That question in the title is the one being asked by Isabell Turull i Negre, sister of Jordi Turull, in a letter published this Tuesday in the newspaper Ara, addressed to "the Tarraconense Episcopal Conference and the Catalan ecclesiastical hierarchy".
The text is that of a believer who feels deserted and disappointed by the attitude of the senior Catalan Catholic clergy in relation to the political prisoners. The letter is worth reading in full (if you can read Catalan), but I think there are three points to pause over: 1. "I'm not asking you to position yourselves in favour of independence, that's not the question. I'm making a desperate call for you to, as Christians, take a stance on an injustice"; 2. "If you tell me that the Church doesn't get involved in politics, I'll tell you that in the moment it doesn't denounce the fact that a group of honest people, who have done no harm to anyone, are locked in prison, the Catholic Church is breaking its Christian principle of being on the side of the people, of those who are suffering, of its neighbours... and, as such, through its silence it becomes involved in politics"; 3. "Wasn't it Jesus who, when being asked about healing on the Sabbath, responded "What comes first: the law or people?".
And this last sentence links perfectly with a case that's underway at this very moment in the Netherlands with an Armenian family of a couple and three children. They've been living in the country as refugees for 9 years since the father had to flee his country over the death threats he'd received due to his political activism. After various legal proceedings, the government wants to deport them.
In the face of this situation, the family decided to ask for protection from different Protestant churches in The Hague. In the end, they were welcomed by Bethel church where officials decided to set up a human chain of solidarity which is SEN-SA-TIO-NAL. As the law states that the police cannot enter religious premises whilst some kind of ceremony is in progress, 300 pastors from all over the Netherlands are taking turns, 24 hours a day, so the service doesn't stop. And the family's been there since 25th October, so this Tuesday represented 40 days and 40 nights. And never better said.
Asked how and why they reached the decision, the chairman of the Dutch General Council of Protestant Ministers, Theo Hettema, gave a reply that is at once simple and yet so hard-hitting: "The request for shelter put us in an uncomfortable position because no church should have to choose between respect for human dignity and respect for government authority. But in the end, we decided to welcome the family to stay faithful to the church's faithfulness and hospitality".
Well, so today it's time to again quote that mythical philosopher Bernd Schuster, who said that thing about... "I don't need to tell you anything more". And to send the case to the Tarraconense Episcopal Conference and the Catalan ecclesiastical hierarchy so that, as another great philosopher said: "They can learn from it".