Every day, in the left pocket of my clerical suit jacket, I carry a now very worn copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. I started carrying them when I lived on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

I did so because it seemed to me that many had lost their copy in our nation’s capital. I do not know how many “arguments” I settled by carrying the actual texts with me, but it was more than a few.

I know it is odd for a priest to carry these documents, but I take great comfort in doing so. As a veteran, I took several oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. I believe that our form of government — though far from perfect — is as Abraham Lincoln put it, “the last best hope on earth” for liberty and justice for all, at least in this life. As an ongoing experiment in ordered liberty, our nation requires a people willing to seek justice and to reform wrongs as we pursue “a more perfect union.”

It started while I was in D.C., but I continue to carry our founding documents for a different reason today. I carry them because they give witness to truth. As president of Donnelly College, I am proud that our first value is truth. I tell every prospective student and every incoming class that there is truth and that the truth is knowable. I explain how a college is a community of learners, earnestly and courageously seeking the truth in all things.

While this may seem obvious to most, it is, in fact, highly controversial today. The false ideology of postmodern relativism and epistemological skepticism has permeated and dominated many (most?) institutions of higher learning, newsrooms, editorial boards and governmental entities today. Many boldly, if illogically, proclaim, “There is no truth,” yet go on claiming to be professors with nothing to profess, pundits with pointless points of view, and leaders without vision. And as Proverbs teaches us, “Where there is no vision the people perish” (29:18).

But worse, if our very chic elites are correct, then America was founded on a lie. Thomas Jefferson, in drafting the Declaration of Independence, made an appeal to the nations of the world that our British overlords were violating the norms of justice, thus justifying the rebellion of 1776. The Founding Fathers boldly proclaimed that there was truth and that certain truths are “self-evident.”

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness … .”

If there are no self-evident truths, then our founding was based on a lie and our nation’s independence is built on a fraud. What is worse, if there is no truth, all that is left is sheer, unmitigated and unimpeachable power. For without truth and justice and God-given rights to appeal to, all that is left to adjudicate differences between persons and groups is raw power.

Thus, today one of the most vital services that Catholic Christians provide to our nation is our witness to truth and the reasonableness of reason. This is especially true of our witness to the natural moral law (knowable by all who use right reason) and to the norms of social justice. Here is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it:

“It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community” (2239).

True patriots give witness in word and deed to truth and justice. Every land and every time needs the prayers of her faithful citizens. But it seems to me that the United States today is particularly wanting. She is in dire need of the witness and prayers of her Catholic citizens.

As we celebrate Independence Day this year, may we pray together as faithful citizens one of the Collects for the day’s Mass:

God of justice, Father of truth,

who guide creation in wisdom and goodness

to fulfillment in Christ your Son,

open our hearts to the truth of his Gospel,

that your peace may rule in our hearts

and your justice guide our lives.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity

of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever. Amen.