When politics wins out over religion

We’ve been reading the first letter of St Peter at Mass in the last few weeks, where he reminds us of one of the hardest parts of the Gospel. That’s suffering injustice and not being permitted to retaliate in the way you’d like to.  

St Peter is the man who cut off someone’s ear in the garden of Gethsemane, swore at people out of fear that he’d be arrested like Jesus, and then later leapt off the boat and hid from the same Jesus. 

Now see this hot-headed and impulsive man grown docile under the influence of the Holy Spirit and a lot of hard experience in the early church.  

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This is the part of the Gospel I too find very difficult, because I love to settle people’s hash and always have. I have a sharp tongue and a quick temper. I have also seen corruption, cronyism, misconduct, acts of great cruelty, and miscarriages of justice abound within the Catholic Church in Australia, from parishes right up to the national level. 

And yet what does Jesus teach me about this? “Do as they say, but do not do as they do” (Matt 23:3). The church’s teachings always remain in force, even if the people in charge are as rotten as they come.  

But I’m comforted that the early church didn’t tolerate abusers, perverts, thieves or people who were clearly in it for their own interests. Those people were admonished privately, then publicly, and either repented, or left, or were kicked out. So there’s hope for us yet. 

What does the first pope teach me about injustice? If pagans are giving you a hard time because you’re a Christian, then bear it patiently and pray for them. And don’t let it distract you from your mission, which is to keep your powder dry and always have an answer for the hope that you live each day. 

Oh, this is so hard. And it’s even harder for Catholics who want the pope to be the new sheriff in town and for Ringlight Jesus to give us tough talk on hammering our enemies. 

There are good Catholics in the church today who actively resent the Gospel of patience under persecution, forgiving your enemies, and praying for those who harm you. This is all far too sappy for their liking. How disappointed they must be most Sundays at Mass when Jesus Christ’s words are read aloud to them. 

You, like me, may have met what I call “Catholic Muslims” – Catholics who would prefer a fiercer version of our religion that takes politics deadly seriously. They yearn for a theocratic model of government, imposing true religion by the sword if necessary.  

They tend to be rude to, mistreat, and avoid non-believers, making a million excuses about wanting to avoid the taint of a wicked secular world.  

And both males and females of the species are big on women knowing their place, which is always the bottom of the pecking order. If this is more your cup of tea – and tea it will have to be, because alcohol will be off limits – then perhaps you’re in the wrong religion after all.  

I think most of this is to do with the fact that politics is more exciting for some people than religion.  

When this happens, religion becomes like a pie crust that gets trimmed to fit the pie full of politics. It’s a nice added flavour and texture, but not the main event. But politics is quite a different matter from religion. You can be as cruel as you like and wallop whoever you like. 

And if you can put a religious coating on your disrespect towards others, it’s even more satisfying in a twisty interior hypocritical way. If you look at church history, when church and state go head-to-head then the state usually wins and the church suffers.  

This is always the case in the human heart as well, which is a fallible and frail thing, and easily addicted to drama and explosions. So it’s helpful to step back and regain perspective through the first letter of St Peter.  

This wise old man learned the hard way that you have to just keep putting one step in front of the other if you want to really do the Lord’s work in the world. It might be in small daily ways, but they matter more than the drama and explosions. 

Those steps led him to the cross, like his master. That’s also where they will lead you and me.  

And that’s exactly how it should be. That’s actually what we signed up for.