This morning I listened to the Hardtalk interview of Archbishop Vincent Nichols. It was so refreshing to see how well he handled himself under the scrutiny of a silly journalism that has occurred since Lent this year concerning the Holy Father. The last statement that he would follow the Pope rather than Tony Blair was fantastic. I am so thankful for Archbishop Nichols and it reminds me of how much we need to pray for him and all our bishops who face the pressures of a society that seeks to pull out the foundation of truth from underneath the Catholic Faith. This whole question and answer session reminded me of a Chesterton quotation where he said, 'Art, like morality has to draw a line somewhere.' This is why the reference to the Church of England was so telling as to why they are not attacked and taken seriously. Conforming to the spirit of the age only shows a lack of substance to the message one claims to deliver as truth but is only counterfeit. That is something that this secularist society is not able to get its head around because it no longer can think logically about truth and its absoluteness. The truth is being attacked at all sides and this is why the Catholic Church is persecuted in the press. The secular media and its bankrupt philosophy can't handle the truth. Chesterton prophetically speaks to today's culture when he said The fact that a chaotic and ill-educated time cannot clearly grasp that truth does not alter the fact that it always will be the truth. Our generation, in a dirty, pessimistic period, has blasphemously underrated the beauty of life and cravenly overrated its dangers. As for our own society, if it proceeds at its present rate of progress and improvement, no trace or memory of it will be left at all.It is for the reason of the above quotation that the Archbishop is able to say that we pursue the truth and not what the secularised society wants on issues facing the Church. No matter how small we become, the truth never changes because it is true. In order to know how to see the counterfeit, one must know inside and out what the real thing is. This is why the evangelisation and catechetical instruction of discipleship in the Church must become the heart of our mission once again. People only know the counterfeit because they have never seen the truth. In my opinion, our Archbishop was brilliant in this interview and I thank God for him. I too follow him and the Pope before the Tony Blair's of this world.
2 comments:
Truth is an interesting concept. Where as there may be one God whose nature does not change, that does not meant that our culture does not change and we do not change, nor does it mean we are all the same. We need to be able to express truth in a way that it can be grasped within its cultural setting. I think there is a sense therefore in which we each have our own 'truth'and understanding of the Truth and there is a danger that without sufficient openness and flexibility Truth can become distorted.
Wow Jeff! You couldn't keep off the computer for long!
I saw the interview too, and it seemed to me that His Grace is quite right. The journalist seemed to think that the Church should somehow alter her message if numbers drop too far. Well Jesus' numbers dropped to near rock bottom when he was on the cross, but he didn't change his message - neither should we. I think it was Mother Teresa who said God calls us to be faithful, not successful.
In any case, there is no reason to think that by adapting to the times congregations will grow. The journalist mentioned the CofE modernising, without apparently seeing that the CofE has simultaneously lost almost all of its people (and it would appear to be about to lose a few more). As we know, marrying the spirit of the age is no way to grow the Church, it is just a way to become a widow in the next.
Waterbrook, certainly it is important to remove any unnecessary cultural obstacles which prevent people today grasping the truth. However, it is not an easy judgment to make. Moreover, the difficulty of our cultural setting is that our culture has quite consciously set out to render any metaphysical account of truth meaningless. It is hard to discuss truth in such a culture. Which is why we need to faithful now more than ever.
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