Obfuscation

I was driving along the other day when the word obfuscation popped into my mind. Now I like the word; it sort of rolls around nicely and drops off the tongue, but you've got to be careful what pops into your head and rolls off your tongue when your driving. Anyway, a short while later after a rest at the road side, I drove on and got home safely. But I didn't forget obfuscation. I knew what the word meant but checked out the dictionary for something precise: to darken or to confuse were two of the definitions and they suited perfectly what had developed in my mind.

Satan has many titles and one is the Prince of Darkness or you might say the prince of obfuscation; because Satan likes to darken and to confuse; to throw shadows over things or to make things seem different than they are. He distorts truth and tries to make us see things his way. You can see him at work in the world. Christians are called the children of light: the light of Christ. But that doesn't mean we can't be deceived by darkness. And of course as Christians, we should not be obfuscating at all. So when you see deliberate acts of obfuscation you can usually tell that the values of Christ are not at work, but more likely the values of Satan.

This was more or less the extent of my thoughts on obfuscation and Satan, prince of Darkness. But then I came across what seem to be examples of obfuscation: the deliberate darkening or confusing of issues. And these came from within the Church.

First an item about Cardinal Egan, former Archbishop of New York, and allegations that he was less than open during investigations into an abuse scandal in his previous diocese. Then I read an article in the Catholic Herald in which the writer, a priest, tried to explain how the Irish clergy could be less than open without telling lies by using a concept called mental reservation. This means that if you hold back bits of the truth i.e. reserve them to yourself, you are not guilty of lying. Apparently this is acceptable. the writer quotes the example of a parish priest asking a curate to say he isn't in when a troublesome visitor calls. By saying "He isn't in" and reserving to himself the words "to you" the curate is not technically lying. Mind you the example is light years away from the Irish clergy matter. Clever though, eh? So a lie isn't a lie if you don't tell the truth, or the whole truth. Sounds promising.

But to a non clerically trained person like me, not gifted in the subtleties of moral philosophy or whatever it is, a lie is a lie. Now, I lie like the rest of you; but I know when I am lying and, if there is such a thing, it's usually an honest lie. The idea of " mental reservation" seems to me awfully like the philosophical nitpicking that Jesus abhorred in the Pharisees, those "whited sepulchures". Not that I would want to apply the image of outwardly pristine but inwardly rotten to the events in Ireland. Never(post-modern irony).

Back to where we started. They obfuscated and , it seems, there has been much obfuscation in parts of the Church where such scandals have taken place. Is there a place in the Church for obfuscation, for casting shadows or shading the light? Is it the Lord of Light we serve or the prince of obfuscation?

Be prepared(1)

We are in Advent. For Catholic Christians, this is surely the beginning of the New Year, not January when we remember the pagan God, Janus, with his two faces looking to the past and to the future. Nor is our new beginning in Lent when we purify ourselves in anticipation of Easter. Advent is the beginning of our journey, and it is a journey we make in time. In Advent we symbolically live with Mary her journey through the nine months of her pregnancy: a time of expectation, anticipation and uncertainty. Mary prepared for the birth of her child as we prepare spiritually for the same event. But when we look at the Incarnation, the " end time" of Advent, we see a mirror image, like the reflection of a rainbow. There is another coming into the world, the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings, Lord of Lords to claim His Kingdom and to judge the world. The liturgy of Advent points us to both these inseperable events in the faith journey of humanity. We reflect on the end times of the old Covenant and the end times of human history at the return of Christ.

So, we, like Mary, experience feelings of expectation, anticipation and uncertainty. It is the coming of Christ that evokes those feelings and as we look at Scripture we are reminded that we are in need of being prepared for the coming of Christ; for come He will. Just as the Incarnation fulfilled Mary's anticipation and expectation, so too will the return of Christ be the fulfilment of ours. And just as Mary had to prepare for the birth of her children, so too we must prepare for his return. Advent is a reminder for us to prepare and to be prepared for the day of Christ's return the time of which only the Father knows. Advent is every bit as solemn as Lent, every bit as spiritually focused and every bit as necessary to our continuing growth to salvation.Sadly it is all too easily spoiled by Christmas; the pagan celebration that is, not the birth of Christ.

