Fidelity over Success

H/T to Jeffrey Steel for highlighting the Archbishop of Westminster's recent interview on the BBC Hardtalk programme. You can follow the link here. The iplayer says the programme will be available until 02.07.11 so no rush to watch, but do take the 25 minutes necessary to view. I'm sure it's just in the way the programme is edited but Archbishop Vincent responds well to just about every modern concern about Catholicism which can and is thrown at him. It rather reminded me of dinner parties I have been to when you have to 'defend' the Church. It's a hard struggle, but in the end you're smiling as you are given the great opportunity to express our faith and, in so doing, you bring the light of Christ into the arena.

Jeffrey writes:

This morning I listened to the Hardtalk interview of Archbishop Vincent Nichols. It was so refreshing to see how well he handled himself under the scrutiny of a silly journalism that has occurred since Lent this year concerning the Holy Father. The last statement that he would follow the Pope rather than Tony Blair was fantastic. I am so thankful for Archbishop Nichols and it reminds me of how much we need to pray for him and all our bishops who face the pressures of a society that seeks to pull out the foundation of truth from underneath the Catholic Faith. This whole question and answer session reminded me of a Chesterton quotation where he said, 'Art, like morality has to draw a line somewhere.' This is why the reference to the Church of England was so telling as to why they are not attacked and taken seriously. Conforming to the spirit of the age only shows a lack of substance to the message one claims to deliver as truth but is only counterfeit. That is something that this secularist society is not able to get its head around because it no longer can think logically about truth and its absoluteness. The truth is being attacked at all sides and this is why the Catholic Church is persecuted in the press. The secular media and its bankrupt philosophy can't handle the truth.