The following remarks were delivered by Father Harry Bury on Oct. 31 to the 126th consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition. He was introduced by moderator Anastasia Battle, who noted that Father Bury had been a Catholic priest for some 70 years, is a lifelong peace activist, and is a leader of Pax Christi.
FATHER HARRY BURY: Thank you so much, Anastasia. I really feel honored and grateful that I have a chance to share with you and build upon what has been said today. It’s been really significant and helpful to most of us, and I hope the Schiller Institute continues to do what we’ve been doing every Friday morning. This is really significant, and it’s going to make a big change.
I’d like to build, if I can, on what Helga and you others have said. As she mentioned, last Saturday Pope Leo was celebrating the Jubilee of Education. So the emphasis was on the intellectual life. Pope Leo spoke of Nicholas of Cusa in a most positive way. Nicholas of Cusa was a Cardinal in the Church, when there were challenges like we are facing today in Europe particularly. Nicholas of Cusa was a catalyst of beginning the Renaissance; and it’s my opinion that Nicholas of Cusa—it’s only opinion now, of course—but that Nicholas of Cusa was for the 15th Century what Lyndon LaRouche was and is for the 20th and 21st Centuries. Lyn LaRouche was also a renaissance man. Both he and Nicholas of Cusa were geniuses and contributed to the world’s intellectual, financial, and human development of us humans. Both believed in the unity of humanity; that we are all one. That means that what’s good for you needs to be good for me and vice versa, or it’s not any good.
Both believe in the unity of humanity; that we be all one and are united. So both believed in the potential of humanity, and the goodness of humanity. Too many people today think that there are evil people in the world. Helga [Zepp-LaRouche] has pointed out many times, and the Schiller Institute has taught that there are no evil people in the world; there are only good people who do evil things because they don’t know any better. That’s what Jesus said from the Cross. Of the very people who were crucifying him, he said, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” If those soldiers who were crucifying Jesus knew he was the Son of God, they would never have crucified him. They didn’t know any better.
So, both Nicholas of Cusa and Lyndon LaRouche believed in humanity. They believed that the potential of humanity is to overcome life’s challenges. In this sense, they both were apostles of hope. Both presented new ways of thinking; new ways of perceiving reality. Both taught that humanity doesn’t know absolute truth; what we know is probability, and that’s why we keep discovering. Discovering more and more truth, but we never arrive. That’s why the intellectual life that Pope Leo was attempting to point out to us is so significant and important.
