ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

I am very grateful to Dr. Bernard J. Prusak, Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies here at Villanova University, for the invitation to be part of the Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of Gaudium et Spes. This Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, promulgated on December 7, 1965, the last day of the Second Vatican Council was indeed a great gift of the Council to the Church and to the world. And tonight I would add: it was a special gift to Catholic higher education. This is so, I believe, because so much of the content of Gaudium et Spes is linked to the aims of Catholic higher education and to what Catholic Universities are meant to be about. Tonight, therefore, I would like to present Gaudium et Spes in its relevance to Catholic higher education.

So much of the flavor of this document is already present in the first sentence which reads: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, are also the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”

This is a very lofty vision which, while expressing the outreach of the Church to the world, also can suggest the power of Catholic higher education to have a bearing on whatever intimately affects humanity. It shows to what degree the Council envisioned solidarity with all people. In this document the Church was proposing to speak to the world and to all humanity. She was proposing to tell the world how she conceives her own presence and activity in the midst of the world. At the same time the Church spelled out so much of what Catholic higher education can so appropriately reflect upon, aspire to and help bring about.

What is immediately apparent in the document is the continuity of its teaching. Much of its social content echoes the teaching of Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII and John XXIII, especially the latter’s famous encyclicals Mater et Magistra and Pacem In Terris. It is worth noting that the teaching of Gaudium et Spes was so vigorously proclaimed and applied by Pope John Paul II during all the years of his pontificate. The document proposed to speak to all people in order to shed light on what it called the mystery of man. It was all about the human person, the individual, the community, the entire human family. It was concerned in cooperating to find true and just responses to the enormous challenges of our time, to the outstanding needs of our brothers and sisters. Is not Catholic higher education and all university life deeply involved in this?

It is useful to recall the document’s two main divisions. Part I: The Church and Man’s Calling. Part II: Some More Urgent Questions.

A general glance at the outline confirms an affinity with themes of Catholic higher education. The four chapters of Part I show this: 1) the dignity of the human person 2) the community of mankind 3) human activity throughout the world and 4) the mission of the Church in the modern world.

The same can be said of the five urgent questions treated in Part II: 1) the dignity of marriage and the family 2) the proper development of culture 3) socio-economic life 4) the life of the political community and 5) the promotion of peace and the community of peoples.

The first important question treated in the document is the dignity of the human person. This is basic to everything else in the document, everything else in the Church and in university life. This is presumed in everything that follows. Vatican II sees this dignity of the human person as being linked to the fact that the human person is created by God, redeemed by Christ and called to communion with God for all eternity. This was one of the favorite themes of John Paul II for the twenty-six and a half years of his pontificate. He was constantly inspired by this conciliar vision. In season and out of season, he proclaimed the dignity of the human person.

Linked to the dignity of the human person, however, are the ever relevant questions of conscience and human freedom. Gaudium et Spes describes conscience, saying: “In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which he is bound to obey. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience can when necessary speak to his heart more specifically: Do this. Shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God. To obey it is the very dignity of man. According to it he will be judged” (no. 16). If obedience to conscience is part of human dignity, then reflecting on it must touch the realm of Catholic universities.

Intimately linked to the theme of conscience is that of freedom. The Council insists that the dignity of the human being demands that he or she act according to a knowing and free choice, which excludes “new forms of social and psychological slavery” (no. 4). In effect, God wanted the human being to be able to say no precisely so that his or her yes would be authentic and meritorious. The dignity of the human person demands that he act according to a knowing and free choice. Gaudium et Spes recognizes authentic freedom as “an exceptional sign of the divine image within man” (no. 80).

