Being proudly Catholic

by Editor · January 12, 2011

Cardinal Keith O�Brien of Edinburgh, Scotland, has complained that in Britain freedom of religious expression �is not upheld in our midst as widely and completely as it should be�.

Indeed, in much of Western society, religious freedom is under pressure, to the point that the bishops� conferences of Europe have established an Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe.

The Observatory recently issued a report detailing what it called widespread anti-Christian activity. The report says that �radical secularisation and extreme political correctness� limit �fundamental freedom�.

It is true that in Europe religious freedoms are not compromised by the threat of violence, suppression or dispossession. Indeed, churches are free to operate and citizens are not barred from exercising their faith.

There is also no evidence of a coordinated campaign against Christianity, even if some opponents of Christianity are acting in concert. Many attacks on Christian life are arbitrary.

The restrictions can be subtle�such as the insistence that religion belongs in the private sphere�or aggressive, such as the deliberate marginalisation of Christians in public life. Christians are even punished for wearing symbols of their faith.

Christians don�t always get a fair hearing in the media. Those journalists with an anti-Christian agenda often apply an age-old trick by interviewing reasonable secularist voices on the one hand, and hysterical (usually unrepresentative) Christians on the other�and then claim to be even-handed.

Generally, it is seen as acceptable to treat Christians with disrespect, and Christians are made to feel that their faith is somehow offensive to adherents of other faiths, when it usually offends only those of none.

The interjection of Alistair Campbell, the erstwhile Labour Party spin doctor, that �we don�t do God� has become a mantra.

Those who subscribe to that view will say that Christians enjoy full religious freedom, but that their freedom must be exercised out of public view (a constraint that is not applied to other religions). In other words, Christians are expected to live their faith in a spiritual ghetto.

That is not religious freedom; it is discrimination.

These influences are also becoming apparent in some sectors of South African society.

The Catholic Church must be part of a movement that reasserts the Christian heritage, and not only by reactive and angry protest (though that too may be necessary at times).

The Church must assert itself in public discourse. This means that its leaders must be heard not only on the �hot� issues�such as bioethics and sexuality�which present the Church as an institution that seeks only to prohibit, but also find a voice on those matters that can establish a common purpose.

We must not be silent when our faith is marginalised, trivialised, assaulted, distorted, insulted or treated with rank hypocrisy. When it is, our response must be measured and respectful of those with whom we disagree (even when they are lacking in courtesy), and our battles must be chosen carefully.

More than any line of argument, it is the demonstration of Christian joy and hope that provides a suitable response to those who wish to sideline our faith.

When Catholics exhibit their faith in numbers, as they did in Britain during Pope Benedict�s visit last September and as they doubtless will in Madrid during the World Youth Day, they counter the notion that Christianity is irrelevant to modern life and therefore moribund.

As a Church, especially in a region where Catholics are a minority, our priority must be to give the faithful a stronger sense of being Catholic, of belonging. We must build a Catholic identity that confidently places Christ, the Word of God, the sacraments and love at the centre.

Those who seek to marginalise the faith must be shown a vibrant�not angry�faith that simply will not be excised from public life.