Richard Renshaw, Niagara, ON

Preface by Pat Jamieson

‘Dealing with Diversity: Questions for Catholics’ is a book to be published by ICN in January. We present its introductory section by Father Renshaw, a Holy Cross priest based in Niagara, ON.

The author has a long acquaintanceship with progressive Catholicism. He served as my ethics professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton in the 1960s.

Long an advocate of social justice which he manifested as a pastor in working class sections of Toronto, as a missioner in Peru, working for Development and Peace and as a refugee advocate in Montreal.

Chapter headings include: The Challenge of Diversity: Should we set aside our differences?; 2. Religion and Civil Society: Clash or Contribution; 3. Religion or Religious Experience; 4. Church Doctrine: How Is It True?; 5. Challenges for Catholic Praxis: Sexuality, Racism, Violence, The Earth.

INTRODUCTION

The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is a typical Latin American phenomenon. It is frequently given as a prime example of the Catholic faith of Latin America, yet a careful examination of the story of the appearance of Our Lady to Juan Diego in the sixteenth century reveals that the site for the construction of the church requested by Mary is that of the temple of the Aztec goddess Tonantzin. The devotion offered to the image found on the apron of Juan Diego reflects in many ways that of the worship of Tonantzin. Other similar examples abound.*

Religions other than Catholicism were not lost in Latin America; they are deeply rooted in the culture and spirit of many of the Latin Americans among whom I lived and worked during the 1980s. The diversity within and outside religious traditions, in today’s world, is complex. The people I knew generally identified themselves as Catholics. However, they also practiced values, held beliefs and engaged in rituals that came from sources predating contact with Europe. As I came to recognize and appreciate this hidden dimension of life in Latin America, and most particularly in the Andean region where I lived and worked, the depth and vitality of this other side of their life became precious to me. My experience of religious diversity is set in this context. I was slowly able to enter into and to deepen my appreciation of the life, values and rituals of people who came from an entirely different cultural and religious world view from my own.

The pages that follow have a humble vocation as an introduction to a much larger project. My intention is only to take a stab at formulating some guiding questions. I also want to show the relevance of my questions and provide the context and grounding that demonstrate their importance and urgency. Without all that prior work, the questions will have little credibility and the subsequent investigation will not take place. When a question is poorly formulated or set in an improper context, the responses will also be weakened by a lack of clarity in the reasons for posing the question and a weak grasp of the issues involved. On the other hand, a good question leads to others; together they act as operators for advancing understanding and knowledge.

Ten years ago, the text you will read was extremely edgy. Novalis, who had requested I write for them and who had worked with me over a period of one or two years on polishing the text, ultimately refused to publish it. Today, the questions I raise fall precisely into those promoted by the Synod on synodality set into motion by Pope Francis: “How is this ‘journeying together’ happening today in your particular Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our ‘journeying together?’”**

My questions are about the way Catholics manage religious diversity. Some today speak of religious pluralism rather than diversity. Pluralism usually refers to the diversity among religious traditions. Diversity is broader: it includes the differences within a religious tradition. The term “diversity” is more appropriate to my reflection, since our way of relating to other traditions and our way of embracing internal diversity are often similar.

The official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church opened up to the world in a different way after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). This monumental shift offered paths for facing the challenges of the contemporary world. However, Vatican II was clearly not the final word on the subject of how to live our faith today. It opened up the windows and doors but left us the task of moving out into the world and also of welcoming the winds that blow in through those windows and that challenge us to reshape our ways of thinking and acting. I am particularly interested in the impact of those winds that are blowing in. How do they move things around inside our religious structures?

There is a challenge here for academics, one that has very concrete implications for the life of the church in Canada and for its pastoral efforts. I admire the courage of those who sincerely and honestly address these questions since religious institutions may not appreciate their efforts. Here, my principle aim is to raise questions. If they are good questions and if they are pursued, we will all be enriched.

