Today's Daily Telegraph reports on the legal cases of four British Christians and their persecution by the British State for their religious beliefs; the issue at hand being the wearing of a small cross in public. We have commented on this blog a number of times about fascism and its gradual growth in western Europe and North America. This is where the fight is; we are talking about absolute basics - not liturgical fetishes and troll baiting about the latest scandal - real and imagined- in the Church. (Scandal has been with the Church since the Apostles; just read the Gospels).
Parallel to the British situation is the undermining of the Catholic Church in the United States by the Obama Administration; in Canada, we have the equally real, yet not so well known undermining of the Catholic Church in education in Ontario by the McGuinty Administration acting with the approval of the leaders of the militant teachers' union, OECTA. In these two cases the episcopal reaction has been interesting: the Americans have reacted with gusto and rigor; the Canadians have made an official protest to then go silent. A very historical reaction in both cases. Silence is no longer an option. Caesar only grows stronger with each advance.
The evangelization of culture is all the more important in our times, when a “dictatorship of relativism” threatens to obscure the unchanging truth about man’s nature, his destiny and his ultimate good. There are some who now seek to exclude religious belief from public discourse, to privatize it or even to paint it as a threat to equality and liberty. Yet religion is in fact a guarantee of authentic liberty and respect, leading us to look upon every person as a brother or sister. For this reason I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the public forum. Society today needs clear voices which propose our right to live, not in a jungle of self-destructive and arbitrary freedoms, but in a society which works for the true welfare of its citizens and offers them guidance and protection in the face of their weakness and fragility. Do not be afraid to take up this service to your brothers and sisters, and to the future of your beloved nation.
Pope Benedict, (Homily in Glasgow, September 16, 2012).
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