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I had an urge to strike through that last word and substitute diversity. Having been a high school teacher, such urges still surface from time to time; but I held back and wondered what was giving rise to that feeling. It came to me - individuality seemed to connote individualism, a concept I had been struggling with of late. Having been raised Catholic, concern for the common good had been drilled into my conscious. Various recent event have led me to question how individualism relates to the common good.
I turned to my dictionary for help - well, actually my phone but you know what I mean. According to Merriam-Webster, individuality has to do with particular characteristics that distinguish one person from another. No problem with the common good there. We are each given unique talents for the good of the community. Then I looked up individualism - “a doctrine that the interests of the individual are or ought to be ethically paramount.” Now that belief system could come into conflict with the common good. If I hold that my individual wants trump your wants, we are in for trouble.
What helped me come to terms with the difference in these two similar words was thinking in terms of race. I was born into a particular race, just as certainly as my individualistic characteristics were given. Racism would be believing that the interests of my particular race are or ought to be paramount, privileged. That attitude, whether conscious or unconscious, is not a given and would work against the common good.
Yet James Martin had used the word individuality, not individualism. No need for me to mark up the text. I consent to the understanding that “God celebrated individuality.”