14 June: We are what we eat? II, where have all the mealtimes gone?

Let’s take another look at eating together. This happy picture is not the norm for many people, who have lost the joyful habit of eating together, eating well.

The war in Ukraine showed how vulnerable our food supplies can be; perhaps this insight will help us to see how life can be difficult in places like Sudan, Yemen, or Syria, where long-term fighting and climate change can devastate crops by preventing sowing and harvest.

Meanwhile in Britain we see an endless procession of efforts to persuade people to eat better for their health’s sake. But there is a false god in the background: Mammon, or in modern English, Profit; profit for the big corporations that manufacture food products.

Manufactured food – ready meals, take-aways and precooked ingredients – deskill those who buy them and use them. If people lack confidence in preparing meals from scratch, that means more profit for the manufacturers.

This gives rise to something my relatives have reported in families across the UK, and I have witnessed with my own eyes: the loss of the family meal around a table. Children arrive at primary school never having learned to use a knife and fork. The grammar of table manners is lost to them; eating is not an event with rules and conventions. One mother I knew described meals in her house as ‘movable feasts’ but there was little festive in the way her teenagers ate as and when their hunger struck them, with scant regard for her or their younger siblings.

How can such people come to Christ’s table when they do not eat together? Let it be remembered that never did I visit without being offered a cup of tea and a biscuit …

14 April: The Call to Love and Serve

A reflection from Father Anthony Charlton on his vocation – and ours.

During these nine days, some of us will be praying a novena of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, which ends next Sunday; known as Good Shepherd Sunday.

I was ordained as a priest 49 years ago this June. This gives me pause to reflect on how it all began for me. Each of us, through our baptism, is called to a life of love and service. We are each called to have Christ as the centre of our life. For me, I realised that God has asked me share in his life in this particular way as a priest.

When I look back on my young life, growing up on the Clapham Park Estate, I can see how much being part of the local parish of St Bede’s had an important influence on our priorities as a family. I enjoyed my primary school that had just been built. I was a Mass server and my parents, in different ways, were involved in aspects of parish life. My Dad was in the Knights of St Columba and the Guild of the Blessed Sacrament, and my Mum, among other things, made marmalade for our Christmas Fairs and Fêtes.

Also crucial for me was the witness of my parish priest, Father Joe. I do remember being asked, at my interview for the Junior Seminary, why I wanted to be a priest. I said that having the example of Fr Joe and several mission priests that had come to our parish was an attractive advert for priesthood. It was their joy and sense of fun and deep happiness that was infectious. They were deeply human, ordinary, yet showed great love and care. All this encouraged me to open my heart to see if this is what God wanted of me.

Much has changed in the last sixty years in the Catholic Church in this country, influenced as we are by the changing attitudes and demands made of us both politically and socially. There is a temptation to look back to the good old days when things seemed simpler and more straightforward. But more than ever the call for every one of us is the call to love and service and we need nurture that call in our family life, our school life and in our parish life. It is essential that we experience a life of care and prayer, a life of joy and wonder.

Let us pray for vocations among our parish and families so that our young people may hear and experience the call to love and serve in the priesthood and religious life. Amen.

22 December, follow that star XX: the angel who was not heard.

I almost walked past this angel on a grave marker at Bury Saint Edmund’s Cathedral. The lichen is taking over his wings and his face; in another hundred years he could be invisible.

He would not be the only unnoticed angel but the setting sun illuminated his features and I paid attention. He’s very serious about being an angel, ready to lead his people, those buried here, to heaven where he is always basking in the Divine Presence which far surpasses our sun.

I was very serious about being an angel along with Cy at primary school. My mum made the costumes for us both and rehearsed me through my lines. We were narrators as well as heavenly messengers so the Nativity Play depended on us. Then, disaster! I got poorly and Cy had to manage both sets of lines. We had rehearsed together so often that we knew each other’s parts, so there was no disaster after all. Bravo Cy! I think I got over the jealousy some years ago.

We can miss the angel voices, time and again, but the Star, our sun in this case, can cast an unexpected light. The tombstone angel will not shine out like this every day, only in wintertime, and only for a few minutes each evening. This time at least, I was watchful enough to see him.

What message am I in danger of not hearing or seeing this evening, as I sit across the fireplace from Mrs T, comfortably quiet together? What message am I in danger of not sharing clearly with you, dear reader?

Look out for that unexpected beam of light; follow the star!

