PQ12 - Worth Abbey Parish

WORTH ABBEY JUNE 2007
PQ12
RELIGIOUS
RENAISSANCE?
The return of God
By John Humphrys
…The new atheists loathe
religion far too much to
plausibly challenge it
IS GOD MAKING A COME BACK?
BISHOP KIERAN CONRY
ABBOT CHRISTOPHER JAMISON
AND PQ WRITERS CONSIDER THE EVIDENCE
2
CONTENTS
UPFRONT, DOM JAMES………………………………………………………..PAGE 3
BISHOP KIERAN ON RELIGIOUS RENAISSANCE………...…………..PAGES 4-7
WORTH WELCOMES EIGHT AT EASTER………………………………….PAGE 8
ARE CHURCHES COPING? CHARLES WILSON……………………...PAGES 9/10
SPIRITUAL DIRECTORS……………………………………………………...PAGE 12
ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY, DAVID BARWELL………………………..PAGES 13-15
POPEWATCH, ALOYSIUS ATKINSON……………………………………..PAGE 16
THE OPEN CLOISTER’S RENAISSANCE…………………………………..PAGE 17
LETTER TO AN AGNOSTIC, DOM JAMES………………………………...PAGE 19
IN SEARCH OF SOMETHING, JILL CARTER……………………………..PAGE 20
I’M NOT SPIRITUAL BUT I AM RELIGIOUS, ABBOT CHRISTOPHER….
CENTRE PAGES 22-24.
BLESSED TITUS BRANDSMA, DOM CHARLES……………………...PAGES 25-26
MOTHER MARY GARSON, OBITUARY……………………………….PAGES 28-29
PROFILE OF DOM PATRICK FLUDDER……………………………...PAGES 31-33
FAIRTRADE, GEORGE FITZSIMONS…………………………………PAGES 34-35
IRUNDU, WORTH’S UGANDAN TWIN………………………………...PAGES 36-37
A WEDDING IN UGANDA………………………………………………..PAGES 38-39
FRIENDSHIP, A POEM BY ANGUS MACDONALD……………………….PAGE 40
PARISH JAZZ NIGHT PHOTO STORY……………………………………...PAGE 41
PRAYER SCHOOL, DOM PETER…………………………………………….PAGE 42
DEACON BLUE, CHRIS DOBSON……………………………………………PAGE 43
Times of Sunday Mass in the Abbey Church, Worth
5.30 pm Saturday Vigil Mass
9.30 am (Concelebrated)
West Hoathly: 11.30 am at St. Dunstan’s Chapel
“PQ” THE WORTH ABBEY PARISH QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
IS PUBLISHED BY DOM JAMES CUTTS OSB
Tel: 01342 710313 - Fax: 01342 710311 - E-mail: [email protected].
The Editor is Sarah Whitebloom.
Email:[email protected].
The Circulation & Advertising Manager is Jill Carter.
See page 37 for details of Advertising & Distribution.
The Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily
those of the publisher.
3
“But the time will come
when the bridegroom is
taken away from them and
then they will fast”.
UPFRONT
DOM JAMES CUTTS
A
re we at a time of a new dawn for
religion, or is Faith receding further?
For the person with Faith it must always
seems that an end of disbelief is near. He
or she realises how important Faith is to
them and can’t help feel that others will
catch on soon.
There are signs of resurgence – the
growth of the new communities such as
the Jerusalem Community in Paris or the
Community of Saint Egiddio in Rome.
Thousands of young people flock to World
Youth Days and to Taize and the Pope has
become an instantly recognisable world
figure. But there might also be signs of a
deepening of disbelief: Dawkins and his
“God Delusion”, anti-life campaigns, the
lack of respect for the human person and
dwindling numbers of priests in the western church.
Who can read the stars? My own feeling,
for what it is worth, is that we have some
way to go before any turn around is clearly
discernible. We have to lose some more of
our native-born congregations, the atheistic voice will be heard more stridently and
celibate priests will become fewer and
fewer.
But then, in due season, Faith will see a
come back, but who knows when? Or is
that the talk of one who tries to walk in the
Faith and is speaking only from hopeful
optimism?
4
Hold the front page…
FAITH HITS THE
HEADLINES
BISHOP KIERAN CONRY
out belief
T
he
Guardian
newspaper is
not normally
regarded as
the most religious among
the secular
press, yet it
is one of the
few that employs a religious affairs
correspondent, and a very good one at
that (Stephen Bates). And over the
last few months the Guardian has devoted quite a lot of column inches to
the debate around religion.
On 26 February, the cover of G2 (the
paper’s second section) was filled with
How the division between the religious
and the secular got nasty and there
were five pages devoted to the issue
inside. Then on May 7, Madeleine
Bunting (another good Guardian
writer) wrote a piece on the Comment
& Debate page, dealing with substantially the same question.
Both writers suggest there is no real
debate between the believers and the
‘positive’ atheists (rather than the passive, who don’t care about the question) because the Richard Dawkins
model of atheist is just too intolerant
to engage in a real debate. They simply condemn religion as foolishness at
best, and dangerous fundamentalism at
worst. It has just become a shouting
match, in other words, and Madeleine
Bunting describes it as “like eavesdropping on a blistering row in the flat
next door”. We alternate between fascination and irritation, she suggests,
but end up wondering if it has anything to do with us after all.
he origin of the row (since we
can’t call it a debate) might be in
the way in which many people in the
US have come to resent the place that
religion has in the politics of that
country. This has not been helped by
President George Bush apparently going to war in Iraq on the advice of
God (he made some reference to the
part that his belief in God played in the
decision).
Madeleine Bunting concludes that
T
5
Richard Dawkins’s book The God Delusion is unlikely to change anyone’s
mind, given its tone, but she does
make the point that atheism sells
books at the moment: Dawkins has
very cleverly spotted that niche in the
market on this side of the Atlantic.
So while the row goes on in the flat
next door, what is really happening to
religion? The enemies of
religion gleefully point to dwindling
numbers in churches and then project
that, at this rate, they will be completely empty in a few generations.
Actually, I think someone from the
Methodist church said the same thing
– a bit of an own-goal there.
The dwindling numbers in churches
need careful study, to try to identify
three things: has the rate of decline
increased dramatically, what might be
behind it, and can we do anything
about it?
n his excellent study of the Catholic
Church in this country, Roman
Catholic beliefs in England, Michael
I
Hornsby-Smith (a parishioner of
Guildford) looks at the changing face
of the Church in this country, and tries
to analyse what caused the changes
that were particularly evident in the
post-war period. Although his book is
a little dated by now (1991), nevertheless many of his observations still apply. He refers to the ‘dissolution of
the English Catholic subculture’, a
‘distinctive subculture with an allembracing Catholic institutional life
centred round the parish and school,
with its own norms, values and beliefs’ (p.7). This, he says, came from a
fortress model of Church, and this
model begins to disappear after the
1950s – not all at once, but over a period of time that also embraced the
Second Vatican Council. What happened, then, was that a uniformity of
beliefs in a fortress Church has been
replaced by a more ‘pluralistic’ set of
beliefs in a post-Council Church
(p.215) Not only was there internal
reform within the Church, but it was
Putting Faith on the agenda. From left to right, President George Bush looks to the heavens for
advice, Professor Michael Hornsby-Smith sees the end of fortress Church, while the darling of militant atheists, Richard Dawkins, is “unlikely to change anyone’s mind”.
6
people arriving from Poland and the
taking place in a period of profound
Philippines (mainly) have increased
external change in society, particularly
numbers. Positive as this is, however,
in terms of secularisation. Secularisait may cloak the real picture and hide a
tion is the process whereby ‘religious
decline among the original congregathinking, practice and institutions lose
tions. So the more worrying question
social significance.’ (p.228)
is not whether there is continued deThe historian Judith Champ, who
cline, but whether the rate of decline is
lectures at Oscott College in Birmingaccelerating. This is difficult to deterham, made a very important point in a
mine at present.
lecture last year. She observed that
when we talk of
t might be easier
decline in numbers
to identify what
(not just people in
is behind the de“Dawkins is an unashamed proselychurch, but in all
cline, and Hornsbytiser. He says in his preface that he
areas, including
Smith points to a
intends
his
book
for
religious
readers
numbers of priests,
number of reasons
baptisms…) we are and his aim is that they will be atheists that are as valid toby the time they finish reading it. Yet
usually taking as
day as they were
The God Delusion is not a book of perour starting point
when he wrote 16
suasion, but of provocation - it may
the early 1960s.
years ago. One of
have sold in the thousands but has it
And indeed at the
the problems is that
won any souls? Anyone who has exbeginning of the
we try to measure
perienced such a conversion, please
1960s the Church in email me (with proof). I suspect the
decline or growth
this country saw all New Atheists are in danger of a spec- by the numbers in
tacular failure.” Madeleine Bunting, The church on a Sunday.
its statistics at a
peak – we had more Guardian, May 7
That was a very
than 7,000 priests,
reliable method unnow it is less than
til the post-war pe5,000. But, Judith Champ argues, this
riod he writes about, because Catholics
was something of a historical ‘blip’, as
went to Mass every Sunday. Now
post-war phenomenon whose causes
they don’t. Some will go perhaps just
are complex. So if we set 1963 as our
once a month or less and still regard
point of reference, our picture is somethemselves as ‘practising Catholics’.
what distorted.
