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COMMENTARY
The Urgent Need for a Moral Values-Centered Education
September 25 , 2018 | The Valley Catholic
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist tmag @ zoominternet . net
It ’ s that time of year again , when many children , teens and adults fortunate enough to have access to formal education ( see : https :// bit . ly / 1Yf2IzZ ), head back to school to learn about such things as math , science , history and the arts .
But the most important lessons to be seriously taught and hopefully absorbed – moral values – will be given little attention in most educational settings .
Yet , moral values when comprehensively infused into the subjects and overall atmosphere of educational institutions , have the strong potential to form students who not only care about their future careers , but far more importantly , about the well-being and overall good of every single person on our planet – especially the poor and vulnerable – and about the planet itself .
For those of us seeking to build a truly humane world and advance the Kingdom of God , the universal teaching and acquisition of moral values is absolutely essential .
The famous Anglican spiritual writer C . S . Lewis said , “ Education without values , as useful as it is , seems rather to make man a more clever devil .”
But the world doesn ’ t need more clever devils ; it needs saints centered in Christ-like moral values .
Oh , but undoubtedly , many will voice the compliant “ whose values ?” For those who have little interest in forming morally sound students , this question is a red herring .
But for those who truly desire their children and themselves to have morally sound values , it ’ s a valid question .
“ May we likewise aspire to learn , teach , love and sacrificially live the value of truth , especially the ultimate truth that is Jesus – the truth that will set us free !”
In his book , “ The Moral Compass ,” William Bennett , former U . S . secretary of education , lists ten traits of character to aid in the task of the moral education of the young : self-discipline , compassion , responsibility , friendship , work , courage , perseverance , honesty , loyalty and faith .
These character traits get my vote ! How can any decent person not want to absorb these highly desirable moral values , live by them , and instill them into the lives of young people and into the very culture itself – so often lacking in them .
Bennett adds that we must raise the young “ as moral and spiritual beings by offering them unequivocal , reliable standards of right and wrong , noble and base , just and unjust .” He then cites the philosopher John Locke who said , “ Tis virtue … which is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education .”
And in addition to the essential moral values mentioned by Bennett , especially faith , let us not forget the other two theological virtues of hope , and above all – love !
There is absolutely no reason , legal or otherwise , why moral values can ’ t be conscientiously and comprehensively taught in not only Catholic schools , but in public schools as well .
As a 17-year-old junior at Morehouse College , Martin Luther King , Jr . even at that young age had the wisdom to write , “ Education without morals is like a ship without a compass , merely wandering nowhere . It is not enough to have the power of concentration , but we must have worthy objectives upon which to concentrate . It is not enough to know the truth , but we must love truth and sacrifice for it ” ( see : https :// stanford . io / 2wL5RAp ).
And as we know , King gave all he had in loving and sacrificing for truth .
May we likewise aspire to learn , teach , love and sacrificially live the value of truth , especially the ultimate truth that is Jesus – the truth that will set us free !
Chastity and Love
By Rev . Ron Rolheiser , OMI
Theologian , teacher , award-winning author , and President of the Oblate
School of Theology in San Antonio , TX
Woe to chastity that is not practiced out of love , but woe to love that excludes chastity .
These are the words of Benoit Standaert , a Benedictine monk , and I believe they can be profitably read in our culture today where , to the detriment of everyone , the sexually active and vowed celibates alike , sexuality and chastity are generally seen as opposed to each other , as enemies .
Unfortunately , this opposition is not very well understood today , either in our culture or in our churches . In our current culture , chastity is mostly seen as a naiveté , a lack of critical sophistication , a quality you honor and protect only in children . Indeed , within the popular culture today , chastity is often disdained and seen as a fear-based moral rigidity . Ironically many of us in our churches who are trying to defend chastity are no healthier . We never link the chastity we defend to a spirituality that ’ s wholesome enough to able to celebrate sexuality as a beautiful gift from God that ’ s intended to be linked to exuberance , spirituality , and delight .
Sexuality and chastity aren ’ t enemies , as our culture and churches make them out to be . They ’ re different sides of the same coin . They need each other . Sexuality without chastity is invariably soulless and not respectful . Conversely , chastity that sees itself as somehow above or divorced from sex will invariably end up in sterility , judgment , and anger . Woe to either
- if it doesn ’ t take the other seriously .
Unfortunately , with few exceptions , our churches have never grasped sexuality well ; just as our culture , with even fewer exceptions , has never grasped chastity well . One searches , mostly in vain , for a Christian spirituality of sexuality that ’ s truly wholesome and which properly honors the wonderful gift God gave us in our sexuality . Likewise , one searches , mostly entirely in vain , for a secular voice that grasps the importance of chastity . When Moses was standing before the burning bush and God told him , Take off your shoes because the ground you are standing on is holy , God was speaking pre-eminently about how we , as humans , stand before each other inside the mystery of love and sexuality . Sex is life-giving only if it is given and received with proper respect .
Sexuality , as we know , is more than sex . When God created the first human beings , God looked at them and said : “ It ’ s not good for a person to be alone !” That wasn ’ t just true for Adam and Eve , it ’ s true for every human being , every living thing , and every molecule and atom in the universe . It ’ s not good to be alone and sexuality is the fire within us that at every level of our being , conscious and unconscious , body and soul , drives us outward beyond our aloneness , towards family , community , friendship , companionship , procreation , co-creation , celebration , delight , and consummation . Sexuality is linked to our very instinct to continue breathing and cannot be separated from the sacredness we feel inside of us as creatures made in the image and likeness of God . And , as an energy , sexuality is sacred , never to be denigrated in the name of something higher or reduced to the casual .
Chastity , as we don ’ t always know , is first of all not even a sexual concept . It ’ s about much more . Chastity is proper respect and proper patience , not just for how we stand before sex but for how we stand before all of life . Chastity is not celibacy , much less frigidity . One can be celibate , but not chaste ; just as one can be sexually active , and chaste . Chastity , properly understood , is not anti-sexual ; it strives to protect sexuality from its own excessive power by surrounding it with the needed filters , patience and respect , thus allowing the other person to be fully herself or himself , allowing us to be fully ourselves , and allowing sex to be what it was intended to be , a sacred , life-giving gift .
Annie Dillard in Holy the Firm offers an interesting image of chastity . She describes how , one day , watching a butterfly struggle to emerge from its cocoon , she gave in to impatience . The process was fascinating but interminably slow ; at a point , she took a candle and added some heat to the cocoon . The butterfly then emerged more quickly , but , because the process had not been given the necessary time and freedom to unfold on its own terms , the butterfly emerged with damaged wings . The natural order of things had not been given its due , a fault in chastity , an ill-advised impatience , a prematurity that causes a limp in nature .
Sexuality and chastity need each other . Sexuality brings the energy , the longing , the fire , and the urgency which keep us aware , consciously and consciously , that it ’ s not good to be alone . If we shut that off , we become sterile and angry . Chastity , on the other hand , tells us that , in that process of seeking union with all that ’ s beyond us , we must have enough patience and respect to let the other fully be other and ourselves be fully ourselves .