Is death fatal?

I have just heard the following comment from a Conservative politician being interviewed on the radio. I missed her name, but she was responding to the proposal for a two step congestion charge for Manchester. The transport minister, who I think is due to make the announcement in Parliament tomorrow, represents a constituency in Greater Manchester, but outside the proposed congestion charge boundaries. Many of her constituents, however, probably work in Manchester, so could be affected by the congestion charges.

In this context, the Conservative spokeswoman said:

"The thing with political suicide is that you can live to regret it".

The radio, of course, does not let you know if the interviewer was able to keep a straight face!

International Eucharistic Congress

With now just a week to go to the opening Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, I thought I would look at this weekend's Catholic press here in England to read their coverage of this event.

Did I miss it?

Bishops, laity and politics

The following is from a recent ZENIT news report:

After being criticized by the secular media for being reticent on moral issues, the archbishop of Quebec acknowledged that the country's bishops really should speak out more.

Peter Kavanaugh of CBC radio admitted last week at the International Catholic Media Convention in Toronto of being envious of the United Kingdom, where the bishops there are willing "to actually engage in public, in the fiercest of terms, an issue that they saw as being vital to the future of the nation and the future of humanity," reported LifeSiteNews.com.

I have found it quite interesting to reflect on the role taken by the Catholic Bishops of the United Kingdom during the recent debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Over quite a long period of time, briefing material was produced on their behalf and circulated and posted on their website. Speeches were made by a number of Bishop and press statements released by them; lay Catholics were encouraged to lobby their Members of Parliament. The Bishops deep seated opposition to key points of the Bill was made clear by those four or five bishops who acted as spokesmen for the others.

Thought 1: it is quite right that the Bishops should "teach" and "give a lead" on these issues.

Thought 2: the fields of politics, and of science and technology, and of medicine could rightly be seen as areas of lay engagement, where lay Catholics take their (secular) professional expertise into action in the light of faith, so it is really up to lay people to take the lead on these sorts of issues.

There is clearly a balance to be achieved between these two thoughts, and also a reflection to be made on whether that balance was correctly and effectively achieved during the recent events surrounding the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

I think the balance of the two thoughts could be reflected in two role models. My role model for the "Thought 1" approach would be Archbishop Oscar Romero. His pastoral letters are profoundly rooted in the Magisterium of the Church, and then apply that Magisterium to the situation in El Salvador at his time. His Sunday homilies, broadcast to the nation by radio, spoke out the truth about violence and injustice that otherwise would not have been admitted or generally known. However, he incessantly called for an end to violence and for an end to injustice; and while these calls may have most often been addressed to those in Government, they were in principle equally applicable to opposition groups as well. So, I think the Bishop's role is to teach the truth of the Catholic faith, applied to the current local situation, and be willing to express judgements as to whether or not particular actions or proposed policies are in accordance with truth and justice as taught by Catholic faith.

My role model for the "Thought 2" approach is Rocco Buttiglione. He was proposed by Italy as a commisioner for the European Union in 2004 (I think!). At a pre-appointment hearing, he was put on the spot about the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality, since he had been nominated for the Commission portfolio that would have included equalities issues. As result of making a very cautious and carefully expressed statement of that teaching and refusing to deny that it was what he believed (but at the same time clearly defending the principle of non-discrimination in public life, which is what mattered to his holding public office), Rocco Buttiglione became the subject of considerable public criticism. Eventually, the withdrawal of his nomination as a European commisioner was forced on Italy. What is of interest here (and, I suspect, in other areas of Rocco Buttiglione's political and academic career too) is that, as a lay person, in the area of his own professional expertise and experience, he made a stand for a point of Catholic teaching that cost him a prestigious politcal appointment. For me, Rocco Buttiglione is the outstanding contemporary lay witness to Catholic teaching on homosexuality. So, I think the lay person's role is to use their professional expertise to judge when and how to act in witness to the content of Catholic teaching, and to do this on their own initiative and not just at the direction of the Bishops.

To evaluate the recent approach by the Catholic Church towards the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, we can perhaps ask some questions.

