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