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I, however, call on our Christians as individuals and as communities to open their eyes to the needs of their neighbours

4.2 Lexical choices for thetheme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church

4.2.2 Antonyms

Antonyms, in addition to loyalty-related words, are also used to convey the theme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church. They constitute 14.6% of the total frequency of loyalty-related lexical forms. Text 16 below is an example of the use of antonyms to convey the theme of loyalty in the bishops‘ letters:

Text 16:

We must be very careful in these days of explosion of preachers and teachers to know and hold tenaciously the true doctrines and reject the false ones being spread with frenzied zeal (FFF, p.38)

The antonymous pairs in the above text are hold and reject, true and false. To hold something especially a belief, which is the case here, means to stand on it with conviction. What is held onto is usually considered to be the truth by the person holding onto it. On the other hand, to reject something means not to accept or approve of, probably because it is considered not to be genuine. The polarity created here is between the Catholic doctrines and non-Catholic doctrines. The former are to be held onto because they are true, while the latter are to be rejected because they are false. Through the contrasts created by the choice of these antonyms, the bishop foregrounds the theme of loyalty to the Catholic faith. The antonyms occur in the context of the bishop‘s warning to the faithful against contrary doctrines. These are seen as posing dangers to their Catholic faith.

Furthermore, in text 17, the antonyms un-Catholic and Catholic, catholic and protestant are deployed to foreground the theme of loyalty to the Catholic faith:

Text 17:

We are not surprised when we see characters that are uncatholic and prayer attitudes that are strange to Catholic ways in our parishes today. Unfortunately, these distracted brothers and sisters of ours are often neither

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good in their catholic doctrines and pieties nor better in the protestant prayer cultures. (OEO, p.19)

The antonyms Catholic-uncatholic and catholic-protestant in text 20 are all adjectives. The first pair of antonyms is used to describe the Roman Catholic faithful whose activities are not according to the ways of the Roman Catholic Church. In other words they are catholic by appellation, but non-Catholic by behaviour. The second pair is a repetition of the first pair of antonyms but with modification. The word uncatholic is now specified as protestant. Both describe the doctrines and cultures now found in the lives of those faithful, presenting them as neither fully Catholic nor fully protestant. The antonyms are used to portray this dilemma in their character as a mark of disloyalty to the Catholic faith. The faithful are enjoined to shun anti-Catholic behaviours.

Text 18 provides another example of the use of antonyms to develop the theme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church:

Text 18:

You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true. You must follow the narrow way of the cross and ignore the expressway of quick and total solution to all problems in your life offered by those who sell Jesus Christ at a discount! (WWF,,p.66)

The antonyms deployed here are follow-ignore, narrow-express, the cross-quick and total solution to all problems. The Roman Catholic doctrine is presented as what has been taught and known to be true, the narrow way of the cross, which should be embraced. The narrowway is an allusion to the Bible where Christ admonishes his listeners to enter through the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. By analogy, the Catholic doctrine is presented as the narrow way that leads to eternal life and so should be followed, even though it may involve suffering and difficulties. Non-Catholic doctrine, believed to be false, is on the other hand presented as an expressway that leads to destruction, and should be ignored, even though it holds some attractions. The essence of these antonyms is to draw a polarity between Catholic faith and non-Catholic faith and emphasize the need to remain loyal to the Catholic faith.

85 4.2.3 Lexical Repetitions

Lexical items are also repeated in the bishops‘ letters to communicate the theme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith. They make up 10.8% per cent of the total frequency of loyalty-related lexical choices in the letters. The use of lexical repetitions in relation to the theme of loyalty is exemplified by text 19 below:

Text 19:

…the Catholic Church does not teach according to the popular opinion or expectations! TheCatholic Church teaches and holds strongly to what has been handed on to her by God through Jesus Christ and the Apostles.(FFF, p.91)

In text 19, the noun phrase the Catholic Church is repeated two times as the subject of the two sentences in the text, the first sentence being negative and the second positive. The essence of the repetition is to lay emphasis on the Church as the true Church of God, a Church that is of divine origin, whose teachings are handed from God. The Church is presented as unique and superior to other Churches as its teachings are of divine origin, unlike those of other Churches.

This may smack of pride, but the intention is to get the faithful to become proud of the Catholic faith and remain loyal to it. The repetition of the phrase the Catholic Church conveys this theme of loyalty to the Catholic faith.

Another instance of the use of lexical repetition to foreground the theme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith is seen in the words Catholic and faith in text 20:

Text 20:

A Catholic who rejects or doubts a Catholic doctrine proposed to be believed with divine and Catholic faith or teaches a doctrine contrary to the Catholic faith, especially a dogma fidei, a dogmatic expression of faith is endangering his or her communion with the Catholic Church through heresy. (WWF, p.33)

Here, Catholic is repeated five times. In its first occurrence, it is used as a noun referring to an adherent of the Catholic faith. In its repeated occurrences it is used as an adjective qualifying doctrine, faith, and Church. The essence of the repetition is to emphasize adherence to the Catholic teachings as a necessary part of communion with the Church. In other words, loyalty

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to the teachings of the Church is a prerequisite for communion with the Church. Lack of such loyalty incurs the punishment of excommunication from the Church. This is meant to alert the faithful on the danger inherent in non-adherence to the Church‘s doctrine.

Furthermore, the theme of loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith is communicated through the repetition of the word faith in text 21:

Text 21:

This is the Church of our faith, of the faith of the Apostles, of the faith of our Fathers, the faith of the Holy Catholic Church. (FFF, p.17)

Faith is repeated four times in text 21. There is a progression from our faith, through the faith of the Apostles, the faith of our Fathers to the faith of the Holy Catholic Church. It shows that the Catholic faith is an inherited faith, and as such it has a tradition which should be maintained. It is inherited from the Apostles of Jesus Christ and so follows Apostolic tradition.

This is the point being made by the bishop through the four-time repetition of the word faith.

His intention is to convince the faithful of the divine origin of the Catholic Church so as to make them see the Catholic faith as the one and only true faith to identify with.