The message , then, is prepare, prepare,prepare. Do not be deluded by the paganism but arrive at the joy and celebration of Christmas by the discipline of a Spirit-led Advent. Be prepared and stay ready. Advent is not just for Christmas.

Baptismal vows

I went to a Christening ( Baptism) last weekend. It was in an Anglican Church. The thing that struck me though was when we were invited to renew our baptismal vows. The responses from the crowd of people there( 4 christenings, over a 100 people) were encouraging, considering that many probably don't give much thought to these promises, made by our parents and repeated by us at Easter. But then how many of us practicing Christians give much thought to them from one Easter to another. And yet they are fundamental to our faith, hence their use in Baptism at the beginning of our Christian life.

Anyway I gave it some thought and got out the Missal and read the promises again and was struck with the clear statement of what it means to be a Christian. The vows encapsulate the whole of our faith teaching. In fact, I have made a practice of saying them daily as an act of commitment and also to remind myself of what I profess to believe. They are a sure reminder of the choice we are faced with: to follow the path of evil or to choose Christ. For the serious Christian they provide a warning and an encouragement.

So, maybe it's worth giving it a try. Don't wait till next Easter to renew your vows. Do it daily. That way you can re-commit to God and turn from evil consciously and as an act of will. They are also useful as an examination of conscience at the end of the day. Whose path did you follow?

Here are the baptismal promises. there are two options for the first set of questions:

Option1:

Do you reject satan?.....I do

And all his works?.........I do

And all his empty promises?.....I do

Option 2:

Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom

of God's children?........I do

Do you reject the glamour of evil, and refuse to be

mastered by sin?........I do

Do you reject satan, father of sin and prince

of darkness?................I do

Do you believe in God the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth?.................I do

Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only son,our Lord

who was born of the Virgin Mary,

was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead

and is now seated at the right hand

of the Father?.................I do

Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body

and life everlasting?................I do

This is a good, positive way to start your prayer time and to end your day. Try it

Scandal in the Church

Jesus tell us that the branch that does not bear fruit is cut away and destroyed. Elsewhere we are told that by our fruits we are to be known and distinguished as followers of Christ. If we look to the word of God and apply the words we find there we can begin to get some idea of where change is needed and being called for. Sin requires repentance and the Church as an organisation when guilty of sin must repent as individual Christians. This requires , of course, much more than a simple request for forgiveness following upon an apology, however sincere these might be. It requires something much more fundamental: a hard look at the way things are and the direction being followed, and then a decision to make radical change; to seek a new direction and a new form of living. Out of the darkness of the events in Ireland good and light can emerge; if there is true repentance leading to real change. Maybe the Holy Spirit is speaking to the Church and calling for this new direction which in fact leads us away from dependence on worldly power and structures and leads us back to Christ and the journey in faith.

Throughout most of its history the Church has been a major power player in worldly affairs, at times indistinguishable from other powers in its methods, operation and values. There are many times when the Church has compromised its mission and chosen to follow the ways of the world instead of the narrow way that leads to salvation. Now there are signs in the Church that the familiar things are failing: lack of vocations, buildings closing, falling numbers in congregations, division and scandal and so on.

What to do in this situation? Do we cling to the sides of the rocking boat, as the disciples did as Jesus slept through the storm? Do we cling to the past and try to recreate things that were but have now gone? Do we seek to maintain and develop our worldly connections and influence by selling our souls as we have done in the past? No! we listen to the Spirit, we try to discern the will of God? We begin to pray from our hearts and to live the Gospel and we hear the call of Christ, get out of the boat and walk in faith on the stormy waters towards him.

Scandal in the Church

Shocking! Disgraceful! Scandalous! Shameful. You can add your own adjectives. It would be hard to overstate the feelings that any decent person would have at the revelations of abuse and cover-up in the Irish Catholic Church. The abuse itself was terrible but to conspire to cover it up, to protect the guilty and to deny the reality of the victims experience are actions which themselves are not only reprehensible but probably criminal. Now it seems that there is something about Irish society and culture which made such a cover up possible; but the fact that Christian priests behaved in such a fashion raises a question about the Church itself, the priesthood and the nature of faith and belief, which allowed such events to happen. Only one of the Archbishops is alive but it would not be an injustice were criminal charges to be brought against him.

