Cardinal to criticise Parliament's "unjust and immoral laws."
Oct 15, 2005
Cardinal Keith O'Brien will tomorrow - Sunday 9 October 2005 - use the occasion of the annual "Red Mass" (Mass for the legal profession) at St.Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh to launch a strongly worded challenge to Scottish parliamentarians "intent on enacting unjust and immoral laws."
In a homily to be preached to a gathering of Catholic, lawyers, judges and prosecutors, he will point out that while the separation of church and state is important and laws should not be based on religious beliefs, they should still be based on universal moral standards.
Cardinal O'Brien will claim:
"there are moral approaches to the ordering of civil society that have been proved to lead to the common good, irrespective of the religious beliefs or traditions of the societies in which they apply. The clearest proof of that is that throughout history, certain fundamental civil arrangements have been shared across many societies, faiths and traditions. Among them are: Respect and protection for marriage, the family and human life itself."
Lamenting current approaches to lawmaking, he will add:
"Sadly, in our post – Christian world there are many who consider it fashionable to attack arrangements previously considered as being “good” for society on the flawed assumption that they are relics of some outmoded Christian dogma rather than pragmatic and proven arrangements which have delivered stability and security to many societies.
The new iconoclasts of contemporary society are determined to destroy any law which they consider may be associated with the Christian culture and heritage, an inheritance which has both served and defined Europe for many centuries."
Cardinal O'Brien continues:
"we are now faced with legislators intent on enacting unjust and immoral laws which do not stem from any natural or rational basis. It is all too easy to think of laws and proposed laws of our own Scottish Parliament on marriage, the family, and the adoption of children, which come into this depressing category."
Concluding Cardinal O'Brien will say:
"it is crucially important that as Christians we are active in public life. It is imperative that we take our Christian beliefs into the workplace. This is a new challenge for many Catholic Christians. Rather than just “being a Christian” we also need to realise our call to evangelize, to carry the teaching of Jesus Christ into the world in which we live."
The full text of the homily is shown below.
ENDS
ANNUAL RED MASS
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, EDINBURGH
SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2005
HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
INTRODUCTION:
As I said in my introductory remarks it is indeed a very great joy for me welcoming you all to our Annual Red Mass here in St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. We ask God’s blessing on all who are involved in any way in the Legal Profession. And, thinking of the words of the Gospel of today’s Mass we thank God for the feast to which we have been invited – the feast of God’s word and the feast of the Eucharist.
I would like to reflect with you this morning on some of the teachings of our Church; on natural law; and of the role of the Christian especially the Christian involved in the Legal Profession in today’s world.
REFLECTION ON THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH:
At this present time in various ways we are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
My first thoughts turn to the great encyclical of Pope John XXIII in 1963 entitled “Pacem in Terris”. There the Pope wrote on “establishing universal peace and truth, justice, charity and liberty”. And he said: “human society can be neither well ordered nor prosperous without the presence of those who, invested with legal authority, preserve its institutions and do all that is necessary to sponsor actively the interests of all its members. And they derive their authority from God, for, as St Paul teaches, there is no power but from God “.
Gathered here today are a great many members of the Scottish legal fraternity who share a faith commitment common to us all. Our presence together is a reminder of how important it is that the civil, political and legal sphere maintains it autonomy from the sphere of religion and the Church. Yet, crucial as those may be, we must also remember that such a separation does not make our civil and legal life autonomous from the sphere of morality. In practice the two must coexist and coincide. In fact if religious law becomes too closely identified with civil law it can lead to a stifling of religious freedom. We must render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, informed always as Christians by God’s Law.
REFLECTION ON THE NATURAL LAW:
The Church teaches that there are three essential elements of the common good: firstly, respect for the promotion of the fundamental rights of the person; secondly, prosperity or the social well being of society; and thirdly, peace and security.
We have in these essential elements a prescription for achieving the common good – endorsed by the Church but delivered by civil society through a framework of laws and regulations. These laws for the most part urge citizens by their observance towards the common good of all, while punishing through various penalties their wilful flaunting.
While firm in our belief that the laws of man derive from the law of God, we do well to remember that there are moral approaches to the ordering of civil society that have been proved to lead to the common good, irrespective of the religious beliefs or traditions of the societies in which they apply.
The clearest proof of that is that throughout history, certain fundamental civil arrangements have been shared across many societies, faiths and traditions. Among them are: Respect and protection for marriage, the family, the weak and vulnerable, and human life itself. This indicates clearly that while the Church can endorse the circumstances that lead to the common good, only civil society can provide the environment in which it can flourish. It makes no sense therefore to label such arrangements or moral standards “religious” – since in doing so they may actually be more likely to be targeted by secularists and others intent on social change.
