tui motu 2011 september

Tui Motu InterIslands

September 2011 | $6monthly independent Catholic magazine

2 Tui Motu InterIslandsSeptember 2011

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Guest editorial: One year on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Comment: Every Child Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Dame Pat Harrison

The Bounce of the Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–7Mike Riddell

Three Cheers for Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8–9Mark Bracewell

A New World is Possible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11Canon Paul Oestreicher

To Work or Not to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12–13Robert Reid

Celebrating Francis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Nicky Chapman

Are Recent Reforms Working? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14–15Ivan Snook

Of Gods and Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16–17Fr Kevin Toomey OP

The Senses Have It! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18–19Fr Daniel O’Leary

A Conversation With Irene… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20–21Kevin McBride

On Englishing the Liturgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22–23Prof G B Harrison

A True Fairy Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Mary Woods

Support for Carers at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25A Response from Jan Emson

Letters to the Editor continued . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

The Very Core of the Gospel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26–27Sr Kathleen Rushton RSM

Book and film reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28–29

Cross Currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Jim Elliston

Liturgy and Abuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Fr Peter Norris

Down by the River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Robin Kearns

front cover illustration: Donald Moorhead

.

contents

editorial

Rugby rules, OK! By the time this edition of Tui Motu reaches you the Rugby

World Cup will dominate sports media worldwide . What has been planned for, carefully and some-times with hiccups, has arrived . As a couch potato rugby spectator, I will enjoy some of the hoopla and look forward to revelling in the skill and professionalism of the players lived out to the optimum . Mike Riddell’s article puts the Cup in perspective with wry humour . It all depends upon the bounce of the ball!

As a complement to this wit, Mark Bracewell, one of New Zealand’s leading sportsmen, gives a salutary view of the value of sport as something which engenders the best in all of us: the ability to look out for others, to serve the common good of the team, and to be brought out of insularity and selfishness — an important take on the values sport brings to our largely individualistic society .

One year has past since the Christchurch earthquakes began .

sport, earthquakes and electionsSadly they continue . Jim Consedine points up the resilience of those who have chosen to remain . Some had the means to leave and have done so; some have gone to relations or friends elsewhere . Others remain because they want to and can . Many have no such options and are strug-gling with a situation which is far from ideal . Perseverance, resilience and courage are words that denote the endless patience the local people have shown .

Mary Wood’s fairy story high-lights the goodness of people who rise to the occasion of tragedy in unexpected ways . Not only the students, but the ‘farmy-army’ and others have given magnificent service, a fine measure of practical religion . Looking forward to a new Christchurch remains largely a dream, and its planning requires a big vision . For most residents and homeowners, let alone businesses, crucial decisions remain to be made . Our hearts and resources stay with the people of the garden city as they courageously move to rebuild their

lives and work together to find a just common vision .

Daniel O’Leary gives us a fresh look at the power of personal experi-ence and the way this opens us to the Holy Spirit . In vulnerability and woundedness, we are open to the reality of grace — as he puts it, “…the flavours of God’s presence in everything that happens to us .”

We continue our series on ‘religion and politics’, highlighting matters which may be a stimulus to our thinking and asking questions about policy for the forthcoming general election . This month Ivan Snook and Robert Reid give us their perspectives on education and employment issues . As well, the comment by Dame Pat Harrison pulls together threads spread over many areas: education, health, welfare, justice and the hope for productive employment .

Finally, I recommend to you the film “Of Gods and Men .” It is a remarkable portrayal of cou-rageous Christianity lived in an interfaith environment . n KT


Tui Motu-InterIslands is an independent, Catholic, monthly magazine. It invites its read-ers to question, challenge and contribute to its discussion of spiritual and social issues in the light of gospel values, and in the interests of a more just and peaceful society. Inter-church and inter-faith dialogue is welcomed.

The name Tui Motu was given by Pa Henare Tate. It literally

means “stitching the islands together...”, bringing the dif-

ferent races and peoples and faiths together to create one

Pacific people of God. Divergence of opinion is expected

and will normally be published, although that does not

necessarily imply editorial commitment to the viewpoint

expressed.ISSM 1174-8931Issue number 153

address: Independent Catholic Magazine Ltd, P O Box 6404, Dunedin North, 9059

phone: (03) 477 1449

fax: (03) 477 8149

email: [email protected]

website: www.tuimotu.org

editor: Kevin Toomey OP

assistant editor: Elizabeth Mackie OP

illustrator: Don Moorhead

directors: Rita Cahill RSJ, Philip Casey, Neil Darragh, Paul Ferris, Robin Kearns, Elizabeth Mackie OP (interim chair), Peter Murnane OP

typesetting: Greg Hings

printers: Southern Colour Print, 1 Turakina Road, Dunedin South, 9012

.guest editorial

one year on Jim Consedine

In the middle of the road outside my home, a hole about a metre in diameter appears regularly .

No matter how often the road fixing people come and fill it in with tarseal, within a matter of days it re-appears, slumping into the earth, daring driv-ers to circumnavigate . Apparently, the ground under the road has liquefied and left gaping gaps in the subterranean structure .

One year on, it has become a personal symbol of the after effects of the 7 .1 magnitude earthquake that struck Canterbury in September last year — and of the subsequent quakes which have held this province emotionally captive ever since . While much has been repaired or re-con-structed, some basics may never be fixed properly . One such area is the land most badly affected by liquefac-tion . Talk abounds of abandoning such areas and either creating parks or allowing them to revert to their natural state .

To survey the Central Business District is to survey unbelievable destruction . Well-known landmarks are down everywhere — replaced by empty sections covered in gravel and surrounded by fences . Of course, it won’t stay that way forever . But that is the way it is thus far .

Everyone is fed up with the aftershocks, though they are dimin-ishing . But most now just shrug their

shoulders when another hits, do a quick estimate of its force — 3 .1 or 4 .7, whatever — and get on with what they are doing . Such is life in quake city .

It is hard to talk of Christchurch accurately because the whole of the city was not equally affected . While all in Canterbury felt the quakes, many parts of Christchurch, par-ticularly on the western side of the city, were not damaged to any great extent . Electricity was never off, water kept running, schools stayed open, most still went to work and life was relatively normal .

But in other parts of the city especially on the eastern side, life as we know it stopped and salvage and emotional maintenance took centre stage . While the inten-sity of such responses has been reduced substantially, many still suffer from post-traumatic dis-tress, high anxiety levels and fear for the future . Their homes have been taken from them and red stickered, they are forced to rent, their emotional wellbeing has been under siege and their future prospects dramatically affected .

Despite all this, the spirit of the people never ceases to amaze me . While thousands have fled either tem-porarily or permanently, most others are showing remarkable resilience . Most have adopted the London blitz

mode of coping . Some are positively buoyant, fuelled by the challenges posed by the re-construction of a whole city .

There are some scary things too . A friend told how she had unwisely re-entered her red stickered home to retrieve some items, found the front door unable to be re-opened from the inside due to quake damage, got out through the back door which she locked behind her . She found herself in her own yard, now surrounded by two metre cyclone fencing, virtually imprisoned on a property from which she was legally banned . Eventually she clambered through the wire and escaped!

From a personal perspective, it is great to have the toilet re-connected . Last Saturday, my toilet was flushing again and the sewage pipes were all up and working . It may seem to be a small thing, but it was a red letter day for me . No more port-a-loos or chemical toilets! Yea .

One year on the new city develop-ment plan, ‘city in a garden’, is under discussion, with lots of green spaces, light rail, imaginative buildings and people friendly sites proposed . Obviously a lot of creative energy has already gone into it .

The advent of spring and warmer weather has helped lift the mood of people . The city may be in ruins, but no one has told the daffodils . n

new mass textIt was with feelings of shock and incredulity that I read the report in your paper (TM, August 11) from the London Tablet’s correspondent in Rome about the workings of the group responsible for the new texts of the Mass . I was so amazed by the article that I had to read it three times before I could take it in . Considering the prestige of the London Tablet there can be no possible doubt about the truth of the article .

Paragraph after paragraph, it goes on revealing one incredible fact after another . What has happened to the principles of subsidiarity, integrity and transparency? It seems that the ICEL group has been brushed aside and replaced by a group totally of one mind and totally conservative . Their legitimacy is in direct contradiction to the Vatican II Constitution on the Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium .

I wonder what is happening in the Church to which I have given my undying allegiance . Hopefully in the not too distant future, when the architects of this aberration called ‘the new Mass text’ have passed on, the Church will collectively give itself a good shake and say, “What happened?” Then, in all humility, turn around and revise the Mass texts again, removing the anomalies and contradictions that have been imposed on us .

Tony Scott, Timaru

new mass textRecently I attended my son’s Year 5/6 class Mass where many of the children’s RE homework was dis-played on power point . Their project had been to create and display situations in life where the children ‘exclude’ people and what they can do to ‘include’ people, whether it be sports teams, groups working within classrooms and generally playing in the playground . It is great that they are involved in being made to think and be aware that it is always important to recognise injustice and

include people in all situations .The irony hit me that we were

sitting in Mass – the adults had prepared hymns with exclusive language, singing lines like ‘give him a helping hand’ alongside the new mass text riddled with exclu-sive language; then they prayed for an institution and hierarchy from priests upward, who continue to implement the injustice of exclusion of women from the equal oppor-tunity of becoming priests, and the continued discrimination/exclusion of married men (and women) from the priesthood .

It is wonderful to realise that the children know and behave better than the adults!

Aileen Lowe, Stoke

one planet and climate changeDavid Sale was very wide of the mark when he triumphantly declared “that is a separate issue” (Tui Motu, August 2011) . Nothing is a separate issue . Everything in life is interconnected . This is the princi-ple of interdependence .

Even the architects of the world acknowledged this when they signed up to the “Declaration of Interdependence” at the UIA Chicago Congress in 1993 . There is nothing wrong with picking your issue . By all means focus on the cur-rent alarming extinction of species, or the loss of habitat, or even the vio-lence of our built environment, but do not pretend that all these issues are not interdependent . We have one world, one enormous interconnected system, and it seems with time run-ning out, only one chance to get out of the environmental mess we are in .

David would do well to remem-ber that nature has no need of us . If we eliminate ourselves most of the world’s environmental problems will have been dealt with in a single grand gesture . You do not even need to study history to work that out .

Tony Watkins, Auckland

thanks for robert

I would like to thank Robert Consedine for his encouraging reflection, “fragments of belief ”, in the July edition of Tui Motu . I am not sure how old Robert is, but I suspect we are of a similar age, and have had a similar experience of the Church, with the great hope of Vatican II flowing on into the more sombre times we live in now .

I have watched a video on YouTube about The Pale Blue Dot, which Robert referred to, and listened to Carl Sagan’s remarkable commentary . Indeed, our whole world, let alone each of our lives, is a mere scintillation barely vis-ible against the backdrop of the universe . Yet for all its ephemeral-ity, or perhaps because of its very fleetingness, my trice of life has been an incomparable gift; min-utes, days and years full of passion and love .

I have been a priest for 40 years, and have absolutely no regrets . How blessed we have been to have lived, and to have come to this time in our lives and to have expe-rienced “this sense of the divine permeating all of life” embedded in us from an early age .

Once again thank you for this beautiful reflection .

Denis O’Hagan, Wellington

Letters to the Editor continue on page 25


letters

We welcome comment, discussion, argument, debate. But please keep letters under 200 words. The editor reserves the right to abridge, while not changing the meaning. Response articles (up to a page) are welcome — but please, by negotiation.

letters to the editor


Pat Harrison DNZM, QSO

comment

We all know that a grave problem exists around many of our young

people . All this decade, statistics con-firmed the gravity . On any given day, 30,000 students truant from schools; around 8,000 leave school with no qualifications; and up to 13,000 15 and 17 year olds are without school or training; in one year Child Youth and Family registered 21,000 cases of abuse and neglect; 163,000 children are considered vulnerable; and 20% live in poverty . The cumulative effect of these facts exposes a malaise and social morbidity . But if we are to experience profound disquiet, it is in the figures associated with youth suicide where we are among the highest in the Western world . What hopelessness and despair lie behind these figures?

endless reviewsYet in a decade marked by such inter-generational deprivation, poverty and human wastage, we have produced a record number of research docu-ments, reports, reviews and discus-sion papers, repetitive in content but with no improvement in outcomes for youth . It is as if the complexity of the problem has created a paralysis . Disengaged youth can have multiple agency contacts but with no collabo-ration between agencies . Often, inter-ventions have come too late, where at an earlier stage they would have been more effective, particularly when we are faced with children from third intergenerational family deprivation: three generations of joblessness, of poor educational achievement, where abuse, criminality and processes of dehumanization are inherent .

need for inclusionIn a small country which relies upon its resilience and inventiveness to gain an identity in a global market,

every child counts

skill shortages, wastage of human resources, and any hint of social alienation are dangerous conse-quences of scatter-gun social policy . An inclusive society is paramount .

unemployed youthAt present, there are two groups of youth beneficiaries at risk: those with adequate education but without jobs; and those unemployable because of alienation, severe disadvantage and educational deficits .

