In at least two different places in his diary (I haven't finished reading it yet, so there might be others as well) Henri Nouwen comments on events taking place in other parts of the world. He writes with feeling of events in Chile and Africa, and about testimonies to persecution and to shortages of basic foods in these distant parts of the world. The depth of feeling with which Fr Nouwen writes makes an impression on the reader.
For the monk, more than for the lay person, there might be the sense that events such as these are "distant". It is easy to see them as not being something we should worry about; instead we should focus on our own lives, and the fulfilling of God's will in our own lives.
When discussing the question raised by this, it is easy to play these two polarities off against each other. In the Christian life, this might be expressed by a tendency to let one's commitment to "the third world" provide a gloss over things that are wrong in our immediate living of Christian life in our own circumstances. The dichotomy is one that isn't as apparent now as it was perhaps in the 1960's and 1970's.
An authentic Christian response is a "both-and" rather than an "either-or". Perhaps primarily, we should focus on living in our own, immediate circumstances. The challenges that this presents to us represent the vocation that, in the providence of God, is our particular one. Our first call, then, is to answer that vocation, and so achieve a fruitfulness in the Christian life. However, this does not mean that we should exclude that part of Christian living that might be expressed by the word "solidarity".
If we understand the monastic life as Christian living taken to its most radical form, and so see it as a model for all Christian living, it can teach us the lesson of this "both-and" very well. The monk is confined to one place - the monastery - which prompts the focus on living the Christian life in the place where he finds himself. But, at the same time, the monk can be extraordinarily well informed about what is going on in the wider world. Which opens up to the monk the possibilities of solidarity in his prayer and penance.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Advance notice: World Day for the Sick 11th February 2010
On the Feast of Christ the King, in November 2009, Pope Benedict's message for the 2010 World Day for the Sick was released. The international celebration of the Day is this year taking place at the Vatican Basilica. No particular theme appears to be identified for this year's Day. The Day does coincide with the 25th anniversary of the establishing by Pope John Paul II of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral of Health Care.
Unfortunately, the Pontifical Council does not have a terribly well organised presence on the World Wide Web. It is not, therefore, a surprise that its work is not well known - even among priests who are hospital chaplains! Summarising the activity of the Council:
1. Organising an annual conference, usually held in Rome and dedicated to a theme within the health care field. This usually takes place in November each year - the 2009 Conference was devoted to the care of those who are deaf. The conferences are multi-disciplinary in their scope - looking at the clinical/medical aspects, ethical and theological aspects, the pastoral aspects and aspects of ecumenical/inter-religious dialogue.
2. The Pontifical Council normally leads in the celebration of the World Day for the Sick.
3. The Pontifical Council publishes a journal, Dolentium Hominum, in French, English and Spanish. The journal publishes the papers from the annual conference, and from other occasional events.
Unfortunately, the Pontifical Council does not have a terribly well organised presence on the World Wide Web. It is not, therefore, a surprise that its work is not well known - even among priests who are hospital chaplains! Summarising the activity of the Council:
1. Organising an annual conference, usually held in Rome and dedicated to a theme within the health care field. This usually takes place in November each year - the 2009 Conference was devoted to the care of those who are deaf. The conferences are multi-disciplinary in their scope - looking at the clinical/medical aspects, ethical and theological aspects, the pastoral aspects and aspects of ecumenical/inter-religious dialogue.
2. The Pontifical Council normally leads in the celebration of the World Day for the Sick.
3. The Pontifical Council publishes a journal, Dolentium Hominum, in French, English and Spanish. The journal publishes the papers from the annual conference, and from other occasional events.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
A portion of Isaiah
I had reason yesterday to visit some patients in the hospital near where I live (actually, I can see the hospital from my back windows). This is the passage of Scripture that I shared with a couple of the Christian patients I met. It is Isaiah 58:8-9a, and I chose it becaue of its appropriateness to the Advent/Christmas season.
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your protection. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.Another passage that I sometimes use is the following, from Revelation 22:1-2, a passage to be found almost at the very end of the New Testament:
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.There is a stained glass window in the hospital chapel which shows the leaves of the tree of life, which is why I use this passage.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Seriously single
A few days ago, I ranted over single person households being described as "family", in a rather non-discriminating use of the term "family": Redefining the Family.
I was therefore interested to read this post about being Seriously Single, and the original post of the same title from which it took its cue.
One of the points I noted from the first of these posts is the idea that, if you are living a single life, you should not try to live it as a kind of scaled down family life. Or, in practical terms, set up your house to suit yourself, or at least to fit in with your lifestyle. It's OK not to have a television if you don't watch television; and its OK to only have in the cupboards the food that you actually like!
