Fr Christopher O'Donnell O.Carm: the relevance of St Therese today

On Thursday of this week I was able to hear a lecture by Fr Christopher O'Donnell O.Carm about St Therese of Lisieux. His title on the publicity for the lecture was "The Challenge of St Therese: Thoughts on the visit of her relics to England", but I think it is better to think of it as being about how she is still very relevant in the world of today. The title Fr O'Donnell used on his handout was: "A saint for our world: St Therese of Lisieux and contemporary spirituality".

The most interesting aspect of Fr O'Donnell's lecture was that it took Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate, and suggested that the teaching and charism of St Therese can be seen in the teaching of the encyclical. This is a rather cute idea in itself, but it has an added power in that it establishes a very profound relevance of an enclosed nun whose life was dedicated directly and immediately to union with God to the life of Christians in a world today that is largely characterised by an absence of belief in God. As Fr O'Donnell expressed it, where Caritas in Veritate urges the necessity of a spirituality in the response to the economic and social problems of our time, St Therese provides an example of a person whose whole life could be defined as spirituality. [Aside: the use of a terminology of "spirituality" was not, I suspect, entirely felicitous. Pope Benedict does, I think, refer to the need for an acknowledgement of God and of the eternal destiny of man in the search for the solutions to the problems of the world today.]

One can perhaps point out two aspects of St Therese teaching that are apparent in Caritas in Veritate. Fr O'Donnell briefly referred to the word "truth" in St Therese's writing, saying that is is not very frequent but that its occurrences are very significant. Just hours before her death, for example, Therese said: "Yes it seems to me I never sought anything but the truth". Jean Guitton also identifies truth, "a sense of reality", as one of seven key terms needed to understand the spiritual genius of St Therese.

Another aspect can be recognised in the term "gratuitousness" as it is used by Pope Benedict in Caritas et Veritate. In his talk, Fr O'Donnell did, I think, use the term "spirituality" as a kind of short hand to cover this, so it was not perhaps as explicit as I am now about to make it. Particularly in discussing different economic entities, Pope Benedict urges that the role of "gratuitousness" and "solidarity":

When both the logic of the market and the logic of the State come to an agreement that each will continue to exercise a monopoly over its respective area of influence, in the long term much is lost: solidarity in relations between citizens, participation and adherence, actions of gratuitousness, all of which stand in contrast with giving in order to acquire (the logic of exchange) and giving through duty (the logic of public obligation, imposed by State law). In order to defeat underdevelopment, action is required not only on improving exchange-based transactions and implanting public welfare structures, but above all on gradually increasing openness, in a world context, to forms of economic activity marked by quotas of gratuitousness and communion. The exclusively binary model of market-plus-State is corrosive of society, while economic forms based on solidarity, which find their natural home in civil society without being restricted to it, build up society. The market of gratuitousness does not exist, and attitudes of gratuitousness cannot be established by law. Yet both the market and politics need individuals who are open to reciprocal gift.

Interestingly, this urging of the place of love can also be found in Pope Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (n.28 ff), where the context is that of love as agape, as commitment to the good of the other, lived out by the Christian who has first received love from the Incarnate Word.

A major element of St Therese's teaching is that of her confidence in the merciful love of God. When she makes an offering of herself to God it is not an offering to His Justice or punishment of some form; instead she asks to be a burnt offering immolated by His Merciful Love. She can have a complete confidence in the merciful love of God because she recognises its gratuitousness, the fact that it is given first and that we are then called to live it out in our acts of love. This recognition of its gratuitousness also removes the pressure on us to undertake great acts of love - little acts are sufficient because of the greatness of the love that God has first had for us. And so we arrive at a "little way" towards God.

So, taking my cue from Fr O'Donnell, I would argue that there is a complete affinity between the gratuitousness that Pope Benedict sees in the freely given love that God first has for us (Deus Caritas Est) and in the love=gratuitousness that needs to have its place in public and economic life today (Caritas in Veritate) and the confidence that we can have in the merciful love of God for us and our living of that love in the small acts of the "little way" (St Therese).

