Catholic Unscripted Episode 6: The Church as Salt & Light

In the latest episode of Catholic Unscripted we look at the political turmoil which seems to be engulfing both the secular world and the Church at the moment. As a series of political machinations seem to be stealing democratic process away from the hands of the electorate in the UK, Pope Francis is appealing to Catholics and non-Catholics for feed back on what the Church should do.

Is this a forced democracy? The engagement levels would seem to suggest that most Catholics aren't interested. Is the pope trying to change the way the Church works? Rather than being a deposit for Divine Revelation of truth, is the pope trying to change the Church into an organisation which moves in the direction dictated by secular culture?

Our approach should always be to come to the revelation of God with humility, recognising our own short comings and prepared to change our lives. But now it seems the narrative is constantly that the Church needs to change to fit in with radical changes in society.

We look at the idea of left and right and how this crosses from politics to attitudes within the Church. What do we mean when we use these terms? What are the consequences of supporting a left leaning ideology versus a right leaning ideology?

We ask has Catholicism been outlawed in Bournemouth & look at some of the ridiculous attempts to control the Catholic faith which really amount to controlling individual thoughts and actions; an attempt to control the narrative and limit the discussion so that the state version of reality is the only version we have access to. Abortion = health care and you're not allowed to contradict that statement. You're not allowed to offer an alternative to women facing that difficult decision.

The indoctrination is particularly prevalent in education; are we paying attention to what is going on in our schools? Increasingly the narrative seems to be that children are not safe at home but they are safe at school. This seems to be a creeping socialism mandating state indoctrination. It can be seem more prevalent in Catholic schools than secular schools as the social justice narrative bleeds through, using a "seamless garment" false  analogy to infiltrate Catholicism, through the universities, with a neo-Marxist pedagogy.

Perhaps my favourite bit is when Gavin explains: 

"the center of the Church has lost the plot - it's lost its sense of vocation to provide salt and light - real Christian Integrity to places of public influence so that the faith can be articulated by powerfully committed intellectual people whose job it is to bring their minds and the wisdom of Christ the public space, but instead we're being given secularists and people who seem to make it a mark of pride to attack the face of the Church."

I thought this summed up where we find ourselves in a real Newmanesque way. I feel very privileged to be a part of this project!