18 July: Pilgrimages and Journeys VIII, The Empty Shelves.

A visit to Berlin has many opportunities for the traveller to step out of tourist mode and to be, if only for a few moments, a pilgrim. There is that Wall; there are chunks of it here and there across the city.

There is also Museum Island which is not unlike London’s South Kensington, with its five internationally important museums and galleries dating back to the XIX Century. A visitor would always find something of interest in these magnificent buildings.

But, easily overlooked, is a hole in the ground, roofed in plate glass, as shown here.

The walls of the hole are lined with shelves, empty shelves, representing the books destroyed by the Nazi regime. It would be easy to self-righteously pontificate on that aspect of a terrible government, but we must go further than that.

One thought is of schools who lack books, the sort of books that enable teachers to do their job properly: text books, reference works and books for the children to read with pleasure. Books2Africa can help get books and computers to schools and community centres in Africa. Get in touch if you have books that might be useful.

Something else springs to mind: intolerance of others’ opinions, leading to ‘cancel culture’ and debate falling into the trap of disrespecting the other, insulting and vilifying them, and internet trolling.

Let’s reflect on our agreements and disagreements, and take care not to make mountains of molehills. Let us be aware of the power of words for good or harm, and strive to use words wisely, even in jest. And let’s open a new (to me) book and enjoy fiction or poetry, science or art or theology in the company of the writer. Even if we disagree with them!

25 April: Canterbury’s Old Synagogue – good neighbours.

There was a Jewish community in mediaeval Canterbury, and again in the first half of the XIX Century. Their Synagogue was purchased and demolished in 1846 to give the South Eastern Railway access across St Dunstan’s Street to the West Station and a junction with the older Canterbury and Whitstable line. The congregation, with help from other synagogues in London, and from local business people, built a new meeting place in King Street within the city walls.

This building served as a place of worship for only 50 years, for as Jewish families left the city for life in London or other big cities, there were not enough families for a recognised congregation. Before that, however, the Jewish community made significant contributions to city life.

Henry Hart in particular served on the city council being chosen three times as Mayor of Canterbury; he was also a member of the School Board that channelled government grants to elementary schools, including Saint Thomas’s Catholic School. His support extended to providing cloth and thread for the schoolgirls to make themselves cloaks for the winter.

Also on the Board were representatives of the Anglican and Methodist churches, which had their own schools. In Canterbury at least they seem to have supported each other through the grant making process. There were times when St Thomas’s needed all the help it could get. Let us celebrate our predecessors who co-operated for the good of the children and gave generously for them.

The Old Synagogue was bought by the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral and now serves as a music room for the King’s School. It was designed in Egyptian style, remembering, perhaps, the captivity of God’s people in Egypt. Let us pray for peace and co-operation in the Middle East.

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9 January: Praying with Pope Francis: Educators.

Brocagh School, Leitrim, 1969

This January Pope Francis asks us to pray for Educators

We pray that educators may be credible witnesses, 
teaching fraternity rather than competition  
and helping the youngest and most vulnerable above all. 

I shared this picture on the Pelicans Website in 2011. It shows the children of Brocagh School, Co. Leitrim in 1969, with their educators, head teacher Mrs McCormack, to the right, and her assistant teacher, then, I think, called Miss Byrne, but wearing an engagement ring.

Sometime after this, in 1970-72 the little local 2 classroom schools were all closed down and a new central school built in Glenfarne village. We students at nearby Saint Augustine's College visited the little schools to deliver an RE lesson each Wednesday morning.

It was Mrs McCormack who gave me a valuable lesson, in the qualities Pope Francis proclaims. This was thanks to Joe McHugh, down there in the front row wearing a green jacket. During the time after Easter we had John's story of the barbecue by the lake after the miraculous catch of fish, and Peter's final declaration of faith. 

I think the lesson went well. The children drew some remarkable pictures, but Mrs McCormack drew my attention to Joe's in particular: come here now, Joe, what's this in the corner? - It's Saint Peter's lorry, Miss, come to carry away the fish. I'd missed the lorry completely; I'd not interpreted the shapes he'd drawn in 20th Century terms.

What Mrs McCormack knew, but I did not, was that Joe's family had recently acquired a lorry which was Joe's pride and joy, so of course St Peter would have had his lorry ready to take the fish to market. The story made sense to Joe, and had always made more sense to me as a consequence; thank you Joe, wherever you are. And thank you to Mrs McCormack, that credible witness!You used Joe's lorry to teach him and me that fraternity between the generations means allowing the child to teach himself, and his (or her) teachers.

