Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself

I have attended Catholics schools for the entirety of my life, from preschool through college, where I am now. My experience has always been what I would describe as pleasant, and I am grateful for the moral foundations I received, and particularly the lifelong friendships I was able to cultivate. Some of my favorite memories are wrapped up in being Catholic and being in Catholics spaces.

Being Catholic and involved in my local Church community had always felt right. I had a sense of purpose and the reassurance that everything would be okay in the end. It provided me with comfort, hope, and love. In my eyes, my parish was a place where I felt loved and welcomed, and because of these positive experiences, I felt closer to God. Growing up, my Catholic identity meant being accepting of all people, and showing a deep love for one another, for Jesus said, “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). Jesus refers to this teaching as the second commandment, which I interpret to mean second in importance given the context of the response. Jesus states when asked: “Which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 …Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  
38 This is the first and great commandment. 
39 And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

So, it is always surprising when I see the lack of love that the Catholic Church shows both towards its followers and those who are not Catholic. When Jesus states that we should all love each other as we love ourselves, He is calling us to be understanding, compassionate, inclusive, respectful, and supportive. Additionally, Jesus is asking us to treat each other as equals, for if one is to truly “love thy neighbor as thyself” one must respect thy neighbor as thyself.

This teaching, as integral as it may be to the Catholic Church’s ethical code, is often applied selectively, or simply ignored. Jesus did not deliver this teaching with an asterisk next to it, nor with any fine print underneath that mentions when this teaching applies and when it does not. Jesus purposefully phrased his response in this manner because he meant for it to apply to all people. That is why I have always thought this commandment to be so beautiful and powerful.

But it seems that the institutional Church does not see this commandment in the same light, for it picks and chooses when it follows this commandment and when it does not. 

To start, one can look no further than the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal and the way the Catholic Church was willing to cover for these predators and the organization itself. I find that one of the most significant reasons as to why the Church faced such backlash for this disgusting and tragic scandal, outside of the obvious reasons, is because the Church went directly against its own teachings. The Church became foundationally hypocritical. The Catholic Church, just like all organized religions, has a code of ethics and certain values that restrict them from condoning certain behaviors and actions. So, it is infuriating when the Catholic Church and its leaders decide, like in this case, that the image of the organization is more important than the wellbeing of God’s children and the followers of the Church. The Church chose to love thyself more than its neighbor, and to do this, is to actively contradict Jesus’ second commandment and its own teachings which is truly appalling.

Now, the Church’s inconsistency in its enforcement of Jesus’ second commandment is not limited to the aforementioned scandal. I find that this inconsistency also applies to how the Catholic Church treats women, and, more specifically, how women are relegated to roles of lesser importance and influence in regard to the hierarchy of the Church. To love thy neighbor is to treat women and all people with respect as equals, but the Catholic Church fails to treat the women of the Catholic Church as equals to men. For the Church to assert that men are the only gender capable of being priests and deacons shows the lack of equality within the Church and how the Church picks and chooses when they want to respect Jesus’ second commandment.

Now, I do not say all of this to pull people away from the Church or to merely show my personal disagreements with the Church. Rather, I say all of this because of what I have been taught for the entirety of my life from the Catholic Church and organizations and institutions associated with the Catholic Church. As I have said before, being involved with the Catholic Church had always felt right, but recently this has not been the case. I find that many young people I know, including myself, who were raised in the Catholic Church and were taught Catholic values now have a hard time supporting the Church because of its inconsistencies in “Love(ing) thy neighbor as thyself.” 

I write all of this to hold the Church accountable to the same teachings that it holds its followers to. 

I write this to ask for the Catholic Church to do better and become a place that truly emulates the teachings of Christ, not when it feels like it, but all the time.

I write this so that in the future I may also send my children to Catholic school knowing that I can rely on the Church to practice what it preaches.

I have not come close to mentioning all the changes necessary to improving the Catholic Church and its future, but I think that this is a good place to start… to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Antonio Ralph is currently a senior attending the University of San Francisco where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Business, Management and Administration. He is currently interning for the WOC as a blog editor.