I am not inclined to agree with Deal Hudson in general, but I think he writes a good essay. I'm not advocating that we should just try to "play nice" with each other. I don't really care about that and, in fact, I think we err to often on politeness rather than the truth. I prefer the truth. Still, as is evidenced by the debate surrounding (Obama, abortion, gay marriage, etc.) we seem to have lost all capacity for honest, civil dialogue. We scream past each other and all charity is lost in our attempts to convince, convict, be "right."
Or maybe we should just take up fisticuffs?
I don't think it's so much a problem of charity as it is a problem of tenderness. I'm thinking of page 49 in the School of Community. The is the quality that is so evident in the CL judgment on Notre Dame and that has been missing from the rest of the commentary. I learned, while in Italy, that the word for "complain" in Italian is "lamentare." I think that a lot of American Catholics spend their time lamenting. They have forgotten (or perhaps never grasped) the source of their hope. The truth is just one thing, and to apprehend it gives rise to tenderness. It isn't truth when someone bugs me or something they say bothers me. It's me clinging to my opinions rather than adhering to the Mystery.
Posted by: Suzanne | Apr 15, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Tenderness leads to the gas chambers.
Posted by: Flannery O'Connor | Apr 16, 2009 at 02:44 PM