Therese, a hidden contemplative, teaches a doctrine utterly relevant to a contemporary life lived in the world.

The Tablet argues for the relevance of St Therese

Joanna Moorhead's article in the Tablet has attracted comment here and, less charitably, here (though to be fair to both bloggers there is a link to the Tablet so that you can read the full article: The real Therese).

Now the "house style" for the Tablet does make for very frustrating reading. It seems to be compulsory to write with a sense of superiority, an appearance of sophistication and intellectual stature that, when you get to the end of the last paragraph, leaves you wondering what the writer has actually said of substance. Have they said X (quote from paragraph 2 or 3 says it) or have they said Y (which a quote from paragraph 7 or 8 says they said, but which seems to be at odds with X)? Or have they just done some deliberate playing of one person off against another?

It is a style of writing that lends itself to other commenters headlining one sentence, and giving the impression that that one sentence expresses the whole of the article. Particularly if the Tablet is being seen as a target at which stones must regularly be thrown.

There are some questions of accuracy about Joanna's article. What she says about the attitude of previous Archbishop's of Westminster with regard to a visit of the relics of St Therese might well be largely speculation; as saints go, "long dead" is not the best descriptor to apply to St Therese as she is, relatively speaking for saints, recently dead; and, from what I can see of the preparations for the visit, there is an expectation of a very significant manifestation of Catholic faith during the coming month.

But, to play the game of taking sentences from the article to make a point, let me offer these two:

Behind the myths about her lies an impressive woman who still resonates with the contemporary age.

Strip away the hagiography, and against the odds there’s someone surprisingly real, and surprisingly relevant, lurking underneath.

See my post here to gain some idea of the relevance of Therese today.

Pope Benedict XVI stresses religious dimension of ecology

ZENIT report the meeting of Pope Benedict with sponsors of the Holy See's pavilion at an international exposition on "Water and Sustainable Development", held in Spain last year.

"The truth is that when God, through creation, gave man the keys to the earth, he wanted him to use this great gift responsibly and respectfully, making it fruitful."

"The human being discovers the intrinsic value of nature if he learns to see it for what it really is, the expression of a plan of love and truth that speaks to us of the Creator and of his love for humanity, which will find its fulfillment in Christ, at the end of time," the Pontiff affirmed.

Venice Film Festival: Lourdes

A short piece in the arts pages of The Times today has put me on to the film Lourdes, featuring at the Venice Film Festival:

Best-received film
Lourdes has met with universal support and deservedly so - the film is exquisite, blending a sardonic humour with compassionate humanism. Sylvie Testud is outstanding as the wheelchair-bound MS sufferer who regains the use of her limbs after a pilgrimage.

The Times also reports that "The strongest contender for the top prize however is Jessica Hausner's brilliant Lourdes." The film is in French.

Here are some links to presentations and reviews of the film:

In Italian: http://dailymotion.virgilio.it/video/xae4wm_venezia-2009-lourdes_shortfilms (includes brief interview with Jessica Hausner, the film's producer).
In English: http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/films/cinema_europa/438, http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940948.html?categoryid=31&cs=1.

From reading these presentations and reviews, it appears that one can read the film in different ways, perhaps depending on the point of view from which you come to it.

An opportunity to view the film in London is provided by the London Film Festival, where it will be shown on 17th and 20th October. I think it is also featuring at the Toronto Film Festival.

There is at present a paucity of material about the film on the web - but that might change should the film be awarded the top prize on Saturday evening!

Tony Blair in Rimini: what is "Faith"?

