When the US Supreme Court overturned its earlier decision on abortion on June 24th, American Catholics were deeply divided in their opinions. Many claimed this as a victory while others called the decision a regression.

Despite efforts to nuance their statements, American bishops were equally divided. Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore released a laudatory statement about this “historic day” while US Cardinals were more cautions, emphasizing how “this ruling is not the end of a journey, but rather a fresh start.”

Meanwhile, Catholics around the world have watched the American religious-political scene with wonder. How American Catholics can be so polarized and radical? Why is abortion such a divisive issue when gun violence attracts little attention? To what extent shall the universal Church follow this kind of cultural war?

Quoting EvangeliiGaudium (The Joy of Gospel), the 2013 apostolic exhortation, the pope affirms that a temptation in the Church “leads to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyses and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.”

On top of that, the Holy See has reiterated how the protection of life requires a holistic approach which includes attention to migrants, children killed during mass shootings, and abandoned elderly people, as well as a real commitment to peace and dialogue.

In other words, our modern societies have many ways to deny human dignity and kill the children of God. One tree should not hide the forest. While abortion remains intrinsically evil, the Vatican invites Catholics to not follow too quickly a certain American example that some media, lobbies and political organizations advertise ad nauseam.

During an academic workshop that I convened at the National University of Singapore on Catholicism, Family, and Asian Societies, abortion was barely mentioned. The eighteen scholars who presented their research over three days suggested that other issues are more pressing for Asian Catholics.

The most recurrent topic was inter-faith marriage. On a continent marked by a tremendous religious diversity — which is both a blessing and a challenge — having a relative marrying with a non-Catholic is not easy. Even though Canon Law allows it, Catholic families and clergymen are cautious. Often, they worry about not seeing the faith of their ancestors being shared with the next generations.

In some regions where Catholic families have rituals involving the sacrifice of pigs and other practices that Muslims or Hindus would not attend, they fear not being able to gather their extended family. Religious difference makes family life more challenging. Yet, when an inter-faith marriage occurs, it is usually the arrival of a child that paves the way for a renewed proximity.

Nonetheless, scholars indicate that despite inter-faith marriages, Catholics do not have unilateral, legalist and one-size-fits-all answers. In changing Asian societies, Catholics avoid the path of cultural war.

The workshop also highlighted the dynamic and mutually transformative relationship that exists between Asian families and Catholic clergy. They both support, shape and transform each other. This highlights how Catholic “families” and “clergy” are not something fixed. Real families are not limited to a set of universal and timeless rules reinforced by Church authorities. As families are something in perpetual construction, a project to move forward, religious congregations and diocesan clergy are also evolving. Journeying together, married and consecrated people inspire each other to adjust — and sometimes change — the ways in which marriage or consecrated celibacy are lived.

The third takeaway from our workshop was the importance of the larger family. For Asian Catholic families, kinship is not limited to a couple and its children. What makes a family work is the broader society that shapes and guides it. Either through the importance of material subsistence, the cultural weight of caste and ethnic identity, as well as social obligations brought by other religious traditions, making a family Catholic is not something up to a few individuals or rules but a much broader transformative process.

In short, when it comes to family and socio-cultural issues, one cannot assume that all Catholics are necessarily as legalist and polarizing as some Americans are. The intense media coverage of the American abortion row is unwarranted. Because the American cultural war over abortion does not represent Catholicism in its entirety. It even puts many Catholics at the risk of being misunderstood. As we see across Asia, or hear from Rome, Catholicism is committed to peaceful coexistence, cultural adjustment, and constructive dialogue.

Michel Chambon, UCA News