Cathal BarryCathal Barry takes a look at Church teaching on why evil exists
The question is often asked: If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice.
Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.
But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better. However, the Church holds that with infinite wisdom and goodness, God freely willed to create a world ìin a state of journeyingî towards its ultimate perfection. In Godís plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature.
The Church teaches that human beings, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned.
God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil, according to Church teaching. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and knows how to derive good from it:
ìFor almighty God… because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itselfî (St Augustine).
ìWe know that in everything God works for good for those who love him.î (Rom 8:28). The constant witness of the saints confirms this truth:
St Catherine of Siena said to ìthose who are scandalised and rebel against what happens to themî: ìEverything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.î
Catholics firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history.
But the ways of his providence are often unknown. As the Catehcism states: ìOnly at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God ëface to faceí, will we fully know the ways by which ñ even through the dramas of evil and sin ñ God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest for which he created Heaven and Earth.î
