Against the current

I was in London yesterday - this was taken looking upstream from Battersea Bridge. The occasion? To take part with a couple of hundred other liberally-minded Catholics in a new initiative called "Stand up for Vatican II". We were invited to come together to explore how we might reinvigorate the legacy of Vatican II and provide a platform to stand and declare our felt concern for our Church in the world today.

It was, Chair Frank Regan stressed, first and foremost a celebration of the growth we had experienced at the time of the Council. "Most of us here are a bit wrinkly and crinkly," he said. (There was no arguing with that!) "How do we hand on what we have received, so that the next generation will be able to build their Church in turn?"

Theologian Michael Winter urged us to work to make our parishes real communities. The danger was they were becoming larger and larger as priest numbers dwindled; whereas for people to know one another, an authentic parish community should comprise no more than about 70 people. In pre-Reformation times, Canterbury had 40 parishes: there were eight churches in King Street, Norwich, and even today Trumpington Street in Cambridge has six mediaeval church buildings.

"We are a mature society," he said, richly entitled to make non-violent protest: "Our own conscience has to be obeyed," as Joseph Ratzinger wrote in 1968.

And we can build the new within the shell of the old. Start by signing the petition!

P.S. There is also an Italian version of "Stand up for Vatican II", supported by a couple of cardinals.

Today is the 43rd world day of peace

For (I think) the first time since I began my blog, I have borrowed someone else's image to illustrate my post for today, Peace Sunday.

The man in the picture is John Gebhardt, a Chief Master Sergeant in the USAF serving in Afghanistan - as high as you can go in enlisted ranks (E-9). The little girl's entire family was executed. Insurgents intended to execute the little girl also: they shot her in the head, but failed to kill her. She was cared for in John Gebhardt's hospital and is healing, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent recent nights holding her while they both slept in that chair.

(Thanks to Frank Regan for sending me this story.)

"Our civilisation in crisis" - a matter for reflection

As previewed 10 days ago, Frank Regan visited Cheltenham yesterday to lead a Day of reflection under the auspices of Cheltenham Christian Ecology Link. The chapel at St Edward's Junior School was pleasingly full for two stimulating talks, the oldest attendee being 93, the youngest 16 months.

What follows is not a synopsis of what Frank said, rather a series of some thoughts he gave us, some questions he raised, some comments he elicited.

All the world's peoples want peace - which for believers is the experience of living in the fullness of God's blessing. Why are we therefore, since 9/11, in a situation of permanent war?

Adapting Archbishop Romero, you and I are prophets of a future not our own; priests of a creation not our own, and builders of a humanity not our own.

The lens through which I look upon the world is my faith vision. How does my faith impact upon those for whom I am responsible?

"I have come that you may have life, and life to the full." (John 10, 10) We are in Christ - the body of Christ, given for the life of the world.

"You are the body of Christ. Receive what you are; become what you receive." (St Augustine) In the light of this, how can we relate to other peoples in the manner of war?

Creation is good; and it is beautiful (a particularly Greek insight), clean (a Roman), harmonious (a Slav), rainbow-coloured (a Japanese). Why have we - especially in the last 250 years - ceased to care adequately for it, our planet?

The gathering in, the symbol of the state we're in is Peak Oil. Our oil-driven civilsation is coming to an end. So, why are we still being urged to consider ourselves duty-bound to consume ourselves out of Depression?

Prostitution and body-parts trafficing; extraordinary rendition and Guantanamo - they take place in our name. We are all involved. How do we relate?

These are the questions our churches should be asking. Instead, they give only answers; and sometimes their teaching has not been given reception. An implosion is needed. Meanwhile, we can be the change.

"Civilisation in crisis" - or flux. There is potential for harm, but also opportunity.

The love of God only becomes visible through us, who are loved by God. "I take my delight in you." (Luke 3, 22) "We are God's work of art." (Ephesians 2, 10)

We are not here for the life of the church: we are here for the life of the world.

Mysticism is not about people living in a cave, but about activity and practice in the world. Living simply is a collective effort, a globalised effort; so others may simply live: it needs to be a church activity. We are the saints, but there is no patron saint of equilibrium.

Jesus was known as a devil by his enemies, as a prophet by his followers. Prophets are not so much about holiness as wholly-ness: "I come that you may have life to the full" - not religion to the full!