Without improved job creation, the former will lose motivation and quickly become disaffected, begin-ning their own cycle of deprivation . But the latter must be handled with skill and care, by qualified staff, in a community setting, since it is the community which has a heart and soul and social conscience . It acts with reason but with feeling .

‘payment by card’The government’s new policy of “payment by card” where youth beneficiaries have basic bills paid with limited money to be spent at the youth’s discretion could bring even further social exclusion . And, if set on a punitive path, it could

build resentment with dangerous side-effects . The objective must be to provide skill-based training leading to gainful employment and at the same time address physical and mental health needs, drug and alcohol dependency, educational deficits and unsafe living environments . Building trust with a skilled case manager, within a community setting, is the first step toward human freedom and the responsible use of that freedom . It is the first step towards reversing that awful process of dehumanisation .

holistic approachIt comes with a cost, but future savings on welfare, health, justice, low-productivity, and human misery will far outweigh the costs of such a holistic approach .

intensive investment in childrenTo our shame, statistics show that New Zealand’s investment in chil-dren is one of the lowest, and least effective, and our outcomes for them are among the poorest . Interagency cooperation alone has never worked, since each is driven to its own frame-work by funding mechanisms, frame-works within which they operate and often talk past each other . The solution is targeting the most disad-vantaged with whole-of-government funding at a community level where teams of multi-skilled staff work together to cut through the depriva-tion and release a productive energy, a healed human being, with valuable talents and attributes .

Such intensive care management works . I have seen it happen . And when it does, the return is so great it defies measurement . n

Dame Pat Harrison has had a life-long involvement in education and is founder

of the Otago Youth Wellness Trust.


rugby world cup

the bounce of the ballMike Riddell

All you need to know about rugby is contained in the shape of the ball . It’s oval;

which is to say that it has two pointy ends . The net result of this inspired design is that you can’t pre-dict which way it will bounce . Uncertainty is built into the game .

It’s the perfect symbol for the Rugby World Cup (RWC) . As we all know with bitter clarity, the outcome can’t be predicted . The ball may bounce for Daniel Carter to regather and score in the corner . Or the All Blacks may bounce right out of contention to the tune of the Marseillaise . Anything can happen .

sport as religionPerhaps that’s why the sport has become a religion . For each 80 min-utes of rugger, we’re in the capricious hands of the gods . We attempt various modes of appeasement . These include chanting endearments at opposition kickers, wearing certain talismans and vestments, and consigning referees to the fires of hell . My wife believes that if she leaves the room at crucial points

in the game, it will create a beneficent force field for the home team .

But all too often our supplications fall short, and we are left wandering

the desert for yet another four years — the promised land as distant as ever . Abandoned by dei-ties, we endure unending penance and mortification — with black being the colour of our moods as well as our jerseys . We look in vain for trees on which to hang our harps (or our coaches) .

Over the last 24 years we’ve crouched (in front of our televisions), touched (wood), paused (holding our collective breath), but never engaged with the victory that is rightfully ours . We have been denied the defining

act of grace — the bounce of the ball . Robbed by forward passes, visu-ally impaired assistant referees, and suspicious stomach ailments — we

remain bereft .

a year of grace?This is the year, we tell ourselves . This is the team that will hoist that holy grail aloft . It would be more convincing if it wasn’t the same mantra we used in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007 . It’s been said that the definition of insan-ity is repeating the same action over and over, while expecting a dif-ferent outcome . Welcome to our world (cup) .

In the midst of unpredictable outcomes, a few certainties remain . The International Rugby Board (IRB) will make a lot of money . The NZ Rugby Union will lose a lot of money . Tourism and accommodation ventures will make a lot of money . The rugby-adoring public (and even those who hate the game) will lose a lot of money . It’s all to do with the bounce of the ball .

consumers’ paradiseA fair quantity of Heineken will be consumed . Sky Television will

Reproduced with the kind permission of Garrick Tremain and the Otago Daily Times.

One of Tui Motu’s regular writers, who was an avid rugby union player and who is a keen follower of the game, writes about some implications of the

forthcoming Rugby World Cup games and the Webb Ellis trophy.


Mike Riddell is an author, playwright, theologian and film-maker, more recently maker of the film “The Insatiable Moon”.

He lives in Cambridge.

experience a positive blip in sub-scriptions . Maori Television will provide the most entertaining cov-erage of events . Half-time power spurts and sewerage surges will test utility services . Camper vans driven by red-faced Englishmen will clog our national highways .

The French delegation will eat very well at Kermadec’s for the duration . Recipients of corporate largesse will watch the games from well-stocked boxes with chicken legs and champagne in hand . Ordinary kiwis lucky enough to have purchased tickets will tuck into hot dogs coated in radiant red sauce . On the way home from the ground they will urinate on hydrangea bushes, changing the ph value of the soil and thus the colour of the blooms .

Aucklanders will see the major-ity of the rugby . They will complain that the government didn’t spend enough on their stadium . It will be hard to find parking for their Audis . Revellers at ‘party central’ will suffer hypothermia in October’s bitterly chilling sea breezes . Dunedin’s new venue will prove the most popular and exciting in the land . Overseas guests who travel that far south will praise the city’s foresight .

the playersRichie McCaw will be penalised . Jimmy Cowan will argue with the ref . Sonny Bill Williams will offload . Sebastien Chabal will not shave before the game . Quade Cooper will run past tacklers . A Springbok forward will be red-carded . Spectators will wave like they’re drowning any time a camera points in their direction . Wayne Barnes will be booed .

So is it all worth it? What sort of measure can be used to evaluate the event and its impact on New Zealand? RWC 2011 will run for 45 days featuring 20 teams play-ing 48 games in 12 different cities . Some estimates forecast 100,000 visitors to the country and a

television audience of 4 billion . Other estimates suggest the moon is made of green cheese . Too many accountants have their heads in the Cloud .

who benefits?If the tournament makes a profit, the Government will get half of it . If it makes a loss, the Government will underwrite two-thirds of it . Meanwhile that same Government has forked out $190m of taxpayers’ money to upgrade Eden Park, and a measly $15m to the brand spank-ing new Dunedin Stadium . Local authorities have been attracted to subprime mortgages as a means to finance their RWC debt .

Economic benefits to the country are predicted to reach one billion dollars . This prediction is from the International Rugby Board . It also predicts that the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party will win the general election . The main portion of eco-nomic benefits consists of ‘invisi-bles’ . However, the major banks in New Zealand have confirmed that they will not accept invisibles as legitimate tender .

what kind of celebration?Money isn’t everything . As Murray McCully (Minister for the RWC) tells us, this is the sort of celebration that can’t be counted in dollar terms . We’ll all be so jubilant and drunk at winning the World Cup that we’ll hardly remember the cost or the

result . The nation will be delirious and wake up at Christmas having voted National . It’s the political ver-sion of a date-rape drug, and worth every cent .

As they say, rugby will be the winner on the day . Unless the All Blacks lose . In which case, vilification will be the winner on the day . The sky will fall, the economy stall, and rugby pall . Graham Henry will be ritually disembowelled and hung from the Auckland Harbour bridge as a warn-ing to future deceivers . If we lose to the Australians, we will become fol-lowers of Harold Camping .

who’s the redeemer?That won’t happen of course . Henry is the Great Redeemer – the one to lead us out of the desert to the prom-ised Webb Ellis trophy . We will grind down French flair, beat the English by a drop goal, take the bounce out of the Wallabies, and refuse to eat any food accompanied by a South African accent . Our time has come .

up, up and away!We’re fit, talented, prepared, expe-rienced, motivated, smart and cun-ning . And the All Blacks are in good shape too . In the last two dozen years, never have we been in a better position to win the Rugby World Cup . There’s only one thing that could possibly undo us . The bounce of the bloody ball . n

As they say, rugby will be the winner on the day. Unless the All Blacks lose. In which case, vilification will be the winner on the day. The sky will fall, the economy stall, and rugby pall.


three cheers for sport

The skills involved in sport are not just sporting skills: they are people skills. Part of the gift of sport is to extend people’s thinking: to open them up to one another.

rugby world cup

Mark Bracewell

It was a bonus to interview Mark Bracewell at the high perform-ance centre, part of the Edgar

Centre for Sport on the shores of the Otago Harbour . Here he was coaching a couple of young, prom-ising Otago cricketers — putting them through their paces on a sunny winter’s afternoon .

Mark is the cricketing manager for Otago Cricket . He comes from a sporting family . His brothers, John and Brendon, were both Test and one-day international cricket players, and John coach of the New Zealand cricket team . Mark and another brother, Douglas, have played at first-class level . And now Mark’s son, Michael, is to play for the Otago team . Despite this, Mark says that rugby was his first love . He played 40 representative games for Wairarapa Bush and Wellington as a youngster .

Mark’s passion for cricket only developed afterwards . He regards it as very important that he trained as a primary school teacher a little later in life, having matured somewhat when he came to do his teacher training . He was principal of the Hyde primary school, and from there taught at Kavanagh College in Dunedin . While at Kavanagh Mark also trained the College’s top rugby and cricket teams . This he did for some years before coming to Otago Cricket .

values are importantMark reflects on his time at Kavanagh College as opening his

In the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup, Tui Motu interviewed Mark Bracewell to get his take on a philosophy of sport that should undergird our

involvement at all levels of play, and across all team sports.

eyes to wider values that the school was imparting to its pupils and also to him . He sees how close those values are to those he is now pas-sionately engaged in imparting to the young cricketers he mentors and coaches . At Kavanagh, he was grateful to have known teachers like Brother John Shepherd who ran the Edmund Rice camps . To see Brother Shepherd in operation was

“a humbling experience .” For “ . . .he devoted his life to service, and that sticks in the mind .” As well, he reminisces about Kavanagh’s annual musical productions . “To see the way in which anyone who put up their hand, irrespective of talent, was welded into the magnificent musical troupe of 80–90 pupils, and worked as a team, was another humbling experience .”

values in sportWhen Mark talks of the values which sport brings, these teaching

experiences seem key . He is very clear that “sport can be a very important part in the teaching of human values in this day and age .” For him, coach-ing is a passionate commitment . He says, “I haven’t really changed my vocation at all .” For he has transferred the skills and competence he gained as a teacher to his cricket coaching . “Sport is actually one way of giving back to people, and that is hugely important . It is one of the most rewarding things about it . There is no reward apart from knowing that you have given something of yourself to someone else .”

fundamental valuesSo what are the key values that team sport upholds? He names three fundamental aspects . First, sport is social . It’s about “dealing with people .” Secondly, there is sharing . The rank and file beginner and the top sportsperson are always working towards sharing . Each player is there to serve one another, and “…the best are helping each other . If you set up the environment correctly you ask players to help one another, not just to take .” These values of learning to deal with people, of sharing with one another, and more than that, helping one another are very encouraging .

