As a Roman Catholic, allow me to offer a defense of
@JoelWBerry.
To be sure, it was hyperbolic to say that ALL Catholics in Gaza support Hamas; but hyperbolic takes are nothing new here, so spare me your pearl clutching.
Catholics are mad at Joel not so much because he was wrong, rather because he forced us to face a very uncomfortable truth: that our Catholic brothers and sisters in Gaza are not living up to our faith. And this truth has caused a great injury to the ego of many of us Catholics because it served as a mirror in which we had to examine whether we too truly live according to our faith, our if we are simply nominal Catholics.
But back to the issue at hand, If the Catholic Church in Gaza is surviving under Hamas by staying silent, that’s not a triumph, it’s a theological crisis.
Catholic doctrine demands resistance to evil , even at the cost of persecution or martyrdom. Church teaching is clear on this, and I’ll prove it:
1. Silence is not neutrality.
“The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order.”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 2242
A regime that glorifies terrorism, indoctrinates children into martyrdom, and dehumanizes Jews violates that moral order.
2. The Church must defend all human life.
“Human life is sacred.”
- CCC 2258
The Church has a duty to condemn the murder of civilians, the use of human shields, and antisemitic violence, even if it means persecution.
3. Survival at the cost of truth is not fidelity, it’s complicity.
“Martyrdom is the supreme witness to the truth of the faith.”
- CCC 2473
If the Church remains silent to avoid retaliation, it’s choosing institutional survival over Gospel witness. That’s a theological failure.
4. The Church has done this before.
St. Oscar Romero denounced violence in El Salvador, and was murdered during Mass.
St. Maximilian Kolbe resisted Nazi hatred, and died in Auschwitz.
Countless Christians spoke out under communism, and paid with their lives.
5. Hamas is not a gray area.
A regime that uses schools to launch rockets and children as shields isn’t a misunderstood freedom movement. It’s objectively evil.
If the Church doesn’t speak out clearly, it betrays its own teachings.
Final thoughts: A Church that survives by keeping quiet under tyranny may still have buildings, but it loses its soul.
While I lament the position that Gazan Catholics are in, and would undoubtedly struggle to follow the teachings of the Church under such conditions knowing what would likely happen to me, the desire to live does not absolve Catholics- myself included- from adhering to the core teachings of our faith.
I’m grateful that Joel, even if ineloquently, remind me that this is our true heritage: