By Jean Welch Hill–
As a Catholic social justice advocate, fellow Catholics sometimes express concerns about the church’s involvement in what are seen as political actions. While Catholic doctrine overflows with reminders of our Gospel call to be voices for the voiceless and engage in our political communities, not as a matter of politics, but of moral imperative, it is also vital to remember the legion of Catholic advocates who have led our way throughout the centuries.
Consider, for example, St. Lawrence. After condemning Pope Saint Sixtus to death, the Roman Prefect ordered his deacon, Lawrence, to turn over all the treasures of the Church to the government. The future saint asked for three days to comply. He spent those days giving away everything he could as fast as he could. He then showed up on day three with every pauper, wino and leper he could find. “These are the treasuries of the Church,” he declared in his technically compliant protest.
Thomas More paid the ultimate price for his protest in the 16th century. This important counselor to King Henry VIII gave up not only his position, but was tried for treason and beheaded after refusing to recognize the king as the head of the Church of England. (I recommend watching “A Man for All Seasons” for a great depiction of Thomas More’s story.)
In more modern times, Catholic leaders became important supporters of the civil rights movement. When the Rev. Martin Luther King showed up at the door of Edmundite Fr. Maurice Ouellet, pastor of St. Elizabeth’s African-American mission in Selma, he found a ready ally. Fr. Ouellet opened up the parish as a training site for high school students working on the voter drive. Fr. Ouellet was also actively engaged in legal efforts to end voting discrimination and begin a dialogue with other white clergy. When these efforts proved fruitless, he helped recruit more than 900 Catholics who participated in the Selma march, including numerous priests and nuns. As National Catholic Reporter noted, “King was delighted with the Catholic turnout. During a lull between demonstrations, he confided to Ouellet, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we are getting all kinds of people coming down, and we’re even getting priests and sisters?’
The priest was unimpressed. ‘Well, it’s about time they got here’.”
In one final example, in 1984 twelve Roman Catholic bishops in the West organized their parishioners for peaceful protests against nuclear warheads. The bishops held a “prayer vigil” along the route of trains carrying nuclear warheads to Trident submarine bases in Washington State and South Carolina. Bishops from Seattle, Spokane, and Yakima, Washington, Amarillo, Texas, Sacramento and Fresno, California, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Pueblo and Denver, Colorado joined the protest.
We should be proud of our Catholic heritage of protesting injustice and threats to the dignity and sanctity of life. Leaving our faith in the church is not an option for Catholics, as we are reminded after each Mass when we are told to go forth to serve the Lord.
