“He teaches
with authority,” the people said about Jesus and the way he
taught. Of course, the contrast drawn in today’s gospel is to those who
teach without authority.
That’s the
contrast I would like to reflect with you about today, that is, the idea
that Jesus calls us to teach with authority and to be effective as his
disciples in calling others to conversion. But, it’s much easier for us
to teach without authority and end up being ineffective as disciples.
As many of you
may know, the Board of Trustees at Villanova University initiated a
search last fall to hire a new President to succeed Fr. Edmund Dobbin,
O.S.A., who has served the University for nearly two decades. What most
of you didn’t know is that I participated as a nominee in the process
and was interviewed by the Search Committee.
In my interview,
I started off stating that “anyone who wants this job ought to be
interviewed by a psychiatrist.” I then discussed my view about what I
called the “pastoral role” of a President of a Catholic university, the
focal importance of the University’s mission as Catholic and Augustinian
in the decision-making process, as well as my understanding of the many
demands associated with the job.
About mid-way
through the interview, one member of the Committee asked what I would do
“to improve student life” since Villanova is a Catholic university. I
responded that I would speak directly with the students and their
parents about the findings contained in a study conducted a year or so
back reporting that sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) on campus had
increased by 390%. I don’t know what the base was from which that
statistic has extrapolated, but I told the members of the Search
Committee that, in my opinion, this is not only a health issue. More
importantly, I believe it is a moral issue. I would be determined, I
said, that the entire University community would deal with this issue
not simply by implementing policies but also by challenging our students
and their parents to “Choose life!”
While the
statistic about the increase of reported STD’s might alarm many of you,
let me assure you that it represents the pervasive undergraduate culture
that professors, administrators, and staff personnel should be dealing with
across the United States. We cannot “wish away” the facts of
promiscuity among our young people. Nor will the imposition of policies and procedures
change the attitudes underlying the choice many young people are making
today to be promiscuous. What we can do—and what we must do—as
responsible adults and disciples, is to teach as Jesus did…with
authority.
Later in the
interview, the individual who put that question to me noted in response
to a question I had answered about underage and binge drinking on
campus: “You attended Villanova in the 1970s and I attended Villanova in
the 1960s. You know that this is nothing new and, quite likely, that
nothing’s going to change. What makes you think that you’d be able to
change things?”
I was astounded.
My response was:
I’m very optimistic
about young people today. They are looking for a voice that states the
truth and challenges them to a higher level of personal, social, moral,
and ethical responsibility. If I wasn’t optimistic, I shouldn’t be
sitting here today for this interview. More importantly, if I wasn’t
optimistic, I shouldn’t have been teaching here for the past 15 years.
No, we needn’t fear young people. Some will react, yes, but many more
will respond positively to the moral challenges we place before them.
Well, as you all
know, the Board elected a superb candidate in Fr. Peter Donohue, O.S.A.,
to succeed Fr. Dobbin. Fr. Peter is a fine priest, Augustinian, and
esteemed professor. The challenges confronting Fr. Peter require that
all of us pray for him and his success as a pastor to the Villanova
University community.
That having been
said, it ended up that I didn’t even win “Miss Congeniality.” Rumors
now circulating around campus suggest that I was “too much to take,”
“too divisive,” and “doctrinaire.” Furthermore, I have been told
privately, it would have been better for my candidacy had I not said
many of the things I did say. If those rumors and reports are true, I
am delighted and consider my interview highly successful because that’s
exactly what the people in the synagogue said about Jesus when taught
with authority.
I relate these
events with the intention of setting the background for contemplating how Jesus is
challenging parents, college and university personnel, and young people
today to teach with authority, and especially about sexual morality.
The contrast, of course, is to those who teach about these matters
without authority.
First, some facts.
Dr. Margaret J.
Meeker has practiced pediatrics for the past 20 years in Traverse City,
Michigan, specializing in
teen health issues. Dr. Meeker and her physician husband, Walter, have
four children, three of whom are teenagers. This quite likely
provides impetus for Dr. Meeker’s keen interest in teenage sexuality. Based
upon her practice and research, Dr. Meeker published a book in 2002
entitled, Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids. The
statistics are frightening:
·
The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes sexually
transmitted diseases as “an epidemic.”
·
One in
four sexually active young persons between the ages of 17-25 is
infected. 100,000 kids acquire a new sexually transmitted infection
each day, that is, the equivalent of a stadium full of young people are
infected each day.
