Conservatives and Liberals

'The whole modern world has divided itself into conservatives and progressives,' said G.K. Chesterton. 'The business of progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.' When the new Archbishop for Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, made a point of criticizing the polarization of the Church between these two extremes, he suggested that it is our task and his to try to overcome the division before it debilitates us entirely. In the States, the late Cardinal Bernadin tried to address a similar problem several years ago with his 'Common Ground' initiative. That approach was criticized in some quarters for conceding too much to the 'progressives' (sometimes called 'liberals') in its very definition: the idea of finding a compromise between what (viewed from one side or the other) is black or white, true or false, is an inherently 'liberal' idea. It risks undermining the very notion of truth for the sake of unity. Rather than genuinely finding a common ground between conservative and liberal, it can appear to be an attempt by the liberal side to remove the ground from under the feet of their perceived rivals. We are completely in agreement with the new Archbishop in wanting to get beyond this name-calling of 'right' and 'left' in the Church. The Christian life doesn't fit in one pigeonhole or the other. Rather than being 'conservatives' or 'liberals', can't we all just agree to be Christian radicals, conserving what needs to be conserved and changing what needs to be changed? In this time of unprecedented crisis and opportunity, the unity of the Church is certainly something we should pray and strive for, but never at the cost of truth, nor merely for the sake of trying to maintain the strength of the institution. Unity and truth find their home in love. That is to say, without love all attempts to build unity or establish the truth - for example, through political or intellectual compromise - will fail. Only the Spirit can bring about unity in the Church.

The Spirit blows wherever it wills. We must try to be open to it, to catch it in our own sails. Let us show respect for each other, and respect for truth. That will be the best way of welcoming our new Archbishops, and keeping alive the inspiring hopes they have expressed for the Church in England and Wales.
Stratford and Leonie Caldecott



Lead comment from: Faith & Culture Bulletin 7, Easter 2000. For whole issue click HERE.

CENTRE FOR FAITH & CULTURE
Plater College, Pullens Lane, Oxford OX3 0DT, UK
Director Stratford Caldecott Associate Directors Leonie Caldecott, Dr Gregory Glazov
caldecott@plater.ac.uk Tel. (01865) 740 507. College fax (01865) 740 510
Research Fellow John Saward Artist in Residence Sr Tatiana Krouzova

19 November, 2000