Dear Friends
CRA President, Br Peter Carroll FMS.
New South Wales recently became the latest and last State to decriminalise abortion. Victoria is implementing its new assisted suicide legislation. Western Australia is developing similar laws. The Church’s opposition to abortion and euthanasia is well known. Christians have been most vocal in expressing resistance to both. However, despite the opposition of churches and Christian groups (not to mention other Faiths) such legislation has been passed into law. Many people of faith object to the imprisonment of asylum seekers in off-shore “detention centres” and have campaigned vigorously against it. Yet there is no change to government policy. In the United States and other countries Christians have long opposed the death penalty; yet the practice persists. Protests against wars and nuclear armament don’t seem to make a dent in prevailing political polemic or practice. Governments remain steadfast in their unwillingness to take drastic action to limit the impact of climate change, despite public campaigns and widespread condemnation.
What do you do when your deeply held beliefs and values are not shared by others, including the State, or where laws contrary to your personal or faith position are enacted?
One option is to give up and walk away. However, this leaves people disengaged, depressed or cynical, and our society at the whim of the loudest and most persuasive voices. This is not the Gospel way.
Another option is to become militant crusaders. However, this tends to inflame the situation and lead to conflict. It also risks creating bitterness, resentment and anger. We have enough of this already. Neither is this the Gospel way.
Thomas Merton, writing to a friend who had expressed discouragement at the apparent failure of his peace activism, said this:
“Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on … you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no results at all … as you get used to this idea you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”
As Timothy Radcliffe has commented “if we believe that the victory over evil has ultimately been won by Jesus, every loving act is on the winning side”.
People of Faith are confronting enormous challenges as we contend with surging secularism. Even though religious citizens are quickly becoming a minority, we cannot give up or become militant. We have to pursue our goals through ‘loving acts’.
In a pluralistic, democratic and secular society we can’t expect laws or government policies to reflect our Christian principles or Church’s teaching. However, we can expect that our opinions will be listened to with respect and considered on their merits. Now more than ever we need to enter into well formed, informed and respectful dialogue. As Catholics we need to be seen as reflective and responsive, credible and compassionate. We, as much as any group of citizens, have a role to play in the formation of civil law and public policy. We need to speak and we need to listen. And in the age of twitter frenzy we need to promote an environment of trust, openness and calmness where issues can be considered in a more than superficial or sensational way. Impossible? Let’s hope and pray not.
Peter Carroll FMS
President, CRA