Sinning against the witness of the martyrs

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 20, 2024

When I opened the door of my daughter’s house last night, my 2-year-old granddaughter came rushing toward me, arms outstretched, beaming with a reckless smile, looking for a hug. I scooped her up and she nestled in my arms. For a few moments she was perfectly content, and so was I.

That heartwarming greeting made me think back a few years, to the horrible days of the lockdown, when thousands of grandparents were locked into nursing homes, unable to see their grandchildren—and in many cases unable to understand why. I thought to the toddlers who could only wave to Grandma through the window, when they really needed a hug. We as a society need to repent for injustices we committed, the grief and loneliness that we caused, the inhumane cruelty that we allowed—all because of exaggerated fear of a disease.

Covid was a serious disease, no doubt. But at worst it could only kill the body. Did our overreaction allow worse evils than that?

At Mass this morning, celebrating the feast of the Korean martyrs, I thought once again about the inglorious response of the Catholic Church to the epidemic. For the Church, too— as I argued four years ago—there is an urgent need to repent.

At a time when the faithful were told they faced a grave risk of death, when they should have been making their peace with God, the confessionals were abandoned. At a time when the people needed the solace and strength of the sacraments, the church doors were locked. To a secularized society the message seemed clear: your physical health is more important than your spiritual welfare. That message was—and is—more deadly than the disease.

Facing the imminent prospect of martyrdom, for himself and for his people, St. Andrew Kim Taegon exhorted the Korean faithful not to surrender to fear:

God takes care of the least of the hairs of our head and nothing escapes his infinite knowledge. How then can we see this persecution except as something ordered by the Lord either as a prize or as a punishment?

In an article posted by First Things this week, Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote: “We need the martyrs—and each of us as a confessor of Jesus Christ—to remind an unbelieving world that the path to a genuinely rich life is to give oneself fully to another, to the other.” Exactly. The martyrs bear testimony to the vivid faith that looks beyond this life—and thereby makes this life more precious. The heroes of our faith teach us that if we live boldly, inspired by grace, we can face even death with equanimity.

Archbishop Chaput was writing in response to the curious statement that Pope Francis made in Singapore, suggesting that all religions are alike, insofar as they are “different paths to God.” Many Christian martyrs shed their blood because they insisted on telling pagan peoples exactly the opposite: that only through Jesus Christ could they attain salvation. If we revere the martyrs, can we quietly accept the Pope’s approach? Were the martyrs foolish to make such a big deal of minor doctrinal differences? Can we still honor them, if they offended against the protocols of inter-religious dialogue? Don’t we owe the martyrs an apology, for only pretending to honor a valor that we have no wish to imitate?

At the moment, thank God, few of us face the risk of martyrdom. But who knows what the future will bring? Who knows how we might be tested? To prepare for the trials that will come, sooner or later, we would do well to acknowledge how far we have fallen short of their brave witness to the faith. This week the Vatican announced that the October session of the Synod of Bishops will begin with a penitential service, at which all participants will join in expressing sorrow for the sins committed by the Church community. If I could add one entry to the strange litany of sins listed by the Synod office, it would be: Sin against the witness of the martyrs. Maybe the first step toward becoming heroes is to realize that recently we have been cowards, and to be ashamed.