For some time now Hugh Mackay has "credited" the growth of fundamentalism or the retreat into private spiritual worlds on the rate of change and the increasing number of complicated issues facing us in the modern Australia. "Many Australians have turned their focus inward, as a means of insulating themselves from what has been going on in the world beyond their front fences." Globalisation, climate change, aboriginal reconciliation, terrorism, the problems of the Murray-Darling River system, refugee policy, these issues seem to many as being beyond their control and even understanding so "they have sought consolation and compensation for their feelings of powerlessness by bringing their horizons up close and concentrating on things they can control: backyards, home renovations, children's schooling, holidays."
I have some sympathy for these people. Several times each week I receive emails or newsletters graphically illustrating the injustices suffered by refugees or trafficked people, on problems caused by racism, genetically modified foods, water problems, civil war, natural disasters and so forth. I am sympathetic to these causes but often my spirits droop. There are so many issues and I feel overwhelmed. I am tempted to shut out the pain of the world and retreat to a private spiritual world or to become comfortably and selfishly cynical. What can I do?
Marx criticised religion as being "the opium of the people," a drug that immunised people from the suffering of the world. Religion can function that way. Sometimes we retreat into private spiritual worlds where we are intimate with God but closed to the suffering that confronts us daily. At other times we are overwhelmed by the suffering and paralysed by our fears and sense of responsibility.
Jesus was very conscious of evil and open to the suffering of people he met. He was also known as someone full of life and hope. People, especially the poor and marginalised, enjoyed being with him and felt alive in his company. I think that is the challenge facing us as Christians. We should be seen as people who can face evil and suffering and yet maintain our involvement and our joy.
I am not sure how to do this but I suspect it has something to do with trust in God. God loves and will save the world. We must play our part. We must be responsible but not so personably responsible that we lose our ability to respond and need to protect ourselves.
Fr Noel Connolly
director@columban.org.au