VISIT OF CARDINAL O’BRIEN TO HOUSE OF COMMONS
MASS IN CRYPT OF HOUSE OF COMMONS WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE 2008.
Cardinal O'Brien Celebrates mass in the Crypt of the house of Commons with Fr Gerry Devlin and MC Mr Joseph Gilhooley.
Introduction:
My visit this week to the Houses of Parliament comes at a time of uncertainty, a time of great moral challenges and a time of confusion over the most basic questions about our society and the values we hold dear.
I simply read out to you as an indication of the truth of what I have said some headlines which have confronted me over the past few days: ‘A deadly week for the unborn’; ‘Outrage over Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill’s vote’; ‘Faithful urged to fight on after HFE Vote’; and ‘State is Immoral for failing to protect the unborn’.
Further, just a few days after that vote in the House of Commons, a headline in one of Scotland’s national papers read: ‘Abortions in Scotland soar to record high with 38 performed every day’, while the article goes on to say that there were 13,703 abortions carried out last year in Scotland, compared to 13,163 the previous year.
Rightly therefore can I say that it is indeed ‘a time of uncertainty, a time of great moral challenges and a time of confusion over the most basic questions about our society and the values we hold dear’.
Role of Conscience and its intrinsic link to truth:
I have spoken before in this esteemed location about the role of conscience and its intrinsic link to truth. In our first reading today St Paul affirms the value of a clear conscience. He writes to his disciple Timothy: “Night and day I thank God, keeping my conscience clear and remembering my duty to him as my ancestors did, and always I remember you in my prayers”. Since the votes at the Committee stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, I have pondered the situation in which our society finds itself in regard to the value and strength of conscience as a guide for the moral life.
The Church is a signpost for conscience not just of those who adhere to the Catholic faith but to all peoples. The Christian message is a gift with which we have been entrusted, it is a message not of our own devising. Rather, to us falls the grave duty of preserving Christian memory, of handing on the teachings of Christ – but handing them on not merely as a list of prohibitions and rules. To do this would present a jaundiced and mistaken view of the gospel. The message of the Church is one promoting the fullness of life and presenting for all people the truth of how we find fulfilment in this life and the next. We must be presenting in our lives and in our teaching something of the joy of the vocation of Christian living.
Difficulties in witnessing to the Gospel:
Each generation encounters its difficulties in witnessing to the gospel. We should not be surprised if at times we appear to have little success. We can ponder the experience of our Lord: never had the world heard such a master teacher, never before had signs and wonders abounded in witness of his authority. In raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus did not find the resistance of his enemies melting away, instead they hardened themselves and plotted the death of Lazarus and finally succeeded in killing our Lord himself.
Our battle is one not just of worldly arguments, as St Paul warns us in Ephesians our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
Does that mean that the force of argument and reason is to be abandoned? Far from it. Where the Church’s teaching accords with reason it is accessible to all peoples and we have every right to demand that our message plays a part in public discourse. But there is another dimension that cannot be neglected, the one of prayer and spiritual formation.
Lack of reproach from conscience:
It has struck me that for all the Church’s calls for recognition of the inviolability of conscience the sad reality is that the vast majority of politicians have given support to various attacks on human life with apparent lack of reproach from conscience.
What does one say then, in the face of those who without guilt condemn the innocent in the womb, show disregard for family life and play God with the building blocks of life?
Disquiet within oneself after doing wrong is a sign of a functioning conscience. This is in fact the second sense of conscience, which Cardinal Newman famously described as the aboriginal Vicar of Christ an inner voice that discerns the rightness or otherwise of our actions and choices. It is in responding correctly to this prompting of conscience that we make ourselves more human, more virtuous. St Paul teaches us in his letter to the Romans: “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness ..." (Rom 2:14).
Response by people of goodwill:
This reality is a constant feature of human nature across times and cultures. It is why the truth that we proclaim finds a resonance in the hearts of people of goodwill. We know that many people of faiths other than our own, including Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh, who believe in the sanctity of unborn human life, join with us at this present time and are continuing to seek through their ongoing efforts a change in the present laws.
Yet our culture does much to dull that inner voice of conscience. A feature of our age is the incessant noise, the lack of quiet, endless distraction; the ipod and mobile phone ensure silence and reflection are the preserve of very few. As a result we cannot but help notice that consciences among even some who ostensibly see themselves as loyal Catholics or champions of the life have been dulled even so far as to acquiesce with what is euphemistically called a right to choose.