Mark says, “It is good for people to be involved with sport simply because you are actually being exposed to these core values . You have to uphold them to the point where they take you over . Even if your inclinations are otherwise,


you really have to trust, to give, to serve . This may go against your baser instincts, but you have to sacrifice yourself for others . And in our present highly individualistic society, that’s a very good thing .”

sport and people skillsMark wishes to emphasise that the skills involved in sport are not just sporting skills: they are people skills . Part of the gift of sport is to extend people’s thinking: to open them up to one another . “You open yourself up, and the players do too . I am extended by the young people’s response .” Again he emphasizes, “It’s extremely rewarding .”

values in professional sportWhat about the values in profes-sional sport? Mark says that the best teams work on this . “They have a culture of team values .” To take a local example, Mark referred to the Highlanders, the Otago prov-ince’s representative rugby union side . Their recent improvement in performance came because they have developed a culture, which

is “more about helping each other, working hard for each other”, to say “we’re in this together .” “There’s a good message here: good teams do have sound values .” Most often inculcating this is up to the coach, for it comes from the culture that coaches create around themselves . Again referring to the Highlanders, Mark says that it is the combination of very good and well chosen coach-ing staff that has grounded the team so well . “Leadership dictates . You set that, and set it from the top . If you look for short term gains, and take shortcuts, things will unravel . You will be found out . To stop that unraveling, you need to develop a very sound base .”

the place of winningWhat’s the place of winning and winning at all costs? The focus here should be on the process which will bring results . “Results take care of themselves if you do things well .” If you focus on winning…that can destroy your team; like import-ing a new kicker for the final, this destroys everything you have

done .” “The result is irrelevant if you are actually working towards trying to become the best you can be .” “The best of it is a form of teaching life skills, of looking at your life goals too .”

And the pressures on profes-sionals? “I cringe when I see individuals being focused on by TV commentators . When the media makes a superstar out of someone, they create that need for publicity in others…You have got to be careful that the media doesn’t create a monster .”

the importance of sportAt the end of the interview, Mark comes back to the original ques-tion: Sport is very important, but we have to put it in perspective . Anything that involves people in giving and sharing is important, because it is very easy now to get involved in your own little world where you don’t socialize, don’t share, and set goals for yourself alone . “There is a great tempta-tion to selfishness . You can see what is happening, but in the end what have you got? Nothing . You end up feeling quite empty, quite empty, unless you give . And that’s what I hope that young people get out of sport as well .” n

Mark Bracewell is presently cricket manager at Otago Cricket Association.

He is a noted sportsman, and has a background in primary and secondary

education.

Mark Bracewell


world peace

a new world is possibleCanon Paul Oestreicher

So, dear friends of Jesus, can we agree in Kingston to work for the day when the major-

ity of our fellow human beings begin to see collective violence, to see war, in the same way as they see individual murder?

At the moment war, once it starts, is held by most of our neighbours to be honourable, probably necessary, and sometimes noble . Language disguises the bloody, cruel reality . Heroes, it is said, lay down their lives for the nation . In reality they are trained, if possible, to stay alive and to kill the citizens of other nations . Armies, we are told, are there to pro-tect our women and children . In real life, women and children are war’s first — and currently the numerically greatest number of — victims .

regalia as symbolWhen — as in England a few weeks ago — a crown prince marries in a Christian cathedral, he is expected to wear full military regalia . Such symbols are powerful . That is the extent of our problem . Even when the Pope comes on a state visit, he is received, like every head of state, by soldiers carrying fixed bayonets that are designed to kill, rather than by children bearing flowers . His Holiness accepts the military rituals, as do practically all our churches . Do we even register the absurdity?

unthinkable obedienceWe are comfortable with military

In this second part of the opening address to the International Ecumenical Convention in Kingston, Jamaica on May 18 2011, Canon Paul argues that peace,

the rejection of collective violence, is a precondition for a more just tomorrow. He argues from international law and peace studies for genuine alternatives

to war, citing Blessed Franz Jägerstätter and Archibald Baxter.

chaplains embedded with the men and women who are trained to kill . If they were a questioning, prophetic presence, they would undermine the cohesion and the morale on which every army depends . They are welcomed because they raise troops’ morale . The taxes I pay, though once I tried unsuccessfully not to, help to finance Britain’s Trident submarines . The sailors who man them have no right to disobey the order, if it were ever given, as it could be by a British prime minister, to commit genocide . They are conditioned to do the unthinkable in my name .

a more just peaceYou will before long be left in no doubt that this Convocation is about the world’s need for a just peace . That is, I guess, what has brought us here . However, to speak of a more just peace would be nearer the truth . The struggle for greater justice will remain a task for every generation, for as long as human society exists . Our faith, our common humanity, our love for one another commit us to this struggle . But we should never give way to the mistaken assump-tion, as some Christians sadly do, that ‘until there is perfect justice, there cannot be peace’ . Rather, peace, the rejection of collective vio-lence, is a precondition for the world of tomorrow that will always need to be made more just . Killing each other can only undermine that task . To oppose evil with violence is to

drive out the Devil with Beelzebub . It will not work .

non-violent resistanceI am under no illusion . The price to be paid for non-violent resistance to evil is as high as any soldier is expected to pay . Non-violent resist-ance to evil will never be a quick fix . It will call for long suffering and patience . It will be a living expres-sion now of the new world that is not yet .

The Ploughshares Movement is one example of non-violent direct action against the symbols of modern warfare . Like the Berrigan brothers at the time of the Vietnam War, such peaceful resisters are prepared to break laws that protect the arsenals of violence . Juries may acquit them or may send them to prison . The fate of Jesus was worse, was fatal . When he angrily overturned the tables of the corrupt financial dealers in the Temple forecourt, challenging greed in league with priestly power, much like the bonus culture of today’s corrupt banking system, whose life did Jesus put at risk in that one-man demonstration? Only his own . How absurd then, that many Christians use this example of righteous anger to justify the violence of war, when in fact it demonstrates the very opposite .

genuine questioningWhat I have put before you, in rather stark simplicity, is nevertheless


deeply complex . Having spent my life studying politics, I do not believe that there is any room for pacifist self-righteousness . I have not come to Kingston to demonise those who choose the military option . They are part of us, the many and we the few . We must find ways of co-opting them into the peaceful struggle . The critics of principled non-violence are neither knaves nor fools . We must answer them wisely and patiently . They will rightly ask pacifists like me many serious questions: how, for example, is law and order to be maintained globally without heavily armed nations? On this point there is already good news . In the light of the last century’s history of unparalleled violence, international law is paving the way for genuine alternatives .

policing laws of peaceIn theory, war is already largely outlawed . There are courts to try not only crimes committed in war, but the crime of war itself . But how are the laws of peace to be enforced? It is in their policing that there is still little experience . Yet there is some . When soldiers under United Nations command are trained, as police in our streets are trained, not to kill enemies, but to prevent or to end violent conflicts, we are already on the way to the new world . The great majority of the armed forces of New Zealand, my second home, are already engaged in the Pacific as peacekeepers, and are proud to be . Violence itself is their enemy . There is good news too in the experience that a critical mass of peaceful, unarmed people, often young people, from Leipzig to Cairo and beyond can bring down tyrannies . That ‘love is stronger than hate’ is, as Desmond Tutu often reminds us, a political as well as a spiritual truth .

equal resources for peace studiesWhen the still-young discipline of Peace Studies is given the same

resources in the world’s universities that are given to Security Studies and the development of weapons systems, we will have made real progress . When women, raped and victimised in every war, are given an equal say in how we order our lives, we will have advanced even further . And with the military now recruiting women, will they be able to transform its rigidly patriarchal traditions?

seismic global rethink Hardest of all, peace will demand the dethroning of the military-industrial complex . Dwight Eisenhower, America’s top World War II general and then its President, warned the American people shortly before his death of its insidious power, a late but not too late insight . Such a peace demands a seismic global rethink . Its organisation will be as demanding as the organisation of war . Every disci-pline will be involved: law, politics, international relations and economics, sociology, gender studies, personal and social psychology, and: last but, for us, not least, theology, the way we interpret the will of God .

There will always remain a dia-lectical tension between the struggle for justice, and the need to keep the struggle peaceful . We now know too that this new world will also depend on our will and capacity to cherish and preserve the natural environment

of which we are part . War desecrates and pillages nature and squanders its precious resources .

those who have paved the wayYes to life means no to war . Humble men who can boast of no Nobel Peace Prize have paved the way . In the midst of patriotic fervour, they have simply said no . Let me tell you of two brave, wise farmers .

During the Second World War, Franz Jägerstätter defied Hitler’s com-mand to take up arms . ‘Jesus forbids me to’ . His ‘no’ led straight to prison . A devout Catholic, his bishop came to visit him . ‘Franz, if you persist in your refusal, you will be executed . Surely you cannot do that to your wife and children?’ His reply: ‘Bishop, do you want me to kill Russian husbands and fathers?’ Franz was executed in 1944 . His wife Franziska stood by him to the end . Franz was virtually disowned by his Church . Two generations later, a German Pope beatified him .

a new zealand exampleArchibald Baxter was a New Zealand farm labourer at the time of the First World War . He belonged to no church, but had diligently read the New Testament . In 1917 he refused to serve . They dragged him to the trenches in France, tortured and almost killed him, did all they could to break his will . They failed . He had no formal education, but his memoir has become a classic of peace literature . Defending his refusal to kill, Baxter replied to his critics: ‘The only lasting victory that we can win over our enemies, is to make them our friends’ . Kyrie Eleison Christe Eleison Kyrie Eleison n

Canon Paul Oestreicher is a former Director of the Centre for International Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral.

Paul has been a life long campaigner for peace and nuclear disarmament.


religion and politics

to work or not to work...

Once upon a time, full employ-ment was the goal of the little nation at the bottom of the

world — Aotearoa New Zealand .Following the great depres-

sion of the 1930s, the first Labour Government was elected vowing that never again would the blight or cancer of unemployment be allowed to infect the economy and society of this coun-try . Drawing on the philosophies of Marxism, Keynesianism, Methodism and social justice Catholicism, this gov-ernment put in place a range of policies to ensure that no New Zealand worker would be unemployed . Public works and enterprise, state housing, industry development, import controls, univer-sal education, control of the dollar, all had the primary or secondary goal of achieving this full employment policy .

The second world war added to the demand for labour and the reserve army of labour (women and rural Maori) was mobilised to undertake the work that needed to be done .

Following the war, although many women workers were sent back to the home, full employment continued with even conservative governments continuing the Keynesian policies and New Zealand’s home grown Keynes, Dr Bill Sutch, developing much of the industrial and full employment policy of the time . Full employment was enshrined as a goal for the Reserve Bank . It was a goal for the whole society . Full employment policies were such a success that folk history tells us stories of prime ministers in the 1950s and 1960s knowing the name of every unemployed person in the country!

The first clouds of unemployment came in the late 1960s with, first, the entry of our “mother country” and biggest trading partner, Britain into the European Economic Community

(EEC – the forerunner of the European Union) and then the oil price shock .

Unemployment continued at this higher level during the 1970s and early 1980s . Governments responded by considering it a temporary aberra-tion and by introducing temporary work programmes such as the Pre- Employment Programme (PEP) that, although leaving much to be desired, still paid “award wages” to those on the programmes .

The Labour Party defeated the authoritarian Muldoon Government in 1984, but an internal coup within Labour saw it taken over for most of its 6 year term by policies more repre-sentative of those now espoused by the ACT Party in New Zealand .

It is still a supreme irony that a government under the name of Labour dismantled almost all of the policies of the first labour government that were aimed at ensuring full employment and paved the way for part two of the neo-liberal revolution, which was to continue under the first term of the National government of 1990 –1999 .

The neo-liberal dogma adopted by the Labour and then National Cabinets also took hold within the bureaucracy (especially Treasury and the Reserve Bank) and at university economic departments . This was a global phenomenon which gave rise to Thatcherism, Reaganomics and the Structural Adjustment policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank . Any economic debate was killed . TINA (There Is No Alternative) ruled . There was only one way and that was the neo-liberal agenda of deregulation, privatisation, market controlled dollar and the “independent” Reserve Bank .

Rather than full employment being the centre piece of economic policy,

unemployment became a tool, a goal of the neo-liberal tsars . The goal of the Reserve Bank was reduced solely to keeping inflation below 2% and our Treasury and Reserve Bank adopted policies that required a high rate of unemployment . For example, the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) is designed to keep unemployment and inflation in balance: it has no interest in a target of full employment .