This means that a Sunday congregation of 400 might actually represent a
he answer to the first question,
figure of 600 who ‘attend Mass’.
then, about the rate of decline, is
Much of this is to do with changed
not easy to find. What makes it more
attitudes towards authority and rules,
complicated is that, for a few years
and other areas in which the Church’s
now, numbers in churches have actuteaching has been effectively disreally risen slightly. This is probably the
garded (artificial contraception being a
direct consequence of immigration,
significant one for many people).
and anecdotal evidence suggests that
I
T
7
the debate in which religion has a
This is what Michael Hornsby-Smith
voice. The voice will be heard more
means by a ‘pluralism’ among conclearly the less strident it is. We only
temporary Catholics: whereas a former
play into the hands of the professional
generation felt it had to accept the
atheist if we can be made to look irra‘whole package’ to be a Catholic,
tional.
many will now examine particular
The other challenge is to have confiteachings in terms of a hierarchy of
dence in ourselves. Commenting on
importance or relevance. Again, it is
his project On the Way to Life, comdifficult to determine what brought
missioned by the Catholic Education
this about, but it is probably as much
Service, Fr James Hanvey, SJ, argues
to do with external (social) change as
that the danger in the secularist’s arguinternal (Church) change.
ments about reThe final question, and the most releligion is that we
vant, perhaps, is ‘Can we do anything
actually begin to
about it?’ We can only really do
believe them
something if the changes that we see
and lose confiare actually caused by changes that
dence in our
have taken place within the Church.
position. If we
Some will argue that a return to Latin
look at our parin the Mass will solve all our problems
Archbishop McDonald: the
ishes in detail,
- the argument being that, when we
best
time
to
be
a
Catholic
we can see just
had Mass in Latin, the churches were
how much is going on within them. I
full. The very superficial logic of that
believe that the contents of the rest of
argument is clear. Others will argue
this magazine will reflect that. What
that the Church ought to teach with
is going on in the parishes might not
more authority, but, as with many
look the way it did fifty years ago, beEnglish people abroad, simply shoutcause our priorities have shifted. This
ing more loudly will not get us lishas always been the way, and the
tened to.
Church has constantly tried to present
wo challenges face us, then. As
the Gospel afresh to new generations.
the Archbishop of Canterbury
It is a great mistake to try to ‘fix’ the
argued, we must stand up for a
Church in one particular age, as some
‘procedural secularism’ rather than a
would wish to do.
‘programmatic secularism’ – in other
At his installation as Archbishop of
words, we need to have a public deSouthwark, Kevin McDonald asked if
bate where the voice of religion is
this was a good time to be a Catholic.
heard and respected alongside all other
It is the best time to be a Catholic he
voices, rather than a debate in a
said, because it is our time, and the
‘value-free’ forum where people have
Lord has given us a particular commisto silence their fundamental convicsion. Let us not be timid in accepting
tions. That is, we have to keep the
it and carrying it out.
debate going - not the debate about but
T
8
Eight at Easter: bumper year at Worth
for Church newcomers
W
orth Abbey parish saw its own religious renaissance this year as no
fewer than eight candidates came forward
for entry to the Church or for Confirmation. Three of the octet have kindly agreed
to share their thoughts.
JAN HOOD
I have always had an interest in the Catholic Church. I was baptised in The Church
of England but attended a convent school
and became familiar with many aspects of
the Faith. Over the years I often felt the
need to “belong” but, as
happens, I never did
anything about it. By
pure chance about two
years ago I saw a copy
of “In Touch” in a
friend’s house and the
notice about the Faith
Company and became
interested in finding out
more. I joined the
group and thoroughly enjoyed it, then continued to attend the RCIA, and with Fr
James’ help and support I began to think
seriously about my faith. I started to come
to Mass and found what I’d been searching
for. Being received into the church at the
Easter Vigil was the wonderful end of my
‘journey’ – or, just the beginning!!
PETER CEBUNKA
I was baptised into the Catholic faith. My
family life was happy although church
didn’t figure in that life.
The years went by and I was conscious of
trying to do the right things, due to my
upbringing rather than religion. Over the
past three years, though, I began to feel
something was missing in my life and I
wasn’t sure what it was, until I found myself thinking more about religion and the
Catholic Church. I also found myself being more aware of the cruel and negative
things happening in the world. I came to
the conclusion that I
would like to do something positive to take up
my religion and maybe
live my life in a different way. I contacted
Worth Abbey, had several meetings with Fr
James before joining
the RCIA which resulted in my Confirmation at the Easter
Vigil. It is difficult for me to put into
words how things have changed since the
Faith Group and Confirmation but it is
apparent that I have found what was missing in my life. Many people are finding
life difficult and have “lost their way”;
hopefully that will lead them to religion
and the church.
AMELIA HUNTON
I was quite anxious about the confirmation service actually but in the actual event I was
self assured and fine. I'm glad I have finally made the time to have been confirmed. It
was quite a daunting process specially being in the adult group.
But I made the most of it and found myself quite comfortable.
The meetings were actually quite intriguing to get everyone's different perspectives.
9
Are churches
responding
effectively to
the growth of
spirituality in
the UK?
Charles Wilson
I
n my business it is quite
easy to quantify things. I
am a debt-collector, so I take
businesses to Court on behalf
of my clients if they fail to
pay their bills on time. Generally, it is easy to quantify
whether or not a bill has been
paid, and if it hasn’t, what extra should be paid for failure
to pay on time.
B
ut how do you quantify spirituality?
Or spiritual renaissance? Or religion? Or religious renaissance? Not so
easy! So what I say is personal, speculative and open to question. I find questions
far more interesting than answers anyway.
PQ is all about questions and personal
reflections, so I hope I can press on excitedly. For most of my life, I have loved
asking “Why?” It takes me into all sorts
of interesting avenues, and sometimes into
difficult situations. Young children love
asking “why?” I’m a bit the same. A few
years ago, an executive coach encouraged
me to ask “How?” and “What?” more than
“Why?”. He said they are more elegant
questions.
So what happens in the ‘food chain’ of
spiritual existence and how does the
church help or hinder? My guess is in
centuries past we have had a simple chain
of events namely 1) Spiritual awakening
=> 2) Religious fervour in Christian faith
=> 3) Church attendance.
Indeed, I used to think that you could
measure spiritual interest in the nation by
church attendance. Certainly the newspapers seem to – they are full of such tales of
doom and decline, and gleefully declare
that numbers and attendance are declining
in the traditional churches. In contrast, I
have spent the majority of my Christian
experience seeing growth and vibrancy in
the ‘new church’ movement (which meets
in community centres or warehouses) and
most of them are expanding and growing.
For several decades they have been meeting the need for a contemporary culture in
church worship and communal life, and
thus, for example, all our four adult children now attend modern churches of this
kind.
ut church attendance, or ‘numbers’,
is a crude measure of spiritual
growth, and even worse as an objective, in
my view. If true spiritual revival occurred,
numbers would undoubtedly increase, but
the reverse is by no means necessarily
true. As I see friends of mine, formerly
keen church-goers, dropping out of church
altogether - yet pleading their continued
interest in Christ Himself - I wonder what
is happening. They tell me that they find
church boring, self-serving and lacking in
spiritual depth. Have they lost their spiri-
B
10
tual urge? Or are they deceived by the
tract plenty of worshippers, but not all of
lures of Mammon in 21st century Britain?
whom are serious.
I used to think it was probably both. But
It is easy to think that both church camps
now I see certain types of individual, and
need to re-invent themselves with a new
also certain types of church response.
face, a new programme, or a younger team
Take the individuals first. We are told by
as their congregation ages. Is this the soJesus that the ‘wheat’ and the ‘tares’ will
lution? Having spent 18 years in
grow up together in the last times. Those
‘modern’ churches and 15 years in Angliwith deep spiritual hunger (A) – the wheat
can churches, I now believe that all
– may well be disappointed by the rechurches must return to their core values.
sponse of many churches, but this will
Paradoxically, their values are much the
drive them deeper into the arms of our
same, ancient and modern.
loving Lord and find solace and succour
Firstly, we seek the Lord Himself tothere. Then there are those (B) – the tares gether in worship. Secondly, we seek to
who may be totally uninterested, and show
provide primarily for the needs of those
completely blank
with spiritual hunger,
looks when Christ, or “The people I see abandoning
(A), above. After all,
church, is mentioned - church today may be seeking
that’s whom Jesus
they are enjoying all
seemed to care for the
the genuine article of spiritual most! Those in (B) that this wonderful
world offers. But
world - he had
life, because they have found the
additionally, there are
great compassion for,
those (C) who may be church itself wanting. “
but acknowledged
spiritually alive, yet
that they would alare double-minded and distracted by many
ways be a large group (‘wide is the way
things; or perhaps are just hypocritical, or
that leads to destruction’), and wouldn’t
merely engaging in the form of religion.
necessarily respond to His words. And
Looking around our churches with sober
those in (C) - the double-minded, relijudgment, (C) are a large group now in our
gious, and hypocritical - he was toughest
pressured and busy world, but when perseupon altogether. He said he would spit
cution comes, they will disappear, Jesus
them out of his mouth (Rev 3.16).
says.
So the task of the church then is to focus
hat about our churches? Some find
first and foremost on the spiritual chalthe established churches too unrelenge and growth of those who are hungry
sponsive to modernity; others find our
(A). The good news must also be spoken
modern churches too unresponsive to the
out in various media to (B); BBC2’s The
spiritual needs of the individual. They can
Monastery was a powerful example of
be too superficial perhaps. Yet the people
that. But those in (C) are deserving of the
I see abandoning church today may be
least, Jesus teaches. He spits them out.
seeking the genuine article of spiritual life,
Yet, in my experience, these are the very
because they have found church itself
group that tend to take and occupy the
wanting.
very best of the church’s time and attenChurches, however, seem to be torn betion. In shepherding and responding to
tween two extremes. Some maintain the
the spiritual needs of Christ’s church, we
valid traditions of the past, but attract
clearly have to be as shrewd as snakes and
fewer serious worshippers; and some atas innocent as doves (Matt 10.16).
