Now that everyone’s talking about faith & tolerance…
The Vatican seized the moment to bring up some interesting reminders to Catholics worldwide. At the moment, atheism and secular humanism are all over the news, bookshelves, commentaries, interviews… And in America, anyway, religious beliefs and their motivational force are all over the news media ad nauseum as they scrutinize the presidential candidates. Particularly the Republican ones. To paint them as potentially theocratic….which is another story.
So today in the daily news release from Vatican Information Service come some interesting messages. Two in particular talk to Catholics in general (as opposed to the usual messages to specific groups), about evangelization. The Pope and the Church hierarchy want to clarify terms and encourage people to speak up.
Cardinal Levada explained that the document is intended to respond “to a certain confusion about whether Catholics should give testimony about their faith in Christ.
Who’s confused? In the Catholic world, probably more are than are not.
You see, besides all that focus on politics and religion – and atheism – the Christmas season always draws the anti-religious crowd who demand tolerance by removing all signs of Christ from Christmas, which is just…incoherent. But people do get confused by how it plays in the media, and in the schools, and social settings. Some play it safe and say only what’s acceptable in this secularized atmosphere. So the Vatican comes out and says…
The necessary respect for different sensibilities and particular traditions cannot preclude the need for freedom or for truth, which are the indispensable prerequisites for any form of dialogue.”
In other words, don’t be afraid to keep Christ in Christmas, and to wish someone many blessings, and that sort of thing.
“Unity in truth and the exercise of freedom in charity are the arduous but rewarding paths that the Note aims to highlight, in the difficult and fascinating task of bearing witness to Christian faith at the beginning of the third millennium.”
Clarity with charity.
But look at this! Especially the very last line:
Evangelization proceeds by dialogue, not proselytism.
That’s kind of the bottom line (no pun intended) of the whole thing. Benedict is always talking about dialogue, since the world is filled with anger and hostility. This note says, ‘hey, be clear on what you’re saying, but say it, for goodness sake.’ Well, it sort of says that…
Some think ‘that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom,’ suggesting that it is enough to invite people ‘to act according to their consciences,’ or to ‘become more human or more faithful to their own religion,’ or ‘to build communities which strive for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity,’ without aiming at their conversion to Christ and to the Catholic faith.
“Others have argued that conversion to Christ should not be promoted because it is possible for people to be saved without explicit faith in Christ or formal incorporation in the Church.”
Considering certain “anthropological implications” the document observes that “while some forms of agnosticism and relativism deny the human capacity for truth, in fact human freedom cannot be separated from its reference to truth.”
Another reminder that in all the talk about rights and freedoms, like freedom of choice and freedom of conscience, remember that freedom is ordered to truth.
The Note also showed awareness at the Vatican of the social pressures that intimidate Catholics from speaking out.
Going on to examine “some ecclesiological implications,” the summary affirms that “for Christian evangelization, ‘the incorporation of new members into the Church is not the expansion of a power-group, but rather entrance into the network of friendship with Christ which connects heaven and earth, different continents and ages’.”
Their wording can get a little bulky, but there it is. The encouragement to join in on the cultural talk about religion. And to be at least as bold as those intolerant folks.