No one has a monopoly on God

No one has a monopoly on God
 
It is strange how people can think they have a monopoly on God. That is what we Catholics did for a long time when we used to say, and some probably still say, “there is no salvation outside the Church.” And it wasn’t too long ago when the so-called “true Church” did not include Protestants, let alone Hindus and Muslims, peoples of other faiths. This was the reason why we had foreign missionaries, like ourselves, like the Columbans. Our basic aim was to convert the heathens, bring them into the Church, baptise them so that they could be saved. All this sounds a long way from what Paul was saying in that part of his letter to the Romans (3:21-30), which forms our first reading for today, “Is God the God of the Jews alone and not of the pagans too? Of the pagans too, most certainly, since there is only one God.” Now the tricky part of this reading is that Paul also says that God “justifies everyone who believes in Jesus.” I believe that this does not exclude others who follow other paths to God. Certainly it calls us Catholics to bear witness together with all other Christians who share faith in Jesus Christ. But I think it was disgraceful that we Catholics thought ourselves better than other Christians because we could questionably claim that our origins reached back to the apostles and to Peter in particular. Just as we cannot claim monopoly on God nor can we claim monopoly on goodness. I know of some Catholics whom I would be very wary of. I would far more trust my Muslim or Hindu or Protestant friend. In many ways these friends of other faiths help me to have a sense of God’s presence in the world. Especially with the help of Pope Francis, I think we have come a long way. As a trade unionist and activist friend once said to me, after she had initially been shocked to hear that I was a Catholic priest, “Well there’s once thing I’ll say for you. You have a good boss!” And she meant it. For all that she may have found it hard to trust in the Catholic church, Pope Francis was a good bloke. None of us has a monopoly on God nor on plain human goodness. Be open to God’s presence wherever people of different persuasions and faiths simply enjoy being together and sharing genuine human friendship.
 
Tom Rouse