Question 1: Did the Bishops do more than teach the content of faith and apply it in making known their judgements as to whether the provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill were compatible with truth and justice as expressed in Catholic teaching? Did the Bishops engage in a politcal campaign that might have more appropriately been led by lay people?

Question 2: Did Catholic politicians, particularly Cabinet members, really
act in witness to the judgements expressed by the Bishops and rooted in Catholic teaching? Or did they fudge it? Did other lay Catholics really run with political and media campaign that was properly theirs, rather than relying on the public stance of the Bishops?

On a more personal note that reflect this discussion, I was a Parliamentary candidate for the ProLife Alliance during the 1997 General Election (a fascinating experience which taught me a lot about the electoral process). At the time, my parish priest received some criticism from others for not coming out in support of my candidature. But it had never occurred to me that he should (or could) endorse the particular approach to pro-life politics represented at that election by the ProLife Alliance. I considered it to be up to me a as a lay person to make the decision about what I was doing and how I was going to translate pro-life principles into political action. If I recall correctly, not everyone who was pro-life thought that the ProLife Alliance activity at that election was appropriate, and it clearly had great potential for mishap.

Uncle's Taxi (or why there has been a slight hiatus in posting)

Imagine six children and two parents, and try to work out the number of possible permutations of different locations for this "six plus two", bearing in mind that at any one time (generally speaking), every one of the "six" must always be accompanied by one of the "two".

Then imagine football training, after school athletics, three rehearsals at Church for a first Communion Mass, cub camp (drop off at), scout hike (drop off at), travel to and from three different schools, a birthday for one of the "six" .... all within 24 hours of each other.

I have spent the last couple of days helping out by being "uncle's taxi" ....

(The birthday was solved by blowing out the candles and eating the cake after breakfast).

Catholic renewal in Canada

As the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec approaches (less than two weeks now!), ZENIT are carrying a report of Catholic renewal in Canada.

The report outlines how the Eucharistic Congress has come to be held in Quebec, suggesting an interesting openess of the civil authorities in Quebec to recognising the Catholic basis of the city's history and culture.

Another interesting aspect of the report is the reference to the annual gatherings of Canadian young people, which have been a key feature of the preparation for the Eucharistic Congress. This issued in the journey of the Ark of the New Covenant to which I referred here.

There is also an account of an interesting initiative in priestly formation, which involves seminarians living in community in a parish while they undertake their academic studies at a nearby seminary. It is based on a new community, established as a society of apostolic life of diocesan right.

And, if you read down the ZENIT report, you will find an account of how a group of homeschooling families came to establish a Catholic college to provide a Catholic alternative to the secularising influences of the education system.

Lourdes part 5: reflections on the meaning of art

A feature of the 150th anniversary year in Lourdes has been the completion of a number of projects that might be described as works of "art" as well as being works of devotion. I think of the new mosaics on the facade of the Rosary Basilica and of the completion of the new Stations of the Cross on the prairie; also the publication of a book like Alina Reyes La jeune fille et la Vierge.

This prompts a reflection on what it is that constitutes a genuine work or art.

The mosaics of the Mysteries of Light on the Rosary Basilica were designed by a priest of Slovenian origin, Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.

For Father Rupnik a prayerful atmosphere is both a way of life and creativity, which he shares with his team of some fifteen artists and technicians from the Centre Aletti (in Rome): "We pray in eight languages according to seven different Churches. For me, the testimony of prayer is to be found in charity. If I see that the artists get on together, that we help one another, that there is true cohesion, then I am convinced taht God is here in our midst. ... Every day during Mass, we all offer our work through the bread and wine of the Eucharist so that the project and our labour remain united to Christ. We are only poor artists, but we are also perfectly aware that everything we do can contribute to creating a meeting between Man and God. This is the reason why we pay so much attention to the faces and the gaze of our figures. An exchange must be possible."[Lourdes Magazine January-February 2008]