W
11
12
Spiritual direction
S
ounds like the Beatles’ encounter with
weeks in a relationship which can last
the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi? A bit
years. So it is important for the seeker to
New Age? Think again. Spiritual direction
feel comfortable with the director.
is age old, going right back to the desert
Worth Abbey has responded to the recent
fathers, and it is for anybody who wants to
resurgence of interest in Spiritual Direcimprove their relationship with God.
tion both by training spiritual directors,
It involves an individual coming together
mostly lay people, and by holding a
with a spiritual director, who will act as
“directory” of those who have completed
“guide” or “friend” on their spiritual jourthe course. People seeking a director are
ney. It is akin to seeking knowledge from
offered three or four trained persons to
the “wise person” – an ancient Christian
choose from. They can specify if they
tradition - although it is God’s wisdom not
want their director to be older or younger
the director’s that is sought.
than they are (most look for
What it is definitely not is counolder). They can specify if they
selling, where a person may seek
want a man or a woman and if
help with a particular problem.
they want someone who is the
Spiritual direction is likely to be
same denomination.
long term. But it is always about
Worth trains directors from
developing the seeker’s relationevery Christian denomination.
ship with God rather than sorting Sat nav for the soul? And it is a highly challenging
out their problems.
course, which is nevertheless
piritual direction will involve looking
greatly oversubscribed by people hoping
at ways of prayer, trying to discern
to become spiritual directors. The Open
where God is in the individual’s life and
Cloister, the Abbey’s retreats operation,
what He is trying to say. The director does
runs the course bi-annually and assesses
not tell the person what to think or do.
candidates carefully before admitting
They listen impartially to the seeker, to
them. The biggest initial question is
find where and how the Holy Spirit is in
whether the candidate is comfortable with
their life, to help them on their spiritual
their own spirituality. The course is aimed
journey. Many directees can examine
at increasing the director’s skills of listenmatters they have never talked to anyone
ing and of “discernment of the Spirit”.
about before. Confidentiality is assured.
It is not a question of them imparting
The seeker can be at any stage of their
knowledge. The relationship between a
journey. They may not be sure of anything
director and a directee is about getting to
or they may have reached a block or they
the truth – God’s Truth. There is no secret
may want help with prayer. The only
knowledge, no code to decipher, just a
qualification for wanting a director, is to
journey to make. For information about
want to improve your relationship with
Spiritual Directors contact the
Open Cloister on 01342 710 318 or email
God. Typically, the seeker will meet their
[email protected]
spiritual director once every six to eight
s
SW
13
Islam behind the headlines:
The way of perfection
DAVID BARWELL
I
f we go by what we learn from our
news media we can easily conclude
that present-day Islam is a religion
powered by anger. We hear daily of
bloody sectarian conflict in Iraq between adherents of its two main traditions, Sunnism and Shi’ism, and of
fears that it could spread across the
rest of the region. We are constantly
reminded that there are groups of
Muslim fanatics prepared, out of hatred and religious zeal, to commit
mass murder anywhere in the globe.
Digging a little deeper, we encounter
salafism, a growing puritan strain of
Islam whose adherents – mainly in the
Middle East – reject traditional Muslim
scholarship and spirituality. They aim
by whatever means, including killing,
to impose on others a stern new order
based on an imaginary and idealised
vision of Islam in its early days, and
condemn as heretics the vast majority
of Muslims who do not conform.
All of this is undeniable, but like the
disfigurement of any system of belief it
speaks more about politics, power and
human frailty than it does of the daily
practice of religion. Ominous though it
is politically and socially, it is not our
subject here. The majority of Islam’s
believers, between a billion and a billion and a half of them across the
world, continue to observe the five
governing precepts of Islam – belief,
prayer, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrim-
age – irrespective of what makes the
headlines in our (and their) newspapers. Most of them live far away from
where the worst of the problems described originate. Those involved in
advocating, committing and supporting
violence are a small minority.
Mainstream Sunni Islam has no hierarchy or co-ordinating mechanism.
Leadership is generally exercised locally, with a few posts at leading
mosques or religious schools carrying
a broad but imprecise degree of moral
authority. This makes it more difficult
to discern – still less encapsulate –
coherent trends in Muslim spiritual
thinking, and I am in any case unqualified to do either. Instead, I hope that a
short account of part of a recent meditation on “Seeking Perfection: The Inner Dimension of Islamic Devotion” by
a British Muslim scholar, Abdal Hakim
Murad, will give a modest insight into a
more thoughtful and creative dimension of Islam than we normally hear
about.
Murad describes the challenges
posed to Muslims by the modern age.
He observes that though it offers
greater opportunities for exchange and
communication there is little mutual
understanding between different value
systems and cultures. He speculates
that this may be in part because the
media are incapable of conveying the
deeper realities of faith, spirituality and
14
metaphysics, and wonders whether
the growing global trend to equate
wealth with happiness may not be an
additional obstacle. Referring to the
offence that social injustice gives to
religion, and reminding his audience of
the prophet Muhammad’s intensely
austere lifestyle, he asks what lessons
believers can realistically draw from
such an images of “apostolic” poverty.
Islam, after all, has at times presided
over hugely prosperous states and
empires during its history, and Muhammad did not condemn wealth as
such, but only the vices to which it can
lead. “Wealth is a blessing”, he remarked “to those whose hearts are
blessed”. Consequently, rather than
turn their backs on the material world,]
Muslims need to deepen their religious
commitments.
Murad reminds his listeners of the
Islamic tradition that Muhammad was
sent to uplift the whole of humanity,
and that the task now facing Muslims
is to graft this tradition of universality
into the fast-moving (and often religiously indifferent) context of modernity.
He condemns as cowardly those who
believe simply that Islam cannot coexist with global modernity, pointing out
that Muslims have always shown a
capacity for adapting themselves to
different cultures and civilisations.
Most Muslims of today, he contends,
are prepared to embrace the new realities of the world, while scrutinising
its values critically. But to maintain
their integrity as they do so they need
to pay particular attention to the inner
aspects of religion.
A vital feature of Islam, he continues,
is that it contains both an external and
an internal dimension. The external
consists of observing the central precepts of Islam, as referred to earlier,
and following its social and moral
teachings which ensure the compassionate and sound regulation of society. But beyond these outward and
visible manifestations there lies a more
subtle and difficult dimension. In a
statement traditionally attributed to
him, Muhammad describes a spiritual
state to which all Muslims should aspire as one in which “you worship God
as though you see him; and even if
you see him not, He sees you”.
Murad sees this as an undertaking
that God will remain close even to
those not capable of reaching a state
of spirituality where they can see God
with the eye of the heart. This means,
he explains, that the life of faith is not
to be understood merely as a series of
meaningless hurdles over which the
faithful jump in the hope of prizes in
the afterlife. God’s proximity ensures
that every aspect of the believer’s life
has meaning and value in this world as
15
well as the next. The internal and external dimensions co-exist in a state of
fruitful symbiosis. Without the inner
reality of sacred knowledge outward
acts will become corrupted. Actions
are valid only insofar as their motives
are valid, and intentions are sincere
only insofar as the heart has been purified.
Muslims may achieve all that is required of them in terms of formal commitment and religious practice but
these, Murad believes, are not all they
require to face the challenges of a
world in which material wealth has
never before been so great a distraction. This should be no problem for
those who achieve the unimaginable
bliss of seeing God, since they will
never view the world in the same way
again. But not all believers can aspire
to this experience. For others religion
is not about seeing God but knowing
that he sees them. Provided his conviction about this is strong the believer
will equally be strong, and he or she
will be enabled to becomes a pillar of
society supporting the weak and acting
as a model to others. Believers need
to work hard if religion is to bring about
an Eden on earth, Murad urges. Islam
is not a religion for sluggards. Laziness is accounted a major sin, and
Muhammad asked God to save him
from it. “O God, I seek Your protection
from uselessness and sloth”.
Seeking perfection, then, is about
doing what is right in order to achieve
entitlement to experience the highest
reality. Once the believer achieves this
it will give new meaning to formal religious practice. Those who seek perfection will received the greatest reward, as the Koran testifies:
“A paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth is prepared for
those who fear God.: the godfearing who expend in alms in
prosperity and adversity, and repress their rage and forgive the
people, for God loves those seeking perfection”.
CREATIVE FLOWERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Anne Kibble telephone: 01342 322702
email: [email protected]
16
Popewatch
Aloysius Atkinson
News:
Pope Benedict has been in Brazil to
attend the start of the Latin American
Episcopal conference.
While there, he also canonised Frei
Antonio de Sant’Ana Galvao, the first Brazilian saint, famous for his
pills, small bits of paper with prayers on that were to be swallowed.
During his visit to Latin America the Pontiff has also watched Fr
Marcelo Rossi perform his "Jesus Twist” song which was the best
selling recording in Brazil last year .
St Frei Galvao
Fr Marcelo Rossi
Past Popes:
St Silverius, who was Pope 536-537 has his feast day on the 20th
June. He was exiled by Belarius, a Byzantine General
on a charge of correspondence with the Goths. He
was able to return to Rome but was exiled by his rival
Vigilius, later to succeed him as Pope. He was sent to
Palmerola, where he died a few months later on what
is now his feast.
St Silverius
17
OPEN ALL HOURS
I
f looking for signs of religious revival,
one does not have to look very far.
Although it is two full years since BBC2’s
The Monastery brought Worth Abbey into
the nation’s drawing rooms, the programme’s huge impact can still be felt in
and around the Benedictine monastery.
And this is nowhere more apparent than in
the surge of interest in the retreats and
events run by the Abbey’s Open Cloister.
Dom Patrick Fludder, administrator of
The Open Cloister, said: “We are still very
buoyant because of the TV programme. I
don’t know of any other programme which
has had such a long lasting effect.”
And the impact of the programme is certainly very real. In 2005, the year the programme was broadcast, there was an increase of nearly 13 per cent in the numbers
attending residential retreats compared
with the previous year. In 2006, the first
full year after the programme, there was a
20 per cent increase on the previous year.
Altogether the numbers attending courses
last year was 1,830, compared with 1,340
in 2004 – a massive 36 per cent increase in
just two years. And this year looks set to
see a further significant increase.
