Tui Motu InterIslands monthly independent Catholic magazine April 2014 | $7 . editorial
on earth as in heaven
aster and the resurrection of has a chance of living well, and where of God has come and flooded our Christ is nothing if not the there is a radical equality in the way we world . We remember and take to story of our becoming a new treat one another (“ . . you have only heart the example of the first century CreationE in Christ, of becoming a one Rabbi, and you are all sisters and Christians who were full of this new Heaven and a new Earth . It is brothers ”. Mt 23:8) — what a new belief . Think of St Paul: “If anyone the story of the risen Jesus as the giver place Earth would then be! Yet this is is in Christ there is a new Creation; and source of this new Creation — the very thing that Jesus asks of us . everything old has passed away; see given through the holy Spirit of Jesus If the Church is to recover some everything has become new ”. (2 Co who brings us grace and life and who of this Christ energy, it will recover 5:17) . Christ fills us completely with is the divine energy propelling our this Gospel story . The Gospel story, new life and with all that God values world to new birth . in fact, moves from Heaven to earth most — a love and a freedom that In our popular Christian way of — Jesus came from heaven as God’s promotes peace and justice . And we thinking, Jesus opened our path to messenger of a new world — not the are called to oppose everything that heaven by living, dying and rising other way round! And this is what we is opposed to this kind of life that has to free us from our sins . If we live a pray in the Our Father — that God’s come to us in the person of Jesus . good life here on earth, our souls go will be done on earth as it is eternally In Aotearoa’s 2014 election year, to Heaven — those who do not live done in Heaven . what might this “new creation” look life well face Hell . This focuses our The whole of the New Testament like? One of the simplest ways of present hope on the life hereafter, sees Jesus as the person in whom doing this would be to support The making the getting of that place in God’s future enters our world now . Living Wage campaign . Another heaven the focus of our present life . This is the very point of all Jesus’ would be to seek an effective form There is, then, less reason to look at healings and miracles, his exorcisms of Capital Gains Tax . The equality the new Earth that is a huge part of and Jesus’ continuous offers of for- and fairness of the Gospel call would God’s new creation in Christ . giveness . And the resurrection means be enhanced — and the power of This wholly exclusive focus on nothing if not that in Jesus the Spirit Christ’s new creation would blossom Heaven gives Christians no incen- of God has broken into this world . As in a more level playing field . tive to help transform our fragile Jesus repeats, “the Kingdom of God Restful, energising reading! And a society into a place where everyone is among you ”. This Kingdom life very blessed Easter . KT
Editorial...... 2 Missing the point ...... 18–19 Daniel O’Leary Ukraine ...... 3 contents Poem: Easter convict ...... 19 Obituary: Ron O’Grady ...... 3 Kevin Dobbyn Letters to the editor ...... 4 “If you have faith” ...... 20–21 Susan Smith The art of politics ...... 4 Václav Havel Dan ...... 22-23 Shaun Davison Comment: providing for all children (gospel manifesto) ...... 5 Mr Tayer ...... 24–25 Michael O’Brien Jean Houston Christ our light ...... 6 Death and resurrection of Jesus ...... 26–27 Sandra Winton Kathleen Rushton Book and film reviews Every child counts (gospel manifesto) . . . . . 7 ...... 28–29 Susan St John Crosscurrents ...... 30 Jim Elliston Requiem for the fallen ...... 8–9 Vincent O’Sullivan Graciousness ...... 31 Peter Norris A thousand shapes of clear blue glass . . . . . 10–11 Claire Beynon A mother’s journal ...... 32 Kaaren Mathias Jerusalem poems ...... 12–13 James K Baxter “... a letter to God”: interview with John Weir . . 14–15 Cover illustration: Donald Moorhead The resurrected Christ: three poems ...... 16–17 Joanie Roberson; Jim Consedine; Bridie Southall
2 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 . obituary ukraine obituary – ron o’grady
ources in Ukraine say Father ui Motu’s debt of gratitude to Mykola Kvych, a pastor and Ron O’Grady flows princi- a Ukrainian military chaplain pally from his long standing inS the Crimea, was abducted by loveT of art and more especially the pro-Russian forces after celebrating connection which he had, in tandem the liturgy . with his wife Alison, in helping begin “Every abduction is a terrible event the Asian Christian Art Association for everybody involved,” said Bishop and publish its fine periodical,Image . Borys Gudziak, the Eparch of the Many times in the last few years Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy . Ron has written short pieces around “It’s a gross violation of human rights a chosen Asian religious art theme and God-given human dignity ”. in response to a particular request Earlier this month, Ukrainian from us . All of us benefited from his Greek Catholic priests received threats wisdom and knowledge . warning them to leave Crimea . “Our Ron died in Auckland on 27 priests and bishops are close to the February after a long battle with people,” said Bishop Borys . “We’ve cancer . If his last years were spent Sister Elizabeth Mackie, assistant been inspired by the example of Our in Auckland, a greater part of his editor of Tui Motu, speaking of her Lord [who] went a long distance life had been spent in both Europe ecumenical association with Ron from fellowship with the Father to and Asia where his ecumenical and Alison, said that rarely has there incarnate himself and be in our