Secular society needs Catholicism, pope tells US bishops

In five speeches over a period of six months, Pope Benedict XVI warned visiting U.S. bishops of the threats that an increasingly secularized society poses to the Catholic Church in America, especially in the areas of religious liberty, sexual morality and the definition of marriage.

Yet the pope did not advise that American Catholics withdraw from a largely hostile environment in order to preserve their values and faith. Instead, as part of his call for a new evangelization within the church and beyond, he urged believers to engage even more closely with wider society for the benefit of all Americans.

Pope Benedict addressed five of the 15 regional groups of U.S. bishops making their periodic “ad limina” visits to the Vatican, which began in late November and ended May 19. The speeches touched on themes applicable to dioceses across the country.

One constant was the pope’s warning against the demoralizing effects of secular culture, which he said had led to a “quiet attrition” among the church’s members, who must therefore be the first targets of “re-evangelization.”

Yet the pope argued that moral decay is also threatening the stability of secular society itself. He noted what he called an “increased sense of concern on the part of many men and women, whatever their religious or political views” that a “troubling breakdown in the intellectual, cultural and moral foundations of social life” has imperiled the “future of our democratic societies.”

Therefore, he said, “despite attempts to still the church’s voice in the public square,” Catholics should insist on providing “wisdom, insight and sound guidance” to “people of good will.” Using the non-religious “language” of natural law, he explained, the church should promote social justice by “proposing rational arguments in the public square.” [More]

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CNS