On Wednesday, Jan. 7, the Nebraska Legislature began its 104th Legislature, 1st Session. There will be hundreds of bills introduced within the first ten days of the session, which is the time limit for the introduction of bills. All of these bills, to one degree or another, will propose to impact the activities of men and women in our state.
Year after year, legislation is proposed and enacted in all 50 states and also by our federal government. But how often does a discussion about the nature of man (men and women) precede these various attempts to impact man’s actions?
In his book Society and Sanity, Frank Sheed urges this discussion. “Our treatment of anything must depend,” Sheed says, “on what we think it is: for instance, we treat people one way and cats another, because our idea of what a man is and what a cat is.
“All our institutions—family, school, trade union, government, laws, customs… grew out of what those who made them thought a man was. If you want to understand them profoundly, you must get at the idea of man that they express.”
For example, Sheed points out that “[p]eople making engines study steel, people making statues study marble, people making social systems should study man, for man is as much the raw material of social systems as steel is of engines, or marble of statues. And whereas we are not all making engines or statues, we are all involved in the making of social systems, from small ones like the family, up to the largest, the State to which we belong.”
The Nebraska Catholic Conference, which represents the collective voice of the three bishops in Nebraska, will bring the reality of human nature to our analysis and advocacy on a wide range of legislation from pro-life, to education, to anti-poverty, to immigration and healthcare.
Sheed provides us with the following summary of human nature, a nature that he said “our ancestors… arrived at… not by looking at man, but by listening to God:”
“Man is a creature of God, living in a universe created by God. But he differs from every other being in the world because God made him in His own image.
“This special likeness to God is not in man’s body, by which he is akin to the animals, but in his soul, which is spiritual, immortal, and meant for eternal union with God.
“By setting his will against God’s, man had damaged himself and lost oneness with God. God became man and died to save all men from this derelict condition.”
Sheed points out that “[i]n these three ideas—image of God, immortal spirit, redeemed by Christ—you have the dominating elements in that concept of man which went into the building of our civilization.”
In addition to considering human nature in our advocacy, Catholics bring to the public policy discussion a very long and rich tradition of moral and social teaching and the experience of Catholic institutions that put that teaching into practice in the areas of social services, education, and healthcare.
Fundamental to Catholic tradition and teaching is the inherent and sacred dignity of human life—the clearest reflection of God among us. For this reason, policy matters related to life, family and human dignity will receive priority attention as the Nebraska Catholic Conference sorts through the hundreds of bills that will be introduced this session.
The Conference, and the bishops it represents, cannot do this work alone. We rely upon the grassroots advocacy and prayers of Catholics around the state. To this end, individual Catholics can be of greatest assistance by signing up for the Catholic Advocacy Network of Nebraska (CANN) and offering your voice and prayers to the work of the Conference. Signing up for CANN is quick and easy on our website, www.necatholic.org.
