Dear people of Arundel & Brighton,
If you were a journalist twenty years ago and wanted to make a programme or write a feature piece about the Catholic Church, you would probably choose one of three topics. These would be abortion, birth control and celibacy: these were the things that seemed to be associated almost instinctively in people’s minds with the Catholic Church. Sadly, today we would have to amend that list slightly, I think, and add child abuse.
But in our culture today, where we don’t have time to stop and think, and questions are generally treated fairly superficially, the Catholic Church is reduced to that narrow band of issues, as if that is all that Catholics either think or talk about. We are often seen as narrow-minded, blinkered and unreasonable, people unable to think for themselves. Within the space of a few months, not too long ago, I agreed to take part in two debates, both on the same topic and both, as it turned out, with the same people. The topic was euthanasia, the venues were Farnham and Alton Convent School, and the opposition on both occasions came from the Humanist Society.
On the first occasion, I was the first speaker, and tried to present a reasonable case for treating human beings consistently at all stages of their life, and arguing that we can’t begin to treat them differently as their life draws to an end. The second speaker appeared to ignore what I’d said and went off on something of a mild rant about what ‘religious people’ want us to believe and how their religious views, clearly unreasonable as they are, push them to false conclusions about human nature. But I hadn’t mentioned God or religion at all.
So we have a problem. It’s the old "Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they," which makes it difficult for us to present an argument that many people will take seriously. And this weekend, when we celebrate our Day for Life, it is time to reflect, perhaps, on what issues we do have views on in this area, and where those views come from.
A Day for Life is more than just a day to lament the 40th anniversary of the Abortion Act, and to mourn the failure of Anne Winterton’s Bill to amend the act. It is first of all a day to rejoice in all that we as a Church do to protect and value life, and to recognise the organisations and groups that promote what we would see as fundamental human values and principles, some of the organisations not specifically Catholic, but probably working with the support of Catholics.
Back to the debate on euthanasia, we have to recognise the important work done by the hospices. The hospice movement is not as recent as people might imagine. Hospices set up to look after the dying were first established in France in 1842, but then the Irish Sisters of Charity set up the Hospice in Dublin in 1879 and later St Joseph’s in Hackney in 1905. The movement has been growing since, especially under the impetus given it by Dame Cicely Saunders and the Duchess of Norfolk, and the diocese now has hospices in Crawley, Esher, Caterham, Farnham, Woking, Eastbourne, St Leonards, Brighton, Worthing, Hove, and the only children’s hospice in Sussex at the Chestnut Tree near Arundel. One thing to remember about these places is that they are not funded by the government, and rely on donations. If you have had a relative cared for in a hospice, you will know what amazing work they do, and if you want to support this work, reach into your pocket first of all.
The charity Life, though based in the Midlands, has groups down here, and they do a lot of work over a whole range of issues – counselling women thinking about an abortion, offering them practical help in terms of housing and care, work in schools on the reality of abortion and what its long-term effects can be on a woman. The abortion debate is often reduced to the most simple proposition, the right to choose, a right that has been made almost absolute in our society today – if it’s available, then I have a right to it. Life helps young people, especially, to appreciate that the issue is far more complex than this.
People that are sometimes forgotten in the whole life arena are the doctors and nurses in our hospitals and in the community. They have dedicated themselves to looking after other people’s lives, and trying to ensure that life is as good and as long as it can be. I am very conscious every year in Lourdes of the numbers of doctors and nurses who give their time and energies so generously – they spend the rest of the year looking after people and then give up part of their holiday to come and do the same, and even pay for the privilege of doing this. I really can’t thank them enough.
And life is not just a question of its extremes, beginning and end. There are a number of projects, some Catholic, some ecumenical, some in other churches, that look after those whose lives have lost their way somehow, and I was sorry to hear that St Anne’s Centre for the homeless in Brighton, at St John the Baptist, had suffered an arson attack. Again, these places rely exclusively on the goodness of volunteers and the generosity of benefactors.
I am aware also that most parishes in the diocese are active in their support of CAFOD and other charities that are working to improve the quality of people’s lives in countries abroad. How can we say that these are not life issues? And again, these works rely on the generosity of supporters.
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" – the words of Jesus in chapter 10 of St John’s gospel, when he talks of himself as the good shepherd. This is where our values about life are grounded. Life is the gift of God. He asks us that we look after one another, as he looks after us. Life is the most important thing he has given us to look after, and today is a moment to accept that responsibility joyfully, generously, and above all, courageously.
With my good wishes and prayers for this diocese and its people.
Bishop of Arundel & Brighton
