[Question:]{.underline} Is a person always obliged to profess his Faith publicly?
[Answer:]{.underline} The answer to this question is of fundamental importance. Every Catholic is aware of the obligation of professing one’s Faith outwardly, since this obligation is clearly taught by our Divine Savior himself: “Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:32,33), and by St. Paul: “For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt by saved. For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation” (Rm 10: 9,10). A person who would not be willing to profess his Faith outwardly would be just as much as hypocrite as a person who performs works but does not believe in his heart. Moreover, it would be a grave irreverence to Almighty God, who reveals the Faith to us, and a grave sin of charity against one’s neighbor, deprived as he would be of the possibility of knowing the true Faith.
Yet by the same token, a person who would constantly be professing his faith, regardless of the suitability of the time, place and persons would right be regarded as a fanatic, unable to carry on normal conversation and affairs, potentially causing scandal and giving offense to other who do not share the true Faith, potentially bringing odium to the Church, and potentially suffering many unnecessary adverse effects himself.
It is for this reason that St. Thomas Aquinas considered this question in the Summa Theologica IIa IIae Q. 3 a.2. His resolution depends upon the distinction between an affirmative and a negative precept. A negative precept, of the kind “Thou shalt not” binds us always and at every time and in all circumstances. However, an affirmative precept “Thou shalt”, only binds in appropriate circumstances. Here are St. Thomas’ words:
“Since confession of the Faith is something affirmative, it can only fall under an affirmative precept. Hence its necessity for salvation depends on how it falls under an affirmative precept of the divine law. Now affirmative precepts…do not bind for always, although they are always binding; but they bind as to place and time according to other due circumstances, in respect of which human acts have to be regulated in order to be acts of virtue.
Thus then it is not necessary for salvation to confess one’s faith at all times and in all places, but in certain places and at certain times, when, namely by omitting to do so, we would deprive God of due honor, or our neighbor of a service that we ought to render him: for instance, if a man, on being asked about his faith, were to remain silent, so as to make people believe either than he is without faith, or that the faith is false, or so as to turn others away from the faith…”
The application of this principle will enable us to resolve the question as to when a man is bound to confess the Faith, and also when he ought to, although he may not be bound.
The first consequence is that it is never permitted to deny one’s Faith, whether it be directly (in words) or indirectly (by actions, as did weak Christians of the early centuries when they burnt incense before idols to avoid martyrdom, thereby committing a mortal sin), for such denial is always a grave irreverence and dishonor to Almighty God and to our Divine Savior. This obligation is so grave that it is contained in the traditional code of Canon Law, Canon 1325, #1: Christ’s faithful are bound to openly profess the Faith as often as their silence, hesitation, or way of acting would mean an implicit denial of the Faith, contempt of religion, insult to God or scandal to one’s neighbor”. It is hardly surprising that the modernist 1983 Code contains no mention of this grave obligation in the divine law. As a consequence of this the moral theologians teach that a man is bound to profess his Faith when questioned by the public authority (as did the martyrs), or when a person, motivated by hatred of the true religion strives to make him act in some way against the Faith, or when the spiritual good or edification of one’s neighbor requires it. (Prummer, Manuale theologiae moralis, I, p. 355-356).
However, it is certainly not necessary to volunteer information and to profess the Faith in other circumstances, in which case it might be irrelevant, harmful, upsetting or dangerous. Consequently it is perfectly permissible on occasion to hide the fact that one is a Catholic, when no profit would come to the faith or to the faithful in mentioning it. It is the case of priests and religious hiding their identity in times of persecution. It is likewise the case of the Catholic businessman who, in business deals with non-Catholics sees no utility in revealing the fact that he is Catholic, or the Catholic employee who does not tell his employer his religious convictions. It could be a cause of difficulty and would be of no advantage.
Prummer (op. cit. p. 358-359) gives the follow example: “The Catholic who eats together with non Catholics is not bound to say the customary prayers before and after the meal and thus betray the fact that he is a Catholic, if grave inconvenience would come from so doing. The reason is obvious: the Catholic is not bound by any strict precept to recite these prayers, and the omission of these prayers does not include a denial of the Faith”.
Of course, a fervent Catholic is not going to be content with simply doing the minimum, and by publicly professing his Faith only on those occasions when failure to do so would be a mortal sin. He wants to profess his Faith, always seeking to know the will of God as to whether he should show himself to be Catholic or not. This is a decision of the virtue of prudence, which must consider first and foremost the honor of Almighty God, that of Our Divine Savior, the Blessed Mother and Holy Mother Church, and secondly the good of souls, and finally the temporal and spiritual advantages to oneself, either of professing or of not professing the Faith. Supernatural prudence is not brash and presumptuous. Although it prefers to profess the Faith publicly, and will generally consider it much better to (discreetly) make the sign of the cross, wear medals and say prayers in public, for much good generally comes from this and little or no harm, it will nevertheless act with discernment, recognizing those particular situations in out secular society in which the show of Faith, not necessary for God’s honor, will be considered excessive and out of place, and consequently not appropriate or motivated by the spiritual good of one’s neighbor.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.