real- involvement through the Christian been a man who in his lifetime was ity ”. They have also been inspired by Conference of Asia and the World such a significant witness to the Pope Francis who said a pastor needs Council of Churches, again with extraordinary events which have to have the smell of his sheep . Our Alison, was a major part of his taken place in our world and in the pastors are with the people enduring life’s work . And if this work was Christian Church — the Vietnam this Crimean occupation ”. outstanding, it is less well known war and the independence of South With the whereabouts of Father than his involvement as founder Africa are just two examples . We give Mykola unknown, Bishop Borys in 1990 of ECPAT International, God thanks for the rich life of Rev appealed “to the Russian Orthodox an organization to stop child- Ronald Michael O’Grady and extend Church authorities, who have sup- trafficking and sexual tourism . our prayerful sympathy to Alison and ported the occupation of Crimea, to From small beginnings ECPAT their family . Alison, although your do all in their power to have Father has become an international force loving team-mate is no longer with Kvych released and to stop the perse- to be reckoned with, such that you, the strength of your joint wit- cution of Catholic priests and faithful Ron has been nominated for the ness in faith and hope will live on . on the Crimean peninsula ”. n Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 . May Ron rest in God’s peace . n
Tui Motu – InterIslands is an independent, address: Independent Catholic Magazine Ltd, Catholic, monthly magazine. It invites its 52 Union Street, Dunedin North, 9054 P O Box 6404, Dunedin North, 9059 readers to question, challenge and contrib- ute to its discussion of spiritual and social phone: (03) 477 1449 issues in the light of gospel values, and in fax: (03) 477 8149 the interests of a more just and peaceful email: [email protected] society. Inter-church and inter-faith dialogue website: www.tuimotu.org is welcomed. TuiMotuInterIslands
editor: Kevin Toomey OP The name Tui Motu was given by Pa Henare Tate. assistant editor: Elizabeth Mackie OP It literally means “stitching the islands together...”, bringing the different races and peoples and faiths illustrator: Donald Moorhead together to create one Pacific people of God. directors: Susan Brebner, Rita Cahill RSJ, Philip Casey (chair), Neil Darragh, Paul Ferris, Robin Kearns, Elizabeth Mackie OP Divergence of opinion is expected and will normally honorary directors: Pauline O’Regan RSM, Frank Hoffmann ISSM 1174-8931 be published, although that does not necessarily typesetting and layout: Greg Hings Issue number 181 imply editorial commitment to the viewpoint expressed. printers: Southern Colour Print, 1 Turakina Road, Dunedin South, 9012
3 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 letters to the editor fair go page?” “There are no capital letters,” letters to the editor Bryan Watts (Tui Motu, March 14) they shout . To see Jesus in small case; We welcome comment, says I am one-eyed . Guilty, M’Lud, Pope Francis, in small case — it’s a discussion, argument, debate . with a capital G, and proud of it . gimmick in total bad taste . But please keep letters under Our generation of parish clergy, Therese Carey, Christchurch with their enormous workload, are 200 words . The editor reserves the right to abridge, while not as fine a group of men as ever graced serving time the annals of the Catholic church . changing the meaning . The World Briefs section of the The sensus fidelium does not err . The We do not publish anonymous Christchurch Press (20 Feb) included faithful love and revere their priests letters otherwise than in a snippet about the imprisonment of for their total dedication . exceptional circumstances . an 84-year old nun for breaking into What a pity Rome cannot show Response articles (up to a a US nuclear weapons complex . I was a modicum of respect for these page) are welcome — but reminded of a nun I corresponded good priests (who had no say in the please, by negotiation . with many years ago . She was “serv- language of the liturgy) and trust ing time” for a similar “ploughshares” them to elect their own bishops . action . The motivation of both women As St Teresa of Avila said, “If that’s was their opposition to warfare and the politically very powerful . Instead all how you treat your friends, Lord, no corporations that profit from war . effort would need to be directed at wonder you have so few ”. It’s all very well for John Kerry “greening” the US economy, creating Max Palmer OSCO, Kopua to speak in Indonesia about climate conditions for a more equitable, just change, but will he say the same in American society and into relieving CAPITAL LETTERS the US? Wars are fought for energy abject poverty worldwide . A fraction I have not read Tui Motu for quite resources, while at the same time of the US military expenditure could sometime and was given a copy today . consuming vast amounts of energy . accomplish all of these good projects . Please tell me what sort of gimmick If the US were to focus on reducing Such transitional change would you are using not to use capital letters emissions for the sake of the world’s offer hope for humanity’s survival . when grammatically needed . To ask climate, it would have to restructure And one result would be: no more my young grandchildren (who know its militarized economy, a challenging headlines “US nun jailed ”. better), “What is wrong with this task as the corporations involved are Lois Griffiths, Christchurch The Art of Politics The main task of the present generation of politicians is not, I think, to ingratiate themselves with the public through the decisions they take or their smiles on television.
