Meet the Press

I thought a timely follow-up to my 11/10 post would be to highlight an interview that appears in the most recent issue of Our Sunday Visitor. If the article were available online, I would post the link to it (unfortunately the OSV website only publishes one article from each week's issue). I do want to submit two excerpts from the interview for your consideration:

The excerpts speak to an insight I had while I was writing the last post. In it I said that "the Vatican does more to stimulate interreligious dialogue than any other institution on the planet." Even while I typed those words I thought to myself, "Well it's not like any other institution in the world has the capability of promoting dialogue in the same way that the Vatican does--"

-- which brings me to the excerpts. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, responded to the following questions in the following manner:

OSV asked, "Why doesn't the Muslim world speak out more against acts of terrorism in the name of Islam?" To which His Excellency responded, "We sometimes tend to judge people from our own standpoint. Why don't [the Muslims] speak out? The Pope [did]. Well, there is no Muslim pope. There are often Muslims who speak out, but it doesn't get in the press."

Then OSV asked, "Is it not the case that while many Christians are prepared to initiate dialogue with Muslims and other faiths, the reverse isn't always true?" And then His Excellency delivered a most satisfactory reply. He said, "There are some Muslim or Buddhist leaders who are active in the field of interreligious relations and promoting peace and harmony. We have to be Christians and faithful to the Gospel message, which says we are to be messengers of peace...of course we hope others respond. And there is a response in practical ways. [For example] there is cooperation between Islamic Relief and Catholic aid agencies."

Reading the interview not only gladdened me to know that we have such a capable person working in the Curia, it also gave me pause for thought. So much of what hampers interreligious dialogue is not the religious leaders themselves, it's the antagonism of a secular news media. The same irresponsible journalism that brought on my irate ranting in the last post also prevents Muslims from voicing their plea for peace. We tend to trust and assume that what we hear in the news is true, accurate, fair, and objective. Ever since Watergate, Americans have tended to trust the honesty and integrity of journalists. They want to believe that what's being portrayed in the news is reality.

But it's not. We so often dwell in un-reality. We uncritically and blithely accept what's fed to us by the secular culture and the news media. We accept the presumption that the Church doesn't do enough, that the religions of the world must necessarily be in conflict, or that all Muslims want jihad. Whereas, the reality of being human suggests otherwise. We are closer to one another and more alike than the secular culture would have us believe, and the news media is a tool of special interests (marketing interests, government propaganda, or the personal agenda of the journalist).

Or we go in the opposite extreme and become too critical. We think the only way to be objective is to question and criticize every side and accept nothing as true, which is a false objectivity. This must be the mindset of journalists today: "Unless I am reporting on all that's going wrong, I'm not doing my job properly" [a good example of such baleful journalism is this article from the Detroit News & Free Press correspondent David Crumm, who chooses to eschew the kind of religious tolerance displayed by Archbishop Fitzgerald in favor of an incredibly biased approach. Crumm barely veils his hostility to the Church and the hierarchy. He certainly chose to take the low road in reporting on the upcoming bishops' conference]. Somehow, we've become complacent with the notion that dissent equals objectivity. In fact, we become slaves to subjectivity as a result, if we never measure, check, or balance our dissent.

Obscurity is the best weapon at the Devil's disposal. We cannot allow ourselves to dwell in un-reality, in obscurity of facts. We must be critical, rational thinkers. Yet we must also be loving, generous, and hopeful. We must trust that what Christ sees in human beings is really, truly, actually present. Christians are called to witness to the reality belonging to Christ, the world as God sees it. We must bear witness to the Kingdom. As my friend Mark advises in his blog, "put your hope not in earthly things." Do not place your trust in the secular news to provide an accurate account of daily reality. They will inevitably be drawn into subjectivity and delusion. What is real is the Kingdom. Put your hope in heavenly things. You'll be a happier, healthier, more loving person because of it.