Thursday 22 March 2012

A response to "Gay marriage: a war of words that obscures the Church's message"

"If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ."
(Pope Benedict XVI during the prayer vigil at Cuatro Vientos, WYD 2011).

Fr Ceirion Gilbert, the director of youth services in the diocese of Menevia in south Wales, in a blog post in 'The Tablet', spoke about the recent remarks made by Cardinal Keith O'Brian and the pastoral letter by Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith (on the legalisation of same sex marriage) and said how "the Catholic Church is aligning herself with the wrong side, portraying herself as the "defender" of a position and an interpretation of society and humanity at odds with that of younger generations and almost incomprehensible to them in its rigidity and - to use an admittedly "loaded" term, bigotry."

I have read and re-read the above blog post by Fr Ceirion and feels that I, as a person who is relatively young and who works with young people on a regular basis and more importantly, has dreams for a vibrant youth ministry in this country, needs to put down few words about what Father Ceirion has said about the youth of today. This in no way is intended to criticise Fr Ceirion in any way whatsoever, but its just an effort to share my views on the youth of today and the whole question of 'values' of young people. I have utmost respect for Fr Ceirion and his work and hopes and prays that if there is any hurt anywhere, then the God of mercy would pour out his healing for us all.

The above article seems to speak for the entire youth of the day and suggests that the youth of today are men and woman who do not follow nor understand, the teachings of the Church relating to sexuality and marriage. As Dan Brown's vicious occult group Opus Dei in The Da Vinci Code, the Church is defending a falling fort, fighting a losing battle, because we have a "church hierarchy that all too willingly goes into convulsions when moral issues are called into question but remains silent when faced with the real social scandals of our time."

I do not think we are doing justice to the millions of young people in this country by saying that all of them are copycats who just follow the majority. In fact, just last week a young man who got on the train from Winchester with his friends after college, was explaining to his friends about the new legislation and how its an intrinsically wrong law, which we all should oppose. I listened to the arguments and counter arguments for some time until I got down couple of stations later. From my experience growing up as a young person in a world where freedom has lost its true meaning, and from my experience of walking with a few of today's youth, I am totally convinced of one fact. As has always been through out the generations, the young people of today are also men and woman who seek truth; truth in its fullness, who would not be satisfied with any thing less than truth in its wholeness. Yes, as Fr Ceirion says, its a fact that many of them do not think that the Church is dealing aptly with the many social issues (read child abuse scandals) within it, but that does not mean that they are not searching for truth. It just means that they are searching for truth somewhere other than in the Church. And if the millions of young people search for truth elsewhere, either in relationships, alcohol, drugs, or whatever it may be, then its not their mistake, its our mistake. We, the chosen people, the specially called who have seen the truth, known the truth, experienced the truth, have not had the generosity to share this truth of Jesus Christ with others.

Surely every youth ministry and youth program should have this as their focus, leading the young people from the darkness all around to the light of Jesus Christ; never to compromise by conforming to the ways of the world, but being in the fullness of truth, seek out the more excellent way, the way about which St Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 12:31. "But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. "



In this day and age, no one needs God or religion to be a 'good person'. Charity and 'goodness' comes naturally and a disaster relief appeal any day raises millions. We are more tolerant, more 'inclusive' and we pride ourselves on our humanity. Once, the society looked to God and religion to provide the moral framework to be better human beings. Today, we brand morality old-fashioned and while men and women have moved on from the once 'constraining' bondage of religion, Christianity and more specifically Catholicism, seems to still hold on to the values of truth it has held universal for the last 2000 years. But even in this pinnacle of our humanness, we realise sadly that though we eat more, yet we are not full, though we earn more and buy houses and cars, yet we are not content, and though we have 'liberated' sex from the clutches of marriage and relationship, yet we are not fully happy. Luke O'Sullivan has written about how even during Jesus' day, many of his disciples had a problem accepting his 'difficult' message. Many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. (John 6: 58-69)

Fr Ceirion's article goes on to say, "Surely if there is one constant and common theme throughout the scriptures it is in the gradual discovery and recognition of the reality of God as a God of an inclusive and all-embracing Love whose ultimate expression is found in the Paschal Mystery of Death and Resurrection of his "Word" incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth." 
St John goes to lengths to tell us that God is love. Jesus himself says that "by your love, the world will know that you are my disciples" (John 13:35). Yes, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all who believe in him might have eternal life"(John 3:16). And yes, as the author above says, this love of God found its ultimate expression in the passion and death of our Lord and it is precisely because of this that the Church teaches that Love is much more than the gratification of our desires. In fact, Love is the very image and likeness of God, in which he created human beings and every love in this world demands sacrifice and pain. Freedom and free love are not free by any means. One of the tragedies of today is that words have lost their true meaning, since 'Language, we know, is far from objective', Church at all times has had the calling and responsibility to rise above the constraints of language and culture and stand firm for fundamental human truths.

One may or may not accept what the Church teaches, but one should never try to justify his/her decision based on on one's generalisation of the value system of the young or the old. For every generation from times immemorial, has considered the previous generation to be too traditional, at times even orthodox, and considers its next generation to be completely without morals or values. If today Cardinal Keith O'Brian or Archbishop Vincent Nichols would not proclaim the truth, then tomorrow, the rocks and the stones of this land will shout out the truth of his Love. Those rocks may very well be the young people of this generation.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the corner stone..

No comments:

Post a Comment