Sadly, in our post – Christian world there are many who consider it fashionable to attack arrangements previously considered as being “good” for society on the flawed assumption that they are relics of some outmoded Christian dogma rather than pragmatic and proven arrangements which have delivered stability and security to many societies. The fact that the Church promotes and endorses these norms of natural law is important to us as Catholics. It means that they have been confirmed by our Christian faith and so must be upheld.
The new iconoclasts of contemporary society are determined to destroy any law which they consider may be associated with the Christian culture and heritage, an inheritance which has both served and defined Europe for many centuries.
As a result we are now faced with legislators intent on enacting unjust and immoral laws which do not stem from any natural or rational basis. In the words of St Thomas Aquinas: “We maintain that human law has the rationale of law insofar as it is in accordance with right reason and as such it obviously derives from eternal law. A law which, is at variance with reason, is to that extent unjust and has no longer the rationale of law. It is rather an act of violence”.
It is all too easy to think of laws and proposed laws of our own Scottish Parliament on marriage, the family, and the adoption of children, which come into this depressing category and can in no way be deemed to serve the common good.
Yet achieving the common good is the sole reason for the existence of civil authorities. In working for the common good therefore, they must obviously respect its nature and at the same time adjust their legislation to meet the requirements of the given situation.
ROLE OF THE CHRISTIAN:
In order that they are more likely to do this it is crucially important that as Christians we are active in public life. It is imperative that we take our Christian beliefs into the workplace whether that is a court of law or a hotel kitchen. We should not seek necessarily to separate matters spiritual and temporal at all times – where they coincide, as they do in many of the norms of natural law, we should recognize this and be embolden in our defense of legal structures which promote the human person and the common good and are in accordance with the teachings of the Church. As Christians we are called upon to dialogue with modern culture, with society, with politicians, and with those we meet each day.
Last Sunday I was in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI as he opened a Synod of Bishops in St Peter’s Basilica. This is what he said on the role of Catholics in public life:
“A tolerance which allows God as a private opinion but which excludes him from public life, from the reality of the world and our lives, is not tolerance but hypocrisy. When man makes himself the only master of the world and master of himself, justice cannot exist. Then, arbitrariness, power and interests rule”.
Perhaps this is a new challenge for many Catholic Christians who thought that “sacramentalisation” was the limit to which we were called as Catholics – being baptised and receiving the Sacraments. Rather than just “being a Christian” we also need to realise our call to evangelize, to believe that evangelization is important, and to acknowledge that evangelization is quite simply what it means to be a Christian, to carry the teaching of Jesus Christ into the world in which we live.
ROLE OF PRAYER:
Basic to how we can meet this challenge is of course our relationship to Jesus Christ himself. One might say that only those touched by God can speak to people about God.
We must know Christ, we must be aware of the power of God from the words of Sacred Scripture. It was St Paul in his letter to Timothy who wrote: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness”.
And the great St Jerome in his commentaries on Prophet Isaiah stated: “He who is ignorant of the Scriptures is also ignorant of the power of God and his wisdom: Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.
And but recently Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the value of prayerful and meditative reading of the Word of God in Sacred Scripture: “The Church does not live off herself but off the Gospel, and it is from the Gospel that, always and anew, she draws guidance for her journey. This is a fact that all Christians must take up and apply to themselves: only those who first dispose themselves to listen to the Word can then begin to announce it. Church and Word of God are inseparably linked. The Church lives off the Word of God, the Word of God rings out from the Church, in her teaching and in all of her life”.
Surely a study of God and his word to us especially his word through Jesus Christ is vitally important for anyone trying to hand on Christian standards and trying to become more and more aware of the role of natural law in our society.
As Christian custodians of, and practitioners in, the field of the law those in the legal profession are especially called on, in the words of Pope John XXIII, to build a society: “that is founded on truth, built up on justice, nurtured and animated by charity, and brought into effect under the auspice of freedom”.
We do need God in our lives if we wish to live up to his ideals. As that document which I mentioned “Pacem in Terris” states: “God himself must come to mans aid with his heavenly assistance if human society is to bear the closest possible resemblance to the Kingdom of God”.
Today indeed may each one of us pray that God will come to our aid, that we will be aware of our responsibilities and of his word still speaking to us in today’s world, and that with his help we will work to create a society modelled on the Kingdom of God.
Cardinal to criticise Parliament's "unjust and immoral laws."