Ideology: the Tie the Blinds

Another excellent article from the Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Jason Adkins.

Adherence to Ideology: the Tie that Blinds

"The 2011 legislative session is finally drawing to a close.
Many were surprised by the inability of legislative leaders and the governor to reach a compromise agreement be­fore a shutdown occurred. When the two parties did finally produce a budget framework, neither side was pleased with an outcome that few believe represents the beginning of a long-term solution to the state’s fiscal woes.
The inability to compromise, however, was not based so much on stubbornness or sheer partisanship as it was on adherence to ideological principle.
On one level it is refreshing to see politicians stake out principled positions and stick to them. But on another level, an almost slavish adherence to ideology in politics can and does inflict harm to the very people public officials claim to serve. And it was ideology that marked the 2011 legislative session.
‘The Catholic mind’
An ideology typically involves building an intellectual system around a particular idea or truth, but to the exclusion of other ideas or information.
It is a lot like a theological heresy.  In many cases, an ideology represents an “ideal” system whose adherents are often, you might say, religiously devoted to it.
By contrast, what the Jesuit philosopher James V. Schall calls “the Catholic mind” is a radical intellectual openness to “all that is.”  It recognizes that truth and reality are not so much ours to create but instead are gifts to be received. We flourish as human beings only when we conform our actions to the truths around us, which we must first have the humility to recognize and receive."

Read the rest of the article at The Catholic Spirit.

The content of this article fits in well with our discussions about St. Augustine's Confessions.  Recall the section in LIBER X (Book 10, chapter 23, pg. 217) which Augustine takes to task those who even "hate" the truth because it exposes themselves to others.  Those men suffer from ideology.  See what Augustine says; it cuts to the heart of every one of us:

This is how we read our texts - with notes and markings in the margins for in-class discussion.

Occupy Wall Street? Director of the MCC has a suggestion

The following article appeared in the Nov. 10 edition of The Catholic Spirit and was written by Jason Adkins, Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, who is also brother of Michael Adkins, Academic Dean at Saint Agnes School, and one of the teachers of the Senior Capstone Seminar.

This piece ties nicely to our reading of The Rule of St. Benedict.  At the very heart of the monks' "action" is the Liturgy.  Many of you have commented on how St. Benedict orders everything so specifically on time.  Keener readers have seen that this is intricately linked to the Church's liturgical cycle, feasts and seasons.  Ora et Labora, yet the Father of Monasticism and Western Culture clearly underlines prayer as the heart of monastic life.

Occupy Wall Street?

"The Occupy Wall Street movement has been the big story of the last few months.  What fictional “Wall Street” movie character Gordon Gekko called the NINJA generation (No Income, No Jobs, No Assets) is gathering to­gether in major urban centers to protest growing income inequality, a lousy economy in which there are few available jobs, and the feeling that our nation is ruled by a plutocracy of bankers and financial speculators.
How should Cath­olics respond?
Like its fraternal twin, 2010’s Tea Party movement, OWS has elements of a truly populist uprising. Although neither movement has a specific set of political goals, there is definitely a sentiment across the political spectrum that something is wrong.
Many people no longer believe that democracy works for them or for the common good.
But each movement correctly identifies only half the problem.
The Tea Party recognizes that Big Government too often imposes the arbitrary rule of tax-loving bureaucrats who stifle authentic liberty and strangle entrepreneurism in a mass of red tape. Big Government also tends to usurp responsibilities that should be performed by individuals, families, businesses, churches and other institutions of civil society.
On the other side of the coin, OWS recognizes that Big Business (particularly financiers and the military-industrial complex) have enriched themselves at public expense, often conspiring with politicians to do so through tax breaks, corporate bailouts and legal regimes that funnel capital into usurious loans and other forms of financial speculation that do little else than provide massive profits for a select few.
And when the financial house of cards collapses, the average Joe gets stuck with higher taxes and fewer jobs to make sure GM and the banks don’t “fail.”
Further, poverty is on the rise, a record number of people are receiving food stamps, and homelessness is now common in the suburbs, not just the inner city.
People are, understandably, upset."

Read the entire article at The Catholic Spirit, the paper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis.