UNQUIET SEE

by Rev.Fr. Anthony Keefe

This article was first published in 2006 in the September Edition of The Voice...

A question has occurred to me over the last few months: is there less anger in the columns of the "Voice", including the letters' columns, than there was a little while ago? If the answer to that question is "Yes", another question arises from it: does this mean that the anger has passed, or that it has merely gone underground, to fester and, in time, blaze out with renewed force?

I am no psychologist, but I suspect that repressed anger, anger forced underground, is highly dangerous: that it is better for all parties to face up to the anger, to see whether it can be healed, or defused, or whatever the correct term may be. As something of an exercise in walking on eggshells, I offer my own reflections on this anger, in the hope that others, much wiser than I, may be able to take up the work of healing? It seems to me, though I may well be wrong, that three episodes stand out.

Firstly, there was the mass movement of priests a few autumns ago: if I remember rightly, over thirty priests were given new assignments all at once. A number of the priests who were asked to move were regarded as having been, in one way or another, influential during the episcopate of Bishop Brewer and their re-assignment was seen, in some quarters, as a deliberate dissipation of that influence. This view of the situation may or may not, be accurate, yet the view persists. It needs to be faced and dealt with.

The second episode was the change in personnel at the Diocesan Education Centre. For a variety of reasons, the Education Centre aroused strong emotions, both for and against. The changes that have taken place in that department have been interpreted as indicating a major shift in emphasis and direction.

Thirdly, there was the New Start (with Jesus) project, which also gave rise to powerful feelings. Many people lay and ordained, were deeply unhappy about the manner in which the New Start was introduced, and were unable to reconcile the project itself with their reading of the Gospel and their faith in Jesus Christ.

Conversely, many others, again both lay and ordained, found the project inspirational and a support to faith, and were distressed by its abandonment. Amid the maelstrom of differing views about these episodes, a tendency towards stereotyping and name-calling has arisen. To take the New Start as an example, those who felt unable, in conscience,to support it have sometimes been labelled as hankering after the past and, if they are priests, as having a desire for clerical dominance and an unwillingness to empower the laity or to work with them.

On the other hand, supporters of the project have sometimes been regarded as seeking a kind of new bourgeoisie, a church of and for the chattering classes. Both of these labels are caricatures, they are judgmental and, I would suggest, if not actually sinful, they bring us very close to sins against charity and against truth.

Timothy Radcliffe OP, in his recent book "What is the point of being a Christian?" Chapters 9 and 10 (Burns and Oates 2005) seeks to tease out differences of viewpoint within the Church. He coins the phrase "Communion Catholics" and "Kingdom Catholics" and suggests not only that both are necessary to the Church, but also that both elements
need to co-exist within each one of us.

We need to be slow to label ourselves, and even slower to label others, for labelling very easily becomes libelling. I would suggest that every single one of us should have the courage to face the anger, within us openly and honestly. We must accept the integrity and good faith of those whose views may differ from ours, and listen to their views in genuine charity, without being too hasty in putting our own views across.

If we cannot listen in charity to our brothers and sisters in Christ, then, to change the emphasis of Timothy Radcliffe's title, "What IS the point of being a Christian?"

©Rev. Fr. Anthony Keefe
[NB: This article was first published in the September 2006 Edition of the Voice]