Another interesting thought was that contained in the quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cited in both posts. This thought was the one that families could show a welcome and hospitality towards single people - a ministry of hospitality, if you like. By implication, singles could show a ministry of hospitality and accompaniment towards each other, sharing holidays and days out. Of course, what never quite works is a special "singles club" ... This kind of hospitality/fellowship needs to be spontaneous and, one might say, in the best sense, charismatic.
Being single, though, does have its amusing, or perhaps ironic, moments.
Like having Hero choosing the fleece you buy in the sales on Kensington High Street. Or carefully trying to negotiate whether to go to Points of View at the British Library, or on religious picture trail at the National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery .... and after goint to Points of View (and being disappointed by it, as it wasn't at all what either of us had expected), because you thought that was "first" on the other person's list .... you realise that it was the religious picture trail that was really what the other person wanted to do. Now, what happened to those communication skills ....
I was therefore interested to read this post about being Seriously Single, and the original post of the same title from which it took its cue.
One of the points I noted from the first of these posts is the idea that, if you are living a single life, you should not try to live it as a kind of scaled down family life. Or, in practical terms, set up your house to suit yourself, or at least to fit in with your lifestyle. It's OK not to have a television if you don't watch television; and its OK to only have in the cupboards the food that you actually like!
Another interesting thought was that contained in the quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cited in both posts. This thought was the one that families could show a welcome and hospitality towards single people - a ministry of hospitality, if you like. By implication, singles could show a ministry of hospitality and accompaniment towards each other, sharing holidays and days out. Of course, what never quite works is a special "singles club" ... This kind of hospitality/fellowship needs to be spontaneous and, one might say, in the best sense, charismatic.
Being single, though, does have its amusing, or perhaps ironic, moments.
Like having Hero choosing the fleece you buy in the sales on Kensington High Street. Or carefully trying to negotiate whether to go to Points of View at the British Library, or on religious picture trail at the National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery .... and after goint to Points of View (and being disappointed by it, as it wasn't at all what either of us had expected), because you thought that was "first" on the other person's list .... you realise that it was the religious picture trail that was really what the other person wanted to do. Now, what happened to those communication skills ....
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Epiphany: or three feasts for the price of one
Today the star led the Magi to the manger.
Today water was changed into wine at the marriage feast.
Today Christ desired to be baptised by John in the river Jordan to bring us salvation.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52:7-10)
Saturday, 2 January 2010
The Genesee Diary: "Mary's return"
I recently posted, referring to the fact that I was reading Henri Nouwen's The Genesee Diary, and suggested that it might offer some insights into how monastic life can be understood in relation to the life of a lay person.
When I was a child she played a very important role in my religious development. The May and October devotions in my family are a real part of my childhood memories ... But after my seminary years, a certain antidevotionalism developed in the circles where I lived, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, became less and less important in my religious life.Fr Nouwen goes on to discuss how the monk acting as his spiritual guide during his stay at Genesee pointed out the psychological implications of this. Fr Nouwen was encouraged to give more space for his receptive, contemplative side - his feminine side. More fundamentally, they might have reflected on an ecclesial implication - the contemplative nature of the monastic life as sharing in Mary's openess and receptivity to the Holy Spirit and to the coming of the Word made flesh, and the monk as an exemplar of Mary-the Church who still makes Christ present in the world.
But this week "she returned". Not by an conscious attempt to restore my devotion to Our Lady .. but without any intrusiveness I found her in the heart of my search for a more contemplative life. If anything helped, it was the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir in the Abbey chapel. ...
With a somewhat sad, melancholic gaze, Mary looks at you and points with her right hand to the child she holds on her left arm. The child is embracing her in a very affectionate way. The intimacy of the child's embrace is expressed by the little hand that, appearing from under the veil covering Mary's head, gently touches her left cheek. The child looks like a small adult ina monk's habit.
I keep looking at this intimate scene, and peace invades my soul. Mary speaks to me about Jesus. To him she directs me ... it seems that she invites me to share in the intimacy between her and her child.
This week I often experienced resitance toward private prayer... But when I knelt in front of the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, it was different. In some way my resistance against meditation subsided, and I simply enjoyed being invited to enter into the intimacy between Jesus and Mary.
Cardinal Vaughan School: some thoughts after the determination of the Adjudicator
The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School is a voluntary aided Roman Catholic school, in the trusteeship of the Archdiocese of Westminster. The admissions policy of this school has been the subject of some discussion between the school and the authorities of the Archdiocese, culminating in a referral by the Archdiocese of the arrangements for September 2010 to the Schools Adjudicator. The Catholic Education Service have issued a press release following the determination of the Adjudicator in December.