Olivia O'Dolan and other local people managed to identify many of the children whose names appear on the Pelicans Website.

Synod Newsletter, 23 April 2022

This week’s message from the synod office looks at what is happening in schools and colleges around the world. We highlight one example below, but you can find more by following the link above.

As part of the local synodal process, the Diocese of Palmerston North in New Zealand has developed a series of resources for school communities. The coordination group welcomes the participation of children and young people.

READ MORE

Prayer for the meeting of the synod’s commissions in Rome

Let us keep in mind in our personal and community prayer 
next week's meeting of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops 
with the members of the four synod’s commissions in Rome.

Enlighten, O Lord, the hearts of the participants,
who represent the diversity and richness of the Church.
Dispose their minds to listen to the Spirit of truth
so that their work and their reflections may best
serve Your Church. 
Let them discover how to transmit
in the best way the experience of being a listening Church
and promote the participation of God's people.
On this journey, to which we are all called
to be enthused by the fire of the Spirit
that gives the necessary gifts at the right time,
we want to open ourselves, together with Mary
to the newness of a life of faith
which is built in communion
on the paths of love and hope.
AMEN

https://mailchi.mp/synod/newsletter112022_en?e=9c8f6d48c5

5 December: Keeping up appearances.

Off-duty peacock, almost invisible.

A dozen old boys from a small boarding school were meeting up over a Zoom link; a very flexible agenda led to discussion of clothes. Nobody seemed to agree with Erasmus’s adage, ‘Clothes make the man’.

The school was run by the Missionaries of Africa who have an unusual official habit, based on XIX Century North African menswear. No doubt that would be interpreted as ‘cultural appropriation’ in some quarters today, but it was intended to show respect for the local people and distance the society from the colonial power. This is from a 1960’s school photograph.

(Source: The Pelicans)

The principle of dressing like ordinary local people means the members of the society often do not wear clerical black, and the habit is now worn just for special occasions. (It takes a lot of washing and ironing.)

As for us former students, Mike, who lent this photo, newly retired from his service as a head teacher, paid a visit to his local charity shop to hand over all his formal suits, which he would never wear again. Freedom! Another told how he and his colleagues abandoned their ties after a high-up from head office gave some in-service training, tie-less. Yet another’s suits hung unworn since retirement, except for weddings and funerals; a fourth having lost weight, gave away all his old clothes to encourage himself not to put the pounds back on.

The suits and ties did not ‘make’ the men, rather they seemed to circumscribe them, to identify them as respectable workers who kept their hands clean. I found that being prepared to get dirty hands – gardening, fixing a puncture, measuring and sawing wood – was a good way to get alongside the excluded boys and girls I taught. A jacket and tie would have been a barrier day to day, but they came out for end-of-year presentations, our one formal event. And the Lord Mayor always wore his chain to give out the certificates; a visible acknowledgement of the work the young people had done over the year.

Clothes, whether splendid and luxurious or drab and plain, do not make the man. As Doctor Johnson once remarked, in answer to the arguments urged by Puritans, Quakers, etc. against showy decorations of the human figure: “Oh, let us not be found, when our Master calls us, ripping the lace off our waistcoats, but the spirit of contention from our souls and tongues! … Alas! Sir, a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat will not find his way thither the sooner in a grey one.’

From “Life of Johnson, Volume 3 1776-1780” by James Boswell, via KIndle.

13 October: Healthy aging is whatever is holy and healthy

I once took a message to a local convent, where the door was answered by a little old sister, walking with two sticks, bent almost double, who had a chat with me before finding the sister I was sent to. ‘You must know about this convent, Will – she’d found out my name as a matter of course – your friend Sister Clare may be a teacher, but most of us look after old people’. I had the impression that she was looking after as much as being looked after. I felt looked after by her in those few minutes’ conversation!

Sister Carol Zinn, the executive director of the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious, says that healthy aging is “whatever is holy and healthy for human beings: to be in relationships, have a meaningful prayer life and a way of being of service to other people. These are a given in religious life, but I really think that they are a given in a happy, holy human life.”

This article from the National Catholic Reporter by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans explores aging in community and healthy, mature ‘letting go’ of work, property and other things, but not letting go of mission. What is holy and healthy for Will T as he moves deeper into Autumn and deeper into retirement, I wonder? Do read this excellent reflection from the Global Sisters Report.