At the end of the eleventh century, Saint Anselm described theology as “faith seeking understanding.” In this vein liberation theology understands theology as a “second step.” Liberation theology emerged in Latin America following the Second Vatican Council and is concerned with the pastoral imperatives facing the church as a result of extensive poverty on that continent. It reflects on the various struggles underway to eliminate the oppression that has led to such poverty.***

The underlying motivation driving my questions about diversity is then one of liberation, particularly the liberation of billions of human beings from poverty and misery, and the liberation of the planet from a path of destruction down which unrestrained capitalism is leading us. Standing mute on every page are hundreds of millions of people who suffer the consequences of the scourge of war and violence as well as the exclusions created by racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. My questions, like those of our current shared global synod, are set in the context of an invitation to renewed action. In the last chapter of this little volume, I will try to show how our attitude toward diversity inside and outside the church has an impact on the effectiveness of our efforts to address questions of violence, oppression and poverty.

The diversity I will be examining and the religiosity under scrutiny are, primarily, those that exist here in English-speaking Canada. What I have to say largely reflects my experience and understanding of living in English-speaking Canada, but it has also been influenced by years of living in Quebec and in Latin America, as well as my involvement with Indigenous issues in the 1990s. I left Canada for Latin America after serving here as a priest for fourteen years; it is now more than thirty years since I returned. I see Canada in a different light after that time abroad.

Canada has opted to create a highly secular society in which religion is appreciated more as a personal commitment. This has led some sectors of society to attempt to restrict religion to the private sphere. As a result, some committed Catholics who are working for social change and are engaged with groups who come from other religious traditions, or even from entirely secular traditions, tend to keep religion to themselves, as if religion were not a factor in the struggle. I question whether that approach is appropriate.
Could not an experience of sharing about the religious motivations that have led us to become engaged in social struggles enrich not only our own commitment but also the struggle itself for “another world that is possible?”**** Could not the very diversity of our religious traditions be a strong force for the transformation of the world into a place of equity, harmony, peace and the flourishing of life?

Are we not called to draw on our religious traditions to strengthen not only our personal commitment but also our solidarity with those who come from other traditions and who struggle at our side? By accepting the challenge to struggle to eliminate poverty and violence, religious people are invited to join with members of other religious traditions in order to address these issues and to do so by grounding themselves in a commitment to bring those religious motivations to the very centre of their shared struggle. This has already happened in other countries and on other continents. Privatization of religion is, in my view, a dead end. It does not correspond to a variety of factors already strongly at work in Canadian society nor is it coherent with the history of struggles in Canada for social justice.

At its best, Canada is a society built on a history of solidarity and compassion, a society that has responded to the urgent needs of the poor and oppressed in our own neighbourhoods and throughout the world. The depths of compassion released by authentic religious experience (whatever the tradition) have the potential to be a major force in eliminating poverty and violence in our world.

Are Catholics ready to take on the challenge of Canadian diversity? To explore this, we will measure the diversity in Canada and then consider some of the questions Catholics may need to ask themselves.

Footnotes

* Guadalupe is perhaps the phenomenon that has evoked the most study in this respect. Nevertheless, further examples of the continuation of pre-Christian traditions mixed with Christian elements might include the Kollu Riti pilgrimage in Peru, as well as many of the Aymaran agricultural rituals. Candomblé in Brazil and Voodoo in Haiti. See also Lambe, “Intolerancia Religiosa Contra el Pluralismo Religioso en la Historia Latinoamericana,” Por los Muchos Caminos de Dios, Ecuador, ASETT, Centro Bíblico Verbo Divino, 2003, 24-44), and Diego Irarrazaval, Inculturación: amanecer eclesial en América Latina, Lima, CEP, 1998.

** See:
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/09/07/210907a.pdf.

*** See Clodovis Boff, Leonardo Boss and Paul Burns, Introducing Liberation Theology, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987, 6-8. The complete text can be found at: http://www.questia.com/library/book/introducing-liberation-theology-by-clodovis-boff-leonardo-boff-paul-burns.jsp. Accessed January 28, 2008.

**** This phrase is the motto of the World Social Forum.