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Persecution Then and Now
Contempt for the Church comes in many different forms
Pope John Paul II has asked Christians to celebrate this Jubilee year by honoring our heroes: the many brave believers who have given their lives for the faith, especially during the course of the 20th century. In response to the Holy Father’s request, the Essay in this month’s issue of CWR recalls the brutal persecution and heroic resistance of faithful Catholics in Romania during the years of Communist dominance there.
As we do every month, in our panoramic view of the latest news developments from around the world, CWR reports on the latest efforts to stifle the voices of faithful Catholics: in China and Cuba, Indonesia and Rwanda, India and Guatemala, South Africa and North Korea. (In our next issue, we shall provide yet another dramatic report from Sudan, where the ferocity of anti-Christian violence should be enough to convince anyone—at least anyone who is paying attention—that religious persecution remains a reality in the year 2000.) These are new verses of a sadly familiar song; the names change, but the story is the same. The People of God are always under persecution. The Mystical Body is forever on the Cross.
Some loyal Christians suffer torture and death on account of their faith. Others, under different circumstances, suffer nothing more damaging than ridicule and public scorn. When one priest boldly preaches the message of the Gospel, he might face the real prospect of imprisonment and execution. Another priest, equally bold in his preaching, might risk only an unfavorable mention in the next day’s newspaper editorials. Still each cleric, if he perseveres in his preaching, will suffer some adverse consequences. It is the willingness to accept those consequences—whatever they may be—that defines the faithful Christian witness.
Dry martyrdom
So while we honor the martyrs who have shed their blood, we should also honor the Catholics who have been willing to accept isolation, humiliation, and social opprobrium. In this month’s “World Watch,” for example, CWR shows how a prelate in Scotland became a lightning rod for public criticism during a debate over the meaning of human sexuality. And in Rome itself, the Vatican has jumped into the breach to protest government sponsorship of a demonstration in favor of gay rights. In each of these cases, Church leaders have weighed the potential political costs of their involvement, recognized that their statements will probably be unpopular, and still been ready to uphold the principles of Christian morality.
Even this month’s cover story can be seen in the same context. To date the Catholic Church has not become the focus of attention in the controversy over same-sex marriage in Vermont. But it is only natural that defenders of traditional marriage have looked to the Church for leadership. Everyone knows that the Church upholds the sanctity of marriage, just as everyone knows that the Church upholds the dignity of human life.
In Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul explains why the Catholic Church must always be in the vanguard of the effort to build up a “culture of life.” The Church upholds the Cross, the “sign of contradiction” in every society. Not all Catholics have digested that message. But the proponents of the “culture of death” have surely grasped the Holy Father’s message. In their eyes the Roman Catholic Church is always the ultimate political enemy.
So it is that organizations representing the “culture of death” have moved to exclude the Holy See from the United Nations. Planned Parenthood and its allies decry the influence of organized religion, but it is the Catholic Church—not the Protestant churches, nor even the Eastern Orthodox churches—that rouse their ire. The foul-mouthed comedian Lenny Bruce, no friend of Catholicism, paid us a compliment when he remarked that the Catholic Church is “the Church you’re talking about when you talk about ‘the Church.’”
The contempt of the world
No Christian should ever be surprised to encounter hostility in the world. Jesus warned the disciples that they would face persecution. Indeed the Lord urged his followers to “rejoice and be glad” when they were persecuted.
If we fulfill our duty as baptized Christians, we shall surely encounter resistance, and rejection, and perhaps even repression. When they come, we should recognize those difficulties as signs of God’s favor—as indications that we are, in our own poor ways, following along the paths blazed by the martyrs.
—Philip F. Lawler