LC: Just returning to what Pope Benedict was saying to you about courage – sometimes Catholics worry about the future of the Church in this country and the scenario that bishops could end up going to jail at some time in the future for defending Catholic beliefs.
Do you think that that is at all likely?
+ Mark: It is always difficult to foresee the future. When I was younger, as a young person, I used to pray for those Christians suffering under totalitarian regimes. It would have been quite unthinkable to believe that in Britain during the gentle reign of Queen Elizabeth II Christians would be brought before the courts for giving witness to their faith. I remember the words of Blessed John Henry Newman when he foresaw a time coming, a time of infidelity which, he said, would leave such courageous hearts as St Athanasius and St Gregory aghast and dizzy. But – and I think this is something which we must never, never forget – he also said that though this trial for the Church would be different from all those preceding it, it would be overcome and I think that that is something that we must clearly see – that if we are called upon in our generation, our time, to give such witness, even being brought before courts, even facing the prospect of imprisonment, as you have mentioned, that this is our opportunity to give witness,as the Gospel reminds us, not just for our contemporaries but for generations who will follow us.
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