Integrity knows no season
Guest Columnist
By Father Leonard Peterson
The fourth day highlights this seventh month of the year for all red-blooded dwellers across this fruited plain of ours. Ironically, while we are quite proud of our declared independence from England, we have never really lost our fascination with the lore, legends and leaders of the “mother country.” Recall that millions of Americans rose before dawn to watch Princess Diana’s ill-starred wedding. Millions more viewed her funeral rites.
So it is with no embarrassment that I speak of my devotion to the man who is for me England’s greatest saint, Sir Thomas More. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. Most of you know his story, if only through the TV series “The Tudors.” A brilliant lawyer, exceptional statesman, exemplary husband and father, thoroughly loyal citizen and consummate Catholic, Thomas rose to the heights of power to hold the office of Lord Chancellor to the irascible King Henry VIII.
When his roving eye lighted on a female courtier, the king suddenly developed scruples about his legitimate marriage to his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. To erase any obstacle to his divorce after the Holy See would not grant him another dispensation, Henry made himself supreme head of the Church in England. Since the Pope could not lawfully approve the marriage, nor theologically accept the new title, neither could St. Thomas. That decision cost the saint his freedom and his life.
The whole business was made famous to a whole generation by the acclaimed Broadway play, later adapted for the screen, titled “A Man for All Seasons.” I was captivated by both.
When I am asked “Why so?” the first answer that springs to mind is the integrity of St. Thomas. That is a quality of life, indeed a virtue, like all others, more easily defined than practiced. Along with the other virtues, it is easily lost under great pressure. Yet I believe it is a virtue most deserving as a measurement of readiness for high office in this election year.
Five centuries after St. Thomas’ time we live in an information age — sometimes to the point of overload. The media serves up 30- second sound bites to hold our ever-shortening attention spans.
We then are often compelled to settle for the lesser of two evils when the 24/7 news cycle traps every campaigner’s gaffe.
Case in point: the July 7-14 issue of “Newsweek” features a piece by Evan Thomas on “flip-flopping.” The writer unwittingly notes the absence of St. Thomas’ kind of integrity when he writes: “Candidates who speak their mind often regret it. A casual bit of frankness can be hung around a candidate’s neck like a badge of shame…They (reporters) implore candidates to speak their minds and then punish them for committing ‘gaffes,’ defined by columnist Michael Kinsley as ‘when a politician tells the truth.’”
Of course, campaigning politicians are not the only people who tend to score low on the “integrity meter.” Political commentators, of the print or electronic variety, often don’t or won’t hide their bias. Most corporate offices have their politics. And yes, even some of the reverend clergy have historically found ways to change their cassock color from basic black by being seen in the right places and known by the right people. Integrity is both elusive and egalitarian.
Except for the saints on whose shoulders we stand, we might not know a Catholic integrity. I have praised St. Thomas More here, but certainly he is not alone. St. Paul, the current “man of the year,” as declared by Pope Benedict XVI, is a great example. Closer to our time, we need look no further than Sts. John Neumann, Frances Cabrini and Katharine Drexel.
What makes St. Thomas More unique is the high earthly position he gladly forfeited to be right with God. The times and circumstances of his bravery burnish his integrity ever brighter as centuries pass. He was indeed “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” That makes for verifiable independence and undeniable holiness. So Thomas remains a man not only significant for an American July, but also for all seasons everywhere.
Father Peterson is pastor of St. Maria Goretti Parish in Hatfield.