Many Catholics today believe that the moral truths proposed by believing Christians have no place in secular society.
The modern world has little or no tolerance for the concept of an absolute moral order, something which is intrinsic to the Church's participation in the affairs of public order.
The problem is compounded when the Church is just one of a number of various communities which comprise a given political state or national culture.
How, for example, does the Church present its authentic moral teachings side by side with other faiths whose viewpoints differ, sometimes significantly, and alongside viewpoints which either deny the premise of Christianity or are hostile to it?
Many Bishops are wary of representing or fostering a “Church of pure ideaology”, a kind of counterculture removed from modern society and acting as its moral judge.
Rather, they argue that the Church should encourage a dialogue with other communities regarding issues and values which are relevant to the common good and mutual interests of the societies to which it ministers.
Pope Francis appears to be very clear on this point: the engagement of Catholics with all people of good will is a public conversation which is to be encouraged and welcomed by the Church. He has encouraged the Church to draw upon its rich history of social teaching which has much to offer in providing insight into the impact which economic policies can have upon the most vulnerable members of society. Yet, he has cautioned Church leaders not to become too critical of or to claim offense when confronted by differing perspectives.
The problem, of course, is walking this tightrope of sorts: attempting to balance the impact which Catholicism can have upon an increasingly secularized world while, at the same time, exposing and making the Faith vulnerable to the values of the prevailing culture.
However, when the Church is or appears to be reluctant to offer any substantial critique of culture, it fails. When the Church does not seriously question popular points of view which exercise an almost compulsory response on issues and policies which are controversial, it fails. For this reticence can be misconstrued to constitute an affirmation of prevailing attitudes and push the Church in the direction of secularization itself.
How precisely the Church is to fulfill its mission to be “in the world" and, at the same time, not becoming “part of the world" remains a point of consternation for many within Church hierarchy.
Some Bishops argue that the Church’s participation in the modern public sphere can easily lead to assimilation of the secular culture by being forced to compromise cherished values and teachings.
Some staunchly conservative Bishops believe that the openness to the world expressed and encouraged by the Council Fathers of Vatican II has led to a dissolution of the Catholic Faith, insisting with increasing rigidity that an emphasis on what is distinctly “Catholic”, especially traditional Catholicism, is necessary.
Other Bishops, more liberally inclined, believe that it is impossible to insulate the Church from the intellectual and experiential currents of the culture in which believers are living out their faith commitments’.
They insist that critical interaction and conversation need to take place between religious traditions and the broader culture, including constructive critiques of social, political, legal, and economic practices.
Frankly, as I consider the matter, I believe in the wisdom which I learned early on in my Latin classes at seminary, the sage advice of Ovid: in medio tutissimus ibis -- “you will go most safely in the middle”.
That is why I believe that the Church needs to engage the world in which it finds itself, without apology or arrogance, sharing what it knows to be the wisdom of the Gospel but always in a way that is open, welcoming and forgiving to those who disagree, either amicably or not.
This I believe is the greatest challenge facing the Church during the next century and for centuries thereafter.
What thinkest you?
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