Two other themes that vex the human spirit are likewise considered in this first chapter that concentrates on the human person: the question of death with its perennial mystery and the issue of atheism. The Council asserts that atheism must be counted among the more serious problems of this age and is deserving of closer examination. A key statement is found in no. 22 as Gaudium et Spes relates its Christology to the human being with this bold assertion: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on life.” It gives a reason for this statement, adding: “By his Incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being”

The vision of human dignity presented in chapter one is enlarged in chapter two to take into account the community of mankind, which is the family of God. Here the Council’s insights are deep and ever relevant. It says: “One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing interdependence of people on each other, a development very largely promoted by modern technological advancements” (no. 23). It goes on to explain, however, that authentic dialogue among people does not reach its perfection on the level of technical progress but on the deeper level of interpersonal relationships. Here the Council is emphasizing the communitarian nature of the vocation of human beings as one family. It is speaking of the interdependence of individuals and society, with the goal of all social institutions remaining the human person. Human interdependence grows more tightly and the notion of the common good takes on an increasingly universal complexion involving rights and duties with respect to the whole human race. This interdependence and common good speak to us of the whole notion of universal solidarity.

Later on in Gaudium et Spes we will find a remarkable text about the truth of our identity as human beings. It states: “We are witnesses of the birth of a new humanism, one in which man is defined first of all by his responsibility to his brothers and sisters and toward history” (no.55). I submit that the birth of a new humanism is very much connected, whenever it occurs, with the activities of Catholic universities, and that the “new humanism” of Vatican II—the humanism of solidarity, indeed of being defined in relationship to others, must be an evangelical guiding light for the orientation of all Catholic higher education. What great dignity, what great responsibility, what a great mission is entrusted to the human person! And what service the university can fulfill in being a herald of this “new humanism”!

In 1987, in continuity with Gaudium et Spes, Pope John Paul II amply developed the theme of solidarity and the act proper to it, which is collaboration, in his encyclical letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. Included in Gaudium et Spes there had also been a splendid treatment of reverence for the human person. This emphasis by Vatican II was subsequently developed magnificently by John Paul II in his encyclical the Gospel of Life and in many other documents. Meanwhile, Gaudium et Spes had given us a summary of what is opposed to this human dignity. It says: “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self destruction; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as mere tools for profit rather than as free and responsible persons; all of this and the like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator” (no. 27).

It was also to be expected that in speaking about human dignity and the essential equality of people the Council would reject “every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language, or religion” (no. 29). Certainly every Catholic university must in every way possible bear evangelical witness to this essential equality.

The Council complained that fundamental personal rights are not yet universally honored as in “the case of a woman who is denied the right and freedom to choose a husband, to embrace a state of life or to acquire an education or cultural benefits equal to those recognized for men” (ibid.).

Vatican II spoke intriguingly (cf. Part I, chapter 3) about the Church’s religious and moral principles that derive from the heritage of God’s word, but which do not always have at hand the solution to particular problems. Gaudium et Spes admits clearly that it does not offer ready-made solutions to the many problems of the world, but rather sees the Gospel as the guide and source of principles that will respond to the issues of the modern world (cf. no. 33). In this way the Church scrutinizes the signs of the times, interpreting them in the light of the Gospel (cf. no. 4). Surely Catholic universities are called to do the same, striving to respond to perennial questions, without at the same time having simplistic solutions to every problem. Gospel principles in the life of the Church are crystal clear, but their application involves prayer and openness to the Spirit of Truth.

In treating the mission of the Church in the modern world (cf. Part I, chapter 4), Gaudium et Spes expresses the conviction that the Church believes that she can contribute greatly toward making the human family and its history more human. The Church holds in high esteem and values the contribution of other Christian churches and ecclesial communities and of all human society. A special part of the Church’s mission is to proclaim all human rights. The forces of all people of good will are needed in this vital cause. Certainly the leadership role of Catholic higher education must not fail. There is still so much to be done throughout the world.

In the aftermath of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI and John Paul II led the world in the implementation of human rights. In 1967, just shortly after the close of the Council, Paul VI would issue his great encyclical “The Development of Peoples.” Two years later, in Africa, and on many other occasions, he would vigorously supplement this by his personal teaching.

