The Vocation to Politics

Irish Jesuit Province

The Vocation to PoliticsAuthor(s): Michael ConnollySource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 73, No. 869 (Nov., 1945), pp. 453-462Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20515435 .

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The Vocation To Politics

By Michael Connolly, S.J.

u TTN order to discharge its duties effectively and win esteem and trust, 1 every legislative body should?as experience unquestionably proves?

be composed of select men of high spiritual quality and firm character, who look upon themselves as the representatives of the whole people and

not merely as mandatories of a mob (to whose special interests, alas, the true

requirements and demands.of the common weal are often sacrificed). Select

men, who are not drawn exclusively from any profession or class, but who

form a reflex of the many-sided life of the whole people. Select men of solid Christian convictions, of sound and fair judgment, of well-balanced,

practical sense, who are consistent in all circumstances; men of sane and

clear-cut principles, whose aims are wholesome and upright ; men above

all who are able, in virtue of the influence which their stainless consciences win them everywhere, to be guides and leaders especially at times" when

pressing needs excite and agitate the populace and render it more liable to err and be led astray; men who in times of momentous change?times so often troubled and agitated by passion, conflicting opinions and pro grammes?feel a special obligation to apply to the fever which racks people and State the spiritual antidote of clear-sighted views, of sympathetic kindness, of even-handed justice towards all, and of a will towards national union and concord in a spirit of genuine brotherhood."

I

The above passage, translated from last year's Christmas

broadcast of Pope Pius XII,1 gives the Holy Father's ideal of the type of men who should compose the legislative assemblies of democratic countries. There the democratic^politician, who

aspires to a seat in Parliament, or maybe in the Executive

1 Cf. Acta Apostolice Sedis, January, 1945, p. 10.



454 THE IRISH MONTHLY

Government, may see the high standard of ability and integrity which is required of him. Not so long ago some of our leading public men and the editor of one of our dailies were complain

ing of the unfair disparagement?all too common in Ireland,

it was said?of those taking part in the work of government. Irishmen, it would seem, show great lack of appreciation for the services and sacrifices of their civil rulers. Some even go so far as to call them politicians, with implications which tend to bring discredit on the whole work of politics. And this attitude is largely responsible for the reluctance of talented

young people to enter political life. The word politician has indeed taken on a connotation which

is not complimentary. At best it is synonymous with party politician, one'devoted first and foremost to the interests of his

political Party, without caring too much whether, in every case, those interests are identical with the common good. Some

times it is used in a more depreciatory sense to designate those

whose activity in public life is self-seeking and unprincipled. It would be a pity if this usage of the word politician should

bring discredit on the noble pursuit which bears the kindred

'name politics. The danger is not a remote one in Ireland, as

the complaints mentioned above bear witness.

Justly or unjustly, the members of democratic Legislatures and Executives frequently fail to receive the esteem and regard which, one would have thought, their high function deserves.

T.Ds., Senators and Cabinet Ministers are the modern wielders

of the kingly power. The democratic usage of "

separation of

powers "

has helped to obscure the fact that such functionaries are truly God's vice-gerents.

" There is no power but from

God," says St. Paul. The kingly power, supreme political authority, is a sharing in God's right to command His human creatures. Of the three elements which make up this author



THE VOCATION TO POLITICS 455

ity, legislative power is to-day wielded, in a Government like

ours, by T.Ds., Senators and President while Ministers share in the executive power as well. Centuries ago when kings

were really kings, the living Faith of Christendom saw clearly whence came the king's power to make laws and enforce their

observance. The Christian King himself saw it. -His reign was inaugurated with solemn rite. He was crowned amid the

splendours of High Mass; with ceremony resembling the conse

cration of a Bishop. The Church's ritual sought to impress upon him that, though his powers were great, "his responsibilities were great, too. He was reminded that his authority was not

absolute, that he was but God's steward, a shepherd of God's

flock, accountable to God for the temporal well-being of that

flock, liable to render to his Divine Overlord a strict reckoning of his stewardship. The king, in those days, had every induce

ment to regard his calling as a sacred one and in the exercise

of it to temper justice with mercy and humanity. And his

subjects, who were encouraged to look upon their ruler as God's

representative in the temporal sphere, had every motive for obedience and loyalty.

But no>v the age of kings is no more. Modern man has

devised for himself new institutions of government. But some: how his legislators and administrators and judges have lost in his eyes that divinity that did hedge the king. And with it has gone that attitude of mind which regarded civil obedience as a sacred duty?sacred, because rendered towards God in the

person of the ruler. Civil obedience has largely become "

good

policy ", in the sense in which the worldly-wise proverb says that honesty is good policy. And, of course, it frequently happens that disobedience is good policy, too, when one can

disobey with impunity and with profit. It is to be feared too

that the modern successors of kings have not always a due




appreciation of their high function. And the loss is often reflected in their conduct of their function ; hence the disrepute into which the term

" politician

" has fallen.

