The Christian witness of countless Americans has been silenced by "a diabolically clever little phrase," says
Mary Ann Glendon.

"The wordsmiths of the culture of death ... came up with one of the most
insidious slogans ever invented," the representative of John Paul II at the
1995 U.N. Beijing Conference on Woman told a World Congress on Catholic
Laity here. 

"'Personally, I'm opposed to -- here you may fill in the blank
-- but I can't impose my opinions on others.'"

"That slogan was the moral anesthesia they offered to people who are deeply
troubled about cultural decline, but who don't know quite how to express
their views in public," added the Harvard Law School professor. [The
complete text of her address is listed under Documents.]

Her comments came during a round-table discussion last Saturday which
helped inaugurate the congress on the laity. Lay people from all over the
world addressed the question of today's challenges to Catholics involved in
public life.

Glendon said the great challenge for lay Catholics in the United States is
"the culture of death." She listed the symptoms of this culture:
"materialism, consumerism, secularism, relativism and hyper-individualism."

"If you want to be a missionary, you have to know the territory," she said.
"No American has been untouched by the effect of living in a society where
for nearly 30 years abortion on demand has taken 1.5 million lives a year."

However, although the picture seems bleak, Glendon is hopeful for the
future: "Our Catholic social and moral teaching corresponds to all that is
best in American traditions. Our social teaching gives us a vision of a
society that welcomes the stranger, that supports and honors motherhood,
that lends a hand to the needy, that honors families engaged in the task of
raising children because it knows that good parents are not just doing
something for themselves but for all of us when they raise their children
well."

"Our moral teaching resonates with the cherished American belief in the
possibility of a fresh start," said Glendon, who is also a member of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity. "We believe that there is no sin that
can't be forgiven if one faces up to it, sincerely repents, makes amends,
and reforms one's life.

"The challenge for Christian witness is first, to live those teachings by
example and, second, to find ways suited for our times and places to
articulate our Catholic vision in its fullness."

Representing Europe, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, former prime minister of Poland,
evaluated the conflicts that lacerated the Continent in the 20th century, a
century that ended with the process of the European Union's
"reconstruction," which at present is concerned with expansion toward the East.

"According to the Pope's description, Europe must breathe with two lungs:
the Western and the Eastern," Mazowiecki said. "This has enormous
significance, both for spiritual growth as well as stability for peace and
democracy."

In this process of integration, "dominated by the economic point of view,"
the former Polish prime minister presented "Christian personalism" as a
proposal for Catholics' commitment, as it is centered on the dignity of the
person as "a point of reference for the democratic view of development."

Along the lines of John Paul II, Mazowiecki proposed a three-dimensional
strategy of solidarity for Europe: "solidarity at the heart of the
societies of the different European countries, solidarity in the process of
integration and incorporation of both parts of Europe and, lastly,
solidarity with the other continents and the entire human family."

Thomas Han, professor of economics at the University of Seoul, in South
Korea, and member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, represented Asia
at the round table. He denounced the religious fundamentalism and lack of
religious liberty in many Asian countries. He noted that anti-Christian
persecutions have risen in recent years.

At the economic level, Han pointed out the great contrast that exists
between underdevelopment and "superdevelopment," which also generates great
social differences, poverty and injustice. According to the World Bank, 73%
of the 1.3 billion people who live on less than $1 a day are in Asia.

At the social level, he said, the continent is discovering the "Asian way
of life," especially youth, who constitute half of the population and who
are rediscovering their own roots. "Today a collective awareness of being
Asian is emerging," Han said.

What kind of witness will Catholics give Asia? Han's answer was clear:
evangelization through dialogue. This dialogue, he said, must be
articulated on three levels.

First, he said, there must be a dialogue with cultures that includes
inculturation, so that the Church will not be seen as a foreigner on Asian
soil. Second, a dialogue "of life and heart" with religions, always keeping
in mind that "the interreligious dialogue is part of the evangelization
mission of the Church," Han said. Lastly, he said, a dialogue is needed
with the people, especially with the last, the poor, who suffer the
consequences of "structures of sin," a dialogue that comes alive in solidarity.

Africa's voice resounded in the analysis of the situation by Agnes Adjaho
of Benin, former international president of the MIDADE Children's Movement,
and member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

Adjaho, who was unable to deliver her address in person (it was read by
Congolese Jeanne Diockh, member of UMOFC, the Executive Committee of
Catholic Women's Organizations), said that the witness of the laity in
Africa consists in "acting in the truth of Christ," which means being
divested of the "vengeance that governs relations, political life, the
economy and family life."

It also means being "in the vanguard of support of transparency in
political life, honesty in the economy, respect of the family, and
safeguarding of peace at all levels."

"Christians must overcome a kind of modesty and assert their presence
through their action and specific identity," Adjaho said, because in a
continent where the powerful exhibit their wealth to the poor. "Christians
are more able than anyone else to participate in the 'rebirth of Africa.'"

Egyptian Amin Fahim, former director of the International Office of
Catholic Children and member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, was
the spokesman of the sufferings and hope of Christians of the Middle East.
In this region marked by wars and divisions, Fahim appealed to Christians
to work above all for unity, the lack of which is a scandal to Christians
themselves.

In order to transform these societies, where to a large extent democracy is
absent and dictatorship is concealed, Fahim quoted John Paul II's
"Redemptoris Missio," which states that the laity must work to "build the
earthly civilization with brothers and sisters of other religions,
particularly with Muslims and Jews."