Modernism and Moral Liberation

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Modernism is defined as character or quality of thought, expression, or technique, or a style or movement in the arts that breaks with classical and traditional forms. In the Church, it’s considered a movement toward modifying traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs in alignment with modern ideas.

What modern ideas? News headlines, movies, novels, classrooms and contemporary society in general bombard us daily with more than a few basic concepts of modernism.

It’s modern to commit adultery if both spouses give consent or if the adulterous spouse simply conceals it so that the other spouse’s “feelings” are not hurt.

It’s modern to condone homosexual behaviors because everyone is entitled to love whomever they choose.

It’s modern to celebrate assisted suicide if the person ending their life is making what they believe is a rational, conscientious choice.

It’s modern to enjoy sexual freedom outside marriage as long as the couple loves one another because even Jesus taught that love is the most important thing.

It’s modern to make a choice to be a woman or a man because individualism and feeling good about one’s self is important.

It’s modern to ignore certain religious convictions in the name of compassion, especially for pregnant women who don’t feel like having the child they conceived.

Modernism has given way to moral liberalism, a political philosophy or worldview founded on the ideas of liberty and equality. Moral liberalism agrees that if men can cheat on their wives, so can wives equally cheat on their husbands. If men and women can marry and have children, so can two men or two women marry and enjoy child-raising as well. If a woman becomes pregnant but doesn’t want to give birth it’s okay to procedurally end the pregnancy. The problem is the destruction of virtue.

In society’s quest for tolerance and equality in the name of love and freedom of choice, the things that build character—self-denial and moral courage—are sacrificed. We live in an age when our leaders become role models for compassion as they “modernize” our Constitution and ways of thinking. They convince us that we are being moral without the trials and sacrifices that go along with actually being moral and good. We risk exchanging moral conviction for tribal mentality and exchanging doing what is right for doing what feels good.

At the Stewardship Foundation, we promise never to exchange our original credo of working for the common good and being good stewards of God’s abundance for the temptations of modernism and moral liberalism. We believe that feelings are a poor replacement for decency and common sense. If you agree, we hope you will work with us and share our vision with your friends, family, and colleagues.

The Meaning of Stewardship

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The dictionary defines stewardship as ‘responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving’. This indeed is what we do for our clients who invest with us and for the nonprofits who use our stewardship skills to assist their major donors.

parable of the talentsWhile stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources, the concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, property, information, theology, etc. At the Stewardship Foundation, we extend this to the protection of human life, religious freedom, and the sanctify of marriage.

There is also a biblical definition that work is the stewardship of all the creation that God has given us. “Remember then the LORD, your God, for he is the one who gives you the power to get wealth…” —Deuteronomy 8:18. When we manage the possessions (money, valuables, investments) of another, we know that one day we will be called to give an account of how we have managed those things.

We often refer to the Parable of the Talents. Because God has called us to be stewards, we are not allowed to rule over what others entrust to us as we see fit, but to exercise our knowledge and resources under the watchful eye of our Creator, managing all these things in accordance with the principles He has put forth. “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” —Matthew 25:29

We believe that when we are good stewards of God’s abundance, we are being faithful. At The Stewardship Foundation, we believe that when we are being good stewards with our donors’ money, we imitate the good servants—increasing our donor’s wealth for the good of all.

Please share this article with family, friends and colleagues whom you believe need our stewardship, and if we can help you with your investments, or if we can help the major donors of your nonprofit, please call us at (614) 800-7985.

Patriotism Perils

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July 4th, 2016 has passed, but our discussion about patriotism must not be fleeting because our world remains a violent place. This is a good lesson about the perils of patriotism from our recent past. Bishop (later archbishop) Fulton J. Sheen is the only Catholic priest to win two major Emmy Awards and the only television presenter whose blackboard was magically erased by an angel off camera. He spoke with wit and wisdom, and while his popularity was no doubt due in some part to his humor, he was deadly serious in a 1960s airing on Patriotism that is apocalyptically similar to today’s world. Here’s a recap.

The word patriotism is associated with the Latin pietas—love of God, love of neighbor, love of country. When even just one of these attributes goes out, they all go out.

Bishop Sheen contrasts the writer of our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, against Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, a military and political leader during the French Revolution dubbed the “Angel of Death” for his severe disciplines and ruthless and bloody use of intimidation.

Sheen says “the revolutionists of our day argue that we started as revolutionists, and that we should continue that way.” If this is true, what kind of a revolution should we have?

He tells the story of a soldier at Concord in April 1775 who, when asked why he risked his life to go there, said he “went so that we might govern ourselves.” Jefferson would agree.

A radical activist uses violence or the threat of violence to fuel their revolution. Saint-Just would concur. Violence for the sake of violence would destroy what was in the past. This type of revolution has no resemblance to America’s revolution in 1776.

Jefferson’s revolution made the majority the custodian of minority rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its hallmarks were:

  1. the dignity of man;
  2. that all rights and liberties come to us from God.

Saint-Just’s revolution depends on Elitism where a dominant minority makes a lot of noise and uses violence to force its will upon others:

  1. influence behavior through terror, confiscation of property, denial of rights;
  2. people are taught to save themselves through violence.

Elitist don’t know what they are for, only what they are against. We see them in our government, on our streets, in our schools and colleges, even in our churches and families. They have forgotten that God acknowledged great violence on earth just before allowing the Great Flood of Noah to destroy the earth. Elitists are the decay of our civilization.

Bishop Sheen reminds us why the eagle is our National Bird. It builds its nest high in the mountain crevice. The young eaglets are pushed from the nest and free-fall to what seems to be sudden death, except that the mother eagle swoops down and catches the fledgling, bearing it up again on her wings. She then repeats this over and over until the young bird learns to fly.

“As the eagle stirs among its young, so does God stir among the nations”. Keep the faith, patriots!

To view Bishop Sheen’s entire stirring 24-minute episode, click here.