Visiting the University of Notre Dame recently was a powerful reminder of what conservatives have accomplished. Even at weekday Masses, the church was full of students. The intellectual climate at the conference I attended was vibrant. The median age of attendees seemed to be about 30. Notre Dame itself continues to climb in the academic rankings. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up at the top one day, since I have long thought that a university can be only as good as its theology department. Faith and reason are interdependent.
The advantage that conservatives have in theology is that their political stance harmonizes with the unchanging nature of theology’s subject. But like anything in Catholicism, the well-being of the church always requires attention to the other side. Since the Franciscan tradition is inseparably linked with the values that characterize liberalism, I need to snap out of conservatism-envy. Wishing we would have what they have is not enough. Liberals also have an advantage in theology, as they understand the significance of God’s love for each of us in our individuality.
As Bishop Barron said, we need to pick up our game to meet the intellectual expectations of our time. Conservatives have applied this to provide clear guidance in a world that has, especially for young adults, too many ways to go astray. They recommend the time-tested way of tradition—for everyone. What guidance provides the liberal tradition that we need to emphasize to restore the balance?
The Franciscan tradition emphasizes respect for individuals in their uniqueness. We are called into an individual personal relationship with God. If we are not true to ourselves, we are not following Jesus. But it is not obvious what it means to be true to oneself, and this is why guidance is needed. It also belongs to our tradition to recognize how disfigured the world is by human sin, including our own personal sins. God loves us, but he calls us to become what we are meant to be, and this requires a lot of work on our part. This, too, is an integral part of the Franciscan tradition. We must stop thinking that attentiveness to personal sin, which is absolutely necessary to live life well, is a conservative concern. Liberals must embrace it too, and we must embrace it better.
Saint Bonaventure argued that Franciscan scholars should start with Scripture, which leads to theology and then to philosophy. Properly understood, all human knowledge is meant to bring us into a closer relationship with God. Today, however, our knowledge is fragmented, pointing in many directions, seemingly irreconcilable, offering little guidance in finding the one way we are meant to follow. Our task is not to eliminate this diversity, but to walk its paths backwards. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, but the ways in which we understand and live this truth are diverse. By tracing our diverse knowledge back to its one root, we can make better sense of our lives in all their individuality and uniqueness, while recognizing how we are united in the Body of Christ.