Peter Kreeft's Talk at the Seminary

On December 11th I attended a lecture by Peter Kreeft, the prolific author and professor from Boston College at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, Long Island. The auditorium at the Seminary was packed with laypeople, seminarians, priests, the rector- Msgr. Peter Vaccari and Bishop Murphy was there as well. There were also some young college students from Hofstra University and I wondered how they heard about it. It was good to have them there. As you can imagine, the talk was very interesting. The topic was moral relativism, the belief that moral standards can change with the times and there are no "moral absolutes." Pete Sheehan, a columnist for the Long Island Catholic attended and he noted in an article he wrote on the talk, that Mr. Kreeft made this intriguing comment, "no society in all of human history has ever survived while clinging to moral relativism." Mr. Kreeft also said that at no time in history have so many teachers been moral relativists. He said, "It has become dominant in academic and media circles during the 20th and 21st centuries.

The quote that really stood out in my mind which frightened me a bit (I later asked a question relating to it) was a quote by C.S. Lewis, "Moral relativism will damn our souls and destroy us." At the end of the talk, during the question and answer period, I repeated the quote and asked the following question of Mr. Kreeft, "What do you think the future of humankind is?" He asked me if I wanted his "prophecy." "Yes," I replied. I did want his prophecy. I respected his intelligence and knowledge and I also regard C.S. Lewis as a genius so is there hope for humankind, I wondered.

Sometimes I ask questions that I know the answer to. Deep down inside I knew what the answer would be but it was good to hear it to reinforce my own belief. His answer was brilliant. I can't remember it word for word but it went something like this. There is hope for humankind because of Jesus, because we've been saved by the blood of Christ. The Lamb of God shed his blood for us. He quoted from the Book of Revelation and how the little, meek Lamb did battle with the "evil one" (in the form of a powerful dragon) and was victorious. Christ is victorious across time and space, then and now.

So there is no need to worry. There are problems because of moral relativism and it will create and is already creating problems for humankind and we would be damned and lose our souls if it were not for the Savior of the world. Jesus-"God saves" and that's what Jesus does for humankind. God's mercy and love, needed now more than ever and given as a gift.

A Blessed and Happy New Year! May the light of Christ shine in your life each day!

NJA