John Paul II would fall heir both to the Ecumenical Council and to Paul VI. The incarnational spirituality of Gaudium et Spes was evident as it proclaimed that the split between the faith that many people profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among “the more serious errors of our age” (no. 43). It further stated that there can be no false opposition between professional and social activities on the one hand and religious living on the other. In perfect harmony with the Gospel it further went on to assert: “The Christian who neglects his temporal duties neglects his duties toward his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation…. In the exercise of all their earthly activities, Christians can thereby gather their humane, domestic, professional, social and technical enterprises into one vital synthesis with religious values, under the supreme direction of which all things are harmonized for God’s glory” (no. 43). How fittingly Catholic higher education can contribute to this synthesis where the Lord is considered “the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings” (no. 45).

Five crucial issues of special urgency and particular relevance are presented to the world’s consideration in Part II of Gaudium et Spes: the dignity of marriage and the family, the proper development of culture, socio-economic life, the life of the political community and fostering peace and the international community. It seems to me that all five issues require special reflection, study and promotion as matters supremely relevant to Catholic higher education.

The Council’s treatment of marriage and the family (Part II, chapter 1) begins out with a recognition of the great challenges that face the family today. In this context the Council proclaims the sanctity of marriage and the family and the entire Catholic doctrine of Christian married love and Christian married life. Certainly Catholic universities, inspired by divine revelation as interpreted by the magisterium of the Church, have many authentic reflections to share on these divine mysteries.

The Council zeros in on the centrality of conjugal love and the concept of a covenant relationship between two people in which marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and the educating of children. The Council asserts that the intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and made subject to His laws. It is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Gaudium et Spes speaks of children as the supreme gift of marriage. Anticipating the encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Council asserts that “when there is a question of harmonizing conjugal love, the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspect of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or an evaluation of motives” (no. 51). This aim of the Council to inculcate the dignity of marriage and the family is certainly today a tremendous support for married couples as they endeavor to fulfill their great mission of human and Christian love in the Church and in the world. I submit that Catholic higher education should not be absent from offering its support to this cause.

Another issue to which Vatican II devoted particular attention is culture (Part II, chapter 2). The Council stated that human beings can only come to an authentic and full expression of their humanity through culture. The Council attempted to give an adequate description of culture, saying that it indicates all those aspects by which a human being refines and unfolds his or her manifold spiritual and bodily qualities. It is a feature of culture that throughout history man expresses, communicates and preserves in his works great spiritual experiences and desires (cf. no. 53). In this sense we can speak so fittingly of Catholic culture. People are conscious, the Council says, that they themselves can be the artisans and authors of the culture of their community. This presumes a sense of responsibility and solidarity. This is the context in which the Council says that we are witnesses of the birth of a new humanism, one in which the human being is defined especially by his or her responsibility toward his or her brothers and sisters and toward history. In the humanization of the world, how important it is that each person realize his or her responsibility to others. Is not a Catholic university a powerful forum for this solidarity to be realized and this humanization to take place?

The Council speaks also about socio-economic life (cf. Part II, chapter 3), placing all economic development at the service of man, the human being, the human person. Two years after Vatican II, in his encyclical “On the Development of Peoples,” already mentioned, Pope Paul VI powerfully developed this theme.

In this context Gaudium et Spes then speaks about human labor—how it is superior to all the other elements of economic life, and how the human person is a partner in the work of bringing God’s creation to perfection. In 1981 John Paul II developed in his encyclical Laboren Exercens the whole theology of work. In this encyclical Pope John Paul II presented human work as a key to the whole social question of our day. While seeing private ownership and property as an expression of human freedom, the Council also speaks of the profound plan of God in which there is a common destination for created things and in which all human beings are called to recognize interdependence and exercise solidarity. In this chapter three the Council has initiated us into a great reflection on solidarity and globalization. These themes are important for the humanization of the world. Surely they cannot be alien to the scope of Catholic higher education.

