Never too old

I've just read an article in the paper about some research done on church attendance. The research suggests that the decline in church attendance has something to do with the fact that as a population we are healthier, live longer and, therefore, are less pre-occupied with death and the need to think of life after death. On this basis, it says, the young will not be interested  in religion and the other end of the age spectrum is where we need to pitch our evangelisation efforts. There is reference to the Cof E and its efforts to use "street cred" approaches with young people without too much success. There are, obviously far more complex reasons for decline in membership of churches, and far more complex reasons than fear of death for making a committment to a life of faith; but there may be something useful here.

There is, rightly, an emphasis on "youth" in catechesis and recruitment but, sometimes  it seems, to the detriment of older people. The Church, naturally, thinks of the next generation but there are vast numbers of retired people who are not believers or certainly not practitioners. They are the people who need to  hear the Gospel just as much as the young. Their need to accept their salvation through Jesus Christ is just as necessary as that of a teenager with a long life ahead. And the bonus is that such people would have time to attend Church more frequently, to participate in parish life and work and would , hopefully, be able to offer an example to younger members of their families.

Perhaps those responsible for the Diocesan evangelisation strategy should think about this.

This is what Psalm 91 says about the usefulness of the old:
                                        "The just will flourish like the palm tree
                                          and grow like a Lebanon cedar......
                                          still bearing fruit when they are old,
                                          still full of sap, still green......

Sleeping giant

" What a great potential of grace lies dormant in the vast numbers of the baptised "
John Paul 11

This comment comes in a reflection on Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit poured into the life of each baptised person. The words seem to contain both regret and hope. Regret that the gift has been given to so many and yet the grace it brings too often lies dormant; and hope of what great potential this sleeping giant of grace holds for the Church and the world. A recent piece of research suggests that in a number of countries religion is dying and will soon be extinct. There is grave concern about the future of the Church in Ireland and whether it can recover from a combination of priestly scandals and an increasingly influential secular culture. And yet there are many baptised people in these places, all gifted with the Holy Spirit. There are still a good number in our churches in England and yet if we are honest the tide is against us. In society generally and amongst the young particularly there is both indifference and outright hostility to religion. The Church talks about "youth" but, by and large, "youth" doesn't talk about the Church.

But, is it surprising that this state of affairs exists if, as Pope John Paul says, the grace of Baptism is largely dormant. What are the channels for God's transforming grace and power, if baptised Christians do not live in the fullness of the given grace and in surrender to the Holy Spirit. It is surely only the Holy Spirit working through believers who builds the Kingdom. We must remember the Parable of the Talents and the warning of what happens to the steward who fails to invest and to grow his master's wealth. There is such potential within us, such power available but clearly there are too many of us who are happy to receive but not to pass on, or who stifle the Spirit by indifference.


Now is the time for the sleeper to awake. We must pray fervently and urgently for the release of the Holy Spirit within us so that the dormant grace will flow into the world. Do you want to stand before God and explain why you buried his gift?

Pope Benedict

I admit to being somewhat indifferent to the Pope's visit in advance. I was wrong. From his landing in Scotland to the final blessing in Birmingham, it has been an amazing, encouraging and moving experience. As the Pope stood next to the Queen and the two national anthems played, I experienced a great feeling of pride: here were the Queen of my country and the leader of my Church. It defined for me what it is to be an English Roman Catholic. Over the next few days we witnessed the emergence of the "real" Benedict and not the malign caricature so often portrayed by the media and his enemies. He came across as a gentle and warm man and it seemed clear to me, that even many among the politicians and media presenters were touched by his personality. His visit has done a great deal to gently but firmly assert the value and importance of religion and the right of Roman Catholics to be and to be heard.Of course, there was opposition and controversy but it was not of his making and the pettiness and spite of it did nothing to diminish him, but spoke volumes about where the true spirit of love, mercy and justice is to be found.
He has energised and re-supplied a beleagured Church in this country with the spiritual and intellectual requirements to live in faith in a secular society, with pride and without apology for ones' belief or diffidence in expressing it.
So this great and holy Pope returns to Rome, but he leaves us in better heart and spirit, because of his apostolic visit. My hope and prayer now is that the Bishops clergy and laity build on what he has created and not simply revert to the old ways. He has given us a true spirit and the backbone that it needs. We are English. We are Roman Catholic. This is our home and we are going nowhere, least of all disappearing into the shadows of a "private" faith.

Aid to the Church in Need

Aid to the Church in Need is holding its annual Westminster Event soon. Here are the details.

Annual Mass and "Hope without fear" event
Westminster Cathedral and hall
Ambrosden Avenue
London SW1P 1QW
Saturday 16th October

Mass of Our Lady ( Feast of St Margaret Alacoque)


The day begins with Sung Latin Mass in Westminster Cathedral at 10.30am. Mass will be followed by an afternoon of talks in the cathedral hall. We're delighted to welcome some very special guests from the suffering Church in Sudan and Siberia.

Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan, is leading his people in South Sudan through a time of great uncertainty. Despite the country's fragile peace agreement, he has seen his people fall victim to atrocious attacks including crucifixion. Benefactors are helping to provide hope, funding Christian education at the Save the Saveables schools, training seminarians, Sisters and catechists, and helping priests reach Christian communities with new vehicles.

Father Michael Shields from Magadan , Siberia, is a long time friend of Aid to the Church in Need. An American from Alaska, he chose to serve in a former Communist gulag camp in Magadan, Siberia. Millions died here. Father works for those who survive, ensuring their stories are told and their suffering acknowledged by the authorities. He is the author of the Aid to the Church in Need publication Martyrs of Magadan - a book that tells the stories of 15 survivors of the gulags. Earlier this year, Aid to the Church in Need paid tribute to Father Michael's work by including him in the book Heroic Priests.

