Scottish Catholic Observer

EMERSON STEVENS

Strathclyde University

I think the best thing to bear in mind, when dealing with particularly obstinate or even downright antagonistic individuals, is the old adage ‘actions speak louder than words.’ In these circumstances, rather than treating the matter as a lost cause, we must take special care to live out our own Faith as best we can without becoming false or plastic, all the while recognising that these people were created in the image of God, and praying constantly for their conversion.

There is an inherent attractiveness to goodness and a life lived devoutly, and while this approach may not yield overnight results, the best way to share one’s Faith is through living it; if we do that, we should be prepared to share it vocally when approached about it in time—perhaps from some people we never would have thought possible…

GERALD BONNER

Strathclyde University

I agree with everything Emerson said. One of the big problems, I think, is that anything remotely ‘religious’ is treated as an embarrassing topic for polite conversation. I think this is true in many Western societies, but perhaps it is worst in the UK because of the reservedness of British culture. There is a great awkwardness whenever the subject comes up. This makes it tempting to question how openly religious we should be, and whether our faith is likely to be just brushed off as an oddity, even by those we get on well with.

I suppose we have to trust that the witness of a life well-lived will, in the end, have some effect and prompt some curiosity, at which point we must be ready to explain our beliefs clearly and confidently—for so few people have ever had the beauty, consistency and logic of the Catholicism presented to them, they have only ever heard the occasional thing here and there in isolation, mixed in with a mishmash of ideas from a variety of faiths, denominations and philosophies, which add up to something they naturally (and rightly) reject.

Of course all this is easier said than done, and still leaves the difficult issue of judging when to speak up.

CHRISTINE GLEN

Strathclyde University

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, as noted when we were asked about what faith is and what we hope this Year of Faith would bring. Emerson’s point is the most used and also I believe most valid, even Jesus advocates this in the parable of the goats and sheep. “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” (Matthew 25:31‒46)

If we cannot show our Faith as being alive and active and not just texts and books, how can we convince people that our conviction goes beyond what those outside the Faith see as restrictions?

However Gerald highlights a key problem when trying to have a constructive debate: their knowledge may be a limited or they may have misunderstood certain things about faith.

On a more personal note, faith is a gift given by God, not everyone will receive this gift but we will all receive something from God if we go looking. As St Paul states: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (St Paul to Romans)

Gerald Bonner

It is probably also true that those who are apparently indifferent to faith are even more common than those who are obstinate or antagonistic. I think however that many people are ultimately curious about faith, and indeed about Catholicism in particular.

Sometimes this manifests itself in quite shallow ways—for example the Da Vinci Code fad—but I think it does have deeper roots. Unfortunately this curiosity is often buried under a vague ‘so long as you are a good person’ indifference, so we have to think about how to help awaken it, how to awaken a concern for the great questions of truth, and how to show that the moral problems of our time and all times really do require the solutions the Church proposes, as radical as they seem.

I think an example of this curiosity is that, from time to time, an article appears somewhere in the media in which the author is clearly beginning to see the cracks in so many of the ideologies of the world—but the Christian solution is, for now, just a few steps too far for him/her.

SCO

Actions often speak louder than words, so living our Faith—and calling for the protection of religious freedom so we can continue to do so—it as important now as it ever was, perhaps more so. Evangelisation can happen in surprising circumstances and unexpected ways.

An educated laity is best able to help clergy and religious to maximise these opportunities. To grow our Faith we must grow in our Faith.

CHRISTINE GLEN

Someone once said to me that: “A person is only truly holy when they recognise that their holiness comes from God.”

I do believe that people without faith or those who reject it, recognise the good in our world and in other people. I don’t think those without or rejecting faith are any different from you or I in the respect that we are all human beings.

However it is just that we believe our goodness comes from within our heart and that our heart is opened to other people through Jesus Christ. They may see it differently from that.

Guidance panel: Live out the Catholic Faith in love

AS Christians, we are called to spread the Gospel, to share the Good News of Christ’s saving love. At the heart of this message is belief in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But how are we to share this faith with people who will not even accept the notion of faith?

When St Paul preached the Gospel in Athens, he used their devotion to the Unknown God as a starting point. If faith itself is rejected, however, there is little common ground on which to build the case for God. Love is one possible, and indeed necessary, approach, but love alone is not enough as faith is essential for salvation. As Christ said in the hours before His Passion: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13:35). This love is to be the love of Christ, that we might love one another as He loves us.

As Christine Glen reminds us, faith is a gift from God, and so we must ask Him for this gift, not just for ourselves but for others too. We should, as Emerson Stevens says, pray constantly for their conversion; that they turn to God and see the door of faith open to them and accept His loving mercy.

Christian perfection is not limited simply to goodness, and so to witness to our faith we must do more than simply show ourselves to be good; we must also witness to the source of that goodness, Christ Himself.

Here we can learn from something the Pope said when a cardinal: “The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely, the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb. Better witness is borne to the Lord by the splendor of holiness and art… than by the clever excuses which apologetics has come up with to justify the dark sides which, sadly, are so frequent in the Church’s human history,” (The Ratzinger Report). The best arguments for the Christian Faith are holiness and beauty.

In recent times, evangelisation and missionary activity have become rather unfashionable and we can be tempted to seek refuge too frequently in the idea of ‘preaching the Gospel at all times, and if necessary using words.’ Of course we must act in accordance with our Faith and thus preach the Gospel with our deeds, but we should also ask ourselves whether our actions actually speak loud enough.

St Francis, to whom the quote is often misattributed, certainly preached the Gospel with his deeds, but how much more radical his actions were than ours! And he was also a passionate speaker who never tired or shied away from speaking the Truth. Using words might be more necessary than we like to think.

In his letter for the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict (above) states that: “We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden.” We must live out our Faith in love and hope, but we must also share the light of Christ. The more we give ourselves over to Christ, the more His light will shine in us as a beacon to others, and the more we will point to Christ as the source of our faith, hope and love.

—NEXT TIME: How can we deal with a popular culture promoting values so different from our own?

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