On Thursday evening, Tony Blair gave the first in a series of The Cardinal's Lectures at Westminster Cathedral. There is a transcript of the lecture at the Westminster diocesan website and Mgr Langham has posted a report on the lecture with some photos, (including the one to the left.)John Smeaton has posted on the lecture: Blair in the cathedral and the “universal right to abortion”. He has also written to Tony Blair asking if he will reply to his letter of 11 January in which he asked whether in the light of his reception into the Catholic Church, Blair would now repudiate:
- voting in 1990 for abortion up to birth three times during Parliamentary debates on what became the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990;
- personally endorsing your government’s policy of supplying abortion and birth control drugs and devices to schoolgirls as young as 11 without parental knowledge or consent;
- your government introducing legislation which has led to a law which allows, and in certain circumstances requires, doctors to starve and dehydrate to death vulnerable patients;
- your government’s commitment to the promotion of abortion on demand as a universal fundamental human right.
- personally championing destructive experiments on human embryos.
Blair is keen that "faith" in general should be respected as a force for "progress." We could ask with Chesterton "progress towards what?" People of faiths should not be exclusive or "extremist", they should be "open" and not "closed." He praises Karen Armstrong's "remarkable" book that talks about the evolution of religious thought from "earliest times" when it was irrational and unforgiving, to "modern times" when faiths share common values and purpose.
Therefore he is setting up a Foundation which will pursue the Millennium Development Goals, and publish information about the different faiths in various media. The Foundation will help those of any faith who stand for peaceful co-existence but "reject the extremist and divisive notion that faiths are in fundamental struggle against each other." It will promote the idea of faith itself as "something dynamic, modern and full of present relevance." Irrelevance is represented by "stark dogmatism and empty ritualism." Whether there can be beautiful dogmas or grace-filled rituals is left unsaid.
Reading the lecture, I was struck by how cogently this globalistic pan-religious niceness ignores the real questions over which people of faith disagree with one another and, more, with the humanists whom Blair seems also to want on board the global faith fest. The questions that he raises have been addressed brilliantly by Cardinal Ratzinger in "Truth and Tolerance" but as far as this lecture is concerned, that book might as well never have been written.
To give an example of how the lecture blithely ignores the practical detail related to the high sounding principles it wafts before us, consider these two passages:
Faith corrects, in a necessary and vital way, the tendency humankind has to relativism. It says there are absolutes – like the inalienable worth and dignity of every human being – that can never be sacrificed.except in the case of the abortion up to birth of disabled babies?
Faith is a living and growing belief, not stuck in one time in history, but moving with time, with reason, with knowledge, informed by scientific and technological discovery not in antithesis to it, as well as directing those discoveries toward humane ends.such as destructive research on human embryos?
In the peroration, there is an interesting point which I would like to highlight since I believe that it neatly demonstrates that Blair fails to address a crucial problem for faith in Britain today. He says:
If people of different faiths can co-exist happily, in mutual respect and solidarity, so can our world.The assumption seems to be that it is people of faith who are the problem. If only people of faith could sink their differences and live in peace, it seems, then all would be find and dandy. In the Britain that has emerged from decades of increasingly secularist government, (not particularly impeded in any way by Tony Blair) the far more disturbing spectre is that of the secularists who are militant, extremist, closed, exclusive etc. (put in the other nasty-denoting words of your choice). The vaunted global mutual respect and solidarity will not survive long in the areas where their writ runs.
17 comments:
Sorry - but it seems rather obvious that T B's 'conversion' is political rather than proper - he is anxious to be elected head of the EU and thinks that by converting he will further his cause. I cannot believe that his conversion is sincere - in the light of his blatant non-acceptance of the fundamental tenets of catholicism - surely he is anglican to the core.
Dear Father Tim
the more I see of Blair's conversion to the faith the more I am reminded of Father Elijah
I'm sure I saw a "shadow across his face" as I watched BBC News 24
Regards
It was difficult looking at the pictures to tell the difference between the comic and the clown.
Very well put, if he had genuinely 'converted' he would still be in sackcloth and ashes for his past voting record at least!