The truth is that the behaviour of the clergy of the Irish Church, regardless of prevailing cultural norms, has nothing to do with Christianity; has absolutely nothing to do with Christ and has everything to do with the ruler of this world. The Irish Church was a major part of the establishment in Ireland; it was a worldly organisation and not a Christian community. Yes, there are, no doubt, many wonderful Irish Christians and they are victims in there own way; but

whilst they were trying to live Christian lives, the front organisation, which called itself the Catholic Church was going about its own business as an integral part of Irish society. An organisation, a business, a career option and so on. The conspiracy to cover up the crime was just a logical consequence of the conspiracy between the Church, effectively a state Church, and other elements of the establishment. In reality, it had moved an impossible distance from the vision and teaching of its founder. It was " a form of religion" but not a Spirit -filled Church.

It's a strange sort of shepherd who out-wolves the wolves; who locks the sheep outside the sheepfold and protects the wolves inside.

Irish Christianity will be badly damaged by this scandal, as will Christianity in general. This isn't just a case of giving the enemy ammunition, it's loading and aiming the guns for him. But maybe, just maybe, there is an opportunity. Maybe there is a prophetic message to be heard amongst this sin and scandal

Stand up stand up for Jesus

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross", the first line of one of my favourite hymns when I was a lad in Bolton, standing at the back of Breightmet Congregational Church.
Well, the Church has gone now and many of those who sang with me have departed from life,
but the words of the song still sounds as rousing and still remind us of our Christian identity.
We are all soldiers, enlisted in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. St Paul tells us to put on the armour of faith and other pieces of spiritual armour because we fight not against human enemies but against powers and principalities. We fight against evil and the seduuction and temptation to turn from God and choose the world and the devil. In this fight no quarter is given; in this fight we get our strength from the victory of Christ on the Cross. Yes, Christ has won the victory but not everyone has yet been liberated. We are called to be the army of liberation, bringing the freedom that God offers to each one through Jesus.

Satan is the enemy of God and the Cross is the sign of God's victory and the beginning of the restoration of Creation to what God intended it to be. We recognise the work of Satan when we see and hear things that are contrary to God and his plan and his revelation. We see the work of satan in the "ways of the world", in the passing values and fashions; the attitudes and opinions that contradict the teaching of Christ.

Recently we have had Halloween when we, as Christians, celebrate the wonder of the presence of the saints before the throne of God in Heaven. A promise to us and a reality to the saints who have died. And yet, in all the publicity in newspapers and on television, did you see any mention of the real meaning of Halloween? Probably not; but you would have seen the promotion of an alien and pagan ritual, glorifying the dark side. Of course it is only "fun" for children. Fun, to dress up as the devil, as a ghoul as a rotting corpse? Perhaps I have an atrophied sense of fun. Maybe there is no harm directly, though I disagree; but indirectly we are allowing the evil one to delude and deceive people into thinking he is not real and harmful.

But where is the Church in this? Any promotion of Christian teaching or counter-attack against this deceit? I didn't see anything. And how many churches colluded with this travesty of our faith by allowing their buildings to be used for Halloween parties? How many Catholic schools
had kids dressing up? You cannot fight the enemy by playing with him or denying him.
There are two sides in the fight; you can only be on one side.

Talking to each other

Picture a hot, dry day. A huge trailer passes by, throwing up a cloud of dust which hangs for a few moments before disappearing, whilst the trailer moves on. So we had Fit for Mission or so it seems. I have not seen anything much happen locally as a result of Fit for Mission other than a church close and some proposals for future parish amalgamations. In Blackpool, the Deanery Pastoral Council defunctus est ( I got that from the Bayeux tapestry) and there is no rush to replace it. Whatever its faults might have been, though, it did represent a willingness and an opportunity for lay people to be part of the process of growth and activity in the Church in the area. Now there is no collective body in which lay views can be made known.



Whilst I would not be keen to rush into Deanery pastoral Council 2, it concerns me that there is no clear way forward; and who, is going to make the decisions about what happens in the Deanery. Fit For Mission, if it has not already been back -burnered must now be discussed at local level and that means a significant and continuing role for the laity.



The problem I have is that there is little or no communication within the Deanery. We need to look urgently at the issue of communication. If you don't know what is happening how can you contribute and if ,as a lay person, you can't contribute then where does that leave you in terms of being a Church member?
So is Fit for Mission dead? Are there any plans locally? Is there anybody there?