The Big Questions

Hats off to blogger and friend James Preece who, I'm sure you're all aware, appeared on the BBC's wishy washy, vaugley religious (at times) programme "The Big Questions" on Sunday.

In the 20 minute tirade against the Pope, he and Peter Jennings were the sole defenders of our beloved Benedict XVI. Since the broadcast, he has come up for quite a bit of stick on his blog (by the types of people that appeared in the show's audience) simply for doing his best in a very difficult and hostile environment to gently and calmly defend the Pope and 2000 years of Catholic teaching. I won't go through 20 minutes of analysis because that has been done by several bloggers (and I will get wound up). But I simply want to say that the reaction, and the vehement attack by various people on the show, is a significant reminder of the things to come for us (striving to be faithful) Catholics.

It's clear that the general public as a whole seems to be getting more and more agitated with the doctrines of the Catholic Church mainly because of moral relativism. Many think it is discriminatory to hold and communicate the position that a homosexual act is intrinsically evil. Basic Catholic teaching, but how long will we be able to profess that in public without getting arrested? If we can't predict an answer to that one just yet we can certainly be guaranteed that the onslaught against Catholic tradition will get stronger.

Wishy washy "God loves you" Christians say the Pope's "views" on condoms, homosexuality and even abortion are things that don't appear in the Bible. They are man made "rules". But deep down, in their heart of hearts, they must know that's nonsense. From Scripture, especially in the readings from Eastertide, we can clearly see that Christ founded the Church, the Catholic Church. Jesus gave St Peter, the first Pope, authority to be His vicar on earth. Here we have the Apostolic Succession and, 2000 years later, it's still there despite difficulties and the formation of countless Protestant Churches. When the Pope speaks on matters of faith and morals, in collegiality with his bishops, that's Christ's teaching. It's not rocket science.

Back to the programme. If you saw it, notice how many of the liberal times raised the voices when attacking the pope and appeared to be a little hysterical. As soon as Peter Jennings put his voice up a notch or two, the audience went "oooooo" - as if to say, "you're getting a bit tetchy".

All I'm concluding is that this is a sign of things to come. More intense criticism and persecution is on the cards. After all, that's what Christ said would happen. It's time to remain faithful and have courage to defend the Faith whenever it's challenged.