9 May 1983
Louvain, Belgium

My dear Confreres,

The late Cardinal Heenan of London used to tell a story of how, when he was a young priest, he traveled into rural parts of England on a Sunday morning in order to celebrate Mass for Catholics who were isolated and far from any Church. On one particular Sunday he went to a very remote part of the country where there were very few Catholics. He parked his car and went off to a little hall where the Catholics had gathered for Mass. After Mass, he came back to his car only to find the four tires of his car slashed. It was a gesture of hostility against the presence of a Roman Catholic priest in a part of England which was very Protestant. The Cardinal used to say that his first reaction was one of great annoyance. In such a remote part of England, it would be difficult to find four new tires on a Sunday afternoon. However, when he had calmed down, the Cardinal said that he found himself beginning to thank God that the old religious spirit in England was not yet dead. His four slashed tires were proof that somebody was interested enough in religion to show that he disapproved of Catholicism. It is, in a sense, easier to put up with outright hostility to religion from people, than to live in a society that is indifferent and apathetic to religion and the Gospel.

I was reminded of this incident of which Cardinal Heenan spoke, by the phrase in this morning's Gospel. "They will expel you from the synagogues and indeed the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy duty for God." (Jn 16:2). That is not the situation here in Belgium or, indeed, in any of our western European countries. What can pain very many priests today is not the threat of persecution, but the fact of religious indifference and apathy. When, in times of persecution, there was a price on a priest's head, when he was, as the police today would put it, a "wanted" man, he was kept aware of the fact that he had in his possession a great treasure, namely, his faith. Today the priest, for many people, is far from being a "wanted" man. He is made to feel to be just irrelevant and that can be a very painful experience. You will have noticed in today's Gospel passage that Our Lord said: "I have told you all this so that your faith may not be shaken." (Jn 16:1). That phrase recalls what earlier that night He had said to Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." (Lk 22:31-32).

Whether it be persecution or the pain of suffering that comes from the religious indifference of society, the crisis will always be one of faith. The crisis at the present time for so many priests is not one of celibacy but of faith. Whatever the trial be, we have this assurance: that Christ has prayed for us and still prays that our faith will not fail, because He who now sits at the right hand of the Father is always living to make intercession for us.

Faith, as we tell our people, is a gift. If it is a gift, it is a grace. We know, too, from our theology that the economy of God's grace has its laws. There are some graces that only come to us when we ask for them. Incidentally, it was one of the points that Our Lady made clear to St. Catherine in the rue du Bac: the diamonds, from which no rays came forth, were those graces for which Our Lady had not been asked.

Because we are members of the Congregation, there are also graces which will only come to us through being full, active members of the Congregation. There are graces which will only come to us when we gather with Confreres, as we are today, to ask God as a body, for the graces which not only the Congregation needs, but which each one of us needs in his own particular ministry. It was St. Vincent's vision that men went forth from Community to preach the Gospel to the poor and his vision of Community was one in which men shared a life of prayer and drew from each other the strength that true community life can give. As our Constitutions put it: "The Vincentian Community is, therefore, organized to prepare its apostolic activity and to encourage and help it continually." (C. 19).

What I am trying to say to you, my dear Confreres, is that, if we are not to be discouraged and disheartened by the religious indifference that surrounds us, our faith needs to be strong. Our faith can only be strong if we put ourselves in full contact with Christ Who has prayed that our faith will not fail. And we are only in full contact with Christ when we have more than a superficial contact with the Community which He has raised up through His servant, Vincent de Paul.