It is indeed regrettable that citizens do not think and speak more respectfully of their Rulers, that they so often forget that those whom they contemptuously dub "politicians

" are God's

vice-gerents in the temporal order, true sharers in God's

authority. One good remedy for this state of affairs suggests itself. (No doubt there are others.) Let politicians themselves

become more fully conscious of the true source of their author

ity and endeavour to have all their public activity attest this awareness. The medieval King was helped to remember that

his authority was given* him by God not just in order to com

mand his subjects, but so as to procure their temporal well

being. He was their master not for his own private advantage, nor for that of his personal friends, but for the common weal of all his people. He ruled in order to serve. He was the

servus servorum Dei. To-day the effective rulers of Stetes are

often called "

ministers ". Now "

minister "

is the Latin for "

servant ". The present Pope has told us that " even in the

temporal order, the deepest meaning, the ultimate moral basis,

and the universal legitimacy of the right to govern, lies in the

duty to serve." A constant remembrance of this fact by demo

cratic ministers and legislators is one way of removing the

stigma which sometimes attaches to the term "

politics ". Even

the word "

politician "

may lose its suggestion of reproach if democratic lawmakers sincerely try to discover and enact what

is for the " common good ", whether or not it happens to be

the particular policy of their Party.




II The religious leaders of England, including the late Cardinal

Hinsley, wrote a remarkable letter to The Times which

appeared in the issue of 21st Depember, 1940. Its purpose weis to endorse the five peace-points of Pope Pius XII and to

advocate five further social ideals. One of these was : " The

sense of a Divine vocation must be restored to man's daily work." Certainly it is highly important that this sense of voca

tion inspire the work of those important citizens whose privilege and. responsibility^ is to legislate for their fellow-citizens. Only those statesmen ,who look upon their work as a vocation, and a

Divine vocation at that, are at all likely to realise the ideal for democratic legislators which we quoted at the beginning of this article. Political life is a vocation and a difficult one. Those who intrude themselves uncalled into high vocations are a danger to themselves and to others as well. No one should lightly take

unto himself such an honour. It is like that other most diffi cult vocation?the vocation to riches, a vocation whose difficulty

Our Lord has emphasised in a striking metaphor. ?o one can

safely be a rich man but he who would willingly be poor, the

poor in spirit. And it may well be that no one goes more

securely into politics but he who would willingly stay out of them.

Now what do we wish to imply by saying that politics is a

vocation? The Providence of God rules the lives of all His

children, layman as well as cleric. And Divine Providence has marked out for all the way of life in which each one is to serve

his Maker and his fellow-man. Ail have their vocation. For some it is decided by force of circumstances ; others have the

weighty responsibility of choosing for themselves. Our choice is fraught with immense consequences for others as well as for ourselves. We can perhaps best grasp the implications of the




word 4i

vocation "

by examining it in the context in which it is most familiar to us, viz., the priestly or religious vocation. To

say that a young man has a vocation to the priesthood means

that, having carefully weighed the pros and cons, he has come

to the conclusion that it is God's will that he should serve Him as a priest. In other words, he has good reason to suppose that

God calls him to the priesthood. We require that he have a "

right intention "

in choosing the priesthood as his way of life. And this means that his chief motive must be*the service of God and the fulfilment of His will, not his own personal gain or con

venience. No doubt his sacred ministry will bring with it from the charity of those to whom he ministers, or from some other

source, sufficient material goods to satisfy his temporal needs.

And it is quite in order for our candidate for the priesthood to reckon that fact amongst the pros for his decision, provided it remain a subsidiary consideration and not the determining

motive. Another subsidiary consideration which may be admitted is that the priestly life is naturally attractive to his character and temperament. But if a young man's sole reasons

for choosing the priesthood as a way of life are that the life is

naturally congenial to him and reasonably well provided for* we

would be slow to admit that he had a true vocation. Now apply all this to the case of a person choosing politics as his life work.

By speaking of politics as a vocation and not merely a career or

a job or even a profession, we wish to suggest that politics should

be chosen as a way of life, not merely because public life is natur

ally attractive nor because one thinks it a feasible and reasonably lucrative means of earning a livelihood and bettering one's posi

tion, but chiefly because one wishes by means of that career to serve God in. serving one's country and one's fellow-citizens.




III How then is a young man to decide whether or not he person

ally is called to the life of politics? Once again the comparison of the priestly vocation suggests an answer. The signs of

priestly vocation are, I suppose, these three : aptitude, a right intention, and, as a rule, a liking for sacerdotal life and work.2

Similar criteria will help a young man of ability to make up his mind about a career in public life. First, has he the capacity, physical, mental and moral, to be a useful statesman} How

strange it is that we require rigid qualifying tests before admit

ting a candidate to the position of Civic Guard or bus driver, and no proofs of political wisdom, education, or statesmanship from

those who are to pass and execute laws governing every detail

of our lives ! "

It is specially important," said Pius XII in his

broadcast, "

that those who, in every form of democratic r?gime,

wield, as representatives of the people, the legislative power,

should possess deep understanding of those principles of political and social order which are sane and in conformity with the norms of right and justice."

