The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1960-11-25

Need For Personal Responsibility

liberty as an occasion for
sensuality but by cha rity
serve one another. For the
whole law is fulfilled in one
word. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself.' Gala
tians 5:13, IA.
THE SOCIAL PRESSUREs
of today's complex life do
not excuse from, but rather
creates a demand for, a great
er exercise of personal re-
sponsibility. No man can be
neutral in a moral cause. BY
his creation he is born to be
committed to the cause of
God. The more difficult the
situation the more impera-
tive the need for such a
commitment.
If we are to restore man
to his sense of personal re.
sponsibility and to the ac-
eeptance of life as a mission,
we must understand more
clearly the moral causes
which have undermined mems
sense of responsibility.
FIRST NOM THESE
causes has been the marked
decline in the force of relig-
ious convictions. Washington
warned the American people
that they should indulge with
caution the superstition that
national morality could exist
without religion.
In spite of the much dis
cussed increase of church
membership il ca be
doubted that for a long time
religious influences have been
losing their vigor among the
American people, with a de-
bilitating effect in conse-
quence on both public and
private life.
AS a result of this decline
of religious convictions the
grasp on moral principles has
been greatly weakened d.
Through a faulty concept of
morality Modern Man has
come to imagine that sud
den and drastic changes in
situations change principles;
that principles no longer con-
troll situations, but rather
that situations shape princi-
Piles.
INEVITABLY THIS TYPE
of ''situational ethics" denies
all unchanging principles and
makes futile all moral judy
mentS on which the sense of
responsibility rests. The need
which the world faces is the
acceptance of an objective
norm of morality, and hence
OF conduct.
This decline in religious be-
lief and normal conviction
leaves Modern Man blind to
his immutable spiritual ma
ture, Thus, Willingly or UNI
Willingly, he aligns himself
with the forces of materialism
among whose tenents there
is no room for the concept
of personal responsibility.
Finally, the social ideals
and purposes of Modern
Man. due to the declining in
fluence of re ligious and
moral convictions and to the
triumph of the material, tend
in many subtle ways TO effaee
the sense of responsibility.
AS a people we seem TO be
moving more deeply into a
sensate culture. There is an
excessive preoccupation with
material security at the ex-
pense of spiritual well-being.
Uniformity of thought and
supine loyalty to the organ
i2ation, whether il be the in
dustrial corporation, the la
Dor union, or the political
party are too often encour-
aged and rewarded.
THE ~oRCANiZATi
MAN. cloaked in a sort of
anonymity. rather than the
responsible individual, is fa-
vored and advanced. The pre-
paration for this condition is
found even in the field of
education, where emphasis is
placed on adapting oneself
TO the thinking of the group.
This pattern is so prevalent
that some psychologists con-
slider juvenile delinquency as
a revolt, just for the sake of
rebellion, against a sitting
uniformity that fails to chal-
lenge the individuality Of the
student.
The correction Of these
hasicalJv moral evils and the
restoration of a Wig orous