Although it is tempting to point to economic and social disadvantages as the root cause of the recent unrest in the United Kingdom, it is refreshing to find that part of Prime Minister David Cameron’s assessment is moral turpitude. In addressing the nation, he said that the “slow-motion moral collapse” of the youth is due to the unwillingness “for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong. We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said, about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy.”
In contrast to British society’s failure to speak the truth on the things that matter, Pope Benedict XVI, like his predecessor John Paul II, is not afraid to challenge the young to moral excellence. Recently there was another gathering of youth in another capital city in Europe, although this gathering did not lead to anything remotely resembling the scenes of destruction broadcast from London. Over a million young people from the 193 countries of the world gathered peacefully in Madrid, Spain to celebrate World Youth Day. These triennial events began in 1985 to offer the youth of the world an opportunity to encounter each other and deepen their own personal sense of faith. The theme for this year’s event was “planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7).
In each World Youth Day message from the past, the Roman Pontiff has been the only world leader to consistently call youth to a high moral standard of living. He is the lone voice entreating the young to pursue greatness. In his message inviting the youth to participate in this year’s event, Pope Benedict XVI speaks directly to the attendees recognizing that the world has offered them the easier way, the choices which are “ultimately deceptive and cannot bring you serenity and joy.” He observes that the “eclipse of God” and moral relativism do “not lead to true freedom, but rather to instability, confusion, and blind conformity to the fads of the moment.” Not a bad description of the events in London.
The pope’s phrasing here highlights a common theme of his assessment of Europe’s moral crisis. By untethering the anchor of Judeo-Christian values, society has no moral grounding and begins to drift. If moral relativism is allowed to be the centering principle of one’s life and society all decisions are equally valid and “truth and absolute points of reference do not exist.” The economic and social “causes” for the riots in London (and now the “flash mob” crime scenes here in the U.S.) are really manifestations of a moral crisis in society.
Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that “it is vital to have roots, a solid foundation! This is particularly true today. Many people have no stable points of reference on which to build their lives, and so they end up deeply insecure.” Centering one’s life on following Christ will be a major theme of the Pope’s addresses to those gathered in Madrid as he encourages the youth of the world to form their character through good moral choices. By living under the Nazi regime and from his pastoral experience, he recognizes that without a solid moral grounding of one’s life spiritual atrophy is inevitable.
Euclid taught in his Elements that a circle must have a center or it becomes a different shape, it becomes something else. Without the fixed point anchoring the peripheral line of the circle there is anarchy, “without ruler.” The human person and the society in which he lives must have a center or they, like Euclid’s circle, will morph into undesirable and unintended forms. If there is no self-rule and mastery, human life and society devolves into anarchy. As the scenes from the London riots allow us to see, the moral center of the contemporary West is no longer clear, if indeed it exists at all.
This week an octogenarian pontiff will travel to the social, economic, and geographic center of Spain challenging people two generations younger than himself to ground themselves in Gospel values. In less than a two-week span, the world will have witnessed two alternatives for the future of civilization: one, a further slide into anarchic, frenzied destruction; the other, a return to Christian living. The rioters in London demonstrated a certain kind of spiritedness in the past few weeks: a spirit of total disengagement and disrespect for their culture. A very different kind of spirit was on display in Spain: the Holy Spirit of God, which offers an opposite vision of a world transformed by love, joy, and hope. Let us pray that this new generation of youth gathered in Madrid will stand up in faith against what Yeats would have called the “blood-dimmed tide” by witnessing to the liberating power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Ben Akers, S.T.L. is the director of the Denver Catholic Biblical School and Catechetical School.
Become a fan of First Things on Facebook, subscribe to First Things via RSS, and follow First Things on Twitter.
Comments:
as far as I know, the young people participating at WYD did not cause the problem of police violence; it was the people who protested against WYD who were responsible for that.
