Argentinean archbishop rejects 'Spanish-style' apostasy campaign

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mar 31, 2009 / 11:31 am

During his weekly program, "Keys to a Better World," Archbishop Hector Aguer of La Plata in Argentina rejected the "campaign of collective apostasy" launched in the country that is similar to one in Spain in which ex-Catholics or those who wish to renounce their faith present letters of apostasy to the diocese with the request that their names be removed from baptismal registries.

"Who are the people promoting this? And what is that bothers them in particular? What kind of ideology is behind this campaign, as it clearly has been very cleverly put together?" the archbishop asked.

"What they really want is to protest the public and cultural presence of the Church," he continued. "What really bothers these movements is that the Church still has influence on the Argentinean people… What bothers them specifically is that the faith has become culture and the purpose here is to uproot the faith from the culture in which the people live."

"For us," the archbishop explained, "this campaign must be a motive, a sort of incentive for the renewal of our faith, not only individually but prominently in daily life and in its cultural expressions."

Archbishop Aguer called for a "recovery of the awareness that through baptism we are witnesses of Christ and we should manifest our faith in daily life, without the need for extraordinary actions but in the daily story of life," in order to "strengthen our awareness as baptized and to give thanks to God for having received this gift of baptismal grace which makes us Christians and members of the Catholic Church."