But, Fr Patrick pointed out, people also
list Abbot Christopher’s book “Finding
Sanctuary”, now on CD and in paperback,
and the Abbey’s website as inspirations.
One woman came on a residential course
having been sent the book by the internet
retailer Amazon by mistake, said Fr Patrick.
A glance at the website shows most residential courses are fully booked almost as
soon as they are announced and waiting
lists are in operation. Fr Patrick said many
of those coming, are coming for the first
time, although The Open Cloister also runs
events for returners. However, Worth
specialises in the first time retreat-goer
and it has coincidentally been highly successful in attracting “lapsed” Catholics,
who now make up about 50 per cent of
attendees, as they are inspired to rediscover their Catholicism.
r Patrick is convinced that there is a
new mood of religious inquiry abroad.
He said: “People tell us that they are talking about religion in their workplaces,
which never used to happen before…
Serious religion is being taken seriously.”
Previously, said Fr Patrick, people
“forgot to look at the rich treasures of the
Church” when they were seeking
“spirituality”. But then, he added wrly: “It
was kept quite well hidden.”
But now, Fr Patrick believes, the Church
is becoming more visible and acceptable –
despite the secularist attacks.
“Secularism was always around but the
Church wasn’t much of a target.”
In Fr Patrick’s position, he sees people
coming forward in search of “something
more”.
Whatever the secularists say, “there is a
general hunger for God and something
beyond the self”, he said.
And the fact is, the “Catholic church is
cheap” when you compare it with the
“therapies” that people are offered elsewhere, Fr Patrick laughed.
“We are offering people what they need
rather than what they want,” he said. “And
they are returning again and again. It’s not
just comfort and happiness. It’s more satisfying and long lasting. Retreatants often
report that their encounter here has
changed their lives”.
SW
F
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19
Letter
to an
agnostic
Dear Marianne…..I understand what you are saying
– that life is just life and why do we need to bring God
into it. We live, enjoy as much as we can, we suffer and
try to get through it; we love as much as we can and
then we die. It is what humans have been doing for
thousands of years and they can do it as humans without having a God
knocking around as background.
Well Marianne, you are right that many of
us do it without God but I think we can
argue that in theory, but in practice it
doesn’t work out; and in fact all the good
things you would like to do in your life
really are possible only with God.
We human being are fairly weak specimens and can’t live up to our words and
sentiments. We are fearful, and grow in
dependence on our security and comfort. It
means that the wonderful intentions we
have are rarely accomplished.
I think we need a God to survive and
accomplish some of the great ideas we
have. In addition, a God makes sense. I
have lived sixty odd years and I have definitely been led during that time. Why have
I always had my eyes on my need for and
my ability to give love? Why have I come
out of difficult times wiser than when I
went in? Why has the path I created for
myself been so tortuous, and yet why have
I been led ultimately but surely and securely along a path that leads to life?
The only answer I can come up with is
that there is a Spirit presence who is guiding me and leading me to a fullness of life.
But yes, going back to what I said before,
I need God too. God is my prop and my
crutch. I realise in retrospect that the presence I see working in my life is a loving
presence that cares for me and wants the
best for me. And realising now that I am
loved, I am able to match up to some of
those ideals I see which will lead me to
happiness and peace.
But I know that what I am saying appears
nonsense to someone without Faith. And
we can’t just call on belief simply because
we demand it. It has to be waited for, but it
also has to be willed. Faith is a delicate
balance of being gifted and our willing to
be gifted.
I remember when I was about twenty
being told by a believer that they couldn’t
imagine life without Faith. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but
now I do. Neither can I contemplate a life
without Faith in the Christian God, because I know that all the energy I have
comes from it.
D. James.
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20
Typing the word ‘spirituality’ into a
search engine generated 78,100 leads, and
that was exclusively in the UK. On one
site alone – strangely titled ‘The Magik
Thread’ - the index included around 250
topics, running from Angels, Animal Spirits, Ascended Masters and Aura Balancing
Mist through Cauldrons, Colour Breathing, Cosmic Ordering, Crystal Healing,
Earth Energies, Tarot Readings and Tree
Magic to Wicca and Witchcraft – fortunately taking in Meditation and Religion
ne of my favourite hymns begins
on the route, although a heading on Chriswith the lines: ‘There is a longing in
tianity was sadly lacking. What a vast arour hearts oh Lord, for you to reveal yourray of topics, and all of these aim to satisfy
self to us. There is a longing in our hearts
one basic human need:
for love, we only find in you oh
our reaching out to
Lord’. This longing for love seems
something beyond us
to be very widespread in these
and greater than us, an
modern times, whether or not the
unknown power.
Search
engine
for
God?
people who experience it recognise
This spirituality, interit as a reaching out for God.
preted
by
me
as
an
awareness
and yearnMany people describe themselves as
ing
for
God,
is
far
from
modern.
It has
‘spiritual but not religious’. What on earth
been
within
us
not
only
for
centuries
but
does that mean? To me it suggests that
for
millennia,
as
can
be
seen
in
the
very
they are not interested just in material
many cave paintings and carvings dating
things, but in the Big Questions of life,
back 30,000 years. These have been pored
questions such as ‘Who made me?’ (the
over by scientists and laymen who have
first in the catechism as I recall) and ‘Why
tried to explain why ancient man adorned
am I here?’ ‘What is right and wrong?’
the caves in a way that no other creature
Small children voice these concerns, and
ever has, making art and rational thought
this suggests that these question are part of
an important distinction between human
human make-up, within the depth of our
beings and other forms of life. Our ancesspirits. At times we’re wary of talking
tors had evolved a means of expressing
about our faith. We certainly want to avoid
their inner lives and longings.
putting others off by appearing dogmatic,
Surely God calls and draws us all to Him
but personally I’ve often been surprised
in
as many different ways as there are inhow many people are interested in
dividual
people. We respond to different
‘spiritual’ discussions and eager to exmessages,
each in our unique way. God –
change views and find out more.
Father,
Son
and Holy Spirit - has a relaWe are all aware of the growing interest
tionship
with
us from the beginning of
in eating organic foods and in recycling.
time,
even
if
we
aren’t aware of it and
For some this might simply be selfdon’t
contribute
to
it. 7,500 websites with
preservation but it could also be an indicaspiritual
messages
are
just a tiny part of
tion of our greater awareness of the Earth
His
repertoire
of
invitations.
and its Creator and our duty to be faithful
REACHING OUT
TO THE GREAT
UNKNOWN
Jill Carter
O
stewards.
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22
I’M NOT SPIRITUAL
BUT I AM
RELIGIOUS
ABBOT CHRISTOPHER JAMISON OSB
O
ccupying the number one spot in the
Amazon Religion and Spirituality list
for the last few weeks has been a book
about the power of positive thinking. Having worked as a school teacher for many
years, I know that believing you can
achieve something is half the battle of
achieving it. So I have no problem with
that kind of positive thinking; but this is
not a book about achieving anything, it’s
about
this book sells but that a major bookseller
considers it to be one that belongs in the
Religion and Spirituality section. This
book classification reflects the way people
today understand the spiritual dimension
of life; ‘spirituality’ is everywhere. Adverts claim that a certain therapy is spiritual and new age practises claim spiritual
credentials. Crowning it all is the statement: ‘I’m not religious but I am spiritual’. This now
House, money and the perfect man, the
universe will deliver, says one book.
‘ordering’ whatever you fancy
from your personal wish list: a job, money,
a house and so on. Think positively about
having these things, says the book, and the
universe, yes the universe, will deliver
them. The author tells of how she placed a
trial order for the perfect man to be delivered in three months time on a specific
date. Would you believe it (and here I
quote) “Wowww!” he turned up on schedule.
Now what is astonishing is not only that
seems to be a normative self-description
for most people in Britain. Yet this very
explicit self-categorisation is rarely subjected to critical analysis. The growth of
spirituality is simply acclaimed as a selfevident good without any effort to define
the word spiritual.
We badly need a better understanding of
the rise of spirituality detached from religion and as a contribution to that understanding I offer some observations. My
23
S
o what has happened to religion durfirst observation is the commercialisation
ing this process? Interestingly, Asian
of this part of life. Where religion used to
religion outside Asia has come out of it
hold sway as a public service, now there is
pretty well. The belief that Buddhism and
a retail industry filling the religion gap in
Hinduism, for example, are spiritual is one
people’s lives. Where once Billy Graham
of the unexamined assumptions of the
filled Wembley stadium and invited you to
western spirituality movements. Intrigugive your life to Jesus, since 1977 the
ingly, however, no one whole eastern reMind Body Spirit Fair has been filling
ligion is offered as the solution, but rather
Olympia and other exhibition halls, with
a selection of elements from several.
suppliers offering a range of saleable prodEqually, the monotheistic religions, espeucts from tarot to Hopi ear candles to eastcially Islam, are viewed with suspicion.
ern wisdom. The free market has overrun
The God of Abraham, the Father of Jesus,
the last bastion; religion as a public service
Allah is not considered a spiritual God,
has nearly disappeared and its spiritual
especially because of his behaviour in the
assets have been acquired by private comHebrew Bible or Old Testament. Simipanies. In their book ‘Selling Spirituality:
larly, his followers
The Silent Takeover
“Religious communities now need to take
the Jews, the Chrisof Religion’ Jeremy
tians and the MusCarrette and Richard risks and enter the spiritual market place,
King analyse the his- going to where people are, and not lamenting lims are not considthat they are not in our place of worship.”
ered spiritual peotory of this process
ple, unless they are
from a Marxist perdissident or partial
spective. They conmembers. This search for peace through
clude that if Marx were alive today he
eastern religious fragments is summed up
would say: ‘spirituality is the opium of the
well by one book that offers ‘Taoist healpeople’ and, surprisingly, they add that
ing methods, with an added pinch of Hin‘religious traditions provide the richest
duism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Humanintellectual examples we have of humanism’. All this is offered as ‘the perfect
ity’s collective effort to make sense of life,
antidote to depression, deprivation, fear,
community and ethics.’ The commercial
loneliness, grief, grudges’.
exploitation of spirituality is now so bad
Alongside this, all religions are assumed
that even the Marxists are defending the
to share a common core: we all have spiriold religious traditions.
tual experiences and we know that we
This commercially driven spiritual marshould do to others as we would be done
ket place has been responding to a spontaby. So, the assumption goes, all religions
neous turn to spirituality during the twentiare just a variant on this basic human exeth century. As more and more people in
perience of spirituality and morality, the
developed countries have their basic matedifferences being colourful rather than
rial needs satisfied, they want increasingly
significant. Furthermore, we sophisticated
to develop the non-material side of their
westerners are able to do our spirituality
lives. This is often expressed as the desire
and our morality without the need for all
for peace of mind which in turn leads to
the religious rigmarole.
the quest for meaning. Moments of peace
Yet predictions by secularists and miliand insight are sought-after features of life
tant atheists that religion will die out have
and it is these that the new spirituality
proved unfounded. The world’s classic
movements seek to offer.
