“You can’t handle the truth!” The famous scene from the movie A Few Good Men rises to a crescendo with Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) maneuvering Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson) to confess his role in a murderous crime. Kaffee draws the famous exclamation from the enraged officer in response to a very important petition: “I want the truth.”
Can we say the same?
Truth is an interesting word in our advanced societies of 2010. We speak as if everything we say is true, but we also deny that truth exists. Why the contradiction? One simple explanation is that uncertainty frees us from commitment and responsibility. If truth exists, we must live by it, we must behave accordingly and, ultimately, we are held accountable by someone greater than ourselves. We should not be surprised, however, to find that we deny truth and then act and speak as if everything is good and true.
This delusion is one of the great deceptions of the 21st century. If you are a rational human being, it is not something that can sit in your stomach without upsetting it.
Since we live in an “evolved” and scientific age, we need to look for causes and solutions. The first and greatest level of responsibility for this confusion is in the area of leadership. Leadership is traditionally defined as the capacity to influence others. What sphere of activity exerts the most extensive and global influence on humanity in our day? A case could be made for the news and entertainment media.
The fundamental problem with leadership in the media is that many do not know the purpose of the media. Leaders in this industry seem to forget, or perhaps never accepted, that communication of information and ideas — the true purpose of the media — must always be at the service of the common good. It must contribute to the integral development of the human person.
A major break occurs when we disassociate the purpose of communication from the common good as well as the virtue of justice. As defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 1906), the common good is “the sum of all conditions of social life that permit groups as well as single members to achieve their proper perfection more fully and more rapidly.”
We can also recall that the virtue of justice is to give others their due. Whether through agenda, bias or unbalanced reporting (giving only one side of a story) — not to mention sensationalism, titillation and undue advertiser influence — the media often deceives us. It can emphasize certain information while downplaying or ignoring clarifying details as a way to impose a mode of thought that directly influences our view on things. Stated another way, it can give facts without telling the truth.
The responsibility for correcting this unfortunate scenario lies not only with leaders in the media industry, but also with each of us: We choose to buy the newspaper, tune in to the TV station or visit the website. Sometimes we’re passive consumers of whatever’s on rather than active seekers of the truth. This can cause us to view the things of God through the eyes of the popular culture rather than the other way around.
One thing is certain: The truth exists. And as Catholics we know that, at its core, the truth is not a thing but a Person. “I am the way and the truth,” he told us, “and the life.”
Now what “anchorman” was it who made that simple statement of fact?
Brother Nathaniel Haslam, LC, is executive leadership coach of the Swiss School of Management in Rome (SSM-EDU.net).
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The Vatican statement just linked “serious consequences for the life and structure of the Legion” and “at any cost” charism to a founder “devoid of scruple and of genuine religious sentiment” and to the “silence of those around him.”
So it looks like there’s a strong market for executive leadership coaching. You don’t need to answer to me, but you and your brothers have a lot to handle. So get down to it.
Inane babble -but then that’s the Maciel-Corcuera et al. style.
By the way, don’t you know that you’re under receivership?
Just at the moment it give me a sick feeling in my stomach to hear an LC speak about Truth/truth…...it just smacks tto much of ‘efficiency at all cost’! My goodness can you not even try be to humbled by what the Vatican had to say to you!
Truth sounds like efficency at all cost? I’m sorry, but I didn’t quite get that logic.
Also, regarding nat’s comment about the charism of the founder business, please distinguish better your terms. Those personal actions of the founder are not the charism of the congregation.
If you read the last paragraph of the communigue, you will remember that the charism of the Legion is not at all degraded by the Pope’s communique. It says:
“He urges them not to lose sight of the fact that their vocation, which originates in Christ´s call and is driven by the ideal of being witnesses of His love to the world, is a genuine gift from God, a treasure for the Church, and the indestructible foundation upon which each of them can build their own future and that of the Legion.”
That’s rather positive to me.
Also, regarding nat’s charism/founder liner, please remember that cut-and-paste can produce whatever you want if you choose the right things.
The communique says first about Fr. Maciel, in its original words:
“The very serious and objectively immoral behaviour of Fr. Maciel, as incontrovertible evidence has confirmed, sometimes resulted in actual crimes, and manifests a life devoid of scruple and of genuine religious sentiment.”
And second, ” c) The need to preserve, through appropriate formation, the enthusiasm of the faith of young members, their missionary zeal and their apostolic dynamism. Disillusionment concerning the founder could call into question this vocation and the core of the charism which WHICH BELONGS TO AND DISTINGUISHES the Legionaries of Christ.”
Enthusiasm, missionary zeal, apostolic dynamism: can be preserved, only because they are already there, and that’s in the words of the Holy See. Don’t take my word for it.
Follow the money. It will lead to Maciel’s lieutenants. All, then and now, in positions of authority must go. That anyone can believe or accept the excuses offered now by the “leaders” is ridiculous. The Holy Father understands this even if the Legion does not. So be it.
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