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C. S. Lewis: the Truth, the Lie, and the Lion

Waiting for Godot to Leave
May 27, 2013

http://thwordinc.blogspot.com/2013/05/c-s-lewis-truth-lie-and-lion.html

But, good as that article is, and good as C. S. Lewis' insights into morality are - of course if someone else is scornful of the truth, I need not be particularly worried about it. I'm mostly truthful, except when the small lie suits me. If they lie for their Bad Cause, I may lie for my Good Cause, or else their Bad Cause will win. Right??? And Scripture, Augustine, Aquinas, Trent, and the Catechism - they're not Magisterial, right??? Lying for a Good Cause is a good thing, right????

Then there's this.

Fear of scandal prompted the cover-up of child sex abuse allegations within the Catholic Church, Australia’s top-ranking Cardinal George Pell admitted Monday.

Now Pell is one of OUR guys. He's not a liberal Jesuit lying to keep an abusive priest out of jail. He's an orthodox bishop who has taken heat for his opposition to liturgical abuse and his devotion to Church teaching. He's even been the victim of a lie - a man who falsely accused him of abuse in 2002.

So when Cardinal Pell tells us why the Church in Australia lied, and says

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church ... There was a fear of scandal.”

... my questions, dear readers who are gung-ho for Lying for a Good Cause - are these

May a Catholic lie to avoid scandal?

May a Catholic lie to protect the reputation of the Church?

May a Catholic lie if his lie might put innocent children in harm's way?

And before you answer that, read Hinkel's article. Read, as he did, C. S. Lewis' The Last Battle, about which Hinkel says ...

There are many profound themes Lewis skillfully weaves through his book: manipulation of sentiment versus pursuing the truth, ends justifying means, cynicism versus conversion, as well as a scary portrait of the minimum necessary conditions needed for evil to appear triumphant over good.

The minimum necessary conditions for evil to triumph over good? Doing bad so that good may come would be one of them. But I can think of others.

 

 

 

 

 




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