Ex-politician to talk on religion and politics

By LAUREEN McMAHON

Politics, by its very nature, demands debate, dissent, and compromise, says Gary Lauk, a Catholic and former Minister of Economic Development for the New Democratic Party of B.C.

While Catholics elected to office should follow Church teachings when it comes to legislation on abortion, so-called “same-sex marriage,” and euthanasia, hostility from Catholics and Christians to those who oppose their views on these issues reflects badly on Christ’s central teaching of loving your enemies as well as your friends, Lauk told The B.C. Catholic. “I would advise younger politicians coming up to distinguish between the sin and the sinner. We don’t do enough to make that clear.”

Gary Lauk

He will bring his 14 years of front-line political experience to a discussion on the role of Christians in politics at a Newman Association meeting at St. Mark’s College at UBC on Nov. 26. The talk will start after the 9:30 a.m. Mass and light refreshments will be served. The cost to attend is $7, and everyone is welcome.

Lauk disagrees with those who go so far as to say Catholics should refuse to vote or run for political office because no one party represents their point of view.

The fact is, Lauk said, no Catholic politician can expect his or her party to follow the Catholic point of view all the time.
Catholics either have to accept this or refrain from entering public life, said Lauk, who was elected in 1972 to represent Vancouver Centre in the Dave Barrett government.

Lauk’s profound belief in the power of God to change hearts stems from his own unexpected conversion 11 years ago which led to his return to the Church.

Although raised Catholic, as an adult he had left religious practice far behind, so when God called, he says today, it was “an amazing surprise!”

It happened after Lauk retired from politics in 1986 and returned to the practice of law.

One day he left his law office to go for a walk, paused in front of Holy Rosary Cathedral, and decided to go in.

Kneeling before the tabernacle, he little realized that his image was being picked up on the security camera which cathedral rector Father James Comey happened to be observing from an office.

Looking up, Lauk saw Father Comey emerge from a side door, looking straight at him. The priest motioned, walked over to the confessional, opened the door and went inside. Without thinking about it, Lauk followed and found himself making his first confession in decades!

“I saw myself as someone who wasn’t even a Catholic at the time. This was one of those inexplicable things that I didn’t believe could happen until it happened to me,” Lauk told The B.C. Catholic.”

He sought spiritual counselling and found friends to help him navigate his brand-new spiritual journey, including Monsignor Gregory Smith, whom he had known in Victoria during his time in the legislature.

“Half the world thinks you’re crazy when you try to explain it but the other half seems to understand the phenomenon,” Lauk noted with a chuckle.

“I had always been against abortion on demand, which all my NDP colleagues knew. In fact, when they supported free access to abortion, I remember feeling absolutely amazed at how social policy had shifted without my even realizing it.”

After his religious “epiphany,” he said, he found himself feeling “at home” with the Church’s pro-life stance, and also with the vast compendium of its social doctrine, which he devoured with great zeal.

These teachings, he discovered, confirmed his many years of support for civil rights.

“They are about bringing the Good News to the poor and oppressed and release to the captives of the world, which is at the centre of Christ’s message.

“Everything in the social justice documents emanates from the core beliefs of our faith and is based on God’s love through Christ. For me, the pivotal encyclical has been Pope John Paul II’s Faith and Reason, a document largely influenced by Pope Benedict XVI’s book, Introduction to Christianity.”

Lauk would like to see more emphasis, he said, on “the whole core of the Church’s social teaching: generous and reasonable immigration policies, fair wages, encouragement for trade unionism, fair working conditions, and good health care.”

Since leaving politics his law work has brought him into contact a number of times with individuals who feel justified in attacking homosexuals because they have received the message that homosexuals are fair game because they live a perverted lifestyle.

“When people talk publicly and privately about these issues, especially when they argue in the context of religion, they may not realize how their message may be interpreted,” said Lauk.

The Newman Association of Vancouver has been inviting Catholics in the archdiocese to nourish their faith through spiritual, intellectual, and social activities for 50 years. The association co-operates with the Newman Club at UBC. More information is available at www.rcav.org/Newman/index.htm.