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LEADER PAGE
The Southern Cross, January 20 to January 26, 2010
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editor: Günther Simmermacher
St Christopher is alive and well
Church in the margins
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RCHBISHOP Vincent Nichols Of Westminster is right when he compares the dogmatic stridency of some secularists with that of “the worst religious believer”, a characteristic that allows for little charity of thought, never mind tolerance for contrary views. For radical secularists and religionists, God is the subject of a debate that must be won or lost, with the defeated being vanquished and no openness for mutual accommodation. And in some regions, particularly in Europe, Christianity is becoming increasingly marginalised in the public discourse. The results of a recent survey on the state of Catholicism in France, conducted for the French Catholic daily La Croix, make for bleak reading. Respondents identifying themselves as Catholic declined from 81% in 1965 to 64% last year; weekly Mass attendance from 27% to only 4,5%. And among those who described themselves as practising Catholics, there seems to be a profound cleavage between what the Church teaches and what they believe. For example, 75% want a new teaching on contraception, and 68% on abortion. Within Catholic circles, there will be much debate to find an explanation for such figures, which presumably could be replicated throughout much of Europe. Many will be tempted to place the blame on that ill-defined “Spirit of Vatican II”, but that would be a wholly inadequate premise. Europe’s disaffection with Christianity is nothing new. It has been a slow process, preceding the Second Vatican Council by more than a century, arguably beginning with the French Revolution of 1789. The secularists have started “winning” only over the past few decades, in a phenomenon that touches all Christian churches. But the secularist “victory” will never be complete. While more than two-
The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.
thirds of France’s practising Catholics reject their Church’s teaching on abortion, they have not rejected what the radical secularists object to in particular: the belief in God. To the secularists, the Christian’s faith in God is an eccentric superstition; for some it is so childish that they regard the believer, with extraordinary arrogance, as intellectually deficient. The secularist propagandists are baffled when they do find common purpose with the Church. Not infrequently, religion is sidelined as supposedly irrelevant, even when it could be contributing (and sometimes the Church is then attacked for apparently doing nothing). Pope Benedict referred to this in his address to diplomats at the Vatican when he said that the Catholic Church and other religious bodies could contribute in persuading people of environmental priorities, if given the chance. “Sadly, in certain countries, mainly in the West, one encounters in political and cultural circles, as well as in the media, scarce respect and at times hostility, if not scorn, directed towards religion and towards Christianity in particular,” the pope noted. South Africa is still mostly a religious country, though some of the country’s secular media, organisations and even politicians have adopted positions such as those decried by Pope Benedict. For South African Christians, the response to that must take the form neither of surrender nor of engagement in a dogmatic culture war, but of respectful dialogue. Archbishop Nichols points the way: “That means getting away from soundbites and getting away from discussion that is always centred around oppositional conflict.” At the very least, sincere and open dialogue may clear the air of the suspicion, ridicule and antagonism between Catholics and secularists.
L
ILY FYNN in her letter “Are weddings past tense?” (January 6) says that “St Christopher is no more”. As the parish priest of St Christopher parish in Plettenberg Bay, I have to say that St Christopher has always been alive and well. We know he was a martyr in Asia Minor in the 3rd century, and his feast day is July 25. But that is all we know. St Christopher has been removed from the universal calendar of saints because all the stories
that surround him are not historical but pious and beautiful legends. To celebrate a saint universally when people today ask for historical evidence may create the impression that we take the legends literally. The legends have a powerful message, however, such as that we are all called to be St Christophers—that is Holy Christ-bearers—but they must be seen as stories and not factual. His feast may be celebrated locally, as many churches throughout the world are dedicated to him, and he can still
Children need protection
strongest language in condemning those who lead children astray. If drowning with a millstone around the neck was his warning, how could the Church allow these men to carry on as priests? A priest who wants to marry a woman is forced to leave the priesthood, although there is no sin involved, whereas a priest who leads children astray and even causes them to lose their most precious gift from God, their faith and eventual salvation, was protected by a curtain of secrecy and allowed to continue as a priest. He then often could go on to abuse more children and endanger the salvation of more souls, while under protection by the Church. Not to mention the loss of faith for the families of the children, who feel terrible anger at what they see as betrayal of trust by the Church as a whole. What are the bishops thinking of? Shaun Moolman, Johannesburg
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OU reported (December 23-29) that the Irish bishops have apologised “as a group” for clerical abuse of children. The fact that there has been such widespread abuse in several countries, and that all the bishops seem to have reacted in the same way makes me wonder if they were all following orders given them by their superiors. Older clergy are probably still much influenced by pre-Vatican II attitudes, one of which was that the worst thing anyone could do was to bring scandal on Holy Mother Church. Why did the bishops not remove perpetrators from contact with children? This God-given instinct of parents to protect their children is surely the strongest of all. Priests don’t have it because they don’t have children. I think it important to clear the air by stating who was responsible for such acts. This would limit the harm done to the morale of thousands of wonderful priests, and prevent the hierarchy being distrusted by the laity for decades to come. A Haylett, Howick
I
FULLY agree with readers who have expressed concern which ordinary Catholics also have over the way the Church hierarchy appears to have viewed the scandal of child abuse in Ireland and elsewhere. The effect of abuse has really serious consequences for the victims, leading most of them to leave the Catholic Church, and often even to lose faith in Christianity completely. Surely then, any attitude other than complete condemnation, leads one to feel that the bishops did not take this sin seriously. Jesus used some of his
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self-righteous disgust, or would you have considered the seal of confession just a bit of a problem? Would I like to broadcast my sins against all the commandments from the pulpit, or would I prefer to hide in the little box when I confront them? Again, should a bishop be always self-righteously honest? Should he and his brother priests break the seal of confession? In his shoes would you really have acted differently? As a bishop what would you have done to a paedophile brother. Put him in a seminary to teach and endanger the morals of the seminarians? Or is there a bigger picture? Bernard Cole, Krugersdorp The failings of Irish Church administrators in handling allegations of sexual abuse by clergy usually had no relationship with the sacrament of Reconciliation. Nobody has reasonably made such a claim in defence of the guilty bishops.— Editor.
What would you have done?
Priests used to wed
Y
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OUR letters page shows how willing many people are to condemn the apparent wrongdoing of others. Pope Pius XII is condemned for not standing up to Hitler and condemning the Holocaust atrocities. Do these judges ask themselves: “If I was in his shoes, responsible for the whole Catholic Church, would I have condemned Hitler and possibly as a result condemned every bishop in Germany to the Jew lover’s fate in the concentration camps and every professed Catholic to a life similar to that of the Jews?” One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prudence. Then again, the several condemnations of the bishops of Ireland. If you were in their shoes, would you have handed over the paedophiles to the authorities in
ELLO Mokaka (December 16-22) complains that Anglican clergy who enter the Roman Catholic Church are married. Perhaps he is unaware that for centuries Catholic clergy were allowed to marry, until Pope Gregory VII disallowed it, to retain hold on Church property. The Anglican movement to join the Catholic Church has been going on for years. Peter Onesta, Johannesburg Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.
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be invoked as patron of travellers. I also liked what Mphuthumi Ntabeni said in his column of January 6. Indeed the sound of one clerical tree falling makes more noise than the sound of the entire forest growing! He states correctly that we lack progress towards moral truth. In South Africa we also have to remember that since liberation from “slavery in Egypt” in 1994, if we try to by-pass Mt Sinai where the moral Ten Commandments were given, we will not reach the Promised Land of Canaan but end up in godless Babylon. Fr Johan Strydom, Plettenberg Bay
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