Where do we get good values from?

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
23 Feb 2003

Last Sunday some estimate that a couple of hundred thousand people demonstrated in Sydney against the possibility of war in Iraq. While a have big questions about the morality of going to war a did not join the walk and think it was a bit strange that Saddam Hussein, the cause of the trouble, a tyrant who ranks with Pol Pot and Hitler, was not mentioned much at all.

Whatever of that, going to war is a supremely important moral issue and people have a right to express their convictions, whether they agree or disagree with the government. We rejoice in Australia in this freedom to differ peaceably with one another on these issues.

As Australians we also expect our elected representatives to rise to these important occasions and set out the issues for us with passion, clarity and courtesy. Some failed to make this grade.

The rights to debate and differ are precious rights gained over the centuries and they presuppose the conviction that some activities are right and some are wrong. Young people have to be introduced into this tradition of decency.

The moral education of the young, the training of heart and mind towards the good, is as old as civilisation and involves many things.

It involves rules and regulations, the do's and don'ts of living together, as well as explicit instruction, exhortation and especially training in good habits.

Aristotle, the greatest of the ancient Greek philosophers, claimed that good habits formed during youth make all the difference. He has been proved right.

How are children influenced towards the good? More important than anything else is the moral power of quiet example. Children will take morality seriously when they are loved and helped by adults, especially parents and teachers, who take morality seriously. When children see this regularly with their own eyes they are powerfully affected, attracted to the good.

Every person has to develop a personal moral core of values, built on respect for the virtues. We are born selfish as well as naturally inclined to goodness. Therefore goodness has to be learnt and it can be stifled by an absence of love, and by bad example.

With this personal core an adult is equipped to make up his mind on the great public issues of war and peace, social justice, abortion and euthanasia, etc.

Another important way of anchoring young people in our way of living is to introduce them to the stories and poems which explain the virtues, so that they know many of the fascinating examples of good and evil, which occurred "once upon a time". This helps them to understand our moral tradition and so work with us to preserve what we hold dear.