Thursday, March 19th 2009

By Joey Coleman

Reading Sabrina Jeria’s piece, “Archbishop’s actions un-Christian” last week, I felt a great deal of sympathy for the hundreds of millions of good Christians in this world who identify themselves as Roman Catholic. 

I identify as Baptist and often feel shame at the actions of some of my brothers, especially in the Southern Baptist Convention. The S.B.C. are most famous for their condemnation of Disney for being impure. On more than one occasion, I’ve been asked how I can identify with a religion that has such extremists in it. The answer is simple: I don’t associate with nor do I agree with the fundamentalists who claim the same religion as I.

It is for this reason that I feel for Roman Catholics in this case. 

Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Brazil and the fundamentalists that are presently running the Church are hypocrites and deserve the public scorn they are receiving. There is no defence for their actions, especially because the Roman Catholic Church hid (some say continues to hide) pedophiles behind the collar. 

There are significantly more Roman Catholics who are role models of good Christianity whom I could only hope to emulate. One of those individuals lives right next door to Brazil: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit priest who serves as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina. 

Bergoglio is a doctrinal conservative who is known for actively living a humble life and being compassionate towards those who he believes have sinned. He does not live in the official Archbishop’s residence, instead choosing to live in a small apartment with other priests, including one whom he takes care of. He takes public transit when previous Archbishops were known to travel by limousine.  

His doctrinal conservatism is balanced by compassion. He is known for visiting hospices, including a famous 2001 visit in which he kissed the feet of twelve AIDS patients. 

This should not come as a surprise. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is well known for living the message of their faith. A total of 152 Jesuits lost their lives saving Jews from Hitler during the Holocaust. Today, they serve the world’s poorest community and take their vow of poverty seriously. They are also known for their support of higher education. Many of the first schools in North America were formed by Jesuits.

We don’t have to look to other nations to see the good works. Each day, Roman Catholics wake up in our community and deliver the vital social services that people depend on to rebuilding their lives and overcome challenges. This week, we’ve seen students here at McMaster raising money for one of these great organizations. The Good Shepherd Centre is one of many charitable organizations in Hamilton founded by the Roman Catholic Church.

The Jesuits are known for being a liberal wing of the Roman Catholic Church. Much like other faiths, the Roman Catholic Church is facing an internal struggle between an extreme conservative wing and a more liberal centralist wing. By focusing so much attention on, and grouping the liberal wing with the unreasonable conservatives, we make the challenge facing those who wish to bring the Church into the modern era much more difficult. 

Much like secular governments, the Church is a centre of living debate over what is right and what is wrong. It is the nature of media and opinion to note what goes wrong; after all, that is news. We don’t report on flights that are uneventful, just like we don’t note the good works being done in the name of religion every day.