Voice of victims is voice of God

Posted By: January 12, 2022

Fr. Sean Mc Manus. President, Irish National Caucus

Letters to Editor. Irish News. Belfast.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

The Latin phrase ‘Vox populi vox Dei’ (the voice of the people is the voice of God) has its merits, but even more so has this Latin phrase: ‘Vox victimarum vox Dei’ (the voice of victims is the voice of God). Especially, now, in the context of the planned, ultimate London government collusion – amnesty for British soldiers and their political bosses.

Sure, the planned amnesty applies to others too, but we all know it’s not really about the interests of Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland – they just had to be tacked on to take the totally bad look off things. (Indeed, the entire sordid history has not even been about Wales or Scotland, never mind Ireland, only and always about England. Wales and Scotland were also just tacked on so the pompous title could be used, that of ‘Great Britain,’ to facilitate the hubris of Empire).

‘Vox victimarum vox Dei’ is particularly relevant because the Hebrew Bible reveals that God is a God of justice, who loves the poor and oppressed, and who demands their liberation: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed…”(Isaiah 10:1-2).

And the Christian New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ incarnated (made flesh) the identification of God with victimhood and God’s preferential love for the poor and our own need to side with victims and the oppressed everywhere in their struggle for justice. This is the key insight of Liberation Theology and is now an integral part of Catholic Social Teaching. Love of God, prayer, and worship, cannot be separated from love of neighbor… And love of neighbor cannot be separated from “the doing of justice” for victims, the poor, and the oppressed… because “in so far as we do it to the least of Christ’s brethren”, we do it to Him.

The proposed amnesty is collusion in plain sight – and in your face. However, it’s the victims of collusion that must be kept in plain sight. And that is exactly what the Irish National Caucus is doing in the United States Congress – and has been doing for nearly 50 years – keeping the victims of England’s collusion in plain sight, Protestants and Catholics alike.