As Agnes Koker says, the violence in Madrid was caused by the anti-catholic groups (about a thousand of the 8000-10000 people gathered in Puerta del sol), I was there. They started insulting, pushing and kicking boys and girls that were participating in the Youth Day just because they are Catholic. I heard all kind of insults, some of them really violent ("you will burn as in the 36", referring to the civil war where some priests and nuns were burned alive). As you say, some police officers over-reacted afterwards and that is wrong, but it is caused by the intolerance of these groups.
I agree that generalization is wrong, but in this case, there are many young people that feel alone and do not have a reference or goals in their lives...they feel frustrated and in this situation, the only way to express yourself is through violence. There is a clear lack of moral values in the coming generations that results from the relativism and the fear to call the things by their name.
Excellent article!
The English Magistrates Court have a partial list of the people arrested for the looting. It can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-magistrates-court-list#data
I see nurses, accountants, university students, chefs, servicemen, postmen, charity workers and the like on that list.
As for world youth day participants, I've had at least 10 people from my diocese attending who cannot be considered middle or upper class by any standards or means. They saved up their money and did fundraising for two years to get the cash to go there.
Perhaps the class distinction is not as strong as we all thought at first blush (I had the same middle class / lower class idea at first as well).
Mark, it's more complicated than that...
The Church of England is the established (i.e. state church) of England not of the United Kingdom. The church is represented in the House of Lords in Parliament.
Although it is the established church in England, I understand that there are more Roman Catholics and Muslims than Anglicans in England. I admit the UK is now very secular, which is really the point of the article above. Many people are only nominally Christian (growing up, I was only a nominally religious)
Wales, Scotland and Ireland have their own churches within the Anglican Communion: In Wales, four Church of England dioceses were disestablished in 1920, becoming separated from the Church of England and became the Church in Wales (not an established church, and neither the British monarch nor Prince of wales is its titular head ). The Episcopal church in Scotland is part of the Anglican Communion (and neither it nor the Church of Scotland (Presbyterians) are the established church in Scotland. Since neither was ever legally established, no one can be disestablished.)
The Church of Ireland is the Anglican church in both the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. It is not the established church of either country.
The UK monarch is the titular leader of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the religious head - or Primate of the Church of England.
The C of E is also the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, although each Province (Canada, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Episcopal church of the USA) has its own primate. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, has no formal authority outside that jurisdiction, but recognised as the symbolic head of the worldwide communion.
To my knowledge, the C of E does not receive state funding, although it is the established church. If it does, it probably isn't significant. Funds would mainly come from members of the church and through rent of the properties it owns.
Thank you for your kind and informative reply.
You are right about the current fiscal arrangements in the C of E, and I'm guilty of painting with an overly broad historical brush. It is my understanding that the C of E church tax was abolished some time ago. Nevertheless, this remains the national church in England, and as such, I assume it is charged with some kind of responsibility by its government.
Thus, it seems reasonable to ask why it is apparently unable to inculcate respect for the commandment "thou shall not steal" in certain segments of the English society?
But point taken - given British and English history post , the C of E owns lots of land (much of it originally belonging to the Catholic Church in England) and has massive investments, the earnings from which are tax-free...Admittedly, with this, having the monarch as its titular head, and representation in the House of Lords, it's very much part of the English establishment, and in a very privileged position.
Frankly ,I think the C of E - and many other faith communities - are doing and have done a poor job of inculcating "respect for the commandment "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not covet" in most segments of English society for years: From Parliamentarians - including the government you speak of - and their expenses accounts, bonuses in "the City" (ie London's equivalent of Wall Street) and the rioters on the streets of Manchester, Birmingham, and London. (Don't forget, that from the 1600s to the early 1900s, Britain prospered by looting its colonies, and more recently, by living off debt.) Yes, the CofE bishops (and Roman Catholics and Methodists and Orthodox and Reform Jews) have spoken out about this greed, but only after the horse has bolted.
I am not a "big fan" of Christian speeches but really like this one.