Rite and Reason:Liberal individualism is a major force contributing to social disintegration in Ireland today, claims Fr Brian McKevitt.
Trinity College Dublin recently hosted a debate on the place of the Catholic Church in Irish society. The usual arguments, for and against, were aired - the role of the church in education and healthcare, the scandals, respect for women, etc.
Framing the debate this way, of course, immediately puts one side on the defensive, and at a significant disadvantage. Moreover, the other side never has to reveal what it stands for, only what it stands against.
In his remarkable book, After Virtue (Duckworth, London, 1985), Alasdair Macintyre pointed out that after three centuries of moral philosophy, "we still lack any coherent, rationally defensible statement of a liberal individualist point of view".
Yet liberal individualism now plays a huge role in shaping the "new Ireland" and is a major force contributing to social disintegration. Is it not time that it too was subjected to scrutiny? And not simply in terms of practical decisions but at the level of fundamental principles.
This is particularly urgent as it becomes ever more evident that might is right is becoming the basic ethical principle of our society. Various moral-sounding slogans like "the lesser evil", "autonomy", "rights" and "equality" are used to cloak this principle, but we should not allow ourselves to be blinded to its new dominance.
Two thousand years of history, a history shaped by countless people from great saints to terrible sinners, provides plenty of ammunition for both sides in a debate about the church.
While many of the issues raised are important, an exclusive focus on them blocks from view the much deeper and more extensive impact of the church's teaching on its members and on society.
A broader viewer would consider what the church has always considered its fundamental mission: to proclaim God's love for his people, revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Over the centuries, the church has explored and set forth ever more fully the riches of this mystery, but Christ's death and resurrection remain the pivotal points. The impact of this good news, news that brings happiness, peace, hope, is almost beyond measuring.
Faith in Christ utterly transforms people's vision of themselves and their role in society. They are not simply the top of the food chain, but children of God, sharing the divine nature and called to act in keeping with their great dignity.
It doesn't take a genius to recognise that people with a living Catholic faith will create a much different society to those who have no hope beyond death, who think that human beings are simply big-brained animals whose greatest achievement is self-assertion.
A study of the church's impact on society would have to cover many areas, including marriage and family life, art, law, economics, politics, care of the sick, philosophy, science and so on.
More surprisingly, perhaps, it would have to consider the Catholic defence of human reason against the growing irrationality of the rationalists, against the oppressive view that reality is limited to what we perceive with our senses.
It would have to consider how John Paul II and now Benedict XVI have battled for the moral foundations of democracy against what is possibly the greatest threat to it today, ethical relativism.
Even "right-to-choose" feminists would find themselves challenged. While they are embarrassed by the tens of millions of unborn children who have been aborted simply because they were female, these feminists have no moral basis from which to condemn this evil. For them it was simply the mothers' choice.
The church, on the other hand, affirms the sacred dignity of every unborn child, male or female, from the time of fertilisation, and vehemently condemns any violation of that dignity. Here is where our recognition of women's dignity must begin.
Certainly the mission of the church is constantly being undermined by the sins of its members and, unfortunately, given the effects of original sin, this will continue to happen.
If we are to debate the church's role in society, then let us consider all the issues. Let us consider especially what the alternative visions have to offer. The wellbeing of our society and its members requires no less.
Fr Brian McKevitt (OP) is editor of the monthly paper Alive