June 3--St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

June 3—St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

The word “catholic” means universal and the Catholic Church is universal, with Christ being preached and celebrated on all the continents.  This is especially true in Africa, which has 175 million Catholics, or 16% of the total population of Africa.  The Catholic Church has grown 265% there since 1978 when it had 55 million members.  The people of Africa have seen their values confirmed in the Catholic Church, including Church teaching on homosexuality and contraception, as well as working for justice for the poor.

How does this relate to St. Charles Lwanga and his companions?  They were martyred in 1886 under the reign of a Ugandan king who had demanded that they submit to his sexual desires.  Charles was a catechist who protected the young men and boys who were pages to the king.  When they were discovered as Christians, the king ordered them to walk 37 miles to a place of execution.  Some were martyred on the way, while the others were burned to death, including eleven who had converted to Protestantism.

Being faithful to God and to his Church sometimes demands that we stand up to the sins and errors of our time.  Homosexual activity is such a thing.  It is against the complementarity that exists between men and women and against the complete gift of love of husband and wife that is fully expressed in marital intercourse.  It is against the divine law and against the natural law that God has written upon our hearts.  Homosexuality is intrinsically disordered and needs to be understood as such.

We live in a time when that love and that law is denied and made subject to the imperial autonomy of the self and its desires, however they may be supported by popularity and unjust civil law.  It is our duty as children of God and children of the Church to speak up and witness to God’s law of love, not the state’s law of supposed equality.  To be a martyr means to witness to truth, that which is of God.  We may be called to be new martyrs, not in that we will be killed, but that we will be snubbed, ridiculed, and persecuted.  St. Charles Lwanga and his companions knew what they were getting into when they stood up for their faith.  We need to know that and joyfully proclaim our willingness to love those who persecute us.