The high dollar and elimination of import controls and tariffs have seen hundreds of thousands of New Zealand manufacturing workers lose their jobs; car assembly workers, footwear and clothing workers, wood processing workers, home appliance manufactur-ing workers have all seen their jobs and livedlihoods disappear . Government procurement policies have favoured imported rather than New Zealand manufactured goods, thus throwing more people out of work . Public serv-ants, blamed for being part of a bloated service that holds back the growth of the private sector, were dismissed from their jobs .

Of course, when high rates of unemployment were being consciously created by governments, a “big lie” had to be developed to place the blame for unemployment on the victims rather than on the creators of these policies .

Unemployment benefit levels were deemed to be too high and blamed for encouraging people into unemploy-ment . The unemployed were blamed for being dependent on the state . People on sickness and invalid benefits were hounded to be job ready for jobs that did not exist . Solo parents were required to be job ready while still caring for their children with, again, no jobs being available .

The global economic crisis of the

Robert Reid

The writer gives the reader a stark choice: between the level of unemployment required by the ‘market’ and the social goal of work for all.


It’s mid-August, and after a sunny winter, I am looking out on white hills, and grey harbour waves white-

tipped by icy winds . Strange weather, we say, and shiver . On the news today were stories of Congo’s cholera epi-demics, worsened by climate change; and mothers near Fukushima afraid of their breast milk being radioactive .

I am remembering others who have walked on this same holy earth: Jesus bringing the fire of truth and love, one dusty footstep and one conversation after another, and washing his friends’ feet; Francis stripping off his rich man’s clothes, rejecting his father’s mate-rial expectations . I imagine Francis here and now . I can see the hikoi . He would have walked barefoot across the country, whatever the weather, praising God’s good earth, calling us to revere Lady Poverty and the wisdom her sim-plicity brings, calling us to compassion .

On October 4, we celebrate St

Francis’ life . In preparation, Caritas has sent all Catholic schools ideas on how, following Francis’ love for creation, we can continue to grow the seeds of stewardship – kaitiakitanga .

One idea we can all share is to take the St Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor (thanks to the US Catholic Climate Covenant) . Through it, we promise “to live our faith by protecting God’s Creation and advocating on behalf of people in poverty who face the harshest impacts of global climate change” .

The pledge commits us to:• PRAY and reflect on the duty to

care for God’s Creation and pro-tect the poor and vulnerable .

• LEARN about and educate others on the causes and moral dimen-sions of climate change .

• ASSESS how we contribute to climate change by our own energy use, consumption, waste, etc .

• ACT to change our choices and behaviours to reduce the ways we contribute to climate change .

• ADVOCATE for Catholic prin-ciples and priorities in discussions and decisions, especially as they have an impact on those who are poor and vulnerable .As Pope Benedict XVI tells us, “The

protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of resources and of the climate, oblige all . . . to act jointly . . . promoting solidarity with the weak-est regions of the world” (Caritas in Veritate, no . 50)

For more resources and informa-tion, go to the Caritas website (www .caritas .org .nz) and the Catholic Climate Covenant website (http://catholicclimatecovenant .org) . To join an interfaith mailing list for those concerned about climate justice, go to https://groups .google .com/group/faith-communities-for-climate-justice . n

Celebrating Francis, patron saint of ecology, on 4 October

last few years has shown the inherent weaknesses of “financialised” capital-ism . We have watched while banks that had been complicit in removing socialism for the poor over the last couple of decades could not put their hands out quickly enough to have their own losses socialised .

Full employment is not just about the number of jobs . Over the last few decades there has been a huge surge of vulnerable or precarious employment including, casual work, temporary and labour hire work . The well-paid full-time job that can support a family is a thing of the past . The International Labour Organisation has become so concerned with this phenomenon that it has introduced a global campaign for Decent Work .

So as we come up to this election, what policies should we be looking for from the political parties? What needs to be done to restore dignity to work and workers?

We need to support policies that will:• Put the needs of people before the

requirements of finance capital .• Refuse to blame unemployed people

for being without work .• Have a hands-on job creation aspect

and do not just rely on the market .• Allow NZ workers to manufac-

ture and build major projects such as trains .

• See a change in the Reserve Bank Act to bring full employment back as a policy goal .

• Allow democratic (Government) control of the value of the New Zealand dollar rather than it being in the hands of international speculators .

• Encourage the formation of more forms of business enterprise to create jobs rather than simply private enterprise . These could be: social, co-operative, state, and local government enterprises .

• Take meaningful, practical steps to address the very high unemploy-ment rates among young people and in the Maori and Pacific workforces .

• Examine all international trade agreements through the lens of employment outcomes for New Zealanders .The first Labour Government was

determined to excise the cancer of unemployment from New Zealand society . Successive governments showed that it was possible to achieve this . Now, in a changed world facing global pressures and global responsi-bilities, which NZ politicians will dare to commit themselves to the restora-tion of a primary human right — the right to work? n

Robert Reid is General Secretary of the National Distribution Union, based in Auckland. He has a long history of work

in the fields of employment and social justice.

Nicky Chapman


religion and politics

are recent reforms working?

When the “reforms” of Tomorrow’s Schools were initiated, the

official propaganda assured us that, as a result,• Schools would be controlled

locally and would be able to adjust the curriculum to local needs and individual children .

• There would be at last equity and fairness . Maori and lower socio-economic groups would no longer lag behind others in achievement .

• Principals would be academic leaders in their schools and teach-ers would be able to operate as true professionals .

effects of “reforms”Perceptive critics such as Kelvin Smythe, John Codd, Hugh Lauder and (he says modestly) the present writer warned that the “reforms” would have quite different effects .

They argued that:• There would be local responsibil-

ity for making ends meet but in all other matters there would be more rather than less control from Wellington .

• Competition would increase rather than decrease the inequalities between schools and between the achievement of various groups .

• The inherent “business model” would exert pressure on princi-pals to be managers rather than professional leaders, and teachers, instead of being freed, would be increasingly monitored and their professionalism undermined .

Ivan Snook

Kelvin Smythe, for example, wrote:

“What has been imposed on education is a technocratic adminis-trative model which is grossly unsat-isfactory for an education system . A model which, when all the costs are added up, will be more expensive to run, and less effective in providing the foundations for high quality edu-cation . . . Education has been trivial-ised and politicised .” (Developmental Network Newsletter, issue 1, 1990)

flawed at outsetDavid Lange, the minister who pre-sided over the legislation, was later to suggest that the “reforms” worked well in the early years but were sub-verted by the National Government after 1990 . There is a modicum of truth in this but Smythe’s prescient piece was written while the Labour Government was still in power . The critics saw that the new model was fatally flawed from the outset .

As the years went by, schools and other educational institutions were

deprived of resources and forced to compete for students . Schools were forced to charge “fees” and, in the tertiary sector, students became long-term debtors to the state . Despite attempts to target some funding to lower decile schools, inequality of funding increased .

Some schools are very success-ful at raising large sums of money, while others struggle to make ends meet . Maori and Pasifika children became ghettoised and white middle class parents moved their children elsewhere . “The long tail of poverty” led (no surprise) to the “long tail of under-achievement” which, ironi-cally, is now being blamed on teach-ers rather than on economic policy .

compulsory curriculumThe state instituted a compulsory curriculum for the whole country and controlled schools by account-ability measures of which the so-called “National Standards” are but the latest sorry instance . The new bureaucracies, Ministry of Education (MOE), New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), Education Review Office (ERO) – and later Tertiary Education Council (TEC) and the Teachers Council – turned from supporting institutions and teachers and became agents of repressive control . Those in charge of schools and tertiary institutions became managers and, in the tertiary area a new managerial class rose up to replace teachers and academics . In universities, the long-standing position of the professorial board in academic matters was bypassed by

The author argues for a more rounded approach to the task of the education of children in schools, with greater accountablility to parents, fuller attention given to culture and contemporary challenges,

and a reform of teacher education.

“The long tail of poverty” led (no surprise) to the “long tail of under-achievement” which, ironically, is now being blamed on teachers rather than on economic policy.


“managers” fixated not on education but on “the bottom line .”

teachers as techiniciansTeachers came to be seen not as knowledgeable professionals but as technicians who need to be control-led through extensive accountability mechanisms . In the case of the primary and early childhood sectors, teacher training has been “stream-lined” by the virtual elimination of all content knowledge (“subjects to be taught”) and its replacement by greater attention to the processes of literacy and numeracy which, though important, are tools for education not education itself . This imbalance is being reflected in primary schools: so much time is spent on literacy and numeracy that there is very little time for the other subjects which are often lumped together as Integrated Studies .

more “reforms”During the past three years, anti-education policies have continued:• The so-called “national standards”

policy threatens to over-rule the educational needs of children, the philosophy of local manage-ment, and the professionalism of teachers . Even at this early stage there are signs of further nar-rowing of the curriculum which always happens under “high stakes” assessment .

• In the Polytechnic sector, demo-cratically elected councils have been replaced by small groups of (mainly) government nominees who keep the sector “in line” with government policies and make sure that staff do not speak out of turn .

• State agencies have become increasingly politicised . ERO, for example, not only evaluates each school but has taken upon itself to evaluate the school sector as a whole . This is passed off as “research” and used by the min-ister, the ministry and the media to berate schools and teachers .

This “research” is carried out without a genuine research methodology and depends on currently fashionable (but totally unreliable) views about what constitutes good teaching . It is summarised to suit the minister and is released in a slanted press release . It then becomes part of the mythology to be regurgitated by commentators who remember only the headlines (e .g . “30% of teachers are incompetent .”)

policies of parties As we approach an election the politi-cal parties (other than the Greens) are saying little about education . Among a number of policies, the Greens rec-ommend a Commission of Inquiry into the education system with a view to eliminating the many problems which the policies of the past twenty years have caused . This might be a good idea . The suggestion of NZ First to reduce student debt for those who stay working in this country might also be well worth considering .

author’s prioritiesApart from these, my priorities would be:• The removal of the divisive and

nonsensical “National Standards” and their replacement by a requirement that all schools report to parents in a meaningful way on the progress of children in all subjects, recognising that science, technology, humanities and the arts are just as important for the future of our society as the literacy and numeracy which

underpin them .• An insistence that all aspects of

a contemporary curriculum be given full attention including our own cultural heritages and the enormous challenges facing us all such as climate change, glo-balisation and the power of mass media . There should, however, be the possibility of variations to suit local situations .

• The return of Community Forums to negotiate fair school zones, resolve conflicts between schools and reduce damaging competition for resources .

• A reform of teacher education, along the lines of Finland (which regularly tops the world in school achievement): 4-5 years of rigor-ous teacher education involving in-depth study of several key disciplines as well as professional study and teaching practice . Ideally the former should occur in the subject departments of the university not in the College/School of Education . For in these departments science is taught by scientists, history by historians, and so on . Then, as in Finland, there would be no need to monitor teachers: with parental support, principals and teachers would constitute a powerful professional team which could be trusted to get on with the job of educating our nation’s children . n

Ivan Snook is Emeritus Professor of Education, Massey University. He is the author of several books including, most

recently, The Ethical Teacher.

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The garden of the Cistercian monastery at Tibhirine

August 1 is a special day of remem-brance for me. On this day 15 years ago in 1996, I woke up early at Santa

Sabina in Rome to the eerie sound of some-one sobbing deeply. It was my Dominican brother, Jean Jacques Perénnès, lamenting the death of his close friend Pierre Claverie, the Dominican bishop of Oran, in Algeria. Pierre had been assassinated the evening before, together with his Muslim chauffeur Mohammed, by a powerful bomb activated when the front door of his house had been unlocked. The blood of these two men lay mingled on the steps of the house chapel where they fell.

Pierre and Jean Jacques had worked together in Algeria, shared many hardships and maintained a strong friendship always. Through the following days, we shared Jean Jacques’ pain and sorrow, and supported his grief.

This intermingling of blood in the death of a Catholic Bishop and a Muslim chauffeur was highly symbolic of the way in which Pierre, Algerian-born of French parents, had

worked. Constantly over many decades, he had striven for the reconciliation of people of differing faiths and of the many factions within a fractured Algeria.

