Virginia Bell,
Catholic Action for Animals
April 2018
Why do the few practicing Catholics who care about our treatment of animals do nothing about it within the parish? The answer I think is because it is such an unpleasant struggle... with the clergy and with the laity.
I have been struggling for several years now to set up local parish
groups which would meet and act within the parish on behalf of animals. Name
– St. Francis Group, Remit – educate parishioners about our responsibility
to other animals, point out the moral aspect of our treatment of animals,
spread the message of the Pope’s recent Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ regarding
animals, promote a lifestyle that does not abuse animals.
We Catholics are told that we all have a mission. I believe it. And this is
my mission. Priests (and bishops) should be encouraging me and giving me
some help. Unfortunately the opposite is the case. I have got nowhere. I
have learned a few things though, and I don’t intend to give up. God bless
St. Jude.
There are two main reasons why I have got nowhere. The first is the priests.
They rule alone. They do not delegate nor do they consult. As with the
monarchs of England, they rule by Divine Right. God has placed them in
complete charge. They know it all. The rest of the faithful are fit only to
pray and to pay, not to have a say. The Pope calls this sort of clericalism
“a gross deformation”, and is constantly calling for consultation with the
laity. He wants a more synodal Church. He states that by receiving the Holy
Spirit in baptism we all have the right to be involved in the
decision-making processes of the Church.
Pope John XXIII’s 2nd Vatican Council also called for consultation, but
Parish Councils are now rare.
I go as a beggar, cap in hand, to ask the priest for a concession. Perhaps
for permission to leave a petition form or St. Francis Group (SFG) leaflets
at the back of the church. I am sometimes allowed to do this, but I know
that among the mass of literature crowding my offering, no-one will see
mine. Unless of course the priest draws attention to my leaflets. But that
won’t happen, because the unwritten law is NEVER to mention animals during
Mass.
I try to do the rounds of all the parishes in my town, emailing my request
to leave SFG leaflets / petition forms. Often my emails are simply ignored,
this being the easiest way to put me in my place.
My petition calls on the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to set up
a Committee on Animals. They have a website and many Departments, Offices,
Committees, Groups, Projects, Initiatives, Schemes, even a Committee on the
Environment, but NOT ONE WORD about animals. Such gross neglect of an
important aspect of our Christian life is unforgiveable. I’m only asking for
a Committee, not a big deal, but this small step forward is a step too far
for the Church.
At one event, a Christmas fete or bazaar, I attended with my petition and
was asking the occasional person if they wanted to sign, and the priest
asked me to leave. I went and stood in the public street outside, and
carried on collecting signatures there from those arriving. There was a
lovely banner up advertising the event, and claiming “All Welcome”.
Obviously all except animal defenders. At another parish, I stood on public
land collecting signatures from arrivals at another Xmas fete/bazaar. The
organiser, priest at her side, accused me of making people late for the
event, as they had delayed entering the fete because they had stopped to
sign my petition. At another fete (where else but at these yearly events can
I conveniently collect signatures?) I stood on the approach to the event
collecting signatures, and was later told by the priest that there had been
complaints from people who felt intimidated. This I find VERY difficult to
believe, as I am deliberately far from intimidating when approaching
Catholics for a sympathetic signature. I’ve no doubt that the priest added
his spin. I asked if he felt that the complaint/s was justified. He said
yes, I made people feel uncomfortable. So ironic, because priests quite
happily make me feel uncomfortable, excluded and alienated. Anyway, there
was no point in arguing – he was under no obligation to hear and question
both sides of the complaint. His bias prevailed. Petitioning was banned. My
suggestion that I be allowed to take a small fold-up table with my petition
on it to the fete so that people can approach me if they want to sign was
given short shrift. As far as a 3 minute talk after Mass, I was told that
there are too many appeals etc…, he didn’t want to impose another one on the
congregation. I suggested that those who wanted to leave should be invited
to do so before the talk. Nothing doing. Any leaflets I wanted to leave in
church I was required to leave in his office for him to vet. No doubt their
final resting place.
The Pope himself has seen the St. Francis Group leaflet, which I sent to
him, and he finds nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, he says he will
remember the St. Francis Group in his prayers, and invokes God’s blessings
on me.
At another parish, (I spread my discomforting self around several parishes
locally, as I can’t find anyone else willing to help), at the approach to a
barbecue, I was standing with my petition, and the priest interrupted the
conversation I was having with a parishioner. He proceeded to download some
of his feeling of annoyance at my presumption. People don’t want to be
greeted with a petition, he said, and then took the opportunity to sneer at
my bullfight petition (yes, I’ve got one of those. It’s to the Pope from
priests asking him to condemn the bullfight). If I didn’t move, he was going
to start a petition in support of bullfighting, as bulls enjoy it, he said.