In his address to the 30th Rimini meeting, Tony Blair speaks of "faith" in a way that has now become customary in public discourse but which has a certain novelty when compared to the way in which the word is used in religious discourse: "Faith", "people of Faith", "the world of Faith", "Faith communities". Interestingly, there is a passage in Tony Blair's address which removes a possible indifferentist understanding of this term (though one could ask whether it treats the different Christian denominations indifferently):

In my foundation - dedicated to respect and understanding between the religious Faiths - I always say clearly: I am and remain a Christian, seeking salvation thru our Lord, Jesus Christ. Globalisation may push people of different Faiths together. But it does not mean we all become of one, lowest common denominator, belief. We are together but retain our distinctive Faith. We respect each other. We are not the same as each other. However, we work together.

The use of the term "Faith" in this sort of way has a certain ambivalence. By the word "Faith" do we refer to the act of believing in certain things, generally seen as religious? Or are we referring to a body of belief, referring therefore to what it is that is believed? In the first of these, the use of the word is essentially undifferentiated in referring to people of widely differing religious beliefs, or indeed, to people whose beliefs might be loosely spiritual but in essence not religious at all. In the second case, the use of the word is still often undifferentiated - but it should not be so. Clearly the different religions have beliefs that differ greatly, so to refer to them under the one word heading "Faith" is to suggest an identity of content that is not fair to the religions themselves. It is to treat religions as a secular phenomenon (a secularist is not going to recognise differences between religious beliefs as being of importance, but simply to put them together as different manifestations of the same phenomenon); and to be fair to religions they need to be treated as religious phenomena. There needs to be an explicit recognition of their supernatural character.

To return to the first of these ways of using the word "Faith", the undifferentiated use may not even be justified here. It is not the case that "Faith" seen as the act of believing is understood in the same way by different religions - the difference in the what is believed has a reflexive kind of effect on the act of believing itself, and how that act is understood.

According to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we can understand both faith as an act of believing (n.28) and faith as referring to what it is that is believed (n.32) - my emphasis added:

28. What are the characteristics of faith?
Faith is the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. It is a free gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek it. The act of faith is a human act, that
is, an act of the intellect of a person - prompted by the will moved by God - who freely assents to divine truth. Faith is also certain because it is founded on the Word of God; it works “through charity” (Galatians 5:6); and it continually grows through listening to the Word of God and through prayer. It is, even now, a foretaste of the joys of heaven.

32. In what way is the faith of the Church one faith alone?
The Church, although made up of persons who have diverse languages, cultures, and rites, nonetheless professes with a united voice the one faith that was received from
the one Lord and that was passed on by the one Apostolic Tradition. She confesses one God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and points to one way of salvation. Therefore we believe with one heart and one soul all that is contained in the Word of God, handed down or written, and which is proposed by the Church as divinely revealed.

There is a certain contradiction between Tony Blair's assertion of his Christian faith, as cited above, particularly if we imply that as referring to Roman Catholic belief, and his continued use of the term "Faith" in an undifferentiated way. There are also curious references in his address to "our Faith" and "our Church", into which it might be possible to read to much, but which would not be out of place in a secularised understanding of religious believing.

Towards the end of his address, Tony Blair offers what might be seen as his definition of what faith is. He refers to the role of Faith as representing God's Truth to the world, "Faith as the salvation of the human condition ... Faith as purpose in life. Faith, not as a mystery we seek to solve; but Faith as a mystery which expresses the limitations of the human mind". One can see something of the Compendium's description of faith as a full surrender of ourselves to God (n.25), but again, perhaps not. And Tony Blair's appeal for the voice of the Church to be heard in the world contains a persisting sense of the ambivalence of the usage of the word "Faith":

That is why the voice of the Church should be heard. That is why it should speak confidently, clearly and openly. Because within any nation and beyond it, in the community of nations, the voice of Faith needs to be and must be heard.