At first, Pierre’s work had been relatively easy, because the traditional Islam was welcoming and peaceful. By the 90s a more ideological version of Islam had grown up in Algeria and become manipulated by those in power, splintering Muslim groups into opposing factions. Slowly this ideologi-cal form of Islam, stripped of its traditional human and spiritual values, became an instrument of violence, justifying itself in religious terms. Pierre saw this slow back-wards growth as a conflict between Islam and the West, North and South, rich and poor. All of this he called the ‘fault lines’ of humanity, along which many Algerian people had been killed.

of gods and men


of gods and menIt is against this same background of

seeking reconciliation and of growing violence that the film “Of Gods and Men” is set. In the Algerian mountain village of Tibhirine, seven Cistercian monks and the local people had built up a solid, supportive respect for one another’s traditions. But a group of Croatian construction workers had been murdered nearby. This sets the scene sharply for the monks: should they stay or should they leave Algeria? Would their going be cowardice? Would staying be a form of arrogance or self-imposed martyrdom? They chose to remain — on the grounds of being neighbours to their Muslim friends; were kidnapped and killed. Remains of their bodies were found on 21 May, 1996, only six weeks before Pierre was killed.

Their deaths have kindled a light that will never be extinguished. It is a light which continues to speak of respect for the Other, of true neighbourliness, of the peace and the human dignity which are reflected time and again in the hearts of millions of people across our world. The monks, the bishop and his chauffeur are icons of truth and love before the behemoth of factionalism and violence. n

Kevin Toomey op is the editor of Tui Motu with a strong interest in inter-religious dialogue.

Kevin Toomey

Images from ‘Of Gods and Men’. See Film review page 29.


spirituality

the senses have it! Daniel O’Leary

A boy sat on the steps of a building with a battered hat by his feet . A cardboard sign read: “I’m blind . Please help .” The hat

held a few small coins . A man was walking by . He dropped a euro in the hat, picked up the sign, turned it around, wrote something on it, and put it back near the boy . Soon the hat began to fill up . That afternoon, the man who had written the new words on the sign came back to see how things were . Recognising his footsteps, the boy said: “You are the one who changed my sign this morning . What did you write?” The man said he only wrote the truth, but in a different way from the boy’s words . The new sign now read: “You are enjoying a beautiful day but I cannot see it .”

Both signs told the people that the boy was blind . The first was simply a statement of fact . The second reminded the people of the gift of their sight . One was about knowledge; the other about personal experience . One about the mind; the other about the senses .

Knowledge alone, ideas and concepts do not change us profoundly . Pure experience does . It is always focused, concentrated and non-dualistic . It attracts, persuades and convinces . After it, we see things differently . This may be a song, a touch, a film, a story, a note of love .

Our experience is pure when we hold no fil-tering lens, no preconceived notions . You cannot

It is often said that people are searching for meaning in their lives. But could it be rather that they are looking for evidence

that they are really and truly alive?

really experience reality with the judgmental mind because you are dividing the moment before you give yourself to it . You are not free to receive . You are in control of the outcome . Your fearful mind is in charge; you are not yet vulnerable enough .

The poets knew well that nothing can match the power of authentic experience . “The secret of it all,” wrote Walt Whitman, “is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood, of the moment — to put things down without deliberation or framing – without worrying about their style, without waiting for a fit time or place . . . By writing at the instant, the very heartbeat of life is caught .”

Seamus Heaney, too, knew this . “I rejoiced most when the poem seemed most direct, an upfront representation of the world it stood for . . . I loved Gerard Manley Hopkins for the intensity of his exclamations which were always equations of a rapture and an ache I didn’t fully know I knew until I read him . I loved Robert Frost for his farmer’s accuracy and his wily down-to-earthness . . .”

In their own way also, the mystics are great champions of human and spiritual experience . It is why they feel secretly sure about being chosen, invited and loved . In their efforts to explain their experience of God, they refer to an intense desire between themselves and their passionate lover . There are echoes of the Song of Solomon in these lines from Draw Me After You by St Clare of Assisi:

Draw me after You! We will run in the fragrance of Your perfumes, O heavenly Spouse! I will run and not tire, until You bring me

into the wine-cellar until your left hand is under my headand your right hand will embrace me happily and You will kiss me with the happiest kiss of your mouth.

We taste something of the flavours of God’s presence in everything that happens to us. There is a divine whisper in every sound; even the sound of temptation. No other religion dares speak of human experience like that.


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Macrina (Arkansas, USA) is a Benedictine, highly valued retreat director and author of Seasons of Your Heart, Behold Your Life, and Seven Sacred Pauses.

Hearts Deepest Yearning

God became human experience: “What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed . . . so that you also may have fel-lowship with us; and . . . with the Father . . .” (1 John 1:1-3) .

When asked about the essence of his message, Jesus replied: “Come and see .” Come for the day and experience the presence of my company . He gathered his life’s passion into one moment of washing people’s feet . He used the metaphors of bride and groom, weddings and intimacies, to explain the nature of union with God . All his words and works carried the experience of grace and the grace of experience . His own essential humanity was in evidence in that sensual experi-ence of having his own feet washed by Mary’s tears, dried by her hair and anointed with her fragrant ointment . In that sacramental moment of mutual presence, they both felt vulnerable, and they were both transformed .

Before he could believe in the Resurrection, Thomas relentlessly insisted on his need to touch the wounds of the Risen Christ . Deep healing and true faith are mostly found within the experience of woundedness . “Until I put my finger . . .”

Authentic conversion is nearly always expe-rienced corporeally and emotionally . Thomas’ own wounds had now become sacred wounds . It was to make all our pain redemptive that divine love became wounded flesh . True to the Incarnation, Tertullian preached that the reality of salvation “hinges on the feelings of the flesh .”

“The Holy Spirit can only be experienced,” writes Franciscan preacher Richard Rohr . God became flesh, the place of experience . Grace is always incarnate . Faith is that attitude that empowers us to experience in healing depth, all the hard and routine experiences that each day may bring .

All of this is not really surprising when we remember that God needed and desired to become our bodies, our senses, our emotions in time and space, so that divine being could be experienced everywhere, by everyone, not just notionally known by the few . It was with a view to experiencing an astonishing and redeeming intimacy with all of us that God created the world in the first place .

Mythologist and Catholic writer Joseph Campbell is of the opinion that people are not so much looking for the meaning of life as such, but for the experience of being more abundantly alive . “Eternity has little to do with the hereafter,”

he wrote . “This is it . If you don’t get it here you won’t get it anywhere . The experience of eternity right here and right now is the function of life . Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here’s the place to have the experience .”

The senses have it! We look at each other and see God’s face, maybe faintly, every day . We taste something of the flavours of God’s presence in everything that happens to us . There is a divine whisper in every sound; even the sound of temp-tation . No other religion dares speak of human experience like that .

Maybe our future resurrection will reveal that we have been experiencing it all our lives . We will have already felt it, “proved on the pulse”, as John Keats wrote just before he died . “Heaven”, wrote Fr Harry Williams in True Resurrection, “will be recognised as a country we have already entered, and in whose light and warmth we have already lived .” We will know well when we’re home . n

Fr Daniel O’Leary is a priest of the Leeds Diocese. His website is www.djoleary.com

Reprinted by kind permission of the London Tabletwww.tablet.co.uk


a conversation with irene…

“It is as Maori that the Lord calls you, it is as Maori that you belong to the church, the one body of Christ”.

When Pope John Paul II uttered these words in the course of his address

to the Maori people at Auckland Domain in 1986, he could well have been speaking of Irene Hancy, a modest and self-effacing widow living in an unpretentious house alongside the highway between Kaikohe and Opononi, because being Maori has been at the centre of her faith-filled life .

growing upIrene grew up on a farm, the sev-enth of 14 children . Her father was Mormon, her mother Ratana but Irene cannot remember any conflict between them relating to their dif-ferent doctrines . She does, though, remember being baptised into the Mormon faith in the river running through their valley and the daily dedication of the day to God in the small hours of each morning . Her childhood memories reflect a life of hymns, Bible-readings and shared prayer and traditional cultural teachings, led by parents fluent in Te Reo. Sundays saw neighbours gather at their house for song, Scripture and testimony bearing witness to a Christ of love, justice and integrity of life .

After a basic secondary education, Irene trained in obstetrics then spent three years in the Army before resum-ing a nursing career . She met her husband, Rawiri (“Buster”) Hancy in

1959 and they married in 1963, in a registry office as a compromise to both families (Buster was Catholic) . Eighteen months later, following her baptism in the Catholic faith, their marriage was blessed by the church and by both families . Over the fol-lowing years, they raised three chil-dren and 11 grandchildren, moved to a small rural community for work, then back to Omanaia in the Far North, where Irene still lives follow-ing the death of her beloved Buster three years ago .

time at sedosHow did this basically unremark-able person come to be invited to address the prestigious Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission (SEDOS) in Rome, during the 1998 Synod of Oceania Bishops? It came about because Irene has a strongly unique way of presenting the reality of inculturation for indige-nous peoples . Her presentation to the SEDOS gathering revolved around her own experience of the Gospel in her life and of the critical importance that, in that encounter, the identity of the person be preserved, and even more importantly, enhanced . Her own encounter with Christianity and even more with Catholicism, has thrived or diminished to the extent that her identity as Maori is dimin-ished or enhanced . Desolation and loneliness, isolation and the effect of participating in liturgy as through a glass panel, these were her experi-ences when her cultural identity was not recognised . Where her right to ancestral and cultural identity is recognised, when her traditions of religious values, customs, myths and

art forms are admitted and involved, where she can express the Gospel in terms of her own culture, the encounter is joyful and envigorating .

parish ministry growingFor Irene, her parish journey in the North went from feelings of isolation, through the integration of Maori hymns into the Mass and, eventually, to the monthly celebration of Mass in Te Reo . The strengthened Maori community then formed a Maori Pastoral Committee focussed on community outreach and later to the moving of appropri-ate liturgies, like Tangihanga, into the marae . There they took responsibility for the smooth running of morning and evening prayers, the grieving and eventually the funeral Mass/liturgy . The tangi for Irene’s husband, Buster, at Omanaia was an experience of the richness and integrity of a fully inculturated liturgy . Unfortunately, this is not always the case, depending too much on the tolerance of priest or Pakeha community .

leadership with TTPCThis parish experience led in turn to a 14-year involvement with the Tai Tokerau Pastoral Council (TTPC) which she chaired for six years . The TTPC is made up of representa-tives of nine northern parishes and, although open to all, normally meets on marae under Maori protocol . For Irene, the TTPC hui was an oppor-tunity to encourage the growth of the Catholic faith among Maori in ways that are deeply Maori and truly Catholic . Deeply Maori and truly Catholic – such were the gatherings of the TTPC under Irene’s leadership .

Kevin McBride

This interview tells the story of one Maori woman’s struggle to have her identity as a Maori enhanced and to help her own people find their own identity in the

richness of an inculturated liturgy.

a profile of faith


maori pastoral care plan

She was and remains a staunch advocate of the Maori Pastoral Care Plan (MPCP) developed under the guidance of Bishop Takuira Mariu in the 1980s and 90s . Irene embraced and promoted the MPCP enthusiastically, for it embodied all that she had discovered for herself in her own faith life . As she said to SEDOS: “The Gospel enhances, transforms and releases the cultural understanding of the truth . Every culture has a place in God’s house-hold . The Gospel transforms every culture . Language is at the very heartbeat of any culture and shifting back to live in the place of my birth, I was given a wonderful homecom-ing . Surrounded by family, relatives, meeting houses, language nests, the whole community and church life was exhilarating .”

growing community workSince stepping down from the TTPC leadership, Irene’s life has been devoted to the community . First, with Buster and whanau and latterly as part of a small commu-nity team, she has continued to exercise her extensive networking skills . Her concern at the high rate of Maori imprisonment led her to

join an ecumenical team working in association with Judge James Rota in a pilot scheme utilising marae justice principles through the court system . It involves the team working alongside families whose members have fallen foul of the law . The team stands in solidarity with them through the court process, encouraging them to take responsi-bility for their whanau and seeking to act in a way which restores and enhances the mana of both sides, rather than isolating and diminish-ing them through impersonalised and purely punitive processes .