·
Many
of these diseases are now incurable, oftentimes sterilizing their
victims, while others lead to increased rates of cancer (e.g., cervical
cancer), and death.
Young people
today believe they have no choice, Dr. Meeker believes, but to be
sexually active as the media campaigns to convince young people that
they are missing out on the “good life” if they are not sexually
active. What this neglects, however, is the emotional and psychological
fallout associated with sexual activity with multiple partners. It also
neglects the fact that every time a young person has sex with someone,
it is like having sex with every person which that partner has ever
had. That is why reported STD’s are of epidemic proportions.
But, that is if
teenage promiscuity is nothing more than a health issue. It’s not just
about health, however; more importantly, it’s a moral issue.
The sad and
tragic irony is that all of this comes upon the heels of decades of sex
education in our nation’s public schools. Emphasizing the delusion of
“safe sex,” many of these programs are aimed at aggressively convincing
sexually active young people to use birth control devices—and condoms,
in particular—to protect themselves from acquiring an STD.
The simple fact
is that all of this “education” has not led to a decline in the rate of
promiscuous behavior among young people. Sex education has only
assisted in exacerbating it. How? By teaching young people to engage in “safe sex,”
educators are communicating the message to young people that they aren’t
capable of leading a moral life. By not communicating positive and
affirming moral messages, the adults who young people look up to for
guidance and discipline—especially parents, educators, coaches, pastors,
as well as religious and civic leaders—are failing young people.
To grasp this
notion, think about how we prepare to deal with important health and
moral challenges.
We first study
the challenge. We also set about learning how to defend ourselves
from it and to combat it. From a spiritual perspective, we pray
about it and ask God to assist us in meeting the challenge.
Lastly, we set our sights high—how we will meet and surpass the
challenge—and then do what we need to do if we are to emerge successful.
What we
don’t do is to cower
in the face of the challenge. We don’t fear it. We won’t
roll over backwards and talk about “acceptable failures.” We don’t
negotiate. And, we certainly don’t “dance with wolves” thinking we
will emerge unscathed.
What we do is to
set a high standard; we prepare to meet that standard; and, we set about
living in such a way as to meet and, hopefully, surpass the standard.
That’s the recipe for success when challenges must be confronted head
on. We don't set a low standard; we don't figure out a way to get
around the proximate danger. And, we don’t make success synonymous
with failure. That’s the recipe for failure in meeting important
health and moral challenges.
Should any of us
be surprised, then, when young people become promiscuous as soon as they
can after making that first extended move away from home? They
shouldn’t. It’s wrong. And, it’s potentially deadly.
But, the insidious nature of evil is that it makes sense to those who
believe themselves to be smarter than God, than nature, or
anything else that would contradict the desire to participate in evil.
All we have to do to understand this concept is to read the story of Eve
and the serpent.
In bringing all
of this up, note that I am not teaching as Jesus did, that is, with
authority. Instead, I am teaching as the scribes taught. That is, I am
relating impersonal facts that do little to change how people think and
the attitudes that emerge in immoral behavior. While those statistics
may “scare” some of us, they do little to persuade us to change our
hearts and the attitudes underlying our behavior.
So, how would
Jesus teach us today with authority about sexual promiscuity and the
culture of death that it is breeding within the souls of so many of our young people?
I believe Jesus
would tell a parable about parents who’ve failed their children by
abdicating their God-given role as the primary educators of their
children in matters of faith and morals. Not educating their children
about human sexuality while allowing educators in public schools to
provide information that decouples sex, morality, and personal
responsibility, it should not be surprising that undergraduates enrolled
at our nation’s colleges and universities are increasingly becoming
infected with STD’s for which there currently are no cures. And when
parents recognize that the parable is about them, they’d see their
hypocritical attitude and behavior when they pretend to be aghast at what’s
happening at colleges and universities nationwide and blame academic
administrators rather than to admit that these are their children.
They’d have to “own” the problem that they’ve created!
I believe Jesus
would challenge parents to change their attitudes towards sex education
and the sex education curriculum in public schools. “It is time,” I
believe Jesus would teach, “to reclaim your moral responsibility.” If
you truly love your children, you must change your attitude whereby you
allow your moral authority to be undermined by educators who promote
“safe sex” to your young children. “Where is your moral backbone?” I
think Jesus would ask parents. “After all, those promiscuous young
people are coming from your homes!”