The Economy of Communion in "Caritas in Veritate"

A section of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate (nn.34-42) is devoted to development in the economic order, and the question is taken up again in the chapter on "The Development of People" (nn.45-47). If one wants to focus on two key terms to understanding the teaching of Pope Benedict, those terms would be "civil society" and "gratuitousness". Rather than just treating of an economic system that has two players, often seen as being in conflict with each other, namely private enterprise and the State, he argues that there is a range of organisations that sit between these two, the realm of "civil society". This he sees as being the ideal area for the operation of businesses that have not only a profit motive but a genuine interest in the welfare of all those who are stakeholders in the business - owners, employees, other businesses that form part of their supply chain or purchase their goods. This genuine interest is "gratuitous" - to be effective, it cannot be just the product of legal ordinance (the State) or just the product of a profit motive (private enterprise). One element of this exercise of businesses in civil society is the existence of businesses that are "not-for-profit", but Pope Benedict points out that other models exist too.

When we consider the issues involved in the relationship between business and ethics, as well as the evolution currently taking place in methods of production, it would appear that the traditionally valid distinction between profit-based companies and non-profit organizations can no longer do full justice to reality, or offer practical direction for the future. In recent decades a broad intermediate area has emerged between the two types of enterprise. It is made up of traditional companies which nonetheless subscribe to social aid agreements in support of underdeveloped countries, charitable foundations associated with individual companies, groups of companies oriented towards social welfare, and the diversified world of the so-called “civil economy” and the “economy of communion”. This is not merely a matter of a “third sector”, but of a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends. Whether such companies distribute dividends or not, whether their juridical structure corresponds to one or other of the established forms, becomes secondary in relation to their willingness to view profit as a means of achieving the goal of a more humane market and society. It is to be hoped that these new kinds of enterprise will succeed in finding a suitable juridical and fiscal structure in every country. Without prejudice to the importance and the economic and social benefits of the more traditional forms of business, they steer the system towards a clearer and more complete assumption of duties on the part of economic subjects. And not only that. The very plurality of institutional forms of business gives rise to a market which is not only more civilized but also more competitive. [Caritas in Veritate n.46]

The phrase "economy of communion", used by Pope Benedict XVI, is also the name of an initiative of the Focolare Movement in the area of economics. This initiative comprises some 750 organisations world wide, who deploy the profits of their business in three ways. The first part is ploughed back in to the business to help it grow and to maintain its strength. The second part is used to promote the idea of the "economy of communion" through conferences and training that encourages others to engage in this type of activity (or, I think, it can be used to support other businesses that are at the time less successful). And the third part goes directly to the poor, to help with basic needs: food, shelter, education and health care.

One of the essential aspects of this "economy of communion", though, is that those who at one time might receive from the more successful businesses are seen as full partners making an equivalent contribution to communion. This is "gratuitousness" lived in its fullest sense.

To read a fuller account of the "economy of communion", look at this two part interview at ZENIT: part one, part two. This is the home page for the Economy of Communion initiative.

Two Trips: or to the cliffs and to the docks

Saturday: after parking the car at Beachy Head, Zero and I walked along the cliff top to Birling Gap, and then back again across the fields. A cool breeze but beautiful sunshine.

First, the view at Birling Gap as we sat eating our lunch:




The light house at Beachy Head:

Wind swept on the cliff tops:

This evening: I joined a vigil outside the Excel Exhibition Centre in London, on the eve of the Defence Systems and Equipment International exhibition. The exhibition is hosted by Excel every other year, and each time this evening vigil is organised by local religious communities. It is intended to witness on behalf of and in solidarity with those who are victims of the weapons that are marketed at fairs such as DSEi. We simply stood in silence for one hour, at the entrance steps to the exhibition centre as it went dark. This is very moving, particularly as the last exhibitors are coming and going as they finish setting up for the next day, and then return to their nearby hotels.

The group of about forty assembling, and forming into a circle for our one hour vigil:

The memorial to dock workers, only recently unveiled/opened at the entrance to the Excel Centre (this is at the heart of the former London docks):


The moon, taken as I arrived home:

UPDATE: Brentwood Diocese has a report of this vigil on their website: here.