Thursday, August 16, 2012

IVF: Church repeating mistakes as militant character gains the edge - Fr Joe Borg

Fr Joe Borg, the Maltese Curia's former PRO, argues in The Sunday Times that the Church learnt the wrong lessons from the divorce referendum campaign and it is rushing into repeating the same mistakes in the present IVF issue.

"My assessment of the current situation is that we have learnt the wrong lessons from the divorce referendum campaign and that we are rushing into repeating the same mistakes in the present IVF issue. It is very painful to note that every time the Church cries' wolf' less and less people are taking her seriously. Neither the message not the people are to blame.  We have only ourselves to blame. And after reading the statement by the Cana Movement last Friday, I have only one comment: some do not want to learn," he added.

In his opinion piece Fr Borg says that discussion and heated controversies within the Church were commonplace for the past 2,000 years. Such tension brought pain but when handled creatively, it also brought growth.

"It is within this context that we have to analyse the way forward in Church/society relationship – particularly the liberal trends that are encroaching on hitherto ecclesiastically controlled enclaves - and emanating strategies proposed by Catholics holding differing theological and pastoral models. The main fault line (though not the only one) is delineated by the stretch of beautiful sea which separates our two main islands. The differences, at least on the practical/strategic level,  exist at all stages of the ecclesial food chain"

Fr Borg argues that the side which today is taking prevalence in the Church is the more militant in character. The feeling of “onward Christian soldiers” is being felt more and more within the traditional grassroots of the Church.  

The bastions are replacing the dialogical pjazzas. The past is preferred to the present while the future is abhorred and feared.

A speech that Archbishop Paul Cremona delivered during the Synod of Bishops, on 15 October 2008 was becoming more and more prophetic. 

He had said: "Many of our faithful still live in nostalgia of, and compare the present situation, with the model of the Church that was present 30 to 40 years ago. Since the Catholic Church has not remained in a privileged position as it was then, they live in an atmosphere of shock when the Church, or its pastors, are challenged. Many times they stand in fear of speaking openly before this, many times, hostile culture.”

This nostalgic mentality, Fr Borg says, was very much alive and kicking during the divorce referendum campaign. 

“Kristu iva, divorzju le” was not just a fringe movement but it was the battle cry of the nostalgic core which mismanaged the campaign and misinterpreted the result. They firmly believed that had the Church been more militant the result would have been different. Even the delusional Don Quixote would not have come to such an absurd conclusion.

"The militant nostalgics still think that our “salvation” lies in legislation and the protection that it can give. Thus they are totally alienating themselves from the real and most relevant field: culture.

"The Church lost the divorce referendum not because of lack of militancy but because it had already lost the meaningful position it once had in the socio-cultural environment. It is in this agora that ideas are debated and that battles are lost and won. We are sorely losing. Just note that according to a study in 2009,  91% of University students called themselves Catholics."

A study done last year shows the number has now dwindled to 79%.  

"It is only if we face reality as it is that we can move forward."

As Archbishop Cremona prophetically told the Synod in 2008: “We have to help the faithful recognise that that kind of Church does not exist anymore, and it cannot be proposed again in this changed world. We cannot continue comparing our reality to that reality.”

Fr Borg stresses that he is not harping for a silent or absent Church.

"We have to strongly communicate our beliefs in an increasingly hostile environment. But we do that with a sense of service not a spirit of militancy and superiority. We (have to) present our position while respecting that of others. Non-believers have values as well; they have values different from ours. The Church must seek engagement with the surrounding culture without losing her identity. It is by seeking such an engagement, that the Church also learns how to communicate with her people who are immersed in culture and well-versed in emerging trends.  We should also recognise and differentiate between the different competencies of church and political leaders."