Similar principles character-ise her work with school music groups and Te Reo groups . Fr Peter McDermott SM, who has worked with Irene in these areas, says that what begins with children or par-ents separately soon brings both together so that people of all gen-erations are working together . And none of these sessions is confined to the learning of a specific skill but all end up including prayer, Te Reo, music and somewhere in the piece, sharing on scripture and shared wisdom . All are imbued with Irene’s holistic view of the woven strands which make up the integrated and full life .

compassion and solidarity

These public sides of her life are accompanied by a more private but deep sense of compassion which has kept her moving through the com-munity at all hours of the day or night, living out a spirit of solidarity open to the needs of all in her com-munity whether isolated in a hospital or needing support in the home .

thankfulnessAs she goes about her daily tasks, forg-ing and maintaining links with all sorts, conscious of the Gospel images of Christ sitting with the people, she is saddened at signs that the church seems still unwilling to take its own teachings and proclamations seriously, to be where the people are rather than trying to fit all into one universal mould . She loves the ritual of both the Catholic Church and marae but is impatient with the resistance of leadership in the Church to embrace the diversity of the marae and the diversity of iwi which could refuel our liturgies . In her conculsion at SEDOS Irene reflected, “While it is little and slow and frustrating, it is still exciting in Christ! Who would ever have thought that I would thank God for pain, frustration, isolation and desolation . I most certainly do, otherwise I do not believe I could enjoy the sweetness of this moment but for my journey in him .”

But she is not waiting around for that to happen nor disheartened by the failure of clergy and Pakeha to risk the bicultural relationship we are all called to in Te Tiriti o Waitangi . Instead, she gets on with what she does so well: being present to those who need to rediscover their identity and the strength of com-munity which has given her the cour-age to live out her own commitment to being deeply Catholic and deeply Maori, to a new emerging Church, to being a dynamic people of faith . We need, she says, freedom to be Eucharist to one other . n

Kevin McBride is the co-ordinator for Pax Christi Aoteroa-New Zealand with a strong interest in justice and

bi-cultural matters.


translation of liturgical texts

The new translation of the Mass has been in general use in New Zealand for eight months. It has not been welcomed with uni-versal enthusiasm: indeed the general reception seems to be

resignation, consternation or opposition. Most people seem well con-tent with the 1970 ICEL translation, and can see no need to change. Nor are they persuaded by the official reasons given in support of the new translation.

It is not generally known that one of the leading figures of the ICEL team who gave us the old version, G.B.Harrison, spent his final years living in Palmerston North. Harrison was born in Sussex, England in 1894. He taught English at universities in North America for much of his life, and until his retirement he was Professor of English at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In an article for the journal America, Harrison wrote: “Words affect us on more than one level. On the surface they affect us by their meanings, in the subsoil by their sounds, especially when combined into rhythms, and in the depths through the fusion of meaning, rhythm and association. And it is in the depths that the spirit communes with spirit. Nothing but perfect expression can suffice for the union of God and humanity in the Mass.” (April 1964)

The following excerpts are taken from the final chapter of his autobi-ography One Man in his Time: the memoirs of G.B.Harrison 1894 –1984, Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 1985

MH

on englishing the liturgyG B Harrison

translating the liturgy into englishThe Second Vatican Council came together in Rome in October 1962, and one of its first accomplishments was to approve the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and its reforms . The purpose of the reforms was to encourage the people to take a more active part in the rites of the church . The vernacular language could be used . Few in the Council realised that when the gates are opened to a large and impatient crowd, they rush in and are no longer controllable . Once the vernacular was admitted, the demand for its full use was general and quite irresistible .

icelBoth the Council and the new Pope, Paul VI, desired that when the same language was spoken by several countries, commissions should be established to make one text for all . As a result, the English-speaking bishops appointed the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, hereafter referred to as ICEL . This body consisted of two com-mittees, an Episcopal Committee of representatives from different countries, a secretary and treasurer with offices in Washington; and an Advisory Committee (at first of eight persons) to organise and oversee the translation . Archbishop Deardon of

Detroit was responsible for my being one of the two laymen appointed to this committee .

From this meeting of ICEL emerged our first publication — a pamphlet called English for the Mass . It set out different ways of translat-ing such texts as the Gloria, the Credo and Agnus Dei . We asked for criticism and advice; we got it! Some 16,000 copies of the pamphlet were sent out; more than 4,000 replies came back, which revealed a great conflict of opinions, strongly held, and often violently expressed .

Some wished the committee to rewrite the Mass . Others demanded that we keep as close as could be to the language of Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer . Others again were as eager for the disappearance of the old familiar words, even ‘almighty’, ‘everlasting’ and ‘Amen’ . A few urged us to follow the vocabulary of the Beatles as that of the generation to come .

A second pamphlet was issued a year later: English for the Mass, Part 2 . This was a large collection of trans-lations of the prayers, prefaces and prayer endings . We replied to those who demanded that we use the con-temporary idiom: “it must be good, straight, simple English which brings understanding to the unlearned and delight to the literate .”

The original intention of the Council Fathers was that only certain parts of the Mass should be translated into the vernacular . Pending official translations, different dioceses used what was available in the existing missals for the Gloria, the Creed and other parts, but the offertory prayers and the Canon were still uttered

Father Michael Hill discovered a link between the first translation of the English liturgy and a noted Palmerston North scholar, Professor G B Harrison.


inaudibly in Latin . This hybrid was generally felt to be most unsatisfac-tory, and in the early Spring of 1967, the American bishops petitioned that the Canon might be said aloud in English . To their surprise, permission from Rome was given three weeks later; haste is not usual in such mat-ters . The result was that ICEL was ordered to have the translation ready for use by the end of the year .

The Canon in English was published in October 1967 . It was greeted with startled screams by the conservatives . One of my former graduate students wrote to me that he had thought the new translation was commonplace — until he heard it, and then to his surprise, it became a thing of simple moving dignity . These words were his, not mine .

a procedure for translation In April, 1969, the authorized Latin text was officially published in Rome, and at last we could get down to a final translation .

By early summer we had reached what in our jargon was called the Green Book stage . The Green Book was the committee’s semi-final ver-sion, issued in a green cover and sent to our own Bishops’ Committee, the various Ecclesiastical Conferences and the English-speaking bishops (all 750 of them) and to other interested parties . They responded with 300 pages of observations, some — but not all — helpful . Personally I found it embarrassing when a most respected archbishop made strong comments that were contradicted in equally strong comments by another highly respected archbishop . Either way we offended one if not both, but we grew hardened to that risk .

Apart from the problems of time and place, the greatest difficulty was the Latin text . The traditions of liturgical Latin were almost, but not quite, as old as Christianity . Educated men in the second and later centuries received an elaborate train-ing in rhetoric; and in the Imperial Court at Rome or Byzantium they

addressed the sovereign with obsequi-ous phrases and gestures . Englishmen also, in the 16th century and later, endured the same kind of education in rhetoric and flattered the sovereign in the same way . Latin liturgical conventions were thus natural in Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer, and to those brought up on that book

its language seemed the only proper respectful way of addressing God . This hyperbolical tradition was still strong in the Vatican . Even lay members of ICEL received letters addressed on the envelope “To the Most Reverend, Most Learned, Professor” — to the irreverent amusement of their families . Modern masters of prayer have entirely rejected that mode; they no longer compose prayers in the style of a Loyal Address to the King of Kings by his abject slaves . Instead they prefer the direct speech

of child to father, as Christ taught in the Lord’s Prayer . The Gospels plainly show that in his prayers Christ used the simplest words . So too in his talk and his parables .

criticism of the new textsMost of the severe critics of the ICEL translations failed to realise the facts of life . The texts were not for their own community or parish, but for every community . There are about 75 million English speaking Catholics throughout the world . Of these 82 percent live on the North American continent, 6 percent in England and Wales . Most English-speaking Catholics, whatever their country, are simple people with small knowl-edge of the Bible, Church history or English literature . A translator should never forget he is providing words for public utterance to and by plain folk .

Hereupon the literate critic cried out in disgust: ‘What! Basic English?’ The answer was; ‘Yes, basic English,’ just as the Gospels were written in a kind of basic Greek (the learned call it koiné) . They were intended, not for educated Greek and Roman gentlemen, but for slaves, merchants, soldiers, shopkeepers, sailors and common people; and for that very reason, because the basic instincts of ordinary folk are more durable than the tastes of professional writers and critics, the Gospel narratives are still vivid and readable . n

We replied to those who demanded that we use the contemporary idiom: “It must be good, straight, simple English which brings understanding to the unlearned and delight to the literate”.

EDITORIAL POSTSCRIPT: These writings of G B Harrison make it clear that as far back as 1984-85, ICEL had worked extremely hard and from sound principles to produce a robust and durable text for all English speakers. One wonders what Professor Harrison’s response would have been to the new Mass text, and to the official reasons given in support of the new translation.

Mary Woods is a Christchurch resident with extensive experience in volunteering

and training volunteers.


a true fairy storyMary Woods

christchurch earhquake

Once upon a time the earth beneath the city roared and shook and the city broke .

Buildings fell . People died . People wept . Roads cracked and liquefaction spread its grey greasy silt across the ground . It was a sorry state .

Then the people picked themselves up and said, “How can we fix our broken, messy City?”

It was the Civil Defenders who had power to sort things out, but the job was so big and they were so tired . Who could help them? They summoned their team mate King Allan from over the mountains on the West Coast . He was a wise king with wide experience . He would know what to do .

King Allan said, “Yes, I’ll come and help .” He mounted his iron charger and sped across the Alps .

Meantime out in the still stand-ing Ivory Towers, Charming Prince Sam said, “I have my book of friends and they have friends and they have friends . We are young and strong so we can help the people .” So he sent his cyber pigeons off to summon up his friends .

King Allan came and saw the mess of grey revolting silt that the Earth had spat up and everyone said, “Yuck” . ”O dear, O dear”, King Allan said . “How can we clean this up?” Then came a knock on his door . Prince Sam peeped round and said, “Excuse me, Sir, we’ve come to help . There are about a thou-sand of us, what is it we could do?”

King Allan looked and saw a boy one third of his great age . “How could a callow lad know how to lead?” thought the mighty sage . The King threw up his hands and nightmares passed his eyes — drunken students, burning sofas, undie 500 cars broken down in intersections blocking all the roads . He couldn’t let students loose to loot the people with their scars?

“Sorry, Mate,” King Allan said, “it’s too much risk, how could we keep them in control? Send your lively students off to someone else’s place .”

Prince Sam persisted “No”, he said, “we’ve got energy and skills . We’ll even jump through hoops for you to help the others live .” King Allan scratched his beard and said “Ahem, we’ll see you try . Deliver, Lad, to me at speed the rules that must apply . Show us how we’ll know who’s here and where and how they’ll work and what they’re going to do .”

Prince Sam went home and called his team of widely skilled students who put their trusty computers to work long into the night . Together they devised procedures and set up systems to ensure the safety of the mob .

At 3am King Allan heard the cyber pigeon call . “The web site’s up and ready with instructions for us all . We’ve got i .d . cards to know who’s who and check us in and out . We work in groups and only do what’s asked .” King Allan thought, “Maybe I can trust this preco-cious boy to do the mighty job . His computer is his other arm and far from just a toy . He’s passed the test and led a team, we have to let him try .”

And so the student army went with shovels and barrows to dig and

This fairy story is about King Allan, charming Prince Sam, and the student army Or: the challenge for intergenerational volunteering.

scrape and clean away disgusting heaps of silt from the yards of the people of Christchurch . But hard working stu-dents get very hungry, so Prince Sam gave all his money to his team mate, Sir Morgan, to buy the workers food . Meantime down in the South, the people of Oamaru and Dunedin baked and cooked and created a mountain of food, so next day enough lunch arrived to feed an army . The students ate and distributed meals to the communities they were helping .

This miracle happened because wise King Allan tested his distrust of youth by listening to Prince Sam and challenging him to do the things that would make his army safe . Despite his enthusiastic confidence, Prince Sam heard King Allan’s worries and thought, “We have ideas, skills and energy galore but this old Geezer’s been around and probably knows some more .” He used the skills and tools of youth to allay the old man’s fears .

