“The renewal of our political culture cannot begin in legislatures or courts; it must begin in the places where the human heart is first formed. “
This could not be more timely.
From OSV News:
In a new pastoral letter released Feb. 9, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore takes the occasion of the nation’s 250th anniversary to address “a moment of grace and responsibility.”
In the pastoral letter, “In Charity and Truth: Toward a Renewed Political Culture,” the archbishop noted that anniversaries are not merely occasions for nostalgia or celebration.
“Authentic remembrance always orients us toward renewal, it calls us to consider not only who we have been, and who we are becoming — but, by God’s grace, who we are called to be,” he said in the letter.
“One of the things that is so evident, painfully evident, is the extreme polarization of our political culture, the seeming inability to come together to find common ground, to work for human dignity and for the common good,” Archbishop Lori said.
The archbishop’s letter draws on the teachings of Popes Benedict XVI, Francis and Leo XIV, as well as from recent homilies and columns of his own in which he has addressed the toxic thoughts and feelings many people are experiencing these days.
The title of the pastoral also echoes the archbishop’s episcopal motto, “Charity in Truth.”
Noting that the letter comes “From America’s Premiere See,” founded as the first diocese in the United States in 1789, the archbishop writes, “This anniversary can be a moment of grace if embraced also as a moment of responsibility. For while we rightly take pride in the achievements of our nation and the vibrancy of our Catholic faith, we cannot ignore the fractures, wounds, and crises that mark both our national life and, sadly, even at times our ecclesial life.
“The task before us is not to romanticize the past but to offer a hopeful and credible witness today.”
“In Charity and Truth” is Archbishop Lori’s fifth pastoral letter…
…He notes that the polarization touches everyone. “At its root, this crisis reflects a wounded understanding of the human person. When we forget that every human being is created in the image of God — body and soul united, destined for communion — we begin to see one another not as brothers and sisters, but as obstacles and threats. Political life then becomes a contest of power rather than a shared pursuit of the common good.”
Recalling Pope Francis’ promotion of synodality as a way of listening, discerning and walking together, Archbishop Lori said the ecclesial model can also be used in civic life.
“A synodal spirit offers a kind of wisdom for civic life: it reminds us that no political goal is worth the cost of a fractured people, and no disagreement justifies forgetting our shared humanity,” the pastoral said.
One excerpt from the letter notes:
A healthy republic does not rest solely on the strength of its institutions, its courts, or its electoral systems. It rests, above all, on the character of its people. The Founding Fathers themselves understood this well. John Adams famously wrote that the Constitution was made “… only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Though he wrote from a Protestant worldview, his insight resonates deeply with the Catholic tradition, which has long taught that political life–not unlike personal life–requires virtue. Law guides and establishes structure, but virtue is what animates.
In our times, we find that many of the crises affecting our political culture–polarization, suspicion, hostility, and the temptation to reduce opponents to caricatures–are ultimately crises of the human heart. They arise from habits of vice: pride, anger, rash judgment, fear, and greed. A renewed political culture will not emerge from policy changes alone. It will require the cultivation of virtue, which begins in individuals and takes root in families. From there, virtue radiates outward into society.
For this reason, the renewal of our political culture cannot begin in legislatures or courts; it must begin in the places where the human heart is first formed. The family is the primary school of virtue, where patience, honesty, responsibility, forgiveness, and concern for others are learned through daily life. Alongside families stand other vital intermediate institutions–parishes, schools, neighborhood associations, charitable organizations, and faith-based communities–which help bridge the space between the individual and the state. These communities foster habits of trust, solidarity, and civic friendship, teaching us how to live with difference, to resolve conflict without hostility, and to seek the common good rather than private advantage. When these institutions are strong, they form citizens capable of self-governance and respectful engagement; when they are weakened or ignored, society becomes more vulnerable to isolation, polarization, and the overreach of both ideology and power.
The classical and Christian traditions identify four cardinal virtues–prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance–which form the moral framework needed for healthy political engagement. These virtues do not belong only to one party or ideology. They are the shared moral grammar that enables people of goodwill to work together for the common good.
