Will Howard

Many of us who picked up the Easter Sunday edition of the Guardian were rather taken aback by the front page.

And this, not so much as to the jarring insensibility of the secular press to portray in living colour a crucifixion scene on the day of Resurrection, but further that the headline should read on the most important Christian holiday “Local Catholic Church in Crisis”.

Admittedly, a very tactless sense of timing. But then the secular press has never been noted for their tact… and I suppose that’s what keeps us reading. We seem to think that real news is “in your face”. It smarts a little when your face (Catholicism) is the one caught on “candid camera”.

I feel a larger context and encouragement is due.

From the “inside” a few things should be well understood. Yes, in this age of modern materialistic malaise, we here in the Catholic Caribbean are by no means immune. The Church in the West is in another of those periods correctly called “crisis”.

Indeed we little need statistics or even the Archbishop’s courageous appeals and concern to convince.  In “the land of Trinity” we need but look at social conditions to realise that Faith reflects culture—be that a suffering culture.

Catholic Christianity is well noted –and can be profoundly proud of that– as being situated in the real world, and not hidden under a basket or aloof from social cares and needs of the day. There are risks in ministering so directly to the world.

As social, moral and ethical structures slack and fall by the way, so do the structures of domestic and parochial catechesis suffer – home life, Church life. And yet it is the Church that stands by to console parents whose children are caught on the front pages amid the crisis of crime and violence.

Further, the Church levies no condemnatory blame; points no finger. It knows it is primarily a solidarity issue as Christ the incarnate God stands by –hanging in there - for humanity in its darkest hour. Catholicism is in it for the long haul! As its 2000-year history more than admits.

Here, I want to review some of the highlights of the Holy Father’s address to our region’s bishops on their recent ad limina visit: "…your shores have been battered by negative aspects of the entertainment industry, exploitative tourism and the scourge of the arms and drugs trade; influences which not only undermine family life and unsettle the foundations of traditional cultural values, but tend to negatively affect local politics”.

He went on to encourage them: “Be audacious witnesses to the light of Christ, which gives families direction and purpose, and be bold preachers of the power of the Gospel, which must permeate their way of thinking, standards of judgment, and norms of behaviour.”

He noted that each of the bishops “…feels the great responsibility to do everything possible to support marriage and family life, which is the primary source of cohesion in communities and hence of vital importance in the eyes of the government authorities.”

Pope Benedict underscored the social l dimension of the Gospel when he concluded. “Values rooted in the way of truth presented by Christ illuminate the spirit and heart of young people and encourage them to continue along the path of faithfulness, responsibility and real freedom. Good young Christians make good citizens.”

As I sit here tapping away on my laptop - I scroll up to the dictionary for the most generic definition: “crisis…
1. A situation or period in which things are very uncertain, difficult, or painful, especially a time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or breakdown.
2. A time when something very important for the future happens or is decided.
3. A point in the course of a disease when the patient suddenly begins to get better…” 

Okay, the rest of it reads “…or worse”. But we as Catholics never have to worry too much about the worsening factor of crises when they come, simply because we are people of the Resurrection.

In times of crisis our witness is to bind the wounds and cool the forehead. Certainly there are important decisions afoot in the archdiocese and greater AEC region that without doubt will affect the future of the Caribbean world. And yes, we as Catholics are more than familiar with uncertain and difficult times… 

As I look back at the Guardian article I must admit the authors do give us the benefit of the doubt as Catholics. I’m not sure that they’ve read all 70 pages of our Archbishop’s “action plan” but I wonder how many Catholics are even more than slightly aware of this formidable way forward?

What the Guardian did pick up from the document were integral statements by Archbishop Gilbert: “…to feel responsible for each other,” and the “call on believers to play a greater role in the Church...and the mobilisation of the lay faithful in administrative positions.”

There is no choice here. Crisis means you work with what you’ve got. And when it comes to such a call of faith, the Church and the world are always the richer for it.