While he was talking, the person to whom I had been showing my petition took
the opportunity to escape. She hadn’t understood what I was talking about.
Very few Catholics understand what I am talking about. Animals are for
eating they think, and I have to try to explain the concept of considering
animals as beings that need our help.
Actually, the approach to an event is the best place to stand with a
petition, otherwise one has to interrupt people’s conversations to invite
signatures, and people have food in their hands making it inconvenient to
sign a petition. Also it seemed to me that some people did appreciate being
greeted, even if only with a petition and a smile.
I didn’t argue with the priest, but on the premise that I hadn’t actually
been thrown out, I took my petition into the barbecue area and carried on.
Since then, permission to petition at this parish, as at others, has been
refused.
Priests will use any excuse, any reasoning, to justify their biases. That is
the problem. They are not accountable for their decisions and actions.
Certainly not to parishioners or other priests. Any idiosyncrasy or
prejudice is unchecked. They can stomp on my mission with impunity.
There are many more examples of the slings and arrows of slights that I’ve
received from priests, but I must move on to the second main reason why I
have got nowhere, which is the excessive deference that the Catholic laity
feels towards the clergy.
As I said previously, the Pope is strongly against clericalism and strongly
for consultation, and states that by receiving the Holy Spirit in baptism we
all have the right to be involved in the decision-making processes of the
Church. Unfortunately, his views are not being promoted by the bishops.
Catholics take their lead from the clergy. ‘If priests don’t care about
animals, why should we?’ is the attitude of parishioners. I’ve spoken to
many parishioners, and the only consideration they give to animals in
general is what they taste like.
This I feel is the elephantine reason in the room why people don’t want to
raise the status of animals:- they won’t give up eating meat. Any
consideration about the moral treatment of animals may, they feel, constrain
them to rethink their justification for killing animals to eat them. They
may find that they would be healthier without meat/dairy products. The
planet may benefit. The starving human population may benefit. This
challenge to their eating preferences cannot be risked. I feel that behind
the posturing, this is the deep down reason why bishops, priests and
parishioners don’t want to raise the status of animals. The posture that is
adopted is that people are superior to other animals and that means we can
kill and eat them (and wear them and capture them and hunt them etc..)
I have a lot of sympathy with this. Not with the human superiority argument,
but with the desire to eat meat. Pleasure in eating is deeply part of an
animal’s (and we are animals) being, as survival is dependent on eating. For
some people, giving up meat/dairy for say 2 days a week takes more sacrifice
than my being a strict vegan. That is why we should not judge without the
relevant information. My criticism is aimed at the leaders of ethical
institutions, namely the Catholic Church, who are not adequately teaching us
right from wrong. I don’t expect our bishops and priests to be less sinful
than I am. That would be hypocritical of me. I do expect them to teach us
the right way to live a good Christian life, not to dilute what is morally
right to suit the selfish demands of the dominant species.
I’m going to leave this elephant in the room and return to the second main
reason why I have got nowhere. 1st reason – clergy / 2nd reason – laity.
That seems to cover everything. It’s a vicious circle. Unless the bishops
instruct the priests to include respect for animals in sermons, the priests
will continue to ignore the matter. And unless the priests include respect
for animals in their sermons, the laity will continue to ignore the matter.
So although I have been encouraging people to set up St. Francis Groups for
some time now, using website
(https://catholicactionforanimals.wordpress.com), Facebook and endless
emails to publications, organisations, press etc.. locally, nationally and
globally, I have had no success.
Why do the few practicing Catholics who care about our treatment of animals
do nothing about it within the parish? The answer I think is because it is
such an unpleasant struggle. You need to be very hard skinned to be able to
bear the feeling of exclusion which lands heavily on you when you bring
animal rights forward. The stress is enough to put people off. No-one wants
to be put down by the priest. Me – I’m a weird combination of soft centre
and hard skin. There’s also the consideration that people are busy – they
have children, spouses, jobs. Many people can’t find the time to start /
join a group.
What this mission needs is someone charismatic with loads of energy. But
there seems to be only myself who feels the mission to establish an animal
rights group within the parish, as a means of “calling on the Catholic
Church to do more for animals”.
Please let me be wrong. Is there anyone out there who will join me? Anyone
who wants to turn concern for animals into ACTION? This is V. Bell
calling... calling... help…