It is in teaching with confidence and faith that we can begin the much needed task of awakening consciences in our society. I believe in fact the campaigning of recent months has already contributed to that task. We do not have the peace and harmony which arises from clear conscience, instead we see doubt and division, compromise and confusion which are the fruits of a false conscience. These are manifested not just in issues around abortion and embryology but across a spectrum of social issues which exhibit time and again some of the hallmarks of a society in decline.
Conclusion:
Those involved in political life have an important role in promoting the common good and resolving the troubles of our time. In my final words I remind you of those other words from St Paul in his letter to Timothy: “Fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord”.
That is precisely what all involved in political life are called upon to do at this present time, relying on the strength and direction of the Lord.
As Paul said to Timothy: “I remember you in my prayers”. I will do that for each one of you, as I ask you to pray for myself and all those of the Christian faith or of other faiths, who are at this present time trying to witness to their own faiths and acting according to their consciences.
Cardinal O'Brien Visits The House of Commons and House of Lords.
H.E.Cardinal O'Brien meets with PM Rt Hon Gordon Brown.
Leader of the Opposition Rt Hon David Cameron,with His Eminence Cardinal O'Brien
RECEPTION HOSTED BY CARDINAL O’BRIEN AT THE SCOTLAND OFFICE, DOVER HOUSE, LONDON
REMARKS FROM CARDINAL O’BRIEN
WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE 2008
Introduction:
The opportunity to meet with those who have such an important role in the civic life of our nation is a privilege. It is an occasion also when it is perhaps appropriate to raise again the nature of the Church’s contribution to public discourse. There are of course Catholics who in their daily lives aim to live out their faith as good citizens but the Church also as an institution contributes directly to the great debates of our age and has done so for centuries. At times this can appear to be a sign of antagonism especially in our fast paced media intensive age but that is not so. I represent a Church which sees its mission as a servant to peoples and communities. This service is in promoting the values which allow the flourishing of human life and human societies.
Message of Cardinal – Pro-Life Call:
In my own role as Priest, Archbishop and now Cardinal, I certainly see my own role as that of being a ‘servant’ both to my own flock and to all people of goodwill, who are ready to listen to me. My service has led me to many parts of the world, answering that call to preach the Gospel ‘in season and out of season, welcome or unwelcome’. My message has basically been a pro-life message in the widest sense of those words: A call to give life to those many thousands dying each day through lack of food and drink; by joining in the anti-nuclear campaign and also the campaign for a greater awareness of climate change; by entering into the debate with regard to our present abortion laws and the great moral issues coming to the fore recently with regard to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
I remember on one occasion when being interviewed I was asked by the interviewer: “Are you not just looking for publicity!”. I have never had an easier question to answer in any interview – my answer was immediate: “Of course I am looking for publicity!”. However, I went on to add that publicity is not for myself, but for those suffering throughout the world through malnutrition; for those living in poverty in our own country when it is proposed that billions of pounds be spent on a replacement for the Trident Nuclear System; when there are thousands of infants being put to death in the womb, following on our liberal abortion laws; and when there are outstanding moral issues which are in danger of passing us by into legislation in our country.
Service is a task that I know you are all committed to. Democracy provides us with a system capable of allowing us to contribute to that work together. It is with a political system open to frank discussion and with a place for people dedicated to service of the common good that this endeavour of living in harmony and unity is possible. We know that we face many challenges at local, national and international level and often these can seem irresolvable. The Church has no easy answer to the issues which confront us but we can offer a reminder of the foundational values on which any just society must be built, values which uphold the dignity of all human life, which assert the necessity of supporting family life, of recognising the limits of subsidiarity and the demands of solidarity.
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Conclusion:
My meetings over the last two days, which continue tomorrow, are I hope symbolic of the desire of the Church to work hand in hand with all people who have the welfare of society at heart and the great responsibility of serving our fellow citizens.
I cannot conclude with better words than those of Pope Benedict XVI in his first Encyclical entitled: ‘God is Love’:
“The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument, she has to re-awaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply”.
H.E.Cardinal O'Brien with the Rt Hon Des Browne Secretary of State for Scotland.
All Photographs by Paul Mc Sherry