The academic year at the Catholic University of Lublin opened the lecture of the fresh honorary doctor of this university. In her inaugural speech, Chantal Delsol repeated the appeal in her celebrated essay to abandon the defence of Christian civilization. According to the writer, centuries ago the Church had strayed, "imposing" cultural and political dominance on the world. Today, the same mistake is in her opinion to effort to keep laws consistent with Christian morality. Intellectual convictions gain attention and condemnation Christianitas It seems to any to be good advice to Catholics of the 21st century. In fact, the proposals of the French thinker support dangerous doctrine and aversion to spiritual obedience.
"The Evil of Dominance"
In 2021 Chantal Delsol attracted considerable attention by publishing “The End of the Christian World”. The essay by the philosopher, celebrated as the voice of a Catholic opinion, afraid the crisis of religion and Christian social order on the Old Continent.
Thesis expressed in La Fin de Chretiente Delsol has already repeated on multiple occasions, including as part of the Polish pope's teaching program JP2 Lectures Angelicum. They have late been performed in the Catholic building of the University of Lublin. The celebrated author was invited to the legislature of Christian Culture entitled “Restore Hope”. After participation in the event, where besides the Lublin metropolitan Archbishop Stanisław Budzik appeared, Chantal Delsol received the title of honorary doctoris causa KUL.
However, in the scholar’s reflection it is hard to see the defence of Christian culture. In her view, at least to a large extent, the universal apostasy of Europe is simply a defensive consequence to “domination” and “violence” – the unfortunate underlying Christianitas. It's not possible abuse of power that bothers the writer. It sees a mistake in making the Christian Revelation the rule of society's life, the origin of social standards and legislation.
– Christianity reigned for sixteen centuries (from Theodosius, or from the end of the 4th to the mediate of the 20th century). "It reigned," that is, it was in 1 way or another connected with power; it controlled souls, and for respective centuries besides over bodies. It was accompanied by political conquests to carry out a mission in unknown areas. However, it is impossible for people, whoever they are, to abuse specified a long and crucial dominance. It is always not good to be the strongest for besides long: man cannot defy it and becomes a despot— Delsol said during the beginning of the academic year at KUL.
“The truth” ruled human existence through fear of hell, fear of excommunication. A carpenter from the castle of Picomtal, writing his memoirs in the 19th century, shows how much the local priest controlled through confession the individual life of his parishioners. In this case, the Christian mission must be understood as a compulsion, which it actually becomes erstwhile Christians are given the opportunity. The word was corrupted due to the fact that it became dominant. The full institution became despotic... Let us look at the destiny of Quebec, where Christendom and its clergy disappeared in the 1960 ’ s, resulting in a disgust for the excessive power they exercised over their bodies and souls. She added.
According to the writer, this besides broad regulation of religion was to be at the root of the universal apostasy seen, both in the Catholic ancestry of Canada and elsewhere in the world.
– Christians no longer accept it, and they leave massively. The usual words of authority are not adequate for them. Christendom taught them freedom of thought (see Michel Henry: “The words of Christ). The maxim of enlightenment has become Sapere aude Kanta. We cannot proceed to imagine the mission as a voice of authority over bodies and souls. We can no longer be authoritative ministers due to the fact that people do not perceive to us anymore. The mission must change. He must halt being a conquest and become an average witness. It is about making a fundamental return – she taught Polish students Chantal Delsol. – We realize the evil of dominance She added.
The author does not look at a akin reiterade from faith—in the name of individual "self-determination"—with dissension. On the contrary, in her conversation with the “Common Week” she even seemed to admit specified an attitude at least as much right. In an interview with the Liberal-Catholic periodical Delsol openly admitted that if the Church had restored the old practices of “force to enter”, she would have abandoned her religion in the act of opposition....
The core of the lecture late heard by KUL students and the 2021 essay by the talker is the belief that the “end of the Christian world” is not worth mourning. His defence attempts must be abandoned. It is not only – the French author thinks – a strategical necessity. It's a moral duty.
Capitalisation in practice
In practice, what would it mean to abandon Christian “domination” in the politics and culture on which the student so cares? The point is that the Church and the faithful should adapt to the claims of anti-clerics – claims that we know even from the home yard...
– Prohibitions of abortion and assisted suicide corresponded to times where all were Christians and respected Christian principles. erstwhile society is no longer Christian, it is clear that these prohibitions are tantamount to violence. On the another hand, laws that legitimize abortion and euthanasia are for Christians who live in this society, a form of violence. I believe that the government should be in line with the public's beliefs, and I do not realize why we should ban what most people present consider justified - spoke in an interview with Chantal Delsol's “Popular Weekly”.
– I'm not individual who's chained up in front of an abortion clinic. In fact, I can't even say that I am against abortion in the sense that the Church is preaching this – my opinion on this substance is much more complex – She added.
Christians, therefore, would not only abandon the imagination of a state governed in accordance with the principles of faith... They should even agree, according to the French, that the principles of the Decalogue should be widely violated in their peoples and considered to be a understandable norm rooted in the freedom of society.
