Advisor to Catholic bishops says Britain is a 'hedonistic wasteland'

A senior adviser to the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster has stirred up sentiments in the United Kingdom just weeks away from the first state visit of a pope to Old Blighty. Edmund Adamus told Zenit News Agency that the UK had become, after five decades of progressively more liberal laws on abortion and homosexuality, “anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking – more even than those places where Catholics suffer open persecution."

Adamus added "Whether we like it or not, as British citizens and residents of this country ... Britain, and in particular London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death." Adamus advised Catholics in the UK to "exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification." Moreover, said the Catholic layman and former priest, said that the commercialization of sex and permissive laws advancing the gay agenda were one example of how Britain had become a "wasteland". The former priest leads annual seminars on the theology of the body, a much discussed element of the legacy of Pope John Paul II.

The office of Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who leads the Catholic Church in England and Wales from Westminster, sought to distance the cleric from Adamus’ remarks. A spokesman said that Adamus’ views did not reflect the Archbishop's opinions. Adamus is the director of pastoral affairs at the diocese of Westminster .

Peter Tatchell, a leading figure in the Protest the Pope coalition, responded "The suggestion that gay equality laws make Britain a moral wasteland is insulting but not unexpected. The Pope supports legal discrimination against gay people. He says we are not entitled to equal human rights.” He added, "[But] to claim that Britain is the centre of a culture of death is absurd. We are a world leader in scientific research to develop new medical treatments to save lives and we make a significant contribution to helping combat hunger and poverty in developing countries." The executive director of the National Secular Society, Keith Porteous Wood, said "This anti-Catholicism of which Adamus complains is shared by most British Catholics, sickened by their church hierarchy's dogma-driven policies on contraception, homosexuality and even abortion. That is why Mass attendance here has halved in just 20 years and why only a quarter of Catholics agree with the official line on abortion – and fewer still on homosexuality and contraception."

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights group Stonewall, said Mr. Adamus's comments would do little to foster a healthy atmosphere for the Pope's visit. "Of course the Pope should visit Britain. But the gratuitously offensive comments being made by the Archbishop's adviser are hardly likely to promote sensitive debate about respect for religion in the 21st century. You would think that, given its present status, the Roman Catholic Church in Britain would be slightly more sensitive about wagging its finger at other people," he said.

Paul Vallely, of UK daily The Independent, wrote that Adamus is one of a “handful of extreme conservatives” in the UK Catholic Church and that the former priest’s remarks were “palpably silly.” He ended his opinion column, writing “All this is spectacularly unhelpful on the eve of the papal visit. The Catholic Church has insights to offer the rest of society about the dangers of putting materialist individualism before the common good; about social justice at a time of spending cuts. It has good questions to ask about the relationship between laddish culture and attitudes to women and sexual violence. But that will not be heard above the indignation generated by Mr Adamus's incitement to cultural war. He is no doubt about to get a major ticking off.”

Info: ZENIT