Cardinal's Column 2/1/04

What divisions need to be overcome?

The public celebration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. invariably includes the singing of the civil rights anthem of the 1960’s: “We Shall Overcome.” The song tells us that some day the divisions founded on race prejudice will be overcome, along with other sources of injustice in society. It is a song of hope.

There are many differences among human beings; some differences become the source of divisions in society. Besides racial difference, there is the basic difference between men and women. There is the ideological difference between liberals and conservatives. There are different political, national and cultural identities. There are differences rooted in religion. There is an enormous difference between religious believers and secularists. The differences are facts in themselves. The moral question asks what we are to do about them. In some cases (for example, the difference between men and women), the answer is not to overcome but to appreciate the difference. In other cases, hope bids us work to overcome the difference because it is a source of division which can even be sinful.

The week of Jan. 18-25 was Racial Justice Week. It ended with the third annual Dwell in My Love Sunday on Jan. 25. I am grateful to all the parishes and schools which observed this week by examining the roots of racial prejudice and injustice and resolving to change themselves and society. Racism needs to be overcome.

During that same week, the nation marked the 31st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which removed all protection of law from unborn members of the human family. In 31 years, over 43 million unborn infants in this country have been killed in their mothers’ wombs. The consequences of such a slaughter are incalculable. The various ministries caring for women who are striving to overcome the effects of an abortion are part of the Church’s response, as are organized efforts to end killing of all sorts. I was proud to be part of the group from Illinois, most of them young people, in Washington, D.C., last Jan. 21 and 22. Since issues of life and death are now so politicized, pressure is building to see that politicians who profess to be Catholic put their faith into action in their law making. Behind this pressure, however, all voters who profess to be Catholic should put their faith into action when they choose their political leaders. The division between faith and life needs to be overcome.

Jan. 18-25 has also been for many decades a week of prayer for overcoming divisions among all those who call Jesus “Lord”. Because faith is a gift, unity in faith is also a gift; we must ask for it. Representatives of sixteen Christian churches and faith communities met on Jan. 23 in the Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary chapel to pray to end divisions among Christians and also to pray for peace among nations. “My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27) was the theme for this year’s week of prayer for Christian unity. “The peace of Christ,” Pope John Paul II wrote in his annual letter for this week of prayer, “reconciles spirits, purifies hearts, converts minds.” Divisions among Christians are sinful and must be overcome.

What of other religious divisions? Pope John Paul II reminds us that “the Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’ to us but in a certain manner is ‘intrinsic’ to our religion.” In the Roman Canon of the Mass we invoke “Abraham, our father in faith.” The Jewish people are our “elder brothers” in faith. The calling together of the Jewish people began God’s work of human salvation, a salvation Christians, but not Jews, believe to be fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. This similarity and difference in faith creates its own tension, but it also invites ongoing dialogue along with close cooperation in working for peace and for greater justice. On Jan. 19, I was in New York City for a meeting called and planned by Cardinal Lustiger of Paris, himself a Jew who was baptized when he was fourteen, and Rabbi Israel Singer of the World Jewish Congress. Eight Cardinals from cities as distant as Bombay and Lyons, Chicago and Vienna, talked with Orthodox rabbis from Moscow and Sao Paulo, Jerusalem and New York. The topic of our dialogue was: “What is the greatest commandment?” But the message was the fact of the meeting itself. It was the first time that this kind of conversation between Orthodox rabbis and Catholic Cardinals had taken place.

While conversation between Jews and Catholics is now commonplace in Chicago, we have begun serious conversations with Muslims only in the last decade. In common with Christianity and Judaism, Muslims believe in the God of Abraham; but there are major differences about God’s nature and about salvation. Muslims locally are glad to come together with us to uphold common moral principles. There is in Chicago a formal Catholic-Muslim dialogue with bi-monthly meetings. Frequently I have joined in the celebration of Ramadan by being present at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the daily fast. Since 9/11, over three thousand people have attended presentations on Islam and on Catholic/Muslim relations.

Since the terrorist attack on New York City and Washington D.C., two years ago on Sept. 11, the division between believers and secularists has deepened. Because this horrifying destruction was done in the name of the God of Abraham, those who are convinced that all religious conviction leads to violence have become more vocal about excluding religious influence not only from public life but also from human experience as such. The British scientist, Richard Dawkins, condemns all those who teach “the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.” Philip Pullman, a popular author whose children’s books will soon become movies, writes for teenagers that “the Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.” Taking note of this current and the division it carries, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, used his Christmas sermon to say that “Christians, Jews and Muslims must stand together in the face of a growing mistrust of religion.”

Secularism as an ideology is more aggressive just at the moment when the Catholic Church is weakened by internal divisions and when she is mistrusted because of the incidence of sexual abuse of young people by some priests and bishops. While the bishops have kept their promise to withdraw from public ministry any priest against whom a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been made, even this measure will never be enough for those who want to discredit the Church and paralyze her mission. That mission, nevertheless, is from Christ. It demands that the Church tell others who Christ is and how she is different, even when that difference risks becoming divisive. Neither ecumenical nor inter-faith dialogues can blur differences. If one religion is as good as another, why have a dialogue at all? If no religion is credible and all are dangerous, then dialogue is an exercise in delusion. The dialogues, however, expose differences in belief while leading the participants to an appreciation of the people who hold different beliefs. The dialogues make us yearn for the overcoming of divisions because we grow to love the people with whom we dialogue. The dialogues lead us to pray for those with whom we disagree, including those who would do away with religion altogether. The dialogues help us to understand that some divisions can be overcome only by God’s grace.

Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that, in the end, God alone is enough. In God, all differences are to be reconciled. In that hope, we pray now that God will help us overcome those divisions that lead to hatred and violence and bring us to a knowledge of his truth. God bless you.