Editorial

‘Plenty of intolerance to go around’

The passion in most of the letters and phone calls on the VanCity issue over the past week could not fail to impress.

In some cases, passion was an understatement. Some letters literally praised the archbishop of Vancouver for ending a VanCity school banking program in Catholic schools. Others slammed the archdiocese for intolerance, hatred, bigotry, and even fascism, which suggests that those who cry “intolerance” are sometimes most in need of their own lecture. The Vancouver Sun reached the same conclusion in an Oct. 2 editorial: “People who support gay rights often characterize those on the other side as intolerant, but the response to the Church’s decision shows there’s plenty of intolerance to go around.”

It was a week in which angry critics of the decision gathered, yelling obscenities, outside the archbishop’s window, an incident so troubling that the Sun not only condemned it but came to the defence of the archdiocese’s right to make the decision it did.

In fairness to the media, they’ve done a fairly balanced job of keeping the story in proportion and reporting it accurately, despite some exceptions and the built-in fault lines that by their very nature undermine a good deal of what the media do.

To my mind the biggest disappointment, apart from violent threats from irrational people, has been the lack of acceptance of the archbishop’s decision among those one would expect to understand. A substantial proportion of the people we’ve heard from, including Catholics, have expressed disappointment ranging to extreme disgust with the decision to stop the program.

Keep in mind the background to this. The Archdiocese of Vancouver made no public announcement. It quietly ended the program after complaints from people who were concerned about the appearance of our close co-operation with a company that has an unimpressive history of supporting morally troubling causes.

This was not about an ad showing two men together. It was about a public “coming out” campaign, replete with all that entails, including a public declaration of support for the homosexual community and lifestyle, same-sex benefits, and more. It was about a company that routinely and in a high-profile manner supports groups and organizations that support abortion, sexual behaviour at gross odds with the Catholic faith, and pornography.

It should be noted that many Catholics have sent words of thanks to the archbishop. Especially heartening has been the outpouring of support from the non-Catholic Christian community. Expressions of encouragement and prayers have been received from Anglicans, Baptists, Evangelicals, Lutherans ... a veritable World Council of Churches.

It should also be pointed out many writers felt the archdiocese had either not acted quickly enough, or strongly enough, suggesting we should be completely boycotting VanCity.

They, and many of the Catholics who have contacted us, recognize that this is not a battle against homosexuals. It’s a struggle against a societal trend to incrementally but continually press Catholics to marginalize their religion, to water down doctrine, to back away from principled positions, and to treat the faith like a privatized affair for Sunday mornings, with no application the rest of the week.

The martyrs of the Church would weep. Many of them through the centuries gave their lives rather than concede smaller points than the ones we’re disputing today. Throughout the world, today’s martyrs of the 21st century still suffer death, torture, and persecution for their beliefs.

Probably the single most common criticism over the past week has been that the Church needs to get its own house in order before telling others how to live their lives. Incidents of clerical abuse and homosexuality among priests have been dredged up, with the suggestion that until there is no longer any sin in the Church, it shouldn’t be pointing fingers.

Clearly this is a different concept of Church than our own. The Church does not stand aloof, judging others. The Church is a community of believers. All of us are sinners, and all of us call one another to follow God’s plan of love of neighbour and of Him.

It needs to be noted that many individuals contacted us, genuinely troubled by what they see as the Church’s persecution of homosexuals. Their points, while sincere, were often off the mark, factually incorrect, and inflammatory, but it wouldn’t be fair not to acknowledge them and to give some space to the points they make.

We heard from many homosexuals, as well as family and friends of homosexuals, who said it’s time the Church adapted to today’s society and learned to tolerate homosexual behaviour. In response, however, the Church does better than that; it loves homosexuals, as it loves all of God’s children, in all their weaknesses and with all of their gifts.

Once again, in the words of Archbishop Sheen, tolerance applies to people, but not to truth, and the Church can no more be tolerant of sexual behaviour outside of God’s plan: including fornication, adultery, pornography, masturbation, and contraception, than it can tolerate, say, falsehood or theft.

Still, the accusation that the Church is targetting homosexuals, who are people deserving of compassion, is probably the toughest objection to deal with. How does one be stern with sin while embracing the sinner in a society that can’t seem to understand the difference? Even Madam Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dube of the Supreme Court of Canada couldn’t grasp the concept a few years ago, casting scorn on the idea that Christians can “hate the sin, but love the sinner.”

Given current realities, perhaps the Church needs to review the way it communicates the faith in light of modern communications theory. Maybe there are ways to re-tailor the message for the 21st century, without diluting the content.

In the end, however, it should be stressed that it was not the archdiocese that went public with this matter. There was no statement or press conference announcing the decision. The archdiocese decided to end quietly a particular relationship with a specific program operated by VanCity, a decision of the sort that people make every day after considering companies’ human rights records, their positions on the environment, and the way they treat their customers.

The point is often made that this, and issues like it, is no longer about tolerance. It’s now about acceptance and approval. Events of the past week seem to confirm that.