John Milloy: Catholicism has become a punchline in Canadian politics. It need not be this way – National Post

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In a new book, John Milloy discusses how Catholicism has become toxic in Canadian politics and how the faithful can re-engage with a pluralistic society.

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“Do you believe that being gay is a sin?”

That question, posed by a reporter to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer just after the 2019 federal election, marked a low point in Canadian political discourse.

“This is what it’s come to,” I thought. Religion, in this case Scheer’s Catholicism, has been reduced to a silly “gotcha” question based on bad theology. Religious faith, something that helps form the identity of millions of Canadians and has a rich history of social justice advocacy, is now a punchline in Canadian politics.

That we have reached a nadir in the religion-politics debate is not surprising. Growing suspicion of the role of faith in Canadian political life has been brewing for some time and came to a head during the 2019 federal election. Scheer is a devout Catholic who appeared to identify with the more conservative elements of the church. Questioning him about his beliefs on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage became an entertaining pastime for both the press and his political adversaries. After the “being gay is a sin” incident, another journalist even tried to rub salt in the wound by asking other party leaders the same question (they all quickly answered in the negative).

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It was an easy story to tell. According to Scheer’s critics, Catholicism is all about undermining a woman’s right to choose, with a bit of homophobia thrown in for good measure. Unless Scheer was prepared to distance himself from his faith, he obviously had a secret agenda to foist upon an unsuspecting nation. The idea that his religion could offer anything else to the conversation seemed to have crossed few people’s minds.

Overall, most voters would probably like to forget the 2019 election. Marred by personal attacks, scandals and a lack of policy focus, it was not surprising that the result was a minority government. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has made memories of the campaign fade into the background as we struggled to survive the ravages of the virus and resulting lockdown.

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As Canada prepares itself for another federal election, the question of faith and politics is certain to raise its head once again. Its almost exclusive association with abortion and, to a lesser extent, LGBTQ rights, makes someone’s faith an easy target. The Conservative party will undoubtedly feel the brunt of this type of attack for several reasons. Not only do the ranks of its general membership contain a significant number of religiously inspired activists focused on issues related to abortion and sexuality, but its parliamentary caucus contains a number of MPs with strong faith convictions who are unafraid to speak out.

Despite efforts by the party’s new leader, Erin O’Toole, to take a strong pro-choice position and sideline some of the more extreme voices in his ranks, his opponents have never let up in their criticism of social conservatives in his party. It will only get worse as the campaign continues. The war rooms of the opposing parties will spend hours systematically reviewing every single candidate, particularly Roman Catholic or Evangelical ones. Any evidence of a deviation from an absolute pro-choice position or non-mainstream views on other contentious issues will certainly be used to paint the party as “anti-choice,” homophobic and harbouring a secret agenda.

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How did we get here?

How did religious faith, particularly the Catholic faith, which has been such a source of strength and comfort to so many Canadians, assume such a negative connotation? Why is anyone associated with public life encouraged to keep a major part of their identity separate from their public work? Why has the wisdom of Canada’s faith communities been prevented from even being discussed in the public square? How has the rich faith of denominations like Catholicism been boiled down to abortion and a handful of other issues mainly related to sexuality?

There are many explanations.

Religious literacy in our society is not particularly high. Although millions of Canadians either practise a religion or are open to faith and spirituality, this doesn’t necessarily translate into a detailed understanding of the teachings of many mainline denominations and their history of progressive activism.

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Popular media doesn’t help. The idea that the teachings of the Catholic Church are exclusively focused on abortion and sexuality is a convenient narrative that sells itself.

Meanwhile, the good work of numerous Catholics and other people of faith in supporting the poor and marginalized, fighting injustice and caring for our planet receives little attention. Individually, through their faith community or larger faith-based organizations, scores of Canadians are living out their religious calling in concrete ways — welcoming refugees, helping at homeless shelters, supporting seniors, forming partnerships with Indigenous neighbours and the list goes on. Yet little of it gets noticed. This is partly due to the low profile of much of this work, but it is also because it tends not to fit the popular narrative that our church is filled with zealots obsessed with abortion and sex.

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Our church leaders need to shoulder some of the blame. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, once an important voice in Canada’s social justice movement, has been increasingly quiet on a whole range of social justice issues over the past few decades. When they have spoken up, it tends to be about life issues and those related to sexuality.