Voluntary aided schools are covered by legislation that requires them to adhere to an Admissions Code of Practice determined by the government. For schools of a religious character, this Code expects school governing bodies to have regard to the guidance of the relevant religious body in deciding their admissions arrangements. For Catholic schools, this expects the school to defer to the policy of the diocese in which the school is located on admissions criteria, though there is some "wriggle room" in the wording of the legislation. This means that Catholic schools can still include provisions that give preference to the admission of Catholic pupils. The purpose underlying this legislation was to remove concerns being expressed by some politicians that some schools, and not only schools with a religious designation, were adopting covertly selective admissions policies; it was intended to ensure that, with the compromises to selection for pupil aptitude based on a schools specialism, admissions to all schools were transparently fair and non-selective.
A number of interesting questions are raised by the determination of the Schools Adjudicator.
1. There is the question of the relationship between the individual school and the local Bishop, as expressed in the school's relationship to the educational policy of the diocese. This is a matter of legislation in terms of the Admissions Code. But it is also, in a sense, a "theological" question. From the point of view of the Catholic community, it is about unity with the Bishop as a measure of catholicity. It is about whether this unity is lived just "in the letter" or in a full sense.
2. The central objection of the Diocese is expressed in the press release:
The diocese has defined that a person is a practising Catholic if they attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and does not expect its schools to apply any further test as to the practise of prospective pupils or their families. Anecdotally, the sort of points system referred to in the press release has not been unique to Cardinal Vaughan School, being familiar from experience of other now-comprehensive, frequently former-grammar, Catholic schools. My anecdotal evidence suggests that other schools have been more ready to phase out such points system than has been the case at Cardinal Vaughan.
[But see here for the admissions criteria of a Catholic school that still proposes, in part, to use a points system for 2010-2011 admissions.]
3. But the underlying issue raised by point 2 above is about what - or who - the school is for.
Is it the purpose of the school to act to maintain and promote its own status? And therefore to adopt an admissions policy that will achieve that?
Is the school only for those pupils whose families are, not only practising Catholics, but what one might describe as "committed and active Catholics"?
Is the school for all Catholics, including those whose practise is minimal?
How far is the school for non-Catholics?
To reflect effectively on these questions, the Catholic school has to be seen within the context of the Church's mission of evangelisation. The General Directory for Catechesis recognises the possibility of schools where most students attending are Catholics, and others where most pupils attending do so because of the educational provision rather than out of religious belief (cf n.260). Different approaches to religious education, and indeed to the work of the whole school, apply in these different situations. The Directory suggests that it is opportune that the bishop specify the type of catechetical activity to be undertaken in their schools. This is clearly related to the admissions policies of those schools.
In the case of schools where most pupils attending are Catholics, the cited paragraph of the Directory accepts that evangelisation can be undertaken in its "multiple forms": primary proclamation, religious instruction, catechesis, homily. This seems to me to recognise that, within the population of such a school, pupils will be at differing points in the journey of evangelisation - and so, as far as admissions policies are concerned, there should be no discrimination in favour of those who are "committed/active" in their Catholicism over those who are "practising". Indeed, one might feel that those who are less committed and active are those who are more in need of the evangelising mission of this type of Catholic school.
4. Are the parents who concentrate their efforts on the good upbringing and care of their family, or, perhaps on the conscientious engagement of their Catholic faith with their professional employment; and therefore do not have the time to be parish catechists or extraordinary ministers, any less Catholic than those who are busy in their parishes? This is the kind of issue which can lead the points systems to be discriminatory. It can potentially discriminate against those parents who live most fully the lay character of their mission in the Church.
5. In this country, the historical development of Catholic schooling has meant that they are primarily seen as "Catholic schools for Catholic pupils". Their general failure to produce young people who leave the school as practising Catholics is often related to inadequacy in the catechetical/teaching schemes used for RE teaching in the school. There is some truth in this. But I suspect that our schools have needed to undertake a degree of transition that has not really happened. Whilst at the time of their initial founding a Catholic school might have been able to fulfil its Catholic specificity through teaching the Catechism, for many years now that has not been sufficient. A much greater degree of engagement between faith and culture in the work of the school has been needed, and I suspect that we have been in a weak position to achieve this because we do not have a wide experience in England of those Catholic schools where many of the pupils are not Catholics. The kind of Catholic-cultural dialogue that such schools encourage is actually badly needed in schools where the pupils are mostly Catholics.
Which brings us back to Admissions Policies ...
