Traditional Catholic Teaching regarding “Religious Liberty”

1. Traditional Catholic Teaching regarding “Religious Liberty” David Rodríguez, M.Th. 10 April 2015 Sponsored byChrist the King Law Center and the St. Vincent Ferrer Foundation of Texas

2. Opening Prayer Veni, SancteSpíritus, repletuóumcordafidélium, et tuiamórisin eisignemaccénde. V.EmítteSpíritumtuum et creabúntur;R.Et renovábisfáciemterræ. Oremus: Deus, qui cordafidéliumSancti Spíritus illustratiónedocuísti: da nobis in eódemSpíriturecta sápere, et de eius semper consolatiónegaudére. Per Christum Dóminumnostrum. Amen. V.Saint Vincent Ferrer,R.Ora pro nobis.

3. A Confusing Subject • A complex subject requiring firm foundations • Misunderstood terms needing clear distinctions • Given our historical and cultural roots as Americans (‘the Revolution’) • On account of the ambiguity in the teaching promulgated by Vatican II • Since the true teaching, i.e. tradition, is rarely promoted by Catholics

4. Firm Foundations • Truth exists. • Truth exists because God exists. • Truth is immutable by its very nature. • Man can know because he has a mind. • Man can know immutable Truth with certitude because God has revealed Himself. • Heresy: Modernism (diabolical disorientation)

5. Firm Foundations • Truth exists. • Man has a Final End. • Everything in this contingent world has a purpose (‘Final End’); i.e. a reason for existence. • Knowing the Final End of a thing is necessary in order to evaluate it as ‘good.’ • To know, love and serve God in this life and thus be happy with Him forever in the next. • Heresy: Evolutionism

6. Firm Foundations • Truth exists. • Man has a Final End. • Man needs Salvation. • Sin alienates man from God. • Mankind falls into error (darkness). • Heresy: Universalism (everyone is saved)

7. Firm Foundations • Truth exists. • Man has a Final End. • Man needs Salvation. • Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. • Jesus is Truth (light). • Truth is necessary for salvation. • Error has no rights. • Heresy: Religions Indifferentism

8. Definition of Terms • Religion: The moral virtue by which man renders unto God His due. • Man has no greater duty - for God is His Creator. • Worship, Sacrifice (its four ends) • God gave us the means to know Him. • Therefore the man who is not religious ought not be considered ‘good.’

9. Definition of Terms • Liberty: (Freedom) The ability to act without restraint. • Physical Freedom: The absence of external constraint. • Free Will (Psychological Freedom): The capacity to make moral decisions and be responsible for one’s actions. • Right (Moral Freedom): To justifiably (morally licit) perform an action, own a possession, or make a claim. Note, rights always carry duties.

10. Distinction in Terms • Divine Law / Human Law • Natural Law / Divine Positive Law • Right / Law • Natural Right / Civic Right • Individual / State • Subjective / Objective • Internal Forum / External Forum • Private / Public • Freedom - from coercion / from restraint • Common Good / Public Order

11. Definition of Terms • Religious Liberty: The moral right to render unto God His due (and corresponding duties). • The primacy of Conscience. • The Individual in private or in public. • The role of the State to protect religion. • The duty of the State to be religious. • Given less than ideal conditions (sin), right reason and prudence are indispensable.

12. Liberalism • The individual human being has the right to decide for himself the norms by which he will regulate his life. Man is the arbiter of what is right and wrong. • There can be no justification restraining any individual from practicing or professing any acts or beliefs, in private or in public, provided public order is not threatened. • Freedom of Conscience (Religious Liberty) – The civic and natural ‘right’ of an individual to think and believe whatsoever he wants, even in religion and morality, to express his views publicly, to persuade others to adopt them, using word of mouth, public press, or any other means.

13. Traditional Catholic Teaching With regard to Freedom of Conscience (Religious Liberty): Note: These principles apply to Divine Positive Law but not to Natural Law, which binds every man’s conscience. • No man ought to be coerced to act against his conscience in private. • No man ought to be coerced to act against his conscience in public. • No man ought to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in private. • The right of acting in accordance with one’s conscience in publiccan berestricted.

14. Traditional Catholic Teaching Is Freedom of Conscience a natural right? • Not if it is taken to mean that man has a right to choose error. • Not if is taken to mean that man should always be without restraint in the public forum. • It is a natural right if it means man’s conscience is free in the interior forum, should always be free from coercion, and ought to be free from restraint within the private forum.

15. Traditional Catholic Teaching So when may the legitimate authority restrain the individual from acting in accordance with his conscience in the public forum? • Liberalism accepts the public order as the only legitimate criteria for restraint. • Catholicism posits the common good as the limiting criteria. • The discerning question: What is the Final End of the State?

16. Regarding the State • Definition: The state (Greek ‘polis’) is the highest and most inclusive organized group of persons with the common good as its concern. • Final End: The temporal happiness of man (which necessarily includes the common good). • Proximate Ends: • Preserve public order in the state. • Provide a reasonable abundance of the means of human development in the interests of its citizens and their posterity. • To promote the common good. • Since man is body and soul, he cannot achieve temporal happiness without spiritual goods. While the state does not concern itself primarily with these goods, it must function so as to facilitate them. If it inhibits or ignores them, it cannot achieve its purpose.

17. The State and Religion • A state may never impose a religion upon its citizens in the private or public forum; for every man ought to always be free from religious coercion. • The state should not restrict the private exercise of false religions, provided Natural Law is not violated and public welfare is preserved. • No state may ever restrict the Catholic Faith in the public forum. • A state has the right to restrict the activities of false religions in the public forum in order to promote the common good. • The state should only tolerate an evil (e.g. error, false religion) when it prudently determines that this is of greater advantage to the common good, such as by preventing an even greater evil or to obtain / preserve some greater good.

18. Questions and Answers Recommended Reading: • The Popes Against Modern Errors. Arranged and edited by Anthony J. Mioni, Jr.(TAN, 1999). • Gregory XVI: MirariVos(1832). • Pius IX: Quanta Curaand Syllabus of Errors (1864). • Leo XIII: DiuturnumIllud(1881), Immortale Dei (1885), Libertas Præstantissimum(1888), Graves de Communi Re (1901) • Pius XI: QuasPrimas(1925), MortaliumAnimos(1928) • Davies, Michael. The Second Vatican Council and Religious Liberty. (The Neumann Press, 1992). St. Vincent Ferrer, ora pro nobis!