Admittedly, this has not been a good period for the Catholic Church. A series of sexual abuse scandals have rocked the church nationally and internationally. Most recently, horrific news about the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children in the grounds of former residential schools run by the Catholic Church has sent shock waves through the nation. The inability of Church leaders to provide an adequate response to the tragedy and their apparent hesitancy to invite Pope Francis to make an apology on Canadian soil (one of the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) has fuelled an outrage that continues to grow.

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The last several years have also seen the growth of identity politics in Canada, which many believe is antithetical to religious faith. Many Canadians approach the public square seeing themselves as part of larger group based on their race, gender, sexual orientation or other common identifying factor. They see the dominant culture, through its institutions, systems and structures, as a source of oppression and advocate for the dismantling of the status quo and its replacement with a society that is more just.

Although Catholic teaching recognizes systemic oppression and calls on all of us to dismantle sinful structures, many paint Catholicism as part of the problem. They argue that organized religion is a source of oppression, particularly toward women and the LGBTQ communities, and it should have no voice in public policy debates.

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All these fears have become symbolized in a few key issues, with abortion usually front and centre. For many, a woman’s right to choose symbolizes what is right with society. It represents a long-fought fight to allow women control of both their own bodies as well as their own futures. They believe it to be non-negotiable. The Catholic Church’s unwavering opposition to abortion has come to symbolize everything that is wrong with mixing faith and politics in Canada.

In short, the Catholic Church, along with several other religious denominations, is not getting along well with society.

A culture of engagement

For the Catholic Church, there is nothing particularly new about this situation. Tensions between Catholicism and modernity go back thousands of years. Some might point out that the church is a heck of a lot older than any of Canada’s mainline political parties and will undoubtedly outlast them.

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Despite this historical reality, there is nothing preordained about our current situation. Vatican II, that great gathering of church leaders in the early 1960s charged with modernizing Catholicism, focused on how a reinvigorated church could engage with the outside world. What emerged, in the words of the American Catholic theologian and legal scholar Cathleen Kaveny, was a “culture of openness.” As Kaveny explains: “Rather than emphasizing what sets the church apart from the broader culture, the culture of openness stresses commonalities.” Such an approach would help usher in a period of co-operation between Catholicism and the outside world, particularly in matters of social justice, that would transcend “religious, cultural and national boundaries.”

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Despite this initial optimism, this “culture of openness” began to wane in North America, particularly as society’s values in a whole range of areas, including abortion, began to diverge from the church’s teachings. The election of Pope John Paul II brought a sea change in the church’s approach to modernity. As Kaveny points out, “Pope John Paul II urged the church to defend a ‘culture of life’ against a secularized Western ‘culture of death’ that denied the existence of absolute truth and devalued the vulnerable.”

Kaveny believes there is a better approach. In her work she calls for a culture of engagement between Catholicism and modern culture. A world where faith and our broader society can discuss, discern and learn from each other. A world where the spirit of Vatican II once again emerges, and Catholics make common cause with other elements of our society to address some of our most troubling challenges.

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Pope Francis has embraced this spirit. His 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is about the value of engagement and dialogue between Catholics and the wider world, even those with whom we profoundly disagree.

When it comes to contemporary Canadian politics, is something like a culture of engagement between Catholics and the rest of society possible? Can Catholics find ways to engage in meaningful dialogue with other parts of society? Without abandoning basic Catholic principles, can we learn from each other and change for the better? Can we come together to address the pressing problems of a country struggling with a global pandemic, suffering the dire effects of climate change and facing a host of other existential crises?

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My answer to these questions is a resounding “yes!” In my opinion, Catholicism has much to offer our troubled nation that goes beyond sterile debates over hot-button issues. Canadian Catholics, collectively and individually, need to capture the spirit of Vatican II and work with other people of goodwill, religious or not, to transform Canada for the better.

What I see happening in our country scares me. Our nation is in a crisis triggered by the pandemic. Yet Catholics remain on the sidelines, incapable of engaging with a pluralistic society in a way that builds bridges. We seem to have lost the larger message of our faith. It calls for sacrifice, love for our enemy and a whole host of beliefs that challenge our world. It also calls on us to re-imagine our society in a way that puts the poor and the vulnerable on top. Although these may be counter-cultural messages, they have the potential to resonate loudly in a society that is struggling. If only Catholics and non-Catholics alike could realize that it is not just about abortion.

Excerpted with permission from “Faith and Politics in a Polarized World: A Challenge for Catholics,” by John Milloy (Novalis 2021).