Christian fidelity – a thorough subject indeed

I found wholesome in great part the editorial Clear Advice To Avoid ‘Cafeteria Catholicism’ (October 18) as well as the contribution by John A. Consiglio on the economic and moral costs of divorce. Allow me to quote in the context of the editorial’s concluding question, from Pope Benedict’s XVI recent address at Hyde Park in London during his September visit to Great Britain:

“The drama of Newman’s life invites us to examine our lives, to see them against the vast horizon of God’s plan, and to grow in communion with the Church of every time and place... to whose mission he devoted his entire life... At the end of his life, Newman would describe his life’s work as a struggle against the growing tendency to view religion as a purely private and subjective matter, a question of personal opinion.

“Here is the first lesson we can learn from his life: In our day, when an intellectual and moral relativism threatens to sap the very foundations of our society, Newman reminds us that, as men and women made in the likeness of God, we were created to know the truth, to find in that truth our ultimate freedom and the fulfillment of our deepest human aspirations...

“Newman’s life also teaches us that passion for the truth, intellectual honesty and genuine conversion are costly. The truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard, and in the end its convincing power comes from itself and not from the human eloquence or arguments in which it may be couched... In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied.”

And here I would like to show my support to both Labour MP Adrian Vassallo and to Mgr Arthur Said Pullicino for their principled stand for witnessing as good Catholics in the “public square” despite the flak they have been subjected to.

Benedict XVI drew this reflection on the Christian’s engagement in the “public square” at Hyde Park:

“Finally, Newman teaches us that if we have accepted the truth of Christ and committed our lives to Him, there can be no separation between what we believe and the way we live our lives... Newman understood this, and was the great champion of the prophetic office of the Christian laity.

“He saw clearly that we do not so much accept the truth in a purely intellectual act as embrace it in a spiritual dynamic that penetrates to the core of our being.. .those who live in and by the truth instinctively recognise what is false, inimical to the beauty and goodness which accompany the splendour of truth, veritatis splendor.

“No one who looks realistically at our world today could think that Christians can afford to go on with business as usual, ignoring the profound crisis of faith which has overtaken our society, or simply trusting that the patrimony of values handed down by the Christian centuries will continue to inspire and shape the future of our society... each of us, in accordance with his or her state of life, is called to work for... imbuing temporal life with the values of the Gospel... to change the world, to work for a culture of life, a culture forged by love and respect for the dignity of each human person.”

Being pragmatic and pandering to a vociferous minority which has cut its anchors to perennial values is akin to Britain’s new state-of-the-art nuclear submarine rudder failing and running aground!