Neville-Kyrke Smith, UK Director, Aid to the Church in Need, Has travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and, this year, he will give an update on the help benefactors are giving to Christians in the Ukraine where he recently visited.

John Pontifex,UK Head of Press and Information Aid to the Church in Need,
will speak about suffering, faith and hope in Pakistan and how benefactors are helping to nurture this hope.

For more information please visit our Website:
http//www.acnuk.org./events.php/223/aid-to-the-church-in-need-annual-mass-and-hope-without-fear-event-westminster

Liars

Today's Gospel is one of those uncompromising statements that Jesus makes, which leaves no room for self-delusion. It begins by talking about oaths and the futility of swearing by this or that and then goes on to say stick to Yes or No. This bit contains a real challenge akin to when Jesus asked whoever was sinless to cast the first stone. Because, the truth is we are all liars and pretty well experienced at it. When I read this, I suddenly realised what a liar I am and how I have heavily littered by path through life with lies great or small. Until reading it I would admit to the occasional porkie, but that would be just the tip of the iceberg. And there is something more worrying than the capacity for self deceit, when deceiving God or others. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus refers to the Evil One ( mentioned also in this Gospel) as a liar and the father of lies. So, we can be assured that when we lie, we are doing the will not of our Father in heaven, but the father of lies. There are, therefore no little lies, no white lies. They are all wrong and sinful and an offence to God and a rejection of his grace and love. Sadly as Jesus points out, those who find more and more exaggerated oaths to support their honesty are more likely to be lying and doing the work of the wrong father.

So, let's take lying in all its forms much more seriously. If it is a sin, then I have a lot of unconfessed sins to account for. Maybe I should take up the challenge Jesus lays down in this Gospel.

By their fruits......Cumbrian murders

Yesterday saw the progress of evil through small, peaceful, unsuspecting communities, ill prepared to deal with such savage and unprovoked violence. Indeed, what community could be prepared for such an event or even to anticipate that it may happen. We rightly conduct our lives looking for a more hopeful and pleasant reality. But, whether the level of death and suffering amount to yesterday's horrific level, or whether it is a single act of violence and destruction, we know only to well the presence of evil within our communities.

As Christians, we have an understanding of evil that locates its origin outside of humanity in the objective evil known by many names, the most common being Satan. When evil acts are committed, it is this force that gives them birth and delights in the misery that they bring into the lives of human beings. But the origin of the act does not absolve or excuse the individual from complete personal responsibility. Lest anyone be deluded enough to blame the Devil alone, we need to say that it is in the exercise of our free will that we enter into a diabolical partnership of wickedness and we, therefore, are utterly culpable for the acts - can we still call them sins? - that we carry out.

It is true that there are exceptions such as those who are disturbed by mental disorders of one kind or another whose judgements are so impaired as to make it impossible for them to know a right action from a wrong one. The evidence so far does not suggest that the perpetrator of these killings was mentally ill, certainly not to that degree. In fact, the evidence suggests that he was very much in control of what he was doing. In one particular instance, he beckoned a poor 66 year old lady to come across to him and when she did so, in all innocence, he shot her in the face. And so, a woman delivering catalogues for Betterware to earn a few pounds extra was brutally and deliberately murdered by someone who did not know her and had no reason at all to harm her. That sounds like evil to me.

Even in Christian circles these days we are reluctant to talk about evil and sin. We attribute wrongdoing and failure to psychological, environmental, cultural influences and so on and, of course, these are factors. But they are also the ways by which evil is mediated into the world.
Our humanity and our society are compromised by original sin and by the continuing malice of the evil one, so we fall short of the perfection in which God created our species and which is his desire for us to return to.

For whatever reason, Derek Bird made a pact with the devil. Not a conscious, melodramatic selling of his soul, but a surrender to that potential for and attraction to evil which is inherent in our fallen natures. He is responsible for the acts he committed and must now answer to God for his sin. His only hope is God's mercy.

Aid to the Church in Need

A couple of nights ago, there was a talk at Sacred Heart Church, Blackpool given by the Lancaster Diocese rep for Aid to the Church in Need(ACN). There were four people turned up, not counting the priest, a poor turnout. As it happens, it was well worthwhile taking the trouble to be there to hear the plight of our fellow Christians throughout the world, mainly in the Middle East and the Far East, but also Latin America. Whilst we have some mild degree of persecution in this country, others across the world have a much tougher life because of their faith. Murder, rape, damage to property, false accusations and poor access to justice, economic and social deprivation are the familiar lot of many Christians. Christian communities are under pressure and in some countries, Iraq for example, the very existence of the Christian community is under threat;this in the place where some of the earliest Christian communities are to be found.

Aid to the church in Need provides help to such communities working though the local Bishops. It is not only Catholics but all Christians who might benefit and, in the case of education, people of other faiths who have access to Catholic schools. ACN has less of a profile than,for example, CAFOD and it's work and its methods are different in some respects, but no less valuable.

As always, there is a need for funds, though Thursday's talk was not a fundraiser. There are all the usual ways of supporting ACN: donations, merchandise, fundraising and, of course, prayer for the workers and for all our persecuted bretheren. It would be good, of course, if other parishes were to invite the local secretary for ACNN to give his talk( perhaps when the weather is warmer and the nights lighter). His contact details are in the Diocesan directory. We should not, though, just walk by on the other side. We are not being asked to suffer and die for our faith: others are. We can do something so that ACN can continue to do something.

Click on the blogpost title to link to ACN UK webpage.