Church Without Power
Delsol's reflection, however, sees the problem of "defilement of the mission" not only in the Christian authority. The “evil of dominance” was besides to penetrate the Church and stand behind the authoritarian “style” of spiritual power. The philosopher powerfully – among others, in the interviews she gave to the “Wszystko Tygodnik” – expressed her desire to change in this area...
According to the celebrated writer, the Church must refrain from pastoral rule. According to Delsol, spiritual authority should abandon the transfer of firm teaching to the faithful from authority. “We have understood the evil of dominance. However, we will proceed the past of Christianity in this way – in philosophy, replacing dogmatics with phenomenology; in pastoralism, replacing dogmatics with a testimony" – the French female "prophesed".
Clear teaching, protected by the law of punishing the faithful and obliging them to obey the teachings of the Church, would disappear, giving the field of openness to individual experience and opinion. The individual of the “witness”, a 21st century Christian, the intellectual imagines just as profoundly listening to his own feelings and impressions, not into the infallible, pastoral voice of the Church.
– The existence of a witness is chaotic and unthinkable, just like any existence: he breathes the air of the mission and breathes out the good news, possibly not even reasoning about it. surely it is only at the end that we can see in it the preaching of the Gospel, as in the past of life, which we tell each another at the end, erstwhile we know the circumstances and can point to the beginning of it-- spoke to students of the Polish university.
– Preaching is not an action. It is the explanation of action and in this sense is always besides rigid for life, besides unsuited to it. On the another hand, erstwhile a mission is accomplished through an existential witness, it can be translated into a life story: a single adventure that refers to the mission, encompassing circumstances, and so always in an uneven, impulsive, incoherent way. The expression of a mission by a witness is simply a communicative of life that in its own way becomes a communicative of a mission, due to the fact that life is always something another than a dogma – she added.
– I believe that Christ never wanted intolerant and hurtful ecclesiastical power-- The philosopher, however, stated in a conversation with “The Common Week”. In her optics, therefore, the Church of the future can give faithful suggestions, inspire, or set an example to guide the way – but rule, command or forbid – most likely not necessarily.
Liberation dogma
Both the secular and ecclesiastical proposals of Delsol seem to combine 1 thing: opposition to the authority of religion. The French philosopher is trying to rehabilitate... a common reiterade from faith, for a good coin taking the anti-cleric and egalitarian communicative that enemies of Catholicism spread. After all, it is the negative depiction of the Church – as focused on government and stunned control – that is the favourite activity of enemies of Christianity. specified a show is intended to origin resentment of the faithful...
One can get the impression that this procedure in Chantal Delsol's case went rather well, and her proposals are to duplicate the "great refusal" – non serviam – in a somewhat little aggressive edition. After all, the apostasy of Europe is not a damnable departure from the Truth, but a rebellion against the corruption of the Christian mission with the lust for power... The appalled faithful, whose freedom was to be oppressed by the besides rigid instruction of the clergy, gain any right in her narrative, based on spiritual principles...
Delsol’s convictions disturb and surprise 2 things: the favour with which he treats this anti-cleric narrative, as well as the dechristianized imagination of freedom. The French have declared opposition to a religion that, regardless of its own perspective, individual reason and society must submit to... According to this optics, Delsol does not even accept the unappealed protection of life from conception to death. As she said, bans on infanticide and euthanasia “reminiscent of terrorism” and are characterized by violence.
Using akin logic, however, it can be concluded that religion itself is an unbearable yoke: The very essence of an act of religion implies submission to the human head of Revelation. The essence of holiness is the denial of our own desires and submission to God’s will. Many spiritual truths—although they do not argue reason—are beyond its natural potential. As Saint Thomas pointed out, if God had not revealed the existence of the Most Holy Trinity, no of mankind could have known it. We accept its existence... due to the fact that we obey authority. Out of respect for God, we give our own judgement to His judgments, which the Church instructs us about, not any "knowing poured in." We are willing to sale all private spiritual sentiments to get the pearl of the incarnate and revealed Truth. Therefore, the essence of religion is to take authority – it lies far beyond our ‘self’.
So religion is mostly obedience--the subjection of man to God's will. But individual has to teach him about her. To this end, Christ established his Mystical Body and marked it with signs of authority. It is only by trusting this seriousness that we have any reason to take seriously even grounds specified as the Gospels or the canon of the Scriptures. Where, then, can we see in Christendom the appeal for individual emancipation and self-determination, which, in Delsol's philosophy, seem to be in the first place?
It is even harder to reconcile her visions with the teachings of prominent popes of the age of enlightenment, who for good reasons condemned the principles of “freedom of conscience” and “freedom of religion”. As Gregory XVI taught (see: Mirari Vos), Pius IX (see: Quanta Cura) or Vatican Council I – God made himself known to man. He manifested himself to him and revealed himself through the Church, thus placing the work of religion on all who were taught Catholic.
However, this fact is not a manifestation of oppression – it is simply a chance for liberation. There is simply a immense difference between freedom and emancipation. Delsol seems to think that only a spiritual order without arbitrary decisions respects human freedom. However, he is importantly wrong. She confirms her mistake by herself. Let us look at the life that she believes is acceptable to Christians after rejecting the “dominance” of spiritual power.
