From the editor’s desk

Defenders of the faith

This edition’s Letters pages include an account by Fr Dermot Power of an event that took place in London as part of the Intelligence Squared series of debates. MP Ann Widdecombe and Nigerian Archbishop John Onaiyekan were thrown to the secular lions, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry, as they tried to defend the Catholic Church to an unsympathetic audience. Fr Power, who teaches at the Allen Hall seminary, makes two telling observations: that he has it on good authority that the bishops of England and Wales declined to participate, and that many people attending were very angry with the Catholic Church.

Some people will always be angry with the Catholic Church: the followers of Richard Dawkins, for example, and those who wish Christianity to have no power and influence in contemporary society. Then there are those who remain angry with the Church over child-abuse cover-ups, despite the efforts made to improve child protection and bring perpetrators to justice. But there are others too, including those who have been incensed by some of Pope Benedict’s remarks and actions during his pontificate: the Muslims upset by his Regensburg speech; the Jews by his gestures of reconciliation towards the Lefebvrists, including a Holocaust-denying bishop; now members of the Anglican Communion who feel that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been treated discourteously in the way overtures have been made over his head to members of his Communion. There are Catholics, too, who are also distressed by these events, and the manner in which people have been dealt with. They are fearful about ecumenical insensitivity and a lack of episcopal collegiality. The conclusion that many are reaching is that the Catholic Church has still not learned a vital lesson: that it is not only what you say and do that matters, but how you go about it. 

The tragedy of a gaffe-prone Church is that the very people who should defend its truths and track record are tempted not to – as Fr Power’s experience suggests. But an even greater tragedy is that the Church’s message about the Good News is lost amid people’s anger – and that goes for Catholics as well as non-Catholics. Recent research undertaken by the aid charity Cafod reveals that there are 5.2 million Catholics in England and Wales – at least a million more than previously estimated and including both practising and non-practising Catholics; it also finds that 19 per cent of them choose not to have anything to do with the Church and 16 per cent think it does more harm than good. More heartening is the revelation that 61 per cent say that their values are informed by church teaching and that for at least half of them prayer, meditation and helping those in need are expressions of their faith. Yet fewer than half of Catholics express that faith through receiving the sacraments.

Cafod will soon be presenting its findings to the Catholic bishops. They will discover inspiring messages in the survey, together with deeply disturbing ones. It will serve as a reminder that, while they have their work cut out communicating their message to non-Catholics, many Catholics in this country are concerned about their Church and puzzled by what is happening to it. There is no ecclesial idyll awaiting those Anglicans considering joining the Catholic fold.