24
religions have indeed become humbler and
more aware of their manipulation by both
false prophets and abusive leaders, but this
purifying experience is enabling religious
communities to find a new role in the 21st
century. The challenge for those of us who
are religious is to offer the whole of our
religion to those spiritual seekers who are
currently living on a reduced spiritual diet.
Those who suffer eating disorders often
deny that they have a problem; so too
lamenting that they are not in our place of
worship. As we do this and head out into
unfamiliar territory, we will leave ourselves open to attack from all sides. Our
co-religionists may condemn us for supping with the devil and our opponents may
accuse us of arrogance. Yet we have a
duty to ensure that the voice of classic
religion is not swamped by unworthy substitutes. My recent experience with some
very spiritual but definitely not religious
public broadcasters and mainstream publishers is that they
Religious communities carry a heavy
responsibility for their failure to offer their now want our voice to be heard.
Of course they are earning their
traditions in ways that hungry people can living by doing this, but where
once religion was not taken seriswallow.
ously by them, there is now a
new momentum and we ignore it
those who don’t eat enough spiritual food.
at the peril not only of our own souls but
I’m fine, they say, I’m spiritual and I don’t
of our own society.
need anything more. Religious communiIn 1986, the late Pope John Paul II invited
ties carry a heavy responsibility for their
leaders of the world’s religions to Assisi in
failure to offer their traditions in ways that
order to spend a day together in prayer. He
hungry people can swallow.
showed that you can have deep faith in
The insubstantial diet of spirituality is
your own religion and have friendship
often self-regarding and avoids the hard
with other religions, without any need to
truths that religion offers. For example, a
water your faith down to some grey lowest
recent article on self-esteem in a Mind
common denominator. His words on that
Body Spirit magazine offered advice on
day are an agenda for the role of religion
how to think good thoughts about oneself;
in the 21st century. He said that what all
religions shared was the desire to engage
but it did not deal with the tougher issues
in humble prayer in the cause of peace.
of pride and humility. Similarly therapies
The 21st century needs everybody to pracare offered to reduce stress when actually
tise humble prayer in the cause of peace if
people need to change their way of life.
it is to avoid the 20th century’s appalling
The major religions of the world provide a
record of war, wars which religion did not
deep and practical wisdom that challenges
cause but which it failed to prevent. We
the consumer narcissism of much modern
are not spiritual, that is our problem. Our
spirituality. Furthermore, the classic religbest hope that people will learn to live
ions reveal to us the divine that is beyond
spiritually is that the religions of the world
our immediate desires; they challenge us
will become schools of peace for all peoto base our lives on a framework larger
ples.
than our local anxieties.
‘Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for
So religious communities now need to
Everyday Life’ is published by
take risks and enter the spiritual market
Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
place, going to where people are, and not
25
BLESSED TITUS BRANDSMA
(Feast Day 26 July)
courageously but courteously, speak out
honestly. This became notably apparent
when he condemned the Nazi anti-Jewish
he life of the Carmelite friar, Titus
Marriage Laws in 1935, touring Holland to
Brandsma, gives us much to reflect
speak against them. After the German
on fruitfully. Born of farming stock and
occupation, the Jewish community, the
Catholic parents in Friesland, Northern
press and education beHolland, he was given the
came Nazi targets. The
names Anno Sjored.His
Archbishop of Utrecht, Dr
brother, Henry, became a
De Jong, frequently conFranciscan and three of his
sulted Dr Brandsma, his
four sisters nuns. Orspiritual adviser to the
dained priest at 24, he bepress. They agreed tocame busily involved in
gether that Catholic editors
Dutch Catholic life as
must be informed that it
seminary teacher and then
was quite impossible to
as professor of philosophy
meet the Nazi demands to
and of the history of mystiaccept advertisements on
cism at the Catholic Unibehalf of the National Soversity of Nijmegen.
cialist Movement and reAs the editor of a Cathomain a Catholic publicalic newspaper, founder of a
tion. Titus became a
Blessed Titus Brandsma:
Catholic library and of a
“that dangerous little friar”
marked man to the Gesecondary school, prostapo; they called him
moter of Christian Unity,
“that
dangerous
little friar”.
and from his lecture tours of the US and
When
warned
by
friends that he would be
Europe, he became well-known within and
arrested
and
imprisoned,
Titus replied:
beyond Holland. Appointed Spiritual
“Now
I
am
going
to
get
what
has so selAdviser to the Dutch Catholic Press, he
dom been my lot, and what I have always
demonstrated qualities of understanding
wanted, a cell of my own.”
and wise spiritual counselling which were
He was arrested on the evening of 19th
greatly appreciated and influential among
January, 1942, taken from his Carmelite
all manner of people, and especially durfriary in Nijmegen to a converted hotel,
ing the last year of his life as a political
prison, at Scheveningen, near The Hague
prisoner.
for questioning. Here he did have a cell
It seems that Titus never lost the simwith bare necessities and sufficient to lead
plicity and straight-forwardness of his
the spiritual life of a Carmelite friar. A
Frisian ancestry. He would naturally,
Dom Charles Hallinan OSB
T
26
month later he was removed with others to
a concentration camp at Amersfoort.
Here, as prisoner No 58, he was subjected
with many others, including ministers of
religion, to a regime of unrelenting forced
labour, malnutrition, humiliation and frequent beatings. He became a victim of an
epidemic of dysentery. The conditions in
the camp-hospital were of unspeakable
indignity.
efore being taken from Holland to
Dachau, in Bavaria, he was brought
back again to the milder conditions of
Scheveningen and then, on 16th May, to a
transit-prison across the Dutch-German
border at Kleve. On the train to Dachau,
a long highly unpleasant journey, Titus
was with a group of priests and among
them a young Protestant Minister, Kapteyn, with whom he became notably
friendly. He endured the even harsher
conditions of Dachau without complaint
for five weeks. Fellow prisoners became
aware of the contrast between his physical
weakness and his inner spiritual strength.
He received great assistance from some of
them when a victim of beatings and of
physical exhaustion while his patient serenity, constant prayer and spiritual counselling consoled and strengthened the faith
of many. He was constantly urging them
to pray for the camp guards. Becoming
so ill as to be unable barely to stand he
agreed to go to the ‘hospital’.
He was there hardly a week. But before
he became unconscious, the other patients
were constantly around him receiving his
encouragement and consolation. It is
from the nurse who gave him the lethal
injection that ended his life that we know
that he was shockingly experimented on
by doctors. He said aloud: “Not my will
but thine be done.”
Titus, Prisoner No, 30492, aged 62, died
on Sunday 26 July 1942 at 2pm, ten minutes after the injection. The nurse, a
B
Dutch lapsed-Catholic, never forgot Titus
Brandsma, and later returned to her Faith.
On hearing that he was to be a political
prisoner, Titus had said that now he would
be called to put into practice what he had
taught others. His powerful and distinctive spirit with its strong influence on others struggling to survive the horrors of the
concentration camps, can be seen as the
fruit of his teaching summed up in his
words; “where Faith, Hope and Charity are
being exercised in a most heroic manner,
there we experience the nearness of the
divine. There God confronts us as it
were, through the person who exercises
these virtues and anyone who witnesses it
will fall under the spell of the divine radiance”.
27
28
Mother Mary Garson OSB, OBE
3rd October 1921 – 8th March 2007
Sr Kathy Yeeles, OSB
A
fter a spell in
hospital at the
end of January 2007,
Mother Mary Garson's
health gradually deteriorated and she returned to St Joseph's in
Bognor Regis where
she died peacefully, on
8th March, at the age
of 85, in the 45th year
of her religious profession, surrounded by
her sisters, priests, friends and carers.
Mary Sunniva Garson was born at Udny
Green, Aberdeenshire, the daughter of a
Merchant Navy Captain, David Sinclair
Garson and Jessie Jane Anderson. She
studied at Invergordon Academy and Aberdeen University, where she gained an
MA in psychology.
Born into a Presbyterian background her
life spanned wartime service when she
was commissioned in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and assigned to testing procedures for RAF recruits. She was also
seconded to the Army to work on diagnostic testing of soldiers returning from
Burma. After the war she became an industrial psychologist and then an educational psychologist in Sussex.
Having been impressed with the faith of a
Catholic family with whom she stayed on
the Continent, she became a convert in
1947. Later she met Jesuit Fr Bernard
Basset who enlisted her in the Cell movement, a continuation of RAF leadership
courses. This involved weekly meetings
of active Catholics, discussion of the Gos-
pel and apostolic works.
Fr Basset told her that he thought she had
a vocation to the religious life. While
Mother Mary was considering this advice,
the chaplain of her local cell in Brighton,
Fr Gillespie, asked her to visit a semiblind old lady caring for her blind sister
and a 90-year-old friend, both bedridden.
