‘Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented’

Monday, April 15, 2024

Tony Magliano - Freelance columnist

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In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, the late Elie Wiesel, reflecting on the Holocaust, and his personal experience of it – being in the same World War II Nazi concentration camps where his mother, father, and sister were murdered, and coming very close to being executed himself – voiced these profound words:

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe” (see: https://mediaplayer.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=2028).

Several years ago, I interviewed Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, retired auxiliary bishop of Detroit. Bishop Gumbleton, 94, was one of the principal authors of the U.S. bishops’ prophetic 1983 pastoral letter “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.”

During our conversation the following point jumped out at me, and continues to remain with me. Bishop Gumbleton said, “Most Catholics are more influenced by the culture than the Gospel.” I then asked him, “Would you say that about your brother bishops as well?” Without hesitation, he replied, “Absolutely!”

Clearly, it appears that most Catholics are not actively engaged – from a Gospel/Catholic social teaching perspective – in the life and death issues facing humanity like hunger and poverty, the arms trade and war, environmental degradation and climate change, the death penalty and abortion.

The late founder of the U.S. annual “March for Life,” Nellie Gray, once told me that “If Catholics alone would stand up and demand an end to abortion, it would end!”

For many years, ministering in several dioceses, I have found it extremely difficult to persuade the vast majority of Catholics to speak up and act out on behalf of our countless suffering brothers and sisters, and that of our wounded earth home.

Furthermore, rarely do we hear challenging, countercultural, social justice and peace homilies from the clergy.

Pope Francis has often called this sad reality the “culture of indifference” where solid commitment to nonviolently protecting and enhancing the life and dignity of all human beings – especially the vulnerable and poor – is of little concern. He recently said that in societies often polluted by a culture of indifference and of waste, “as believers, we are called to go against the tide with a culture of tenderness, that is, of caring for others as God has cared for us: for me, for you, for each one of us” (see: https://bitly.ws/3aQTz).

Encouragingly, there do exist a relatively few prophetic souls who refuse to allow the “culture of indifference” to silence their words. An example here is the recent joint statement by Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego, and Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico calling for an immediate cease-fire to the Israel-Hamas war (see: https://bitly.ws/3aVpu).

And fairly recently, seven Catholics known as the “Kings Bay Plowshares 7” even put their words of peace into courageous action by placing signs of Christian nonviolence inside the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia – where at least five nuclear submarines are based. And consequently, they did jail time for their acts of nonviolent resistance (see: https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/).

Another encouraging act of faithful, courageous Gospel-based witness was the nonviolent blocking of doors and locking gates at a Washington, D.C. abortion center by veteran pro-life Catholic activist Joan Andrews Bell, along with several other Christians. Consequently, Bell (a friend of mine), is now in jail (see: https://bitly.ws/3aVuD).

It does us good to reflect again on the profound words of Elie Wiesel, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”