As a result many of the people of Christchurch were rescued from a sticky mess and the students experi-enced the joy of helping . n

The care given in facilities such as Clare House is at the last stages of what is generally an extended period, from the first vague indi-cations of a problem, through diagnosis and care at home until residential care becomes necessary . In this “at home” stage, care is most often provided by a spouse/partner, sibling or child . The burden prima-rily falls on to one person .

The pastoral needs of this pri-mary care-giver are physical and spiritual . Respite can be difficult to obtain: there are limited “respite” beds available for the longer periods allocated . Shorter respite times of a half-day or so may also be difficult to find . Suitable “substitute” carers are not always easy to find, and are often not accepted by the sufferer . (Family

members, who may be acceptable, are paid far less than a non-related carer .)

The relentless nature of care-giving in these situations gives the carer very little space, as the suf-ferer frequently does not want the carer out of sight . Consequently, daily activities (shopping, hanging out washing, having a shower) can become major challenges .

“Going out” requires major organization, so church attendance decreases or maybe ceases altogether (especially if the sufferer becomes unable to cope in large gatherings) . This is of huge significance to those who have been regular worshippers . Sadly, too often such couples seem to drop out of pastoral concern .

The best support for carers and sufferers alike is time . Sitting with

a sufferer to allow a carer to have a shower, walk around the block, do the shopping is a gift which is beyond price . Similarly, taking the sacrament, and praying with the carer and suf-ferer maintains a connection with the community of faith . A regular commitment for as long as it takes is one of the greatest gifts which could be offered .

Any service which can go to the home is helpful . One way of support-ing carers and sufferers is through massage . This has been pioneered in the USA by “Compassionate Touch”, with whom I recently had the privi-lege of training . A mobile massage service is only one way of supporting those with dementia in their journey through the ravages of this disease .

Jan Emson, Waikanae

thanks for encouragement

For two months in a row now, Tui Motu has arrived into my Gold Coast letterbox and immediately a piece of writing has resonated with an issue in my heart .

In July’s issue, it was Kaaren Mathias’ reflection on feelings of constriction and smallness of life with children, and her prayer for patience and grace . Well from one Mum to another, from diverse countries of India to Australia, she encouraged me and lightened my load . Thank you, Kaaren!

The August edition arrived yesterday and the article ‘A Peep into the Future’ by Fr Pat Maloney was beautiful and hopeful . As a woman in her 30’s, passionate and

volunteering in her local parish to create vibrant inclusive liturgies for all, I loved the description of “the active faith of innumerable small groups bringing their faith and love into their communities” where “the baptismal gifts of all…are recognised .” This article helped me write three emails I had been putting off for some time! I have received three messages this winter from Catholic friends, struggling to feel positive about the state of their local parish, due to limited welcome and inclusion for families and children . They write to me, tempted to attend more welcoming Protestant churches, but feeling great sadness, as they love their Catholic Faith . Not an uncommon scenario I believe .

Now I can reply! Writing from my heart, I will tell them I totally understand how they feel and I will share what motivates myself and what strategies our parish uses to include families . I will also attach Fr Maloney’s article, and say: This sums up what is happening in our Church, and what I believe needs to happen is each baptised person to take seriously their responsibility to be involved in parish life, not as a ‘helping the priest’ scenario, but as empowered laity itself . It is not easy, it will take effort; who will be a part of this “purifying and hum-bling” process? With gratitude for your encouraging magazine,

Theresa Vossen, Southport Qld

(abridged)

This letter is a response to the article (Tui Motu, July) dealing with the care given at Clare House. Here the writer develops the care needed at a prior stage, the “at home” period.

support for carers at home

response/letter to editor


letters to the editor continued


scripture

Kathleen Rushton

the very core of the gospel?Matthew 20:1-16 The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

(26th Sunday Ordinary Time - 18 September)

Lack of workers, unemploy-ment, set wages and their pay-ment, a discussion between an

employer and some workers — these are the stuff of everyday situations . However, add a puzzling detail . All workers were paid the same wage without regard to the length of hours worked . This astonishing outcome in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Mt 20:1–16) irritates today’s listener because it goes against sound human logic and the univer-sally accepted rule of payment of wages according to hours worked . Can this parable inspire us today? Is it more than a peculiar story from long ago?

the strategy of a parableJesus, teller of parables, has a well-conceived strategy and takes care that the story connects with the world of the listeners . There are extravagant features that provoke and stimulate thinking . Three moments can be seen but not separated in this process . 1) At the beginning there is a time of estrangement . What does this strange story mean? What’s the point? 2) Meaning breaks through the image often with shock . What is at stake is recognised . 3) However, insight is not the end . Once understood, the content has to be embraced with one’s whole being . It affects the whole person . It is not just about the mind . It turns the hearer upside down .

cultural backgroundMatthew’s gospel was most likely written in the Greco-Roman city of Antioch about fifty years after Jesus’ death . Their world there was influenced by both Greek and Jewish thinking . The structure, members

and roles of the household were topics of frequent discussion in ancient philosophical writings . This debate concerned the organisation of society, the duties of citizens and the pursuit of the good life . The house-hold was regarded as the basic unit of the state or city . It consisted of four aspects: three relationships (husband-wife; father-children; master-slave) and the task of earning wealth . The structure is hierarchal because in the three pairs, the former rules over the latter . It is patriarchal in that the

husband/father/master controls and provides for the household .

context of the parableMatthew’s audience could connect the landowner (employer) of this parable with this structure . Further, this parable is found in Mt 19–20 where Jesus addresses critically three of the four topics of the household management tradition outlined above . Jesus speaks of the relationship of husband and wife (19:3–12); chil-dren (19:13–15); of a rich man and


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his wealth (19:16–30); and then in a parable uses the image of masters and slaves (20:17–28) . In all these areas of life, Jesus opposes the use of power to “rule over” others . According to Jesus’ teaching, the community of disciples is called to a way of life in which all human beings have equal value . They are called to be creative of a new social world .

So it is in this context of Mt 19-20 that the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is to be considered . It instructs those who hear it about life in the transformative present and future basileia (reign) of the heavens . The first line is: “For the basileia of the heavens is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard .”

two scenesThe parable has two scenes . The first deals with the hiring of the workers (vv .1-7) and the second with their payment (8-16) . In the first scene, the passing of time is shown by the householders “going out” five times: early morning, about the third hour, about the sixth and ninth hour, and finally at the eleventh hour . Day labourers were a common sight in the marketplace and a readily avail-able pool of cheap labour . Many may have been uprooted from small peasant farms . A denarius was the usual daily wage .

The second scene has five divi-sions: evening comes and the work-ers are called; the arrival of those hired at the eleventh hour and their payment; the arrival of those hired first, their expectations and pay-ment; the discussion between these workers and the householder; the workers’ reaction; and the house-holder’s response . The five hirings of the first scene become two groups, the eleventh hour workers (the last) and the rest (the first) . The last are paid first . The contrast between the two groups in the reversal of the order of payment, their treatment and responses are crucial to the story .

what is the point?What does this strange story means? What’s the point? Does the parable re-define for those who hear it “what is right” in terms of equal treatment, overturning the expectations and assumptions of the “first” who look for justice to uphold the status quo (hierarchal structure)? Or does this well-considered fictitious story with some intentionally exaggerated parts draw on conditions in the ancient world but not really deal with eco-nomic laws? Instead, does it deal with the surprising way God reveals Godself in Jesus and how God acts? Are we, too, workers of the eleventh

hour who are blessed abundantly by God’s grace, pardoned and loved?

The great parable specialist, Adolf Jülicher, had a very challenging view of this parable . He saw it as the very core of “the good message of the gospel,” the very kernel of the gospel which really contains the whole gospel message . What is this kernel? Ours is to recognise and seek this kernel . How can we tell this parable of Jesus today in a way so that the audience is “once more astonished” and touched to the core of their being? n

Kathleen Rushton RSM of Christchurch is currently at the Catholic University of

Leuven, Belgium.


book review

‘a theological hitchhiker’ revisited More than you know – an autobiographyAlbert MoorePublished by Jonathan Moore and Rachel OvensAvailable at University Book Shop, Dunedin Price: $44 .99Reviewer: Michael Hill ic

This very full account of the rich and varied life of Albert Moore has been published privately

by his son and daughter . Albert was the founder of the Phenomenology of Religion department in the Arts Faculty at the University of Otago, was its Associate Professor and spent a large part of his life teaching in the University and at Knox College . During his retire-ment he continued to be active in the Theology faculty as well as a regular favourite as a U3A teacher .

One beneficiary of Albert’s scholar-ship and enthusiasm was Tui Motu . He was a regular contributor, delighting readers especially with his original commentaries on works of art of many periods and schools . Anyone who enjoyed his wit and learning in those articles will love this book .

Albert was possessed of an intensely inquisitive mind, and although theol-ogy was his first expertise, he also became an authority on many aspects of the visual arts especially as they helped to illuminate the human quest for God and the meaning of life . He loved the cinema, and he was also from a very early age a jazz enthusiast .

The book describes his many jour-neys overseas as he sought to expand his theological knowledge and to experience the art, culture and religion of other lands . His travels took him first to the United Kingdom: he studied for his PhD at Manchester under the distinguished New Testament scholar T W Manson . He describes himself as a ‘theological hitchhiker’, and he went on from Britain to Germany where he

sat at the feet of another great scholar who also became his friend, Ernst Kåsemann . Later in life he was to travel extensively in America, in the Far East and Japan .

When he eventually returned to Otago to teach, his restless mind con-tinued its search . “Through teaching”, he says, “one continues to learn .” He learned to use artwork to accompany his lectures, and soon made himself an expert in iconography . Iconography he describes as “a way of understanding the depth and variety of the world’s religions, especially the Oriental ones .”

Albert Moore was a highly intuitive person . The world of imagination was for him the fitting complement to the intellectual quest . He describes his feel-ings when he started a slide show in his lectures: “When the lights are dimmed and the audience is stilled, the shaman takes off on his mystical flight and gets carried away in ecstasy… something of this happened to me .”

His favourites among the great artists of the West tell us a lot about Albert’s own mind and his sensibility . He loves William Blake whose poetry and imagery carry the imagination beyond normal experience . He relished the earthiness of Stanley Spencer who brought the Gospel into the lives of ordinary 20th Century people . He is enchanted by the colour and imagina-tion of Marc Chagall . Albert respected the “artist’s insight as a way of seeing things afresh in our world .”

In terms of his own beliefs,

Albert remained grounded among ordinary Christians seeking the light of faith . He spent time in early life as a country pastor, and even during his academic years he was a faithful member of his local Presbyterian church in Opoho, Dunedin .

I think Albert might have been too polite and gentle to become embroiled in the theological controversies of his time . In the book he relates what many of his contemporaries were saying . He did not approve modern thinkers, like Don Cupitt who reduce God to a hypothesis . To Lloyd Geering he pays due acknowledgment, but refrains in his book from critical comment .

To Albert’s many students, friends and admirers this book will come as a delight . It will rekindle for them the warmth of his friendship and the breadth of his amazing scholarship . I recommend it . n

OTAGO TERTIARY CHAPLAINCY AND DUNEDIN ABRAHAMIC

INTERFAITH GROUP

ANNUAL PEACE LECTURECompassion, Justice and the

Pursuit of Peace: Ten Years On from 9/11

Associate Professor Chris Marshall Head of the School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies,

Victoria University

5.30 – 7pm Monday, 26th September 2011

ST DAVID LECTURE THEATREUNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

followed by supper in All Saints Anglican Church Hall, 786 Cumberland Street

ALL WELCOME

INQUIRIES: Greg Hughson 479 8497

[email protected] www.otago.ac.nz/chaplain

www.dunedininterfaith.net.nz


film review

embracing this troublesome childOf Gods and MenDirector: Xavier BeauvoisReviewer: Paul Sorrell

This quiet, slow-moving film tells the story of the last days of a small community of

Cistercian monks living in the remote Atlas Mountains of Algeria during a time of political and social turmoil, brutality and violence . Although it is in essence the story of their martyr-dom, there are no heroic speeches, no pious histrionics, no implacably evil enemies, no romanticised suffering or sense of triumphalism . Nevertheless, Of Gods and Men celebrates a vic-tory, of which the brothers are only a part — the triumph of love, compas-sion and communal solidarity over the forces of hatred and violence .