"The conditions in which they lived were
appalling," she recalled. "Could I do
something? Compassion impelled me, but
fear, lack of experience and domesticity
held me back."
She went on retreat to think and pray. Fr
Gillespie asked her how much she would
need to buy a house for needy people. She
guessed £800. The priest told her that, by
coincidence, he had been given exactly
that sum by someone who knew nothing of
their plan.
"The shock was considerable," she wrote.
When she opened her first house for the
needy in Brighton the original idea was to
form a community of dedicated men and
women living a life of prayer, hospitality
and compassion. In spite of many difficulties and obstacles from those in authority,
within three years Mother Mary and her
helpers had acquired another house next
door, increased the number of residents to
forty and started the first sheltered accommodation scheme in a third house with
flats for the active elderly. Mother Mary
had no master plan. She lived and prayed
from day to day answering the call of the
Holy Spirit in all she did. She used to say:
"If we do our best God will do the rest."
She did her best and He blessed her work.
29
For 18 months after opening the first
house, Mother Mary continued working as
an educational psychologist at a child guidance clinic.
As the organisation expanded, the group
grew in spirituality, at first holding prayer
meetings in which they were joined by a
hen, a black cat and a Scottie dog. Eventually the group introduced blue habits, and
then veils and crosses, before formally
adopting the Rule of St Benedict. The only
seating at their inaugural meeting was
wheelchairs. They decorated the house before the sale was completed.
Mother Mary worked at St Benedict's, the
Order’s Generalate in Brighton for almost
twelve years until her retirement in November 2005. Before that the Generalate was at
Worth Abbey, in the same building as the
Juniorate, which they eventually found too
small for both purposes.
Mother Mary's adoption of the Rule of St
Benedict as a way of life for her communities will ensure longevity and the continuance of the great work she has done during
her most fruitful life.
Mother Mary had no idea of going to the
missions. In 1974 when she set up houses in
the third world it was by invitation. The
congregation spread overseas, beginning
with a house for old people in Sri Lanka and
a large complex embracing a convent, an old
people’s home, a hospital, crèche and craft
centre for young people in India.
Today the Sisters manage five residential
homes, a nursing unit and eleven schemes of
retirement flats in the UK, five foundations
in India, two in Sri Lanka and one each in
Kenya and Uganda in Africa.
In one of her last visits to the subcontinent Mother Mary visited seven
houses. Since then the congregation has
opened a nursery school in Uganda and a
school of nursing in India.
For her years of service to the Catholic
Church, Mother Mary received a Papal
Cross ‘Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice’ in 2002.
Two years later she was awarded an MBE
which gave her particular joy, as her father
had received the same honour as harbourmaster at Invergordon. Her citation said:
“Mother Mary has been an inspiration to
those who have worked with her, instigating and nurturing each development, and
continually promoting the vision of individual dignity. Mother Mary is profoundly generous, acutely aware of other
people's needs and ready to make herself
available whatever the demand. She has
engendered an overwhelming family feeling about the charity, attracting people of
all religious faiths, and, by her example,
they foster participation and unity."
Her work began in 1954. She was responsible for the foundation and formation
of the Benedictine Sisters of Our Lady of
Grace and Compassion and was professed
as a nun in 1962. She was described, by
the former Papal Nuncio Archbishop
Pablo Puente, as "a true miracle of our
times". She described herself as "the kind
that left bed and enthralled reading just in
time to attend the 12 o'clock Sunday Mass
- the last possible".
Fifty years later, Mother Mary celebrated
the golden jubilee in a packed Arundel
Cathedral with the Papal Nuncio presiding; she was head of a congregation - the
Sisters of Our Lady of Grace and Compassion - with more than 200 sisters, 300-plus
paid staff and hundreds of lay volunteers
all inspired by her to show care and compassion to the sick and the poor. She
served as prioress general for 20 years
from 1985.
A service of thanksgiving for the life of
Mother Mary, lead by Bishop Kieran
Conry, was held on Tuesday 27th -March
at Worth Abbey, followed by her burial at
Holy Cross Priory in the community
cemetery.
Compiled by Barry O’Sullivan
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31
Not leaving on a
jet plane
A profile of Dom Patrick Fludder, OSB
O
ne way or
another Dom
Patrick Fludder was
going to be a sky
pilot. But Worth
Abbey’s retreats
co-ordinator did not
grow up with the
religious life in
mind, far from it.
He was determined,
from a very early
age, to become an
air force pilot How did he end up a Benedictine monk at Worth? It’s a long story.
Born in 1951, Fr Patrick came from a
Sussex-based Catholic family and went to
the de la Salle College (now Cardinal
Newman school) near Brighton. But it was
not the Church which captured the young
Fludder’s attention, it was nearby Shoreham airport. Seeing planes at such close
quarters, gave him a fascination in aircraft
which inspired him independently to study
for and win an ‘O’ level in aerodynamics
and then another in engineering drawing.
Meanwhile, he failed his RE and his
French.
Set on joining the RAF, Fr Patrick became an air cadet as a teenager and then to
his delight he was able to spend every
weekend flying gliders. It didn’t leave
much time, well none, for going to Mass –
much to his mother’s unhappiness. But
his career path seemed assured as from
school, he went to Southampton University to study, yes, aeronautical engineering. By now, the teenaged Patrick was an
officer cadet and had hopes of a career as
an aircraft engineer. Disappointingly, his
eyesight was not up to piloting.
But it was then, that other heavenly considerations began to appear on his radar,
although the Catholic Church still did not
offer much in the way of appeal for the
student Fludder. The fact was, the protestants gave better parties. There was lots to
eat, interesting people to talk to, volleyball
on the Common, they were in a nice big
house and they were free. The Catholic
chaplaincy, by contrast, had an awful
disco (which he hated), in an awful building and you could not hear or speak to
anybody. So, Patrick did the obvious
thing, and started going along to the evangelical gatherings.
For about nine months, he was involved
in the evangelical group and, says Fr Patrick, they helped him to make sense of his
Catholic upbringing (although that was
not, perhaps, the intention).
“My Catholic upbringing was like a bicycle wheel without a hub,” he remembers..
“They provided the hub, Jesus, and all this
Catholic stuff then made sense.”
At that point, Fr Patrick not only felt a
call to return to the Catholic chaplaincy
but also the first idea of a call to the
32
priesthood.
It was 1970-71, the Beatles had just broken up, flares were getting seriously large
and Fr Patrick started going to Sunday
Mass. This inspired him to go to weekday
Mass as well, although he was still attending evangelical meetings.
Fr Patrick then teamed up with a few
other like-minded chaps, who were also
thinking about vocations, and the longcherished plan to join the RAF gradually
diminished. By the end of 1972, he had
resigned from the officer cadets and was
taking part in a morning prayer group in
his hall of residence. It was hardly a typical student lifestyle of the time. But it was
about this time that Fr Patrick first came to
Worth. The university chaplaincy received
an invitation from the monastery to any
young people who wanted to spend Easter
at Worth. The monks wanted to “get ideas
from the undergraduates” and they in turn
were offered the chance to see what the
modern monastery had to offer. Fr Patrick
and friends took the opportunity.
“We stayed in the new block without any
heating. It was terribly cold,” he remembers.
But, he said: “The monks were great. They
asked our opinion of a scenario where the
Worth site was empty, except for the
monks, no school or anything, and they
would invite families and single people to
come together there and have daily prayer.
The men would offer their professional
services locally and the women would
look after the families. (This was more
than 30 years ago).”
Fr Patrick remembers he and the other
young people saying the idea wouldn’t
work. But they suggested “a smaller
scheme where young men could come and
spend up to three years in the monastery,
like a short service commission, and live
the life of a monk”.
He returned to Southampton and contin-
ued his studies, but Fr Patrick was to return to Worth in a matter of months. That
summer he and some others from the university did not have anything arranged so
they asked if they could spend some time
at the monastery. They were accepted and
allowed to come for September.
Like forerunners of the men from BBC2’s
“The Monastery”, they stayed in the monastery, drank Fr Roger’s home-made beer,
carried out manual work and attended all
the monastic offices.
“I laid bricks for the first time,” says Fr
Patrick. “And in the afternoons we did
some social work – visiting the Cheshire
home or a day centre.”
“We were all asked what we thought,” he
says. “I thought: nice chaps, nice place,
nice outlook. I might consider this.”
“I had a chat with Abbot Victor and he
told me to finish my degree and come
back in 1972, so I did.
“I started as a postulant that summer with
two others, one of whom left after six
months.”
Fr Patrick’s mother was “very happy” he
says. His father had died in an accident
when Fr Patrick was only a boy. But his
sister was less than impressed.
“She said I was avoiding my social responsibility,” he recalls. This was a time
of direct political action after all. But she
did become reconciled to her brother’s
decision.
“I baptised all three of her children.”
Fr Patrick was only the second novice
Worth had had for four years, and the one
who immediately preceded him had left,
so now he actually follows Abbot Stephen,
who joined 10 years earlier, in Community
order. The year after, however, there were
five new novices, including the current
Abbot. Because he was the first novice for
many years, Fr Patrick says they “looked
after him”.
“There were some uncomfortable bits,” he
33
says. “But my expectations were fulfilled.”
There was a lot of manual labour,
“bashing weeds in the Quiet Garden”. But
Fr Patrick found he liked that and later
enjoyed his studies at Heythrop College.
He completed two years of philosophy and
then three years of theology. This finished
in 1978 and he was ordained in June that
year, sadly just in time to conduct his
mother’s funeral Mass two months later.
Those were the days when the school was
the Community’s great work and Fr Patrick was plunged into teaching: maths,
physics and RE. Not a born teacher, he
particularly disliked teaching RE, which
he rapidly dropped. He carried on with
maths and physics although he did not
“enjoy teaching” except for some of the
advanced physics.