Voluntary aided schools are covered by legislation that requires them to adhere to an Admissions Code of Practice determined by the government. For schools of a religious character, this Code expects school governing bodies to have regard to the guidance of the relevant religious body in deciding their admissions arrangements. For Catholic schools, this expects the school to defer to the policy of the diocese in which the school is located on admissions criteria, though there is some "wriggle room" in the wording of the legislation. This means that Catholic schools can still include provisions that give preference to the admission of Catholic pupils. The purpose underlying this legislation was to remove concerns being expressed by some politicians that some schools, and not only schools with a religious designation, were adopting covertly selective admissions policies; it was intended to ensure that, with the compromises to selection for pupil aptitude based on a schools specialism, admissions to all schools were transparently fair and non-selective.
A number of interesting questions are raised by the determination of the Schools Adjudicator.
1. There is the question of the relationship between the individual school and the local Bishop, as expressed in the school's relationship to the educational policy of the diocese. This is a matter of legislation in terms of the Admissions Code. But it is also, in a sense, a "theological" question. From the point of view of the Catholic community, it is about unity with the Bishop as a measure of catholicity. It is about whether this unity is lived just "in the letter" or in a full sense.
2. The central objection of the Diocese is expressed in the press release:
The determination upheld the Diocese of Westminster's central objection that the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School’s complex points system and criteria "inappropriately give priority according to the applicant’s, or his parent’s, involvement in church related activities." (Paragraph 92 of the Schools Adjudicator's Determination) This was contrary to the Admissions Code and the Diocesan Bishop’s Guidance, and the Adjudicator said: "In order to have proper regard to diocesan guidance the points system should be dropped in favour of the determination of membership and practice of the Catholic faith as defined by the diocese." (Paragraph 99 of the Schools Adjudicator's Determination)
The diocese has defined that a person is a practising Catholic if they attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and does not expect its schools to apply any further test as to the practise of prospective pupils or their families. Anecdotally, the sort of points system referred to in the press release has not been unique to Cardinal Vaughan School, being familiar from experience of other now-comprehensive, frequently former-grammar, Catholic schools. My anecdotal evidence suggests that other schools have been more ready to phase out such points system than has been the case at Cardinal Vaughan.
[But see here for the admissions criteria of a Catholic school that still proposes, in part, to use a points system for 2010-2011 admissions.]
3. But the underlying issue raised by point 2 above is about what - or who - the school is for.
Is it the purpose of the school to act to maintain and promote its own status? And therefore to adopt an admissions policy that will achieve that?
Is the school only for those pupils whose families are, not only practising Catholics, but what one might describe as "committed and active Catholics"?
Is the school for all Catholics, including those whose practise is minimal?
How far is the school for non-Catholics?
To reflect effectively on these questions, the Catholic school has to be seen within the context of the Church's mission of evangelisation. The General Directory for Catechesis recognises the possibility of schools where most students attending are Catholics, and others where most pupils attending do so because of the educational provision rather than out of religious belief (cf n.260). Different approaches to religious education, and indeed to the work of the whole school, apply in these different situations. The Directory suggests that it is opportune that the bishop specify the type of catechetical activity to be undertaken in their schools. This is clearly related to the admissions policies of those schools.
In the case of schools where most pupils attending are Catholics, the cited paragraph of the Directory accepts that evangelisation can be undertaken in its "multiple forms": primary proclamation, religious instruction, catechesis, homily. This seems to me to recognise that, within the population of such a school, pupils will be at differing points in the journey of evangelisation - and so, as far as admissions policies are concerned, there should be no discrimination in favour of those who are "committed/active" in their Catholicism over those who are "practising". Indeed, one might feel that those who are less committed and active are those who are more in need of the evangelising mission of this type of Catholic school.
4. Are the parents who concentrate their efforts on the good upbringing and care of their family, or, perhaps on the conscientious engagement of their Catholic faith with their professional employment; and therefore do not have the time to be parish catechists or extraordinary ministers, any less Catholic than those who are busy in their parishes? This is the kind of issue which can lead the points systems to be discriminatory. It can potentially discriminate against those parents who live most fully the lay character of their mission in the Church.
5. In this country, the historical development of Catholic schooling has meant that they are primarily seen as "Catholic schools for Catholic pupils". Their general failure to produce young people who leave the school as practising Catholics is often related to inadequacy in the catechetical/teaching schemes used for RE teaching in the school. There is some truth in this. But I suspect that our schools have needed to undertake a degree of transition that has not really happened. Whilst at the time of their initial founding a Catholic school might have been able to fulfil its Catholic specificity through teaching the Catechism, for many years now that has not been sufficient. A much greater degree of engagement between faith and culture in the work of the school has been needed, and I suspect that we have been in a weak position to achieve this because we do not have a wide experience in England of those Catholic schools where many of the pupils are not Catholics. The kind of Catholic-cultural dialogue that such schools encourage is actually badly needed in schools where the pupils are mostly Catholics.
Which brings us back to Admissions Policies ...
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