SIR – Piers Paul Read (Charterhouse, October 6) draws attention to the cultural effects of Muslim immigration to Europe. Some have blamed a lack of integration but immigrants have to integrate into something, and he also notes our cultural leaders’ antipathy to Europe’s Christian heritage and its consequent marginalisation.
In Europe and the Faith (1920) Hilaire Belloc wrote: “Europe will return to the Faith, or she will perish. The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith.” But among European leaders what now passes for the religion of Europe is Europe; and if that fails to inspire, the latest must-have obsession is that of cultural Marxism.
GK Chesterton said that Christianity has often died and risen again; when Christians neglect their religious heritage it dies, but it rises again when they recall their cultural debt to Christianity. Although the vast majority of Muslims live peaceably and, notably, share the Christian respect for unborn life, a small minority refuses to co-exist peacefully and to separate politics from religion. Islam began in conquest, and a “rebirth” of Islam – in the absence of any central theological authority – must involve “holy” war.
Without denigrating other religions, we need to revive all that is good in our Christian heritage and refuse to accept the negative portrait painted by today’s cultural leaders, who marginalise Christianity on a plea of ‘‘multiculturalism’’. Chesterton’s novel The Flying Inn (1914) describes a coalition between “progressive” British elites and Islam that ends in an invasion by Turkish forces – but only after the people have been culturally prepared for it by those who believe that anything, no matter how bad, is better than Christianity. Chesterton said that without Christianity we would return to barbarism, and arguably this is now happening: highly civilised barbarians, we are ripe for conquest – or ready for re-birth.
Ann Farmer (Mrs)
Woodford Green, Essex
SIR – I find it incredible that the author of the cover story in your October 13 issue can speak of a climate of fear in today’s Church. How on earth does he think that millions of ordinary Catholics, lay, religious and ordained, felt in the recent past when Witchfinder Cardinal Burke and his cohorts were pursuing their crusade against those whom he designated “dissenting Catholics”, which seemed to encompass anyone who did not share his own longing for a Church of the Scribes and Pharisees – this before he became an arch-dissenter himself?
Far from creating a climate of fear, Pope Francis has, with the support and encouragement of Pope Benedict, dispelled the cloud of fear which had begun to grip the Church, and Amoris Laetitia is perhaps the most encouraging and beautiful document to emanate from the Holy See in the modern age.
If your writer is really looking for a climate of fear in the context of a papal document, he should recall the treatment meted out to those who questioned Humanae Vitae in 1968, compared with which the imagined fears of today’s right-wingers are a mere will-o’-the-wisp.
Fr Anthony Keefe
Ambleside, Cumbria
SIR – Like many people, I’ve been sad to see such division between us all regarding the current Pope. As a convert, my first exposure to a conclave was the election of Pope Francis so I don’t have any yardstick by which to measure him.
But why should I? My understanding of the process is that the cardinals are guided by the Holy Spirit and that under His guidance they chose Francis. Therefore, while of course discussion and a range of viewpoints are important and healthy for the life of the Church, I can’t help thinking that the “filial correction” (World news, September 29) is a criticism of the will of God.
Emma Green
Sheffield
SIR – As a teacher of religious education in a Catholic secondary school, I was extremely concerned to read about the recent letter sent by the headteacher of Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith to parents, as reported your October 6 issue.
The letter explains how this secondary school for girls can “promote greater wholeness for transgender individuals”, and that this would include “using the young person’s preferred pronoun and addressing them with their preferred name, recognising their intent to live as the person they believe God created them to be, and refraining from any judgment”. These statements promote a form of gender ideology directly opposed to Catholic teaching, as seen in the recent statements by Pope Francis. They endorse a worldview contrary to objective reality, right reason and common sense. This letter also places pressure on the children, parents and staff of the school to assent to the position outlined.
I am concerned that if decisive action is not taken to address this issue, other Catholic schools may fall into the mistake of promoting this false gender ideology; the opportunities for scandal will increase, and Catholic teachers, parents and children who seek to be faithful to the authentic teaching of the Church will be marginalised.
Thomas Dorman
London E11
SIR – In anticipation of the first World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis invited people around the world to love and cater for the poor, “not only with words but with deeds”. Thirty years ago on October 17 a Catholic priest, Fr Joseph Wresinski, also made a call to action in words which were inscribed on a commemorative stone in the Trocadéro Human Rights Plaza in Paris: “Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty.” Twenty-five years ago, the UN named October 17 the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, also known as World Poverty Day.
This year Cafod and other international development organisations marked this special anniversary by holding a parliamentary lobby on October 17. Together with our MPs, we celebrated the progress in which UK aid has played a powerful role, eg the number of people living in extreme poverty in the world has halved in recent years. But with 16,000 children under five dying needlessly each day, there is still much to do. UK aid has helped immunise more than 55 million children against preventable diseases and reached over 60 million people with access to water and sanitation.
Every week the media attacks aid, claiming that the UK public does not support development or aid spending. This is a distorted picture, as a 2017 Eurobarometer poll found that 58 per cent of those surveyed thought that tackling poverty in developing countries should be one of the main priorities of their national government. We can all heed Pope Francis’s call to work “not only with words, but with deeds” by standing up for UK aid. We can tweet, write and speak about why we are proud of the difference UK aid is making around the world – and call on our MPs to do the same.
Sister Gillian Price FC
By email
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