“There were a lot of toys to play with
such as lasers and steam engines. And then
two students wanted to do engineering A
level, which was fun.”
Fr Patrick was to teach, however, for six
years, until he found a way to move into
the school office, on a project to bring
computers to the school administration.
That took three years. And when it was
‘Any Questions’
at Worth Abbey
The parish Justice & Peace
Action group is organising an
‘Any Questions’ evening for
Monday 8th October, with panelists including Abbot Christopher.
Watch out for more
information nearer the date.
completed Fr Patrick moved to Worth’s
then outpost in Dulwich, where he was to
look after buildings, gardens and retreats.
Moving back to Worth in 1990, as Dulwich was closed, he took responsibility for
er buildings, gardens and retreats.
But just two years later Fr Patrick found
himself on a new adventure. In 1992, he
went across the Atlantic for a year to study
monastic theology.
“I met a lot of monks and lay people and
we stay in touch.”
One contact came from the Bahamas,
which he went to visit – in the interests of
research, of course.
Today, Fr Patrick is once again involved
in retreats, buildings and gardens. The
Quiet Garden is a major work and the retreat centre never busier. It is precisely the
sort of continuity required in St Benedict’s
Rule, which calls on monks to remain in
the same place, doing the same things.
And it clearly suits him. Fr Patrick said
that in 35 years, he has only once thought
about life outside. With his acute sense of
humour, his enthusiasm seems endless – as
he reaches for the skies. SW
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34
THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF
FAIR TRADE
‘The EU slaps taxes on Third World exports and dumps its subsidised produce
in developing country markets, destroying local livelihoods. Battalions of US
lawyers earn a living by bending the rules to keep out Third World imports,
claiming risks to health or dumping.’ - CAFOD
‘Unjust trade rules rob poor countries of £1.3 billion every single day. For
many, earning a living and escaping from poverty is like trying to climb the
down escalator.’ – Tearfund
George Fitzsimons
T
he UK market in fairly traded merchandise is valued at £300m and has
been growing at 50 per cent annually for
the past five years. Some 2,500 products
are now available, with a growing range
available from mainstream retailers. The
UK market is the largest in the world, a
fact which Paul Chandler, Chief Executive
of Traidcraft, ascribes to the efforts which
UK church communities have devoted to
promoting fair trade. UK supermarkets’
interest in offering premium ranges at
higher prices is also a contributory factor.
Paul Chandler visited Worth in March
2007 during Fair Trade Fortnight to speak
about the positive impact of fair trade on
producers in less developed countries and
the work Traidcraft performs. It aims to
have a development impact, not simply to
open up UK distribution channels.
Fair trade differs from standard trade in
five principal ways. As an organisation
committed to fair trade, Traidcraft:
1. Focuses on trading with poor and marginalised producer groups, helping them
develop skills and sustainable livelihoods
through the trading relationship
2. Pays fair prices that cover full production costs and enables producers to be paid
a living wage and other fair rewards.
3. Provides credit when needed to allow
orders to be fulfilled and pays premiums to
be used to provide further benefits to producer communities.
4. Encourages the fair treatment of all
workers, ensuring good working conditions throughout the supply chain.
5. Aims to build up long-term relationships, rather than looking for short-term
commercial advantage.
Traidcraft was a founder member of The
Fairtrade Foundation in 1992, along with
CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam and other
charities.
The Fairtrade Foundation licenses the
FAIRTRADE Mark to products in the UK
which meet required standards.
The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on products to guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting
35
a better deal. For a product to display the
FAIRTRADE Mark it must meet Traidcraft assists the businesses to improve
their quality, working conditions and labour practices, equipment and working
methods with the result that their sales to
the local and domestic market often improve, irrespective of their sales to the UK.
There are also often spin-off social benefits, for example in education for children
and adults, housing, environmental impact
and social development.
Case study: Apicoop, Chile
Apicoop sells on behalf of its 620 members in the area east of Valdivia and elsewhere in
the country. The communities involved in Apicoop are poor villages, typically with no
electricity, limited educational provision and young people often moving to the cities because of a lack of local jobs.
Apicoop initially gives ten beehives and bee colonies to the member on a credit basis.
This credit is then paid back (in beeswax, honey and bees) within seven years. Beginners
receive free advice and training from agricultural technicians and can expand their production.All export sales are to fair trade organisations. Honey from Apicoop is used in
Traidcraft Geobars (fruit and cereal bars).
"Before we kept bees we had no jobs and now we have been able to develop ourselves as people. I used the money from the first year of beekeeping to build a house.
The money I get from selling honey also helps with school fees for the children. I am
more independent now and I have more freedom with my own money."
Celia, beekeeper
Case study: Tara Projects, India
Tara Projects supports community-based groups of artisans in northern India. Producers
are represented on the management committee and encouraged to work co-operatively.
As well as supporting the production and marketing of craft products, Tara Projects is
also funding schools, vocational training centres and adult literacy centres, besides spearheading many campaigns against child and bonded labour, illiteracy, unfair trade practices and for ecological, environmental and female educational issues. These developmental programmes are sustained primarily from the revenues generated by the sales of
handicrafts.
“The fair price was paid on time and often in advance. The regular work made us
stable and secure. It is a great feeling that today I am able to send my children to
school. I was not so fortunate before. Today, although there are not many big
dreams, we hope that the work will continue to come. It gives us strength and security. Our lives are more settled. It is good to earn money with dignity but it is also
the process of development on many levels for a better society.”
Shamim, craftsman
36
IRUNDU - THE ROAD TO
WORTH’S UGANDAN TWIN
Cynthia Haynes, Helle and Paul Yeates
W
hat a joy. What unexpected pleasin Irundu to one wife and three or four
ure awaited us on our journey
children in Mbarara. With 40 per cent of
across Uganda. As each day unfolded we
the population under the age of 15, educahad no idea what lay ahead of us,but we
tion and family size are major issues.
were always overwhelmed by the generous
We were greatly impressed by young,
welcome we received and the programme
dedicated, dynamic priests working tolaid on for us in each of the seven parishes
gether with their Parish Pastoral councils
we visited,in our quest to find a sister
to address the spiritual, social and finanfriendship parish.
cial needs of their parishioners. The strucWe visited their homes, shared their
ture of the parish from family faith groups
meals and sat amongst them in church. We
through sub-centres and centres to the PPC
sang and we swayed and we danced; we
enabled everyone to be represented at all
clapped and we shook hands with hunlevels.
dreds; we filled umpteen little outstretched
All the parishes we visited fulfilled the
hands with
criteria set down by Fr
sweets. In a
We were left in awe by the exuberant James and the steering
spontanea vibrant,
expression of faith; the joy, the singing, committee:
ous gesture
participative liturgy,
the dancing and the praising of God with well developed lay
after one
PPC meet- abandon in the midst of so much poverty. ministry meeting lituring we
gical and catechetical
joined
needs, a faith filled
hands to sing Bind us together Lord – one
laity and commitment to social action.
minute we were singing, the next we had
We talked endlessly about the pros and
tears streaming down our faces. It was all
cons of each parish in turn, but somehow
too much. By day six we were on our
without actually saying so we realised we
knees. How could we last three weeks?
were all talking as though we had chosen
We asked ourselves often, how could we
Irundu. We thanked God for his divine
explain this back home? We were left in
intervention and were relieved and excited
awe by the exuberant expression of faith;
to be dashing back to the first parish we
the joy, the singing, the dancing and the
had visited.
rundu is an oasis in a rural, impoverpraising of God with abandon in the midst
ished area near Lake Kioga, two hours
of so much poverty.
drive north of Jinja in the Eastern district
Interestingly, as we progressed from
of Busoga. The parish church of St. Matias
East to West the level of poverty deMulumba has 38,000 parishioners served
creased, and with it the size of the family
by two priests and a seminarian. In the
from three wives and twenty three children
I
37
same compound lies the priest’s house, the
convent of the Benedictine Sisters of Grace
and Compassion, a nursery school, a vocational secondary school, a dispensary, two
small farms and market gardens. Across the
road is a primary school of 900 children.
The sisters are an integral part of the parish with a close and mutually respectful relationship with the priests and together they
have created a peaceful, constructive, vibrant community, fully supportive of each
other’s activities.
Fr James and two parishioners will be visiting Irundu in October, but our Worth-Irundu
Friendship Parish Committee will be establishing links with the parish to develop our
special relationship. Once each parish has
identified its own needs we can work towards ways of becoming involved to meet
those needs. There are many ways in which
we could help. Small sacrifices with our
time, interest, support and financial assistance could go a long way to help our Ugan-
dan
friends
help
themselves.
Uganda is
a beautiful country and
we hope
that many
from
Fr Stephen Mudoola with Sr Julian Worth
will visit
and help in Irundu, experiencing the joy
and enthusiasm in which the parishioners
express their faith and take on leadership
in their church. We have much to learn
from each other.
For information contact Paul Yeates,
Tel: 01342 832506, or
[email protected]
PQ ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION
600 copies of PQ are distributed free of charge to Worth Abbey Parishioners and all who attend
Mass at the Abbey and West Hoathly. Complimentary copies are distributed to other churches in
Balcombe, Crawley Down, Turners Hill and West Hoathly. To advertise in PQ please get in
touch with Jill Carter, telephone 01825 712162, e-mail [email protected]. Rates are as follows:
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PQ is published four times a year. If you’ve enjoyed this issue and would like more copies, or if
you don’t come regularly to Worth Abbey but would like to continue getting a copy, please get
in touch with Jill Carter If you would like to help with production costs we welcome donations.
Cheques should be made out to Worth Abbey Parish and sent to St Benedicts’s, Worth Abbey,
Paddockhurst Road,Turners Hill, CRAWLEY, West Sussex
38
A WEDDING IN UGANDA
Robin and Priscilla Williamson
O
ur son Tim, an economist, went to
work in the Uganda Ministry of Finance in 1998, fell in love with the country, and stayed on. Rita is Ugandan and
works in Kampala for the UK’s Department for International Development.
