Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish
Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546 [Email]
Sunday November
12th 2006
Dear Parishioner,
A leaflet was pushed through my door. It was entitled Dear Muslim
Neighbour.
So much junk mail comes through the letter box these days that it
usually goes straight into the wastepaper basket. But this title
caught my eye and I read it. I must give its anonymous author the
credit for having thought out a very clever scam.
The leaflet was not really concerned about the Muslims at all.
The Muslims were just a cover for a vicious attack on the Catholic
Church. An anonymous protestant was its author whose bigotry is
quite amazing and whose theology is literally non-existent.
The lack of theology is in fact this leaflet’s undoing. Quoting
extensively from the Second Vatican Council and from the Catechism of
the Catholic Church, it fails to realise that these quotations are full
of sweet reason which contrasts sharply with its own narrow and waspish
bigotry.
Catholicism is heir to a theology and a body of moral teaching that
leaves the other Christian Churches standing. By Christ’s
promise, the truth of its teachings is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit
and safeguarded by the Pope and Bishops, whose role as Defenders of the
Faith reaches back in unbroken succession to Peter and the Apostles.
But, as I read through this leaflet, I wondered to myself how many
Catholics would have sufficient understanding of their Catholic Faith
to see through this whole scam and recognise the heresies it
contains? How many of us could read that document, or face its
author (if he were not so lily-livered as to write anonymously) and be
able to defend the truth of the Catholic Church?
There used to be a section of theology called Apologetics which taught
Catholics how to defend their faith in the face of such ignorance and
bigotry and how to explain it to those willing to listen. Sadly,
apologetics seems now to be a thing of the past. So we need to do
something ourselves.
The least we can do is to listen very carefully to the sermon preached
on Sunday. It is, for most of us, the only input of Christian
theology we will get in the week, while the rest of the time we are
bombarded by materialistic and anti-Christian propaganda. That is
why mums know instinctively to take their babies to the crying room if
they are preventing the people from hearing what the priest is saying.
A second thing we can do is get a Catholic paper – The Universe, for
example. Keep abreast of what is going on in the Church.
Read the articles. Think. Learn about the Saints.
An unbeatable source of information is the Vatican Website. At
the click of the mouse you have the teachings of all the Popes of the
Twentieth Century. The writings of Paul Vl, Pope John Paul ll and
the present Holy Father are profoundly scholarly, covering the Church,
the Sacraments, Our Lady, social questions, moral questions – its all
there.
Click again and you will get all the documents of the Second Vatican
Council and the entire text of The Catechism of the Catholic
Church. A brilliant and almost unlimited source of information
about the Church.
The CTS rack at the back of the church contains booklets that will help
you on specific topics. There are lots of books in the Sacristy
that you may borrow to deepen your Faith. Encourage the children
to take books from the Children’s Library.
Then there is the Catechumenate. You are welcome. Drop in
whenever you feel like – many parishioners do. A different
subject is covered every week. Usually the Catechumenate is on a
Tuesday, from 730 to 9pm.
The Catholic Church is the fullness of the Christian Faith. Its
teachings are of Christ. We are very privileged to belong. And we
must pray humbly for those whose benighted and misguided minds could
produce such a document as Dear Muslim Neighbour.
God bless you,
Father Antony Jones