“Today we are often in a situation in which we have to defend Catholic teaching within a cultural framework which is not of our creation and indeed may be hostile to our thought. This is especially the case when a culture becomes dominated by individualism. It is very difficult, for example, to defend the Catholic understanding of marriage and sexuality in a culture of individualism, when sexuality involves by its very nature the concept of mutuality and self giving. If we end up simply defending, there is the danger that we will end up being trapped within the categories of someone else’s culture and only present a negative vision of our teaching.
It is important at times to be against, but there is the more fundamental task of illustrating the real nature of our teaching. If sexuality is seen only in terms of individual rights, then any expression of sexuality, unless it is patently exploitative, will be acceptable. In today’s society we have to be able to illustrate the values of a vision of society which springs from our faith, but we have to be able to do so through rational argument”.
“This is especially the case when a culture becomes dominated by individualism.”
The framers of the U.S. Costitution envisioned that it could only work well when “individual rights” were exercised within the context of a strong Judeo-Christian belief system.
And for Christians, one signal of our acceptance of freely offered Grace is given by our interactions in our relationships with others.
So, being an individual with individual rights is consistent with being a practicing Christian.
Our individual manner of our exercise of those rights in the context of our relationships with others is a test of our commitment to live out our mortal lives in the manner given us by Scripture.