Describing the life of the “witness”, the French indicated that it was chaotic, inconsistent and full of mistakes. The imagination of Delsol, guided by his own experience and feelings, would only be able to wander, always far from pleasing God. Without the voice of the Church, he remains entangled in his own limited perspective. He could never know for certain if he was doing the right thing. He would walk like a fog – unaware of whether his intuitions were God's gifts or the encouragement of the Evil One. Much of what he thought was right would tell him about his hurt nature and his own weaknesses.
It is the bondage of the chaos from which Christ delivered us, entrusting the Church with the revealed science. Delsol's "witness" is incorrect and erring – due to the fact that it is limited only to its own potential. But Christian discipline brings us beyond the limitations of individual head and natural knowledge. It raises our eyes to God himself – the donor of universal and supernatural science. Of course, subjecting your feelings and intentions to this authoritative message may hurt – but Christ himself said that this cognition of fact liberates. Without it, there's nothing but chaos and groping... Slavery of finiteness and human limitations.
Civilization on Mission Guard
Delsol's appeal to reject Christian civilization is similar. The French female missed the fact that Christian cultural hegemony is primarily the guardian of Christian Messenger freedom. She did not consider that the creation of laws and universal principles based on Christian cultural hegemony protects the freedom of the faithful...
Catholicism naturally competes for a “government of souls” with another philosophical and cultural currents. If not on his subsoil, another “dominating” will be planted by the state. 1 who punishes religion and rewards unholyness.
This fact is clearly pointed out in the encyclical Immortale Dei Pope Leon XIII. Let us talk to this prominent successor of Saint Peter:
"Only a virtuously spent life is the way to heaven to which we all aspire, and so the state deviates from the rules and regulations of the natural law whenever it permits specified an eloquent freedom of opinion and immoral acts that it is possible to unpunished souls from truth, heart from virtue. The Church, by God, established, is simply a large and destructive error. For it is impossible for a state devoid of religion to enjoy the moral state successfully: and possibly more than enough, it is found out what it is and where it is headed. liberated (civilis) the doctrine of life and customs," wrote the Holy Father.
"When states are based on specified principles, present besides popular, it is easy to realize what and how unworthy the Church will be pushed away. For since acts conform to specified principles, equal or inferior place in the state will stay for the universal Church, and for the companionship of strangers; no 1 will consider the ecclesiastical laws: the Church, which by Jesus Christ received the command of the firm teaching of all nations, is forbidden, not to interfere with the public teaching of the nation... Even those things that fall under the laws of both societies, the uncommon laymen make up their own mind, and they conceit to this degree disregard the most sacred ecclesiastical laws. So they bring the matrimony of Christians under their legislation, they even decide about marriage, about the unity and durability of marriage; they violate the property of the clergy due to the fact that they deny the Church the law," we read in Immortale Dei.
There is small comment needed for Leon XIII's recommendation. The Church, if it does not make laws, cultures and civilizations, will let its mission and teaching to fall victim to another environments. He will agree to limit his freedom – and all this will translate badly into his saving mission. If not Christian law and customs, pagan principles will set popular trends. They will encourage sin and make an atmosphere that hinders salvation.
In today's context, we can add 1 conclusion to the papal observations. The random, formless planet of postmodernism does not warrant freedom and freedom of choice. People always imitate the behaviour of the elite and search standards of conduct to which they could fit. A planet without dominance and cultural hegemony does not exist. Giving up Christian aspirations to this function means willing consent to the distance of Catholicism – building an environment that hinders peaceful witnessing about the Savior.
Most importantly – and Delsol escapes completely – Christian cultural hegemony is about better not only with another norms and customs, but besides with the wounded nature of man. To find out, let us put together an image of the infinite hegemony of spiritual power that Delsol promotes with past Christianitap.
Even in the mediate Ages, there was no shortage of confrontation between the Church and the world. The mediate Ages are the time of Thomas Becket, the dispute over the investment and another conflicts of the Church with secular power; the time of the saints who fought against corrupt elites – like Antoni of Padua; the confrontation of Catholic discipline with spiritual errors; missionaries who carried Christ to enemies of faith; respective centuries of clashes with the Aryan heresy, and then with Albigens, Hussites, and in later centuries – with errors of many philosophers, specified as Ockham. Where's the peace and undisputed dominance?
In the planet of the present, grace is never able to submit completely to the nature of the rebellion of the first parents. The world, even organized in Christian order, is never “the Kingdom of God on Earth.” As the Savior instructed, this Kingdom is "not of this world." This will be the end of history, since there is simply a fierce, unconcerned conflict between the "seed of the Woman" and the "seed of the serpent". It runs through the heart of all man and is the most crucial fight of all existence. The Christian social order is so all the more needed. For he soothes, not nourishes, the tendency of man to argue God.
Chantal Delsol seems to ignore the importance of this fact. Nature's unwillingness to submit to saving indications justifies freedom and subjection... Her deficiency of reflection suggests giving up key tools in leading Adam’s heirs to obey God. So she is the way to destruction.
Philip Adamus
