Are We Afraid to Have Opinions?

Most Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic, tend to think that ours is an opinionated Church. Even someone with little interest in religion knows the Catholic Church’s views on a variety of subjects to do with sexual activity and its consequences.

But what about the Church’s views on other matters? As a Catholic company director once said to me: “The Church seems to care a lot about what I do in the bedroom, but not at all about what I do in the boardroom.”

In fact, at the international level at least, the Church has developed well-considered and often prophetic teachings on a number of other issues. Pope Francis has spoken very forcefully about care for the planet, the refugee crisis, globalisation, the treatment of indigenous people, and much more besides.

And he is certainly not alone in this. All of his predecessors in modern times have spoken out on a range of subjects, other than sex. A few famous examples include John XXIII writing about nuclear war in 1963 (soon after the Cuban Missile crisis), Paul VI about international development in 1967, John Paul II about the dignity of work in 1981, and Benedict XVI about charity, justice and the common good in 2009.

And in doing this they are all following in a long line of what is called “Catholic Social Teaching”, which sees as its starting point an encyclical of Pope Leo XIII over 130 years ago, titled On the Condition of the Working Classes, or Rerum Novarum.

Jesus and social justice

Of course, these themes have their roots in the Gospels themselves: Jesus did have some opinions about sexual conduct (though not as many as most Christians seem to think), but he had many more opinions about what might be called social issues: the treatment of foreigners, the repayment of debts, distribution of wealth, fair taxation, the administration of justice, hypocritical leaders, and so on.

So we can know what Rome thinks, if we care to find out. But what about the Church in South Africa? After all, Catholic theology is very clear that every manifestation of the Church is the Body of Christ: the Church in South Africa is not just a branch office of Vatican HQ. That is why, during the years of the Struggle, SACBC bishops — encouraged and sometimes cajoled by Archbishop Denis Hurley — spoke out clearly against the injustices of apartheid. They were not waiting for Rome to tell them what to say.

But that was more than 30 years ago. What about now? The SACBC does have units like the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, the Justice & Peace Department, and structures working on healthcare, Aids and human trafficking. They produce well-written statements. But how far do they reach? The danger is that we subcontract our social concerns to them, and so individual dioceses, parishes, clergy, and indeed parishioners feel let off the hook.

Let me suggest a simple test. Wherever you are in the country, you have a bishop. What views are you aware of your bishop sharing in your diocese on any of the pressing topics in Southern Africa today? Corruption, service delivery, loadshedding, local and national power struggles, xenophobia, the rise in the cost of living, unemployment, the degradation of our infrastructure, abuse of the legal system, access to healthcare, gender-based violence, toxic masculinity… the list goes on.

You might be lucky and live in a diocese where the bishop has voiced opinions on at least some of these. Even luckier if the bishop has — as the Vatican usually does — drawn on experts in the field (lay and clerical; Catholic, non-Catholic and non-Christian) in order to be well-informed and so link the wealth of Catholic Social Teaching with the best current local expertise in order to form an opinion.

I was delighted to attend a lecture by Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town — given in Durban in honour of Archbishops Hurley and Gabuza — in which he shared some very thoughtful and thought-provoking ideas about migration, linking it with reflections on the impact of Covid, climate change, globalisation and even social media.

But you might not be so lucky in the diocese where you are. The principal role of the bishop is to teach — the cathedra, after which a cathedral is named, is the traditional chair of authority used by a bishop but also a professor. Does your bishop teach? And if so, is that teaching about only the usual narrow range of subjects?

Permission to speak

Vatican II — 60 years ago — gave the Church not just permission but also the responsibility to speak out on all that affects us “in the modern world”. There are notable episcopal voices in our region, but it seems as if some of our bishops have no opinions at all about what affects the lives of most South Africans. Or they do have opinions, but do not voice them. Or they voice opinions but nobody hears them because they have not taken advantage of the means of social communications, or even their own diocesan websites.

Moreover, the Church is here for all of humanity, not just the ones sitting in our pews. The Church is called to be a Light to the Nations. That is why, at the global level, when Pope Francis says uncomfortable things about the state of our society, it is such an important contribution to the debate. But, again, we need the voice of the Church on South African news, not just on CNN.

Yet, in most parts of the country and in most local media, the Catholic Church’s voice is silent. When did you last read a Catholic bishop in your local secular newspaper, or see him on television, or hear him on the radio? You might protest that this is not where they should be speaking. Really? Jesus rarely spoke inside religious buildings — to get his message across, he went out into the marketplace and into the streets.

Durban, the city where I live, has had its fair share of dreadful problems in recent years: riots, floods, xenophobia, political disintegration. And the media has covered these in depth. It is the poor who have suffered most and the Church has sometimes been there to lend a hand. But in the local media, the Church’s voice on what causes these problems and what solutions there can be has been deafeningly silent.

People often say that there is a crisis of leadership in South Africa — and there is. We struggle to name politicians who are not corrupt or incompetent or both. Many of the leaders of our corporates (both private and state-owned) seem more interested in holding on to their jobs than in serving their customers. And some traditional leaders seem good only at creating gossip or scandal. But we also have religious leaders.

Remember it was religious leaders — from across the spectrum — who led this country when others could not or would not speak out.

Are their successors doing that today? Let me suggest one opportunity among many. The xenophobic marches that pop up across the country include people who happily attend church on a Sunday and maybe even our own churches. The next time they try to incite violence in your local town or city, wouldn’t it be wonderful if their path was blocked by their local Catholic bishop (preferably with other Christian leaders, shoulder to shoulder, as it was in the days of apartheid). He has a unique authority to stop them and remind them of the teaching of Christ: he can really challenge them to live the Gospel “in spirit and in truth”.

Published in the February 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine