A Man for All Seasons

SUMMARY OF READERS GROUP MEETING, Feb.13,2005
"A Man For All Seasons"
Present: Mark, David, Mary, Peter, Br. Brendan, Randy, Katy, Imelda, Sally, Georgia, Br. Peter.
P- The author, Bolt, sees More as someone to be admired, but Bolt isn’t a Christian. Does the play speak to you as a Catholic?
S-Men are after power, but how can you pursue this without honor? My son says they don’t teach that anymore. The last person who understood was Eliot Richardson…why not anymore?
G-Who’s they? I don’t think they taught it back in More’s day either.
I-There’s a something within in this story that goes beyond faith- the untouchable self is not faith-specific. But for More his Catholic faith was necessary.
B- But how do you get vaccinated for it? More studied four years in a Carthusian monastery as an Oblate; contemplative life was his formation.
I-I was disappointed with Colin Powell-I think he knew truth wasn’t being told before the Iraq invasion. He should have been true to his convictions.
B- You can’t separate morality and politics, as JFK did when he said his Catholicism wouldn’t affect his politics.
D- I agree- as to More who was a "champion of conscience", yet before this he was very involved in the persecution of Lutherans when they were a threat to Catholicism in England. Then it was his conscience against others’, which led to the other’ deaths. More was medieval, Cromwell was modern. ‘You can’t maintain honor if you exercise power.’- Wolsey was an example.
R-Then how does a person in power remain a Christian?—here we have a digression on conscience, corruption of power, etc.
P- He wasn’t a Church lawyer.
D He was both.
P More mentioned his son-in-law-….
R-More acts out of witness to faith and it comes through, among other things, canon law. But ultimately the position is, ‘I refuse.’
P- Religion defines this.
BP- We can say this because we’re Christians.
S What we used to say about blacks…..
D- and Jews..in various times.
K Deeper…law?……..
I-Laws are changeable. More was using law to save himself
BP- Conscience is peculiar to Western civilization…may be missing from Asian cultures, and maybe from Muslims? Probably comes from Christianity.
D. You’re right. The problem is when the Church becomes the enforcer- it goes off track
S We’re all affected by the morals of our times. But things like the "Good Samaritan" is universal morality.
B-(to Dave) you make a good point. This book lies on the fault line from Christendom to modernity. America is not Christendom, we’re multi-cultural. What is the role of the Church with the state?
D- The Church should always oppose the state
B-No, it should be neither for or against. A community of conscience that forms conscience has the right to a voice of opposition.
D Separation originally meant to protect the Church from the state, not the other way around.
R An example is parochial schools- they can’t take money from the government.
M In the school where I teach, which is Christian, we’re being tempted toreceive money this way. The problem is that then there can be no religious things in the school at all.
G I read in the New World about Archbishop Chaput in Denver having an argument with the lawyers there who awarded the Thomas More prize to a senator who is pro choice. Chaput says he should have been asked to approve or not. I think there is a need for a Catholic influence today.
R- In the movie More stresses that it’s I who won’t go along with the marriage.
D He’s witnessing to the Church- as it was- The Pope was heavily influenced by the Spanish and therefore couldn’t, so More did.
R It didn’t matter because More didn’t see it that way.
S- It’s not the Reformation it’s…..
M reformation with a small r.
K It might bear comparing it to The Crucible……. The notion of taking an oath: holding ones self in hand…
R-What do I have except my name?
(general discussion on one’s integrity…who I am)
BP What do you think of his wife?
S What did the family do?
D They escaped to Europe
I and B- discussion on More’s property- and history of Catholicism after More- how monasteries were confiscated and sold to finance the kingdom.
G- and the final outcome today is a morally bankrupt country.
D and all……. History of other characters…..
Imelda-There’s a connection between the Gospel today and this story- Henry offers More first friendship, then power, then anything he wants- just like the devil tempting Jesus.
P Theres a reference to Eve………
S I learned in school about three powers………….
We’ll read next The Crucible: and will discuss it along with A Man For All Seasons, stressing freedom of conscience and the Church in society.

Enclosed: A list of books that should take us in to the ‘20s, at least!