dignity is protected by humility and lost by pride, as St. Paul says: "What hast thou that thou hast not received? If thou hast received, why dost thou boast as if thou has not received it?" (I Cor. IV, 7).

Our actions take their value from their object, not from their subject. This is first of all true for the intelligence. When we were born, we knew nothing. We learned by receiving, through our senses, knowledge of reality. Our thoughts are true when they are conformed with this reality; they are untrue when they are not conformed with this reality. It is the object of these thoughts that give them their value. If I think that the moon is green, I am wrong because it is not true. I do not make my own truth; I can't make the moon red, green or white. It is what it is, and I must conform my thoughts to its reality. A given thing such as the moon is the same—whoever looks at it! Thus the truth is the same for all men and not relative at all.

One may object, saying: the thing may be the same, but the looks are different. I would answer: if two persons look at different parts of the same thing, then the part that the first looks at is not the part the other looks at, and, thus, it is normal that their looks be different, but inasmuch as they are looking at the same part, then their looks are not different.

Truth is the good of the intelligence. Error is the evil of the intelligence. Evil is the privation of a certain perfection which should be. Simple ignorance of something that we are not obliged to know is not evil (e.g., ignorance of the Chinese language). There are very many things that we do not know, and are not bound to know (e.g., the rings of Uranus!). Knowing the limits of our very knowledge is wisdom! Ignorance of something that we ought to know is an evil. But an error is always an evil, because our thoughts ought always to be in conformity with the reality. Whether an error comes from a rash judgment (drawing conclusions without enough reflection), or because one is deceived (but isn't it a certain imprudence to let oneself be deceived?), or because of a bad will (atheism often comes from the refusal of changing one's bad life), error is always an evil.

This objectivity, rule of our intelligence, is particularly important in religion. God is what He is, whatever man thinks of Him. He does not change, He is not made to our measure. Man has the duty to search for the truth about God and to adhere to it when known. No one has a "right" to hold errors about God; the Divine Honor is at stake. The Three Divine Persons, in Their infinite mercy, deigned to teach us the Eternal Truth; this is the Revelation. The dogmas of Faith are this treasure of the Divine Truth revealed to us, a ray of this Divine Light. "God who spoke…in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son…" After such a condescendence who is the man who can say, "I'm not obliged to believe"? Who is the man who can set himself up as judge of Divine Revelation by his "free examen" of Holy Scripture? Not even the Pope, whose duty is to keep the Deposit of Faith in its entirety and expose it faithfully. To refuse dogmas of faith offends God in a twofold manner:

Thus, Catholic philosophy is very realistic and far from subjectivism; priority is given to the object.

The same applies to morals. To steal is bad because the object stolen is not ours, whoever takes it. To lie is bad because the words pronounced do not reflect the thoughts, whoever says them. To pay one's debts is good because the object of it is due to our neighbor. To believe in God is good because it makes us adhere to the Divine Truth revealing Itself. And so on. Actions are good or bad because their objects (with their circumstances) are good or bad. The actions give value to the persons. Virtue makes a man good and vice makes him evil. It is by their actions that a saint, a hero in war, or a great scientist, have gained their value which is admired and honored by men. The moral law commands us to do some actions because they are good and virtuous. Usually they are good not only because they are commanded to us, but because their object in itself is good. Sometimes their object is indifferent and then they are good because commanded. This is so true that the Catholic Church says an order does not oblige if its object is bad. Good actions directed by Faith and moved by Charity are "steps" towards heaven. St. Gregory says one approaches God "gressibus amoris—by steps of love"—thus, by our actions.

Being very realistic, the good Catholic does not refuse to acknowledge his own guilt when he does something wrong. On the contrary, the Catholic knows that the only true remedy for his sins lies in a humble confession with true sorrow for his sins. In this confession the Precious Blood of Our Lord will wash away his sin by the Power of the Keys. The Catholic does not consider the exterior influences on him, such as social pressure, peer pressure, nor his own passions, as compelling to sin, but rather as a temptation to resist. The Catholic knows that he sins when he does not resist these temptations. Why such an attitude? Because the Catholic knows his true dignity: he is made for God, and thus he is above all these exterior influences. By refusing guilt, humanist philosophies destroy human dignity, reducing man to a machine which is moved without freedom by the strongest influence.

This comparison between the thoughts of the world and the thoughts of Catholics show that "he that exalteth himself shall be humbled and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted!" To acknowledge our condition of creature and our dependence upon God is the way to become adoptive children of God—dignity without comparison! This is particularly exemplified in the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother. "He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid….He that is Mighty hath done great things to me!" Those who are filled with themselves have no room for God. Those who are emptied of themselves can be filled with God!