The Franciscan Tradition, The Consistent Ethic of Life, and FOCA
by Rev. Thomas Nairn, OFM,
Senior Director, Ethics, Catholic Health Association
As the Obama administration takes office, Catholic organizations and agencies have voiced concern that the Freedom of Conscience Act (FOCA) and other pro-abortion legislation will be revived and finally enacted into law. It seems that we as members of the Franciscan family ought to respond to this and other possible initiatives in a manner consistent with our vision of life.
We share the vision of Francis and Clare, a vision that was the result of a profound experience that God is love and therefore that we – as the children of God – must show forth that love to all. That vision demands that we acknowledge first of all that the very act of creation is an act of our loving God. A hallmark of our Franciscan tradition has also been the insistence that the Incarnation of Christ is a sign of God’s love: God chose to become human out of a tremendous love for humanity. This vision finally recognizes that God’s Spirit of love enables us to be heralds of the Gospel’s promise that the Reign of God is a reign of justice and love.
This experience of God’s tremendous love for us occasions a response among Franciscans of gratitude and appreciation for everything that God has so freely given us. This in turn has led the Franciscan family to embrace a range of values:
- The option for the poor. As Franciscans, we know that it is our privilege to stand with and for the poor. We are keenly aware that the Gospel challenges us to understand that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters we do for Christ. [1]
- Solidarity. For well over a decade, solidarity has been explicitly addressed as one of the priorities of the Franciscan family. As Pope John Paul has shown, such solidarity is a “firm resolution to work for the common good” with others of good will. [2]
- Peace. Throughout our history, the followers of Francis and Clare have been known as the brothers and sisters of reconciliation and peace. We believe that we are called to be instruments of peace “that all may be lifted up by the hope of a world made new.” [3]
- The integrity of creation. Francis is the patron saint of the environment. Those who follow his vision are likewise called to do what we can not only to protect the environment from harm but to help all creation to flourish.
- Respect for life. The Gospel reminds us that Jesus came that all may have life in abundance. [4] As people of faith we respect all life, born and unborn, human and non-human.
These values call upon us to do whatever is necessary to defend all of life, but at the same time they demand from Franciscans an attitude of respect for all, including those with whom we disagree.
 In our contemporary times, these values are echoed in what has come to be called the consistent ethic of life, recently confirmed in the bishops’ documents defending life and in “Forming Consciences in Faithful Citizenship.” As Cardinal Bernardin proposed more than 25 years ago, the consistent ethic of life is rooted two beliefs that are part of the foundation of the Judaeo-Christian heritage and therefore our Franciscan tradition as well: 1) that human life is sacred because it has God for its origin and destiny and that human life is social and 2) that “those relationships, structures and institutions which support us as individuals and as a community are an essential aspect of human life.” [5] From these two foundations, Cardinal Bernardin derived two moral obligations, that we must “defend the right to life of the weakest among us” and be “visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us.” [6] He concluded that “the purpose of proposing a consistent ethic of life is to argue that the success on any one of the issues threatening life requires a concern for the broader attitude in society about respect for human life.” [7]
Both the consistent ethic of life and our 800 year old Franciscan tradition call us to internalize the sort of commitment to life that enables us to develop an attitude of profound respect for all life that comes from the realization that all are sisters and brothers to us, all part of the family of God.
Endnotes:
[1] Mt. 25, 40.
[2] See Sollicitudo rei socialis, §38.
[3] Eucharistic Prayer for Masses for “Various Needs and Occasions IV: Jesus, the Compassion of God."
[4] Jn 10, 10.
[5] Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, The Seamless Garment: Writings on the Consistent Ethic of Life (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2008), 159.
[6] Ibid, 13.
[7] Ibid, 12. |