Q&A: Five questions for philosopher-author Alice von Hildebrand

The Colorado Catholic Herald, official newspaper of the Colorado Springs Diocese, spoke with philosopher-author Alice von Hildebrand, widow of theologian-author Dietrich Von Hildebrand, when she was in Colorado last week for the Denver Archdiocese’s Gospel of Life conference, held Oct. 25 at the John Paul II Center in south Denver.

By Veronica Ambuul

Q: At the Gospel of Life conference, you spoke about “Humane Vitae” (“Of Human Life,” 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI on married love and procreation). Elsewhere you wrote that when your husband, Dietrich von Hildebrand, was first received into the Church he did not immediately grasp why artificial birth control was wrong.

A: No. When he was given instructions, he accepted the teaching of the Church but he said, “I cannot understand why to prevent life from coming into existence (is wrong).” But that priest was very strong. He said, “This is an essential teaching of the Church. Either you accept it or I cannot accept you into the Church.” And immediately, (my husband) said, “I believe in order to understand.” And within weeks he had such insights into the immorality of artificial birth control that in 1930 he was the first Catholic to challenge the Lambeth Conference in London. In 1968 he was the first person to publish a book — “’Humanae Vitae,’ a Sign of Contradiction” (in support of the encyclical). He was the first one!

Q: Does his example offer hope for modern-day couples, in that he accepted it on faith and later came to understand?

A: Yes. There’s so much that we do not see. One of the great philosophical contributions of my husband is in the (area of) moral blindness. I believe that it was yesterday in my talk that I said all of us are partially blind, for example towards our faults. You know this is what happens in a marriage, that the husband makes a fault, and the wife reacts but doesn’t see the fault that she makes. We are blind towards innumerable things. There are lots of things that we do not see. This is (how we should pray): “Lord, may I see, help my unbelief.” That’s crucial.

Q: You talk about holy receptivity as modeled by Mary, the mother of God.

A: Yes, this is something that I wanted to say in my talk. One of the magnificent features of women is receptivity. Towards God we are all receptive, everything comes from him. In our society, it is doing, it is achieving, it is creating. If you apply for a job, it is essential that you sound creative, and you get it. Whatever you create, it can be ugly (or) it can be stupid but you’ve got to create. But we are receptive. What does the Blessed Mother say? “Be it done to me.”

Q: Can you talk about how that applies in everyday life for a married woman?

A: Man is active and woman is receptive. In being receptive, she creates life. His activity lasts only a few moments and that’s all, then it’s over. In the other case, you have a future of fruitfulness. You see, basically, what is holiness? Total receptivity towards God’s grace: it’s the best formulation of holiness that I can think of. God is giving us his grace and (often) we say no.

Q: Women have figured prominently in both parties during this last presidential election. Are there unique qualities that a woman brings to a leadership position, whether it be in public office or in the private sector?

A: Yes. Here I’m going to mention Edith Stein. In 1930 she gave a talk in Austria. The gist of it was to show that one of the amazing characteristics of women is that they have a much deeper sense for persons, that men are attracted to what is impersonal. I’m going to give you an example that is sort of silly. Suppose that there is a door, and in front of it are 50 men and 50 women. And the doors are closed, and one doesn’t know what is inside. And you open the door, and on the right side is a baby in a cradle, and on the left is a brand new computer. What are the women going to do? Go to the baby. What are the men going to do? Go to the computer. You see, we (women) have an extraordinary sense of persons. (For) men, the danger is impersonal, the danger is abstraction, theories. We (women) have a much greater sense of the concrete. Man writes a treatise about education. A mother is concerned about the education of her child, but as a unique personality.