"Mercy" (connoting nurture), "justice," "good faith" (Matthew 23, 23) are to be our watchwords. "As often as you did this to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me." (Matthew 25, 40)

Day of reflection

On Saturday week, I have persuaded Frank Regan to come up to Gloucestershire, to lead a Day of relection.

Frank was born and raised in the Bronx and was until three years ago a Catholic priest. He describes his principal concern as being to understand faith today in the junction where culture, politics and ecology meet. He spent 22 years as a chaplain with the Young Christian Workers in Peru and 10 years in London working in Justice and Peace ministry. Now semi-retired, he lives with his wife in Devon.

Frank presided over a Day of reflection I went to in May last, further South from here, at Woodchester: there he spoke with authority, but in a quiet way, eliciting responses from those of us who came. We didn't feel "talked at." Nor were we terrified into making commitments we couldn't manage. But we were cajoled into a new way of looking at our lives in relation to the bigger picture.

Frank has chosen quite an enigmatic title for this Day, but the substance becomes clearer from the titles he has given his two sessions. In the morning, Our planet in peril: our prophetic response. How do we cope with the bleak realities long-term here on earth? What might be a Christian's leadership role, given that most prefer to remain in denial?

After lunch, Frank will speak under the heading From prophets to mystics. It can all so easily become too much for us. We lose hope very quickly. Does mysticism hold something for Christians in this time of crisis?

As usual on these occasions, a number of people have said they are interested in attending, but haven't indicated definitely. So, dear blog reader, if you would like to come, do please contact me. If you click on the poster, you will see my contact details. (Bring food to share, and let me know if you need assistance getting to GL52 6NR.)

"The cross and the wheel"

"The cross and the wheel" is the heading of an article in this week's edition of The Tablet reporting on the Dalai Lama's recent meeting with Catholics at Blackfriars, Oxford. Several observers noted," the article ran, his "cheerful demeanour" - conversations "punctuated with laughter, something that at first sight seemed odd given the suffering of the exiled Tibetan leader has endured."

One of the Dominican theologians present pointed out that laughter was part of the life of the Trinity, something which tied in with what I recalled Frank Regan had said at Woodchester last month. It corresponds with the cheerfulness of the Dalai Lama, springing from his life-long dedication to the practice of meditation.

He would certainly have enjoyed the photograph and headline - above - which appeared in our local paper, the Gloucestershire Echo, at the time of the visit: Cheltenham's MP, Martin Horwood, might have been amused at his star billing too.

Cradle to cradle

One modern usage I find more annoying than most is "Tell me about it". Which of course means, "Don't tell me about it: I already know". But most of our insights come from being willing to rearrange what we already know; and two talks I have been privileged to hear in the past week or so illustrate this for me.

On Friday night, Caroline and I joined the serried mass of commuters driving home to Bristol from Cheltenham/Gloucester along the M5: thank God I don't have that journey every day! Bristol was the venue for a local RSA meeting at which German chemist Michael Braungart - co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things - was the main speaker. And very inspiring his 'beyond sustainability' message was.

It's one that we all know makes fundamental sense, but that we easily lose sight of. Man can live with nature instead of off nature. Nature and commerce can coexist. It's not a question of growth or no growth, but what do we want to grow? And how do we eliminate the concept of waste? YouTube has part of an earlier address by Michael, and one by his American co-author, William McDonough: I recommend them both.

A week ago, at the Clifton Diocese Justice & Peace Commission's Day of Reflection at Woodchester, Frank Regan gave us this familiar text as what he called a Gospel echo: "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full" (St John, chapter 10, verse 10). Faith is not so much "belief in God", but "knowing him through his energies, and knowing ourselves to be loved by God". And we need to share that love with others, this love underpinning our mission to be stewards of the planet; our quest for peace, our concerns for the poor and our struggles on behalf of those lacking basic human rights. (Frank, born and raised in the Bronx, speaks from a background of 22 years as a chaplain with the Young Christian Workers helping form trade union organisations in Peru.) At this crucial juncture, he asks, which path will we choose? We do not need a church which has the answers. We need a church which raises the questions for a full humanity that we are still constructing.

And the photograph? Taken a year ago at Charleston Farmhouse, Sussex: not on the way out, but looking in and towards the future!