Bishop Robert J. Banks

Every Christian called to courage

This morning, I celebrated the Mass of Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs. They were among the first martyrs for the Faith in sub-Sahara Africa, dying there either by the sword or by fire in 1886. One executioner is reported to have said later, "We have killed many people, but never such as these. ... There was not a sigh, not even an angry word. All we heard was a soft murmur on their lips. They prayed until they died."

The Mass fitted in with my intention for some time to write a column on the Church's martyrs. One of the reasons for my interest is the fairly obvious fact that the past century has probably seen more martyrs for the Christian faith -- Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant -- than any other century in history. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao Tse-tung would be responsible for the largest number, but unjust governments in Latin America have made their share of martyrs out of clergy, religious and laity who struggled to help the poor. I have to mention Abp. Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was shot on Good Friday, March 24, 1980, while at the altar celebrating Mass.

The issue of martyrdom got into our modern theological debates with Pope John Paul II's encyclical on moral theology, The Splendor of Truth. In the face of some moral theories that seemed to deny there is anything that is intrinsically evil, the Pope calls on the witness of the martyrs. Their deaths remind us that "there are truths and moral values for which one must be prepared to give up one's life." That's a good reminder for all of us in a culture that idolizes tolerance.

But my main reason for wanting to write about the martyrs is to remind myself and others that on this very day there are people who are suffering persecution for the Faith. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They deserve the support of our prayers, at least, and whatever political support we can provide.

According to one report that I received in the mail recently, Bp. Peter Joseph Fan Xue-Yan was kept in prison by the Chinese Communist government for 34 years because of his loyalty to the Pope and died in prison as the result of torture and physical abuse in 1992.

Bp. Zeng Jingmu was kept in a Chinese prison for almost 35 years. Released in 1998, he is still under house arrest. Bp. An Shuxin has been in and out of prison in China since 1982. His present whereabouts are unknown.

In Africa, the Sudanese government is carrying on a campaign of violence aimed directly at the Catholic Church. This past February, government planes bombed a Catholic elementary school in that country. Nineteen children and a teacher were killed. The Catholic bishop who founded the school called it "a slaughter of the innocents."

But that was only an incident in what Bp. Gassis has called "a religious and ethnic war by Khartoum aimed at the destruction of my people." Our own U.S. House of Representatives has called it "genocide." And all of this in large part is the result of an Islamic government trying to impose strict Islamic law on the whole county. Bp. Gassis is careful not to criticize Islam but to blame "a group of Islamic fundamentalists who are using religion as a lever to persecute the non-Muslim, non-Arab people of Sudan."

I do not have at hand the particulars about the violence that Christian missionaries have suffered in India during the past year, but it has included the death of Protestant missionaries, the stripping naked of a Catholic priest and marching him through town, and the abuse of at least one Catholic sister.

The list will go on and in the future I may occasionally post at the end of this column new instances of martyrdom or violence suffered for the Faith. The purpose will be not only to keep us mindful of what our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering, but also to remind us of the courage and steadfastness that should be part of every Catholic's Christian life. As our Holy Father has said in this connection: "Faced with the many difficulties which fidelity to the moral order can demand, even in the most ordinary circumstances, the Christian is called, with the grace of God invoked in prayer, to a sometimes heroic commitment."

A modern moral theologian, Fr. Servais Pinckaers, has lifted up the last of Jesus' Beatitudes as a lesson for all of us. Jesus' words, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," are part of his Sermon on the Mount and are directed to all his followers.

Fr. Pinckaers goes on to say, "The witness of the martyrs is by no means obsolete. ... It is a strong reminder of the reality and demands of love of Christ and the power of that love in the face of poverty, suffering and death. It compels us to choose honestly to be for Christ or against him, for or against the evil that challenges us in the world."

The last part of that Beatitude, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," also reminds us that this world is not all of reality. There is another world for which we are destined, and whose hope strengthens us in the struggles of this world.