Their wedding was in two parts. A traditional ceremony, the Okuhingira, held in
Rita’s home village near Mbarara, in the
West of Uganda, followed a week later by
a nuptial mass in Kampala.
Tim’s friends and family – 35 of us –
flew to Uganda and on Friday 23 March
met in Mbarara, joined by Tim’s Ugandan
friends. On Saturday morning we put on
traditional dress – long skirt, short tunic
and stole for women, long shirt over suit
trousers and suit jacket for men, and soon
after mid-day left for Rita’s village.
Rita’s family is ruled by her 92 year old
grandmother, who lives on the family
farm, where her three sons also have
houses, although none lives there. On
arrival we were assembled into a procession by our Master of Ceremonies. Our
two senior representatives, Robin and
Tony Crossley (Robin’s best man and
Tim’s godfather), carried spears (walking
sticks!) to be given up on entry as a sign of
peace. Our MC led, a large calabash of
banana spirit on his head. Girls gave us
each a flower as we entered the family
compound. We processed through dancing girls and men towards four large marquees, beautifully decked in white and
orange, three already full with Rita’s family and guests, with ours directly opposite
Rita’s immediate family.
The family’s MC greeted us and ex-
plained the programme for the afternoon.
First came the handing over of our gifts –
the banana spirit and, thankfully, more
acceptable refreshment in the form of
beer! Then followed spirited dancing by
graceful girls and athletic men. Next came
our feast. The others had all eaten before
we arrived, so we moved into Rita’s father’s house, where a splendid buffet had
been arranged. Well fed, we returned to
our marquee for more dancing and singing. We were now called to order by the
MC, and all stood as a small procession
emerged from the house – five girls in
stunning yellow and orange dresses, with
their eyes hidden by a gold fringe. Of
course, we could recognise Rita – her
fringe was longer than the others and her
dress more elaborate! The party advanced
solemnly and sat demurely under a tent in
front of Rita’s family. Rita then came
forward to identify her man. Thankfully,
she managed to find Tim and hand him a
flower - no words were said, and she returned slowly to her place under her tent.
Then came speeches. First the
Archbishop of Mbarara, in all his Episcopal finery, gave us a homily and a blessing. Rita’s family are strong Catholics and
great supporters of the local church. More
speeches followed from Rita’s uncles and
brother, welcoming us and wishing the
couple long life, happiness and many children. Finally, Rita’s father spoke, movingly, about Rita and the way she had assumed the role of her mother who had died
12 years ago. He was about to hand her
over to Robin, who from now on would be
responsible for her as though he was her
39
father.
were returned as a sign that the formal part
Robin replied, welcoming Rita into his
of the ceremony was over, and we mingled
family. Rita’s father led Rita up to Robin
with the occupants of the other marquees.
and put her hand into his as a sign that she
Rita emerged to greet us before we got
was now a member of his family - a very
back into our cavalcade to return to our
moving and solemn moment.
hotel in Mbarara. We had our own
We returned to our seats, and
party that evening – but Rita’s famRita handed traditional gifts to
ily and friends – over 500 in all –
her family and ours – woven
stayed on to dance their night
baskets and mats. In turn Rita
away. A week later, in Kampala,
and Tim were given gifts by
Tim and Rita were married with a
her grandmother and her unfull nuptial mass. A reception was
cles, including traditional
held in a Kampala hotel – followcooking utensils to keep in
ing our own traditions by limiting
their home for good luck, a
the number of speeches to three
bible - and five cows. Dusk
(instead of the twenty or more
was approaching and our part The Williamsons in company considered normal in Uganda).
with ceremonial spear
in the ceremony was coming
The groom, best man (his brother)
to an end. Tony and Robin
and father also wore their own
were asked to come forward, their ‘spears’
traditional costume – morning dress hired
in Horsham.
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40
FRIENDSHIP
Angus MacDonald March 2007.
So wound up in my own small world,
How often have I failed to see
The friendship which my fellow-man
Was ready to bestow on me?
And now I find - it's dawning slow When crisis and concern appear
That those whom almost every day I see
Are there to help dispel my fear.
But more! I see how blind I've been,
For when I look, whom do I find
But Christ my Lord, who takes my hand
To give me love and peace of mind.
And His embrace was ever there
For my poor love, however flawed.
How could it take so long for me
To recognise the friendship of My Lord?
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Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
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41
Parish Jazz night
Jazz and Cajun food were served with equal relish to the packed Parish Jazz night
last March in Crawley Down’s Haven Centre. All ages were well represented.
And thanks again are due to the Parish Events Group for organising yet another
highly successful evening. The food was excellent and the dancing, from a spectator’s
point of view, worthy of Strictly Come Dancing.
42
PrayerSchool
I
Dom Peter Williams
n the 4th century John Cassian, the foredone honestly it cannot but make you
runner to St. Benedict and an authority
aware of your own thoughts. Part of the
on the lives of the early desert fathers,
prayer process is to ‘notice your thoughts’.
recommended that for a monk to grow in
Although we may at one level dismiss
the spiritual life he had to learn to rethem as distractions, certain types of
nounce any harmful thoughts, and he gave
thought and repetitive thought patterns can
a system of ‘8 thoughts’ (similar to the 7
reveal to us a lot about the sort of person
deadly sins) which needed to be tackled if
we are. Awareness of this information is
a monk was going to be thorough in this
the first stage in giving us the option to
task. The key though to becoming aware
change our thinking and therefore to ultiof these thoughts, and therefore to start
mately really change our actions and patthis process off (he says) is the practise of
terns of behaviour. As we become truly
revealing your thoughts to an elder. Interaware of our thoughts during prayer and
estingly he
therefore our need
did not men- Prayer then can be seen as way into finding to ‘let go’ of certion sin or an freedom from the enslavement of thoughts,
tain thoughts as
examination
soon as they arise,
as we specifically develop the practise of re- our prayer life can
of conscience; this nouncing harmful thinking.
become a sort of
was because
battleground as
for Cassian the young monk is not capable
this action happens. It is during this time
of discerning his own thoughts. To enable
that we can learn the difficult lesson of
this difficult process to happen Cassian is
separating ourselves from our thinking –
very keen that a monk should not feel any
our thinking and who we are, are not the
shame in articulating his thoughts since
same. Time spent in prayer is when we
this could stop him. In fact he says that
learn to find and recognise this gap, and
any resistance he feels to uncovering his
we give ourselves the opportunity to
thoughts can be put down to the work of
change our thinking. Prayer then can be
the devil. Furthermore if a monk freely
seen as way into finding freedom from the
and accurately reveals his thoughts, then
enslavement of thoughts, as we specifithe devil is unable to touch him. I think if
cally develop the practice of renouncing
we (in our day) take this ancient teaching
harmful thinking. As prayer deepens this
seriously then it can have a profound efpractice should start to become our habitfect on our on spiritual life and therefore
ual mode of being, really helping us to
our prayer life.
transform ourselves from the inside outApart from the obvious parallels with the
wards. As our thinking changes so does
sacrament of confession, this does I think
our behaviour and actions, from acting on
reinforce the power of silent prayer. Alwho we think we are, we start to rely more
though silent prayer is not the same as
on the real power of the presence of God
revealing your thoughts to another, if it is
within us.
43
Deacon Blue
Chris Dobson
O
ur
theme of
renaissance in
the
Church
led me to
think of the homily I was asked to preach
at St Leonard’s Turners Hill on the 6th
Sunday of Easter. It was the occasion of
the first Eucharist after his licensing of
Revd Stephen Huggins, who like Revd
David Jarmy before him, is also acting as
Anglican chaplain to the school at Worth.
The readings talked of ‘making all things
new’ and bringing love, obedience, the
Holy Spirit and peace – appropriate
themes.
I talked of Worth’s involvement in Turners Hill. Although the monks came to
Paddockhurst in the 1930s, it was not until
the 1960s that one of the monks, Fr
Jerome, came to say Mass in the village
for a growing group of parishioners. He,
and then Fr Charles, firstly used the Old
Reading Room and then the Old Ark
which some of us remember as a tin hut on
the village school recreation ground.
It was not long before the then vicar,
Revd Richard Harvey, discussed with his
PPC the possibility of inviting the Catholic
community to use St Leonard’s. The
Catholics evidently accepted with great
joy and so from the early 1970s a Catholic
Mass was celebrated in between the Anglican 8.00 and 10.30 services.
Outside the Sunday services we began to
share Lent and Advent groups, take part in
harvest suppers and jointly fundraise for
the Sisters in India with concerts and fun.
The shortage of priests in the Catholic
diocese led to a re-evaluation of Worth’s
resources in the villages and sadly Mass
centres were the victims, and so some four
years ago it was decided Mass would no
longer take place on a regular basis in
Turners Hill.
However, the warmth of relationships and
strength of feeling was such that we were
determined to continue ‘to do together all
those things that we do not have to do
apart’.
We therefore rejoice in the three ecumenical koinonia house groups that we
have in the village, the times when we can
come together in our joint services and
other activities including our ecumenical
pilgrimage to Walsingham last year, the
Kidz Club and not to mention the elderly
persons’ Day Centre at Worth at which so
many helpers come from all the churches
in the village and beyond.
Our history over these 40 and more years
should not make us complacent. Do more
than 10 per cent of the village come to
church? Our age profile is on the upper
level. And, whilst our relationship with
the Free Church is warm, it is difficult to
find opportunities to share together.
What do the readings in this Easter season tell us? The mystical passage from
Revelation which describes the Holy City
of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven
from God, adorned as a bride for her husband – no less than the risen Jesus coming
to dwell with us – ‘see I make all things
new!’ - is a real encouragement for us in
Turners Hill as we enter a new era in our
ecumenical history.
44
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