Truth or Consequences

A serious problem facing the New Evangelization is that we have allowed a false separation to arise between truth (dogma, faith, etc.) and love (pastoral action, works, etc.).  We in part, treated of this problem in an earlier post. The problem can also be seen in the Marxist Liberation Theologians' complaint against orthodoxy, saying that it is to be shunned because those who claim to hold it fail to uphold orthopraxy (right actions). 

Benedict XVI takes on this false dichotomy in his Encyclical, Caritas in veritate.  He shows that there is no orthopraxy without orthodoxy, and vice versa.  It is not authentic truth if it is devoid of love and it is not authentic love if it is not grounded in the truth.  As we said in our earlier post, this false dichotomy manifests itself today among those who profess a social justice gospel bereft of the fullness of the Gospel as well as among those who shun Catholic social teaching (because of its association with such personalities) but profess unreservedly the rest of the Catechism.  

The New Evangelization will bear fruit only to the degree that we all overcome this false dichotomy and live as radical Christians who are willing to leave everything to follow our Master.  If we fail, the consequences for the Church and the world will be frightful for the near term and into the future.  For more on this topic, please see our tutorial, The New Evangelization, Apostolic Action and Truth.