The new Stations of the Cross for the sick were implemented in white Carrera marble by a sculptor called Maria de Faykod, over a five year period stretching from February 2003 to February 2008. The sculptor has also written the meditations published in a booklet, along with striking photographs of each of the new Stations of the Cross. To the traditional fourteen stations, Maria has added three new stations so that the complete work becomes a Way of the Cross and a Way of the Resurrection. These new stations are those of Mary awaiting the Resurrection, the Resurrection of Jesus itself and the Theophany of the Resurrected Christ to the Disciples of Emmaus (Transubstantiation). In his introduction to the booklet of meditations, the Rector of the Shrine at Lourdes writes:

The Church has always liked and encouraged artists. They are the people, in fact, to whom Heaven has given a sixth sense to express that which is deepest in man. Only artists are capable of allowing us to sense the real meaning of the human soul. ... We know that the Ancients used to say that Beauty is the splendour of Truth, and that Beauty, Truth, and Goodness, are in constant dialogue with each other. This can be seen in all its fullness in this Way of the Cross. It is founded on the truth of the Gospel writings and the Tradition of the Church. It is beautiful, and because of this it touches our deepest emotions. Let us not be mistaken however, its beauty is not solely limited to the aesthetics of its perfectly executed forms. This Way of the Cross is mysteriously inhabited by a Presence, traversed by a powerful Breath from one end to the other, which raises us up and carries us very high and very far ...

Alina Reyes book was one of the main books promoted at a book fair held in Lourdes in February 2008. The author's encounter, not so much with Lourdes as with Bernadette, came at a difficult time in her life (I have yet to get hold of and read the novel Foret profonde which describes this), and she attributes to it her return to life. Talking about the event of the apparitions of Lourdes, Alina Reyes says:

I tried to show the literary dimension of this event, and what strikes me is its resemblance to the beginning of Genesis. "God said ... And there was light". The word of God is a light; this is what is happening in Lourdes. The word which Bernadette transmitted to the world testifies to this "light", as she says at the beginning, which appeared to her in the "darkness" of the grotto. [Lourdes Magazine April-May 2008]

Alina Reyes writes of Lourdes as a "whole place that speaks", so that we can see the word spoken through the apparitions is the same as the word spoken by the surrounding mountains. She also speaks of the Lady who appears as expressing the possibility that there is an original purity in creation that can be rediscovered in the Immaculate and that we can rediscover in ourselves.

All of these artists, in quite different ways (and in the case of Alina Reyes, in a way which is less clearly a manifestation of Catholic faith and rather an expression of an encounter with Bernadette), show something of the interiority of human life, the spiritual dimension of creation, the permanent and the essential that live in the physical forms of our lives. Ultimately it should be seen as expressing the life of grace that moves and heals - and that is what makes their works to be works of art.

Interreligious Dialogue - a risk or an opportunity?

This is the title of an article by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. It is adapted from a lecture, with the same title, that Cardinal Tauran gave at Heythrop College on 27th May 2008. The article can be found at Thinking Faith, the on-line journal of the British Jesuits and the text of the lecture can be found on the website of the English and Welsh Bishops Conference.

I would recommend the article for study. It contains a careful articulation of what constitutes authentic dialogue and, though its context is most immediately interreligious dialogue, its thinking on this could be extended to dialogue between religions and non-believers.

What is dialogue? It is the search for an inter-understanding between two individuals with a view to a common interpretation of their agreement or their disagreement. It implies a common language, honesty in the presentation of one's position and the desire to do one's utmost to understand the other's point of view .... Each religion has its own identity but this identity enables me to take the religion of the other into consideration. It is from this that dialogue is born. Identity, otherness and dialogue go together.

And, in a very nice phrase, Cardinal Tauran says:

But be careful: we do not say "all religions are of equal value". We say "All those in search of God have equal dignity".

The situation of Marriage Care (see post of yesterday) and of some Catholic Childrens Societies responding to equalities legislation seems to raise the question of whether or not their kind of "arms length" relationship to the Church represents a genuine form of dialogue between the Church and secular society. A similar question arises from the position of non-Catholic students following courses at Catholic schools or colleges.

I think what I am trying to suggest in this post is that all these situations should be seen as examples of where the Church is in dialogue with society. The evaluation of particular forms of activity should then be undertaken using an idea of what constitutes authentic dialogue. Cardinal Tauran's article provides useful principles for what this authentic dialogue is.