Oh dear. This speech is even worse than I'd thought. I'd already found out enough about it yesterday morning (as brushed my teeth to the accompaniment of Radio 4) to promt a rant on my blog about it - but I didn't know that half of it then.
I'm genuinely disappointed in Blair - and it's not often I'm accused of not being cynical enough!
A case for excommunication here I believe! He clearly shows that he has not an iota of understanding about what constitutes Catholic Belief and Teaching - nor does he care I fear because it's all about celebrity and personality polls that make Mr Blair tick! I bet he can't even spell humility let alone live by the principle. And here he is telling us all about his concept of 'Faith'. The Gospel according to Tony. Amazing!
"Lord of the World", anyone?
Comic or clown - either way the man's a hypocrite - and so is the man who received him into the Church, unless he truly repented of his serious moral failings. What this hierarchy won't do to ingratiate themselves with establishment aspirants.
O well said, indeed, Father Tim.
His Grace is in agreement with every word, and the wonder is that he was permitted to deliver this inane lecture in such a prestigious setting.
But one contention with Dominie above: 'surely he is anglican to the core'
Not in the slightest - you cannot know what an Anglican is. Rome is welcome to him, and good riddance.
Blair and his patently non-Catholic antirealist pan-religious views are no surprise to me. But what I do find surprising is the fact that:
(1) A high profile public figure such as he was accepted into the Catholic Church in the first place despite holding such views.
(2) He was then allowed to "preach" and share these non-Catholics views from the pulpit of Westminster Cathedral no less.
(3) Meanwhile a smiling Cardinal of Westminster sat behind him throughout the entire sermon looking decidedly pleased with everything he had to say.
This whole scenario tells me that the official Church accepts anyone into the fold, even those (or perhaps 'especially' those?) who who hold non-Catholic pan-religious views, and that, for the official Church, traditional Catholic doctrine and its acceptance is not merely insignificant but wrong while public profile is paramount.
Oh, it's a relief to see that he hasn't actually become a Catholic then - ha ha.
Tony Blair and the Cardinal are quite delighted with this series of talks. It is all about the Church as an institution and instrument for change in the world. It has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. It is no help whatsoever to ordinary catholics who are struggling to keep their children in the Church. To keep their daughters from abortion clinics, from single motherhood, for sex abuse. NOr is Tony nor the the Cardinal interested in helping the Catholic Family to survive, and things like divorce which upset Jesus, certainly do no upset this duo. What the Cardinal has demonstrated thought these talks is that the Church in England is a total irrelevance to the ordinary lay person. Only those with lofty political ideals fit in.
Father, at the time of TB's conversion my husband and I really struggled with his lack of public repentence when his anti-church teaching actions had all been so public. I think partly it was this that stopped my husband being ready to convert when I did this Easter. It is very good to know he is being held to account, and I do pray that he would take steps to accept church teachings and say so publicly.
Dear Fr. Tim
Sadly the pain caused by the whole Blair conversion issue has been exacerbated for many by the 'preachy' calls for us not to judge from normally reliable magazines such as The Curates Diary from Ireland and the Bible Alive - their article for next Monday the 14th April seems particularly out of place in light of last weeks lecture! Whilst this has vindicated the concerns of many it will undoubtedly be of little comfort to them. Especially sad it is to hear of poor Mr. Pea. Let us pray that other sincere souls are not discouraged in this manner and hope that Rome will intervene in some manner.
That preachy "don't judge" entirely miss the point. Blair is a public figure with a public voting record. As a politician he is subject to scrutiny - by Catholics as well as by anyone else.
I nearly choked when I read the news of Blair's reception into the Church, because in all truth I could foresee incidents very like this one. I would so loved to have been proved wrong in the matter, but...
What I find sad is that Tony Blair was not required to publicly recant his embrace of all those positions that are incompatible with what the Catholic Church teaches and holds to be true. St Augustine, at the time of his conversion was required to do as much before he was baptised. I am, in no way, imputing a lack of sincerity nor guilt to Mr Blair. Only God can judge that. But his conversion or reception into the Catholic Church in view of his stance on such fundamental issues which are in the public eye, and which are not in consonance with the teaching of the Church can be a cause of grave scandal.
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