Gaudium et Spes makes it clear that the political community exists for the common good (cf. Part II, chapter 4). This political community and public authority are based on human nature and belong to an order of things divinely foreordained. For this reason those who serve in politics contribute greatly to the building up of society. The political community and the Church are mutually independent and self-governing but they both serve the personal and social vocation of the same human beings in accordance with the truth of humanity. Catholic politicians are expected to bring to their service of the community those principles based on the natural law, inscribed in the human heart and subsequently also proclaimed by the Church.

In recent times the need for political participation of Catholics in public life according to their own upright consciences has been amply reinforced and clarified by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is an area that requires consistency, wisdom, serenity of judgment and courage.

Gaudium et Spes concludes by turning the attention of the world to the subject of peace: the fostering of peace and the promotion of a community of nations (Part II, chapter 5). It makes clear that it is speaking about a peace that is based on justice and love. It makes clear that by peace it does not mean only the absence of war, but rather the work of justice.

The Council draws greatly in this regard on the encyclical of Pope John XXIII Pacem in Terris. Even as the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council were preparing to issue an appeal for peace, Pope Paul VI was visiting the United Nations on October 4, 1965, pleading for the avoidance of war and at the same time expressing hope that nations would come together in a spirit of harmony to understand the basic need for peace in the world.

In regard to the United Nations, the position of the Holy See has constantly been that, notwithstanding its weaknesses and limitations, it is a structure that the world cannot prescind from and that must be utilized to fulfill a peace-making role for all humanity.

The principles found in the last chapter of Gaudium et Spes, on fostering peace and promoting a community of nations, should prove extremely useful in all serious reflections about the effective and just response to world tensions. In particular, in regard to the total avoidance of war—and we remember Pope Paul VI’s appeal made at the United Nations in New York two months before the promulgation of Gaudium et Spes: “jamais plus la guerre”—Vatican II calls for “an evaluation of war with an entirely new attitude” (no. 80). This attitude cannot be simplistic, but it must be new. Just before making this most important appeal, Gaudium et Spes had stated: “The horror and perversity of war are immensely magnified by the multiplication of scientific weapons” (no. 80). And it added: “The arms race is an utterly treacherous trap for humanity” (no. 81).

As recently as four days ago, September 22, 2005, the Holy See made an appeal before the United Nations, urging the universal ratification of the Conference on Facilitating the Entry-into-Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Two other considerations are proposed by Vatican II in this complicated matter: 1) “Government authorities and others who share public responsibility have the duty to protect the welfare of the people entrusted to their care and to conduct such grave matters soberly.” 2) “Those who are pledged to the service of their country as members of its armed forces should regard themselves as agents of security and freedom on behalf of their people” (no. 79). We can never forget, however, the statement of Pope John Paul II that all war is “a defeat for humanity.”

Gaudium et Spes also expressed its conviction that there should be an agency of the universal Church set up for the worldwide promotion of justice and for charity for the poor. After the Ecumenical Council, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum were both established to serve the needs recognized by Vatican II. It is inconceivable that these themes of justice, peace and solidarity in Christian love be absent from the dynamic reflections of Catholic higher education.

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As mentioned, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World came to life on the very last day of the Council. The document was a beautiful sign of Christian hope for the world. Are Catholic universities not conceived as being signs of hope for humanity in need of light and goodness and truth? Gaudium et Spes was a clear indication of the Church’s willingness for dialogue within the Church, with those not in full communion with her, with those who believe in God and with those also who do not as yet acknowledge God, and even with those who oppress the Church. It was likewise a great sign of the Church’s desire to serve, and in this it represented the highest ideal of the Church that imitates Christ, who says: “I have come not to be served, but to serve.”

Catholic higher education that reflects on Christ’s servanthood in our midst is invited to offer all its energies to consolidate that new humanism in which the human being is indeed defined first of all by responsibility to his or her brothers and sisters and to history. Gaudium et Spes offered to the modern world the challenges inherent in embracing solidarity and globalization. Forty years later, this challenge presents itself anew with special relevance to the world of Catholic higher education and particularly to this and every Catholic university conscious of its calling and its purpose. Thank you.