In the build-up to the events that eventually overwhelm them, we observe the brothers going about their daily lives, working and wor-shipping together and interacting freely with their Muslim friends and neighbours in the poor village com-munity they have made their home . We see them joining in birthday celebrations, treating patients in a local clinic, selling their honey at the souk — even giving gentle advice to village girls on affairs of the heart . When violence erupts on the edges of the community, they do not take sides, but listen, pray and offer help where they can . Yet, inexorably, along with the local people, they find themselves caught up in the growing conflict between the forces of the ruling military dictatorship and the Islamist guerillas who oppose them .

Much of the power of this film arises from the decision by director Xavier Beauvois to show the action through the eyes of the monks . This accounts for the lack of political back-ground and allows events to unfold in all their apparent randomness and troubling chaos . It also means that we

stay very close to the protagonists and begin to understand what makes them tick . While all the brothers are given individual personalities, two charac-ters stand out . Br Christian, the leader of the community, is serious-minded, intellectual, determined, aware that the fate of the community rests in his hands . The elderly Br Luc is in many ways his opposite — relaxed, playful, shrewd, only too well aware of human frailty, he is wearing himself out in ministering to the medical needs of the village .

If the monks appear as rather ordi-nary — and very different — men in their daily lives, they are shown transformed in the regular round of liturgical worship . White-robed and singing the Office or celebrating Mass together, their simple but powerful spiritual unity, based on prayer and service to God, becomes apparent . The hymns and chants they sing speak of love, forgiveness and compassion, suffering and endurance . The liturgy forms a counterpoint to — and com-mentary on — the violent action going on beyond the monastery walls, and sets it in the context of the all-encompassing divine presence . In one scene, their chant must struggle against the sinister beating of an army helicopter gunship swinging overhead .

Torn between their fear of what might happen to them and their loyalty to the local community, the brothers eventually determine to stay . It is not an easy decision . To

one brother, fearful of what might lie ahead, Christian counsels, “You have already given your life — you gave it by following Christ .” Acceptance of their situation, and a determination to do their duty by their Muslim neighbours, leads to a reinvigoration of courage, even joy . In one extraor-dinary scene, the brothers, relaxed and smiling, sip red wine to the accompaniment of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake played on a tape deck . The music is dramatic, foreboding, but also strangely uplifting . Is this the Last Supper, or drinking the new wine together in the kingdom of the Father?

What is truly extraordinary about this film is its total lack of any sense of partisanship . In a profound sense, we are seeing events not only through the eyes of the monks but through the eyes of God . In the words of one of the community’s hymns, “You hold against your breast this troublesome child, which is the world of mortals .” In a final letter, an anonymous brother acknowledges his complicity in the events that have overwhelmed them, affirms his kinship with his Muslim brothers and sisters, and offers forgiveness to his killers .

At a time when the mass media is dominated by caricatures of Christianity, the understanding of the Gospel presented in Of Gods and Men is profound . Shown widely, as it deserves to be, it should do much to undo current misapprehensions and enhance interfaith relations . n


Crosscurrents Jim Elliston

comment

‘vatican insider’Vatican communications to the real world have been pretty amateurish, resulting in misinterpretation and confusion, especially as few journalists understand either the issues or their real importance . Benedict XVI has successfully instigated a radical trans-formation of the Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, and now a Milan secular newspaper, La Stampa, has cre-ated a website dedicated to professional journalistic reporting of Church affairs .

With support from a number of journalists and newspaper editors in major capitals who recognise the importance of debates on religious themes and ethical issues in people’s lives, along with the need to have fresh and reliable first-hand news, La Stampa decided to create an online information channel in three languages . The aim is to address a global audience, providing serious and independent accounts of everything that goes on in the Holy See . It (vaticaninsider .lastampa .it/eng) is the first Vatican information site not associated with the Church, religious congregations or communities of faith, but is promoted by a secular generalist and independent newspaper .

religious pottering Speaking of the Osservatore, a Catholic News Service report summarised two recent articles on the Harry Potter films enumerating their positive values .

“Evil is never presented as fascinating or attractive in the saga, but the values of friendship and of sacrifice are highlighted. In a unique and long story of formation, through painful passages of dealing with death and loss, the hero and his compan-ions mature from the light-heartedness of infancy to the complex reality of adulthood …Eternal life is reached through death, not without it. And Harry Potter, although he never declared himself a Christian, calls on the dark magician to mend his ways, repent for what he has done and recognize the primacy of love over everything so he will not be damned for eternity.”

The series also championed values that Christians and non-Christians share, and provided opportunities for Christian parents to talk to their chil-dren about how those values are pre-sented in a special way in the Bible, as well as motivating millions of children around the world to read books .

evangelization guidelinesA document, ‘Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recom-mendations for Conduct’ was released at the end of June by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the World Council of Churches, and the Vatican, representing 90% of the world’s total Christian population . Preparation of the document began in 2006, largely in response to accusations of “unethical methods” by Christian missionaries, in unspecified regions .

Some core points:• Rejection of all forms of violence

including the violation or destruc-tion of places of worship, sacred symbols or texts .

• Acknowledgement and appreciation of what is true and good in other religions; any criticisms should be made “in a spirit of mutual respect .”

• Respect for the “full personal free-dom” of their converts by allowing them “sufficient time for adequate reflection and preparation” before they adopt a new faith .

• Denunciation of proselytizing with the use of “financial incen-tives and rewards .”

• Regarding faith healing, the document instructs missionaries to ensure the “vulnerability of people and their need for healing are not exploited .”

the benefits of globalization.Economically speaking, the world is a village . The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development tells us that five shocks are likely to destabilize the global economy with increasing

frequency in future, because of the greater speed with which economic factors spread through the world .

The first was the 2000 financial crisis, triggered by Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the effects of which were instantaneously transmitted from the US throughout the world . The others: a viral pandemic, cyber attacks, a large geomagnetic storm, and social unrest in Europe resulting from possible economic crises .

ideology and realityDemocratic government presup-

poses negotiating; this requires a degree of give and take . To force the opponent to give without ceding something in return is not negotiation . The US Republican party has forced the Democrats to concede cuts far beyond the requirements of prudent economic policy while refusing to allow tax increases on the super-rich, or to remove huge subsidies to oil companies . Their demands require removing help from the poorest sec-tions of the community .

David Brooks, a Republican columnist for the ‘New York Times’, wrote that the actions of the Republican Party over budget nego-tiations had “brought their country, and the world, to the brink of more financial disaster” . Explaining that a normal Republican Party would have conceded some points to the Democrats to cement the gains made in negotiations and not demanded complete surrender, he wrote: “But over the past few years, the Party has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative . The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency…they talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honour .” Tea Party ideologues squandered the opportu-nity to make a realistic reduction in US debt .

liturgy and abusePeter Norris


comment

People complain about the words for the new liturgy but sometimes they can give some

unintentional light relief . I was sitting near the back of the church recently when words for the creed came up on the overhead . Rather than just reciting them like everyone else, an elderly person near me, said in a loud voice: “This is all so silly .” She was right and I was silently endorsing her comments each time some silly translation variation came up on screen . There is a value in ritual but we keep changing the ritual for what seem petty reasons . Worse still when it becomes clear that there is fighting between various church bodies who are arguing about a text . Translators I know, try to get the sense of a docu-ment rather than become anal about the words .

The Catholic church administra-tion asks people to accept blindly quite a few things . Whether it is change to the Lord’s Prayer, and then changing the words back again, or to change some of the ritual greetings back to older versions . The assump-tion is that the administration has right on its side . I think that most people nowadays do not make this assumption and lose patience with

“silly” decisions . On the other hand people have a tremendous loyalty to our bishops but it does not mean that they agree with them at all times .

I was talking with someone up north recently who was commenting on the rapid beatification of Pope John Paul II . I was telling him of what happened after the conclave that elected Pope Paul VI, when Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston, stood up and proposed that the conclave declare Pope John XXIII a saint by acclamation . Cardinal Cushing admired John XXIII who had elevated him to the Cardinalate while Pius XII had neglected to do so . Paul VI was too shrewd a politi-cian to bring about a canonisation by acclamation as he probably realised that such a move would be a loyalty test every time a pope died . He announced that he was immediately opening canonisation proceedings for Pope John XXIII and Pope Pius XII (whom Cardinal Cushing could not stand!), thus forestalling the implications of a canonisation by implication . The rapid beatification of John Paul II will have implications for the future as fans of future popes will assume that their favourite popes should be beatified or canonised .

Pope John Paul II needs only one more miracle to be declared a saint . He was a good man and doubtless will soon have one . But not everyone liked his pontificate and allowing time to heal might have allowed some negative views to dissipate . My friend said, “The only miracle I would accept is something being done about priests who abused children during his watch .” This seems rough but represents the view that John Paul II, in his refusal to act, made prob-lems worse . Some distance from the moment would have allowed some of this negative feeling to dissipate .

We may respect our leaders for their convictions and for the way they lived their lives but they still have to account for mismanage-ment . I join many others in the pews who see a lot of work with new translations as just “silly .” I also think that there was mismanage-ment in handling sex abuse cases . I also join the vast majority of people in our New Zealand churches who see our leaders as good people . The rapid beatification of someone with a poor management track record does a disservice to the man in ques-tion . Some of his decisions were not just “silly” and a little time should have been allowed to elapse before his beatification . n

Father Peter Norris is the Master of St Margaret’s College, University of Otago

j

I was never really keen on having a dog . All that random defecation and holes dug in the lawn! But she’s part of the family now and we regularly go for

walks along Oakley Creek . On a Sunday afternoon that longing look tells me the river’s calling her .

She’s a retriever — in breed as well as disposition . While at the creek, she invariably strains at the leash to try and grab a floating stick or piece of rubbish . Most recently we were there after a winter storm . She was beside herself with an apparent sense of duty . There was so much to be plucked from the creek — plastic bottles, polystyrene cups, wayward tennis balls . How is it that our rivers have become exit routes for so much rubbish?

Floating litter is just the city version of a nation-wide malaise . In rural areas, cattle are random defeca-tors par excellence . Unlike many dog-owners, farmers don’t pick up after their animals . All that falls in or near streams over-enriches the water and ultimately kills off complex ecologies . As I walked along the creek the other day I pondered — there’s an inquiry into the price of milk, but what of the cost of dairying to our streams? Or is dairying the sacred cow to which we must offer a wide berth?

But surely we need clean rivers for more than just the ecosystems they can support . Back in the ‘80s, I heard Thomas Berry memorably say that the more tainted our planet’s waterways become the less we are able to appreciate the symbolic aspects of water . In other words, if we are surrounded by water that is undrink-able, the meaning of baptism becomes undermined in our collective consciousness .

Down by Oakley Creek, I think of the many tracks in remote regions where I’ve crouched on hands and

Down by the river

knees to drink the soft stream water, filtered by moss and roots . I think of wild rivers — those gushing arteries that pump energy from the heart of the land, cleansing our spirits . And how last December my mate Peter and I were in the remote Karamea River valley, three days walk from anywhere, and were holed up by rain that raised the river by two metres overnight . All night the river’s roar enveloped the hut . I prayed, but doubted, we’d get out as planned . But by morning my frustration turned to awe as the river settled and the raging torrent calmed . That day I decided it can be good to be stopped in our tracks . As Hemi Baxter wrote, “The creek has to run muddy before it can run clear .” A rich metaphor for the faith journey!

After last week’s riverbank walk, Dave Dobbyn sing-ing, “Where you gonna be when the river don’t run at all?” played in my head all day . Where am I going to be? The slow-moving waters of Oakley Creek have become part of my place . I know each bend . On Sundays and on street corners, I feel like asking “Where is your closest stream? How was it used by tangata whenua before your time? Is it clean enough to gather food from? If not, why not? How might it be spiritually significant today?”

I have learned from a dog who smells that all’s not well . We too need to be retrievers — not just collecting flotsam left as litter on the riverbank, but rather seeking to retrieve the place of rivers in our lives .

It’s time we asked questions about our waterways . It’s too easy just to go with the flow . n


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postscript

Kaaren Mathias is still on holiday.

Robin Kearns

tui motu 2011 september

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