Gwynne on religion in public affairs. (Canada).

Toronto--On October 16, Richard Gwynne, a columnist with the Toronto Star, delivered the first in what is intended to be an annual series of lectures on Catholic topics in honour of Henry Somerville. The lectures are sponsored jointly by St. Jerome's College, of Waterloo, ON, the Newman Club (where this one was given), and the Catholic Register, both in Toronto. Somerville was Register editor during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Joseph Sinasac, present editor of the Register, paid tribute to his predecessor, and went on to introduce Mr. Gwynne, pointing out that he had been a lapsed Catholic but had returned to the Church in recent years.

Gwynne spoke on "Christianity and Public Affairs: Coming out of the Closet." He presented a strong argument that Catholics ought to take more interest in public affairs than they do and let their voices be heard on contemporary issues. There should be a considered Catholic perspective in public debate; if we have something to say, why aren't we saying it? Isn't it in fact our duty to say it, as a form of missionary activity? Proclaiming the faith is a testimony to the existence and importance of faith, and if we do not proclaim it there is a vacuum into which other voices will come. When we miss opportunities to give witness to Catholic truth, people's attitudes may be shaped by ethnicity instead of religion.

Unfortunately, as American Vice-presidential candidate Senator Joseph Lieberman said, freedom of religion is becoming freedom from religion. Meanwhile, a search for meaning is going on all around us. There is a sense that endless material progress is not enough.

Comment:

I had two reactions to this often-inspiring address. One came principally from the answers Gwynne gave to the questions he was asked. It was that, like most journalists, he had not kept up with what Catholic discussion there is, though admittedly the most impressive journals dealing with such questions as the morality of the war against Bin Laden are American.

Second, he was really asking for what Catholic Insight tries to provide-- intelligent reflection on current issues from a Catholic perspective. He does not seem to know about Catholic Insight. He may find in it, however, some things which do not particularly please him--in particular, the view that when the Church has spoken out definitively on a question such as women's ordination--as it did in 1994 and 1995, after 30 years of debate--there is an end to discussion of it.

Even after these reservations have been acknowledged, there are many, many topics touching on religion about which he can write well in his columns, and let us hope that they attract his attention from time to time. D.D.