Several years
ago, a priest at Villanova told me that allowing young women and men to
live in co-ed dorms and apartments is valuable and important because it
challenges our students to confront what they will be dealing with upon
graduation. “Why not do so here where there are responsible adults who
can help the students?” I was incredulous. Does it make any sense
whatsoever to believe that placing the two sexes in close proximity 24/7
is going to decrease the likelihood that they’ll “hook up”? Oh,
come on! That’s just like saying, “since they are going to be
having sex, let’s give them birth control devices to cut down on the
likelihood of conceiving a child.” Why are so many otherwise
responsible adults so afraid to say to young people, “This is wrong and
you must stop it!”
I believe Jesus
would tell college and university administrators that it’s time to put
an end to 24-hour visitation, co-ed dorms, and cohabitation. As
responsible adults, the issue is not only a health issue, as important
as that is. It’s also a moral issue. We have millennia of experience
with teenagers and raging hormones. Why are college and university
administrators placing young people in “a proximate occasion of sin” and
pretending that young people will be virtuous, especially when they are
not being given appropriate moral lessons and challenges? Have we
lost our power of reason?
So, I believe
Jesus would tell parables to college and university administrators
relating how various failures of moral leadership had devastating
consequences for the people those moral leaders professed to care so
much about. When the college and university administrators
realized Jesus was speak about them, these women and men would have to
consider how they would educate
young people about the erroneous beliefs that have led to the current
state of affairs. This would include but not be limited to: working
with students to understand the intellectual deceits which have
conspired to promote a culture of promiscuity on campus; confronting
students with the facts of where their behavior is leading them and
will lead them; and, challenging students to determine what they need to
do and what responsible adults will do so that a more moral and
responsible ethic will guide decision making in matters pertaining to
human sexuality on campuses nationwide. In short, these academic
administrators would set a standard and challenge
young people to live up to it!
“Where is your
moral backbone?” I think Jesus would ask college and university
administrators. “After all, this is all transpiring right under your
noses!”
And, I am
absolutely sure, Jesus would directly address young people because,
after all, Jesus loved to gather young people around him and to teach
them with authority. What I believe Jesus would say to our young people
is “Choose life!” And, as Jesus would unpack what that phrase meant in
particular for young people, Jesus would teach them how the choices they
will be making are exactly the two choices Moses placed before the
Chosen People:
“I place before you death or life. Choose life,” Moses said.
In every
generation, young people
believe they are invincible and oftentimes dupe themselves in the false
belief that there are no responsibilities for the immoral choices they
make. How many times each year do we hear about an undergraduate who
takes a bet that he (or, as is becoming more and more tragically
commonplace, she) can drink a fifth of alcohol and not be physically
affected?
As Dr. Meeker’s
research clearly indicates, the responsibility young people bear when
they choose to be promiscuous can be deadly. It’s not just that
sexually active young females are at a greater risk of contracting
cervical cancer and both young females and young males who are sexually
active are placing themselves at greater risk of becoming sterile. The
simple fact is that the culture of death spawning these diseases also
kills the hope in young people of being the natural mother or a father
of one’s children. “Is that what you want?” I believe Jesus would ask
young people. “Develop some moral backbone,” I believe Jesus would
challenge our young people. “You have a mission in your life and a
responsibility to choose life so that you can fulfill your mission.”
In simple and
straightforward words coming from our hearts, we teach as Jesus did when
we say as we heard Jesus say in today’s gospel: “What I
say to you is this…human sexuality is a gift from God to
be used appropriately only within the Sacrament of Marriage. This truth
about human sexuality is being abused and exploited in our culture.
Choose life!”
Many adults today
use clever and sophisticated words and advance arguments posited by
alleged experts that are intended to confuse anyone who listens. That’s
their goal: to make it almost impossible to figure out what the truth is
or what it requires so that how one feels at the time becomes primary.
So, what I
say to you is this:
Parents:
don’t listen to these voices because they don’t teach with authority.
College and
university administrators: don’t listen to these voices because they
don’t teach with authority.
And, young
people: don’t listen to these voices because they don’t teach with
authority.
These are the
voices that lead only to death. Only Jesus Christ teaches with
authority and only his voice leads to life!
When we listen to
Jesus’ words and allow his authority to change our hearts, we will know
infallibly what is right and we will then need to work very hard at
changing what we know is wrong. When we “do this in memory of
me,” as Jesus asked of his disciples, don’t be surprised that people
will ask: “What does this mean? This person teaches with authority, not
like all of those others.”
The choice to
change is yours to make. “I place before you life and death. Choose
life.”
That is what it
means to teach with authority, as Jesus did.
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