Pope Benedict and the Enigma of English Christianity
by John Martin
published with the kind permission of The Living Church
In London’s East End stand two churches commemorating religious martyrs. A plaque in St. James Clerkenwell celebrates a line of succession from the Lollards, whose inspiration was the Bible translator John Wycliffe, to people burned at the stake on orders from Queen Mary. About a mile away, English Martyrs Roman Catholic Church honours people who suffered death in the turbulence accompanying the Protestant Reformation.
Here is an example of the enigmatic nature of English Christianity. The lists of martyrs share not a single name. People of Protestant heritage have one version of martyrology, thanks largely to the influence of John Foxe’s gruesome Book of Martyrs published in 1563. Roman Catholics have a completely different story line and different dramatis personae, their memories kept alive in more than 20 churches throughout the country.
There is a subliminal anti-Catholic mindset in British culture. It persists despite the rampant secularism that pervades modern life. There was a dash of it in a jokey but hurtful Foreign Office memorandum saying Benedict should be invited to open an AIDS clinic and “Benedict” condoms should be sold as souvenirs.
That memorandum influenced the tone of public debate about who should foot the bill for the visit. Officially this is a state visit and the question normally does not arise over such events. There is no excuse for paedophile priests, but the readiness of the public to pour scorn on Roman Catholicism is out of proportion. The spectre of abuse runs to schools, care homes, scout troops, and most of all families—a thoroughly unreasonable blanket of vitriol.
Benedict can expect to arouse a lot of noisy opposition on the streets. Behind public attitudes is the one-sided way English people have learned about the Reformation. Foxe’s work contributed enormously to framing prevailing opinions, while the Roman version was kept alive by a tiny religious minority, underground and out of sight.
One benefit of the visit: the religious traditions of the British Isles are being confronted by their own communalism. If Catholics and Protestants discover more about each other’s stories, this will do a lot of good. It will help too if public attitudes to Catholics soften.
Planning has been less than smooth. About 350,000 people flocked to the charismatic John Paul II’s Mass at Coventry Airport in 1982. Benedict, without the same pop star appeal, has been a planners’ nightmare. Venues were announced before they were booked. Faced with risk, the church scaled down expectations.
Organizers ruled out a return to Coventry Airport for the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman. It will now take place at Cofton Park in Birmingham, with a capacity of 80,000, but the faithful are incensed that so few will be able to see the spiritual leader and tickets will cost around £25 a head. “Watch it on TV” is widespread advice.
How will young people respond to a pope with an austere image who was once dubbed “God’s rottweiler”? Feelings have been running high about style. Even while Benedict plans to celebrate the prefaces and canons in Latin, organizers have approved a rap theme song for his visit: a hip-hop version of “Hearts Cry” by a Catholic trio named Ooberfuse. “We wanted to break some of the stereotypes,” a member of the band told the press.
A somewhat strange theme in public discourse has been whether Benedict can turn the tide of secularism. Some traditionalists nurse the idea that the Vatican only temporarily conceded the British Isles to a flawed Protestant version of faith and has been biding its time to launch a fresh mission. They see the Personal Ordinariate for dissident Anglicans as marking the beginning of a comeback.
Benedict will go softly softly on this and will likely not invoke Augustine of Canterbury as a motif for Roman Catholic mission in the U.K. Contrary to the popular view, Augustine did not bring Christianity to these shores. He found a Christian queen in Kent, and a Celtic church that could boast of being represented at the Council of Nicaea. The future is not about the domination of one tradition, but understanding and cooperation among the enormous variety of Christians in Britain today.
There is still speculation about how Benedict intends to use the major set-piece occasions. The beatification of Newman, who in his own way strongly opposed accommodation to modernity, might be used as a platform for a powerful fresh apologia.
Not only British Catholics want guidance from the pope about how to live in a culture where aggressively liberal social policy prevails and militant atheists, led by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, would see the Church punctured below the water line.
John Martin is Associate Editor (Global News) with the US-based Living Church and has been a member of the Fulcrum Leadership Team since its inception.