Of the two remaining criteria, a right intention and a natural

liking, the latter is useful and important but not absolutely essential. There have been statesmen who embarked on

political life reluctantly and with distaste but impelled by a high sense of duty and patriotism. They had the right intention in such eminent degree as tg offset the absence of natural attraction.

IV

It is when we come to treat of that element of the political vocation which we have called

?i a right intention "

that we find the true and worthy motives which should chiefly decide him

2 A theologian friend has pointed out that, technically speaking, the "

call *', by which a Bishop freely admits a candidate to Holy Orders, is an essential part of the

priestly vocation.




whose hesitating footstep falters on the threshold of public fife*. It may be patriotism which urges a man to aspire to a seat in h?&

country's Legislature or Government. Patriotism?not to be

confused with Nationalism, a word which in recent years tends to take on a sinister connotation?is the virtue which disciplines and ennobles a man's instinctive love for his fellow-countrymen. Irishmen have been accustomed to associate the word

" patriot

**

writh those who in battle or in prison or on the scaffold have in the

past affirmed our country's right to political independence* Henceforth we must learn to think of the patriot as one jvho

lives and works for his country rather than dies for it?though that, too, if need be. There is no more commendable exercise

of patriotism than that of the statesman or legislator who toils and studies and uses his advantageous position for the peace and

prosperity of his native land. This peaceful patriotism may be

prompted by the characteristic Christian virtue of charity, even

by supernatural charity. ;i

If one may serve a section of the

community, the poor or the sick, for the motive of supernatural

charity, why may not one serve the whole community j?st a?

heroically for the same motive?" (Father Canavan, in Studies* 1936, p. 37.) One who has undoubted talent for political Kfe

may well feel an obligation to use his gifts to the best advantage for the wrell-being of his countrymen, and even of mankind, since

nowadays the destinies of all nations are very closely intertwined?

Many of us remember the high idealism of Irish politics a quarter of a century ago. It sprang from a most fervent patriotism, called forth by the struggle for political independence? Since then this fervour has subsided owing to a variety of causes, one

of which has been the lack of striking, palpable objectives to chal

lenge our patriotism (if we except the few perilous years of the recent emergency). We find it difficult to see a suitable field for

political idealism in the humdrum details of domestic State




administration. The objectives of peaceful internal develop ment do not fire the imagination or call out our best efforts like the endeavour to expel a foreign occupier. The winning of

political independence robbed Irishmen of a powerful stimulus to effort and heroism. If w^e cannot find in cultural, social,

political and economic development a compensating objective, the fountains of Irish patriotism are in danger of running dry.

It may be some particular department of the .common weal

which our aspirant to political influence aims at promot

ing : education, the welfare of the working-class, of the unem

ployed?any of those social objectives >vhich may be classed under the heading of "social justice". The ideal of social

justice is one which strongly appeals to the men of our time. To devote his life to its furtherance is a vocation which may well

appeal to any young man of talefrt, education and generosity. " Social justice

" is a term of fairly recent currency. It stands

for something closely akin to St. Thomas's concept of

legal justice, if it is not indeed identical with it. Now, legal justice, St. Thomas teaches, is, eminently the concern of the

legislator. He is its architect, in the sense that the laws he frames to govern the economic and social activities of the citizens form the plan according to which his subjects, obediently carrying out

those laws, shall build up the edifice of legal justice in their land.

V

We hope that what we have Ibeen saying will spur educated

young people to interest themselves in politics. Our country needs an unfailing supply of men and women who are serious

students of the science and art of civil government and are

zealous to use their attainments for the benefit of their country and their people. A few years ago an Irish parish priest made the following wise observation : "

In the past, most pernicious




advice was given to young people by well-meaning teachers in

schools and colleges when they were advised to beware of politics and politicians. If the educated classes are encouraged to keep out of politics, what hope remains of securing honest, efficient

politicians?" (Fr. M, MacBranam, cited in Irish Digest, Sep tember, 1941.) An Irish Senator, addressing members of the

National University Club in London, two years ago, deplored the reluctance of the younger generation to enter political life.

He said: "

One of the remedies is a more widespread interest in politics. Ireland wants more politics and not less, for politics is the government of the country and concerns everybody." And

here are one or two quotations from Pope Pius XI: "

Partici

pation in public life involves a duty of social charity. . . .

When this participation is inspired by Christlike principles, great good flows from it, not only for the life of society but for the life of religion as well."

" One ought not to be disinterested

towards politics when politics means the interests of the common

good and not the interests of particular individuals." ??

Every good citizen is bound to make the best use of'politics, and Catholics in particular since the profession of the Catholic, Faith

requires that they be the best citizens." The work of the statesman is to create conditions favourable

to citizens leading the good life. What nobler work could there be? Catholicity and patriotism point to politics as a

splendid vocation for an educated Irishman. An enlightened statesman can do much for the common good of ou? people? the goal of Irish patriotism and no small contribution to the

Kingdom of God on earth.



The Vocation to Politics

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