It is not to go on winning elections and ensuring themselves a place in the sun till the end of their days.
Their role is something quite different: to assume their share of responsibility for the long-range prospects of our world and thus to set an example for the public in whose sight they work.
Their responsibility is to think ahead boldly, not to fear the disfavour of the crowd, to imbue their actions with a spiritual dimension (which of course is not the same thing as ostentatious attendance at religious services), to explain again and again – both to the public and to their colleagues – that politics must do far more than reflect the interests of particular groups or lobbies.
After all, politics is a matter of serving the community, which means that it is morality in practice.
Václav Havel, first President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003), Commencement Day address, Harvard University, 1995 .
4 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 comment providing for all children “The right of every child in New Zealand to security, food, shelter, education and healthcare.”
This article is part of the GOSPEL MANIFESTO 2014 (see Tui Motu, March 2014)
Michael O’Brien
atthew’s Gospel records Children have only one oppor- Jesus saying the chil- What we do to tunity to enioy and learn from the dren should be allowed experience of being a child . As toM come to him and not be hin- improve the lives of a society, we can do a great deal dered from doing so . In this, and these children and to make that experience the best other contexts, children were to be what we demand of possible for all children, support- given a special and promoted place ing and encouraging parents or in the society in which they lived . our political leaders carers to provide for children . As Here then lies the genesis for to put in place well, we need to make demands reflecting on how well we provide policies which reduce of our politicians . Phrases such as (or fail to provide) for children “every child counts” and “no child and their needs in contemporary child poverty will be left behind” have been expressed society . While New Zealand does the most important frequently in recent years . This is well in providing for many of its test for this year’s an opportunity to demand that children, there are far too many these phrases are given some real for whom our care and provision election . and concrete meaning for all chil- are woefully inadequate . dren . The critical place to begin This is most clearly illustrated By themselves, children are is with policies and programmes in ensuring all children have the unable to change their own cir- which reduce child poverty . These basics they need in such funda- cumstances — they depend on policies and programmes are mental areas as food, clothing, what their parents do and what we important for the children now educational opportunity, health do as a society to ensure that all and important for us as a society, care access and the opportunity children are adequately provided both currently and looking ahead . to participate in the recreational for . Concretely, this means that So, the Gospel message about activities that their peers enjoy . if we are to improve the income the special place of children in Irrespective of how we measure it, of families with children so that New Zealand society in 2014 con- around one in five (20 percent) of poverty levels are reduced, we will tains two closely related elements . New Zealand’s children live below need to do three things . First, ALL children matter and the poverty line . While for a very First, benefit levels will have to policies need to reflect this . small number of these children this be increased . Second, reducing child poverty may be the result of not spending Second, wages for those in low must be treated as a critical prior- money appropriately or wisely, the paid work need to be improved . ity . The question we all need to vast majority of these children live Third, we will need to remove ask of all policies is: how do these in families which do not receive the discrimination faced by chil- policies treat children and reduce enough money . The majority are dren in benefit households whose child poverty? n also families receiving a benefit of parents are denied the Work Tax some kind . However, there is also Credit simply because their carer a very significant group (around is not in paid work . Michael O’Brien is Associate Professor 40%) who are in households What we do to improve the in the School of Counselling, Human where there is somebody in paid lives of these children and what we Services and Social Work at the work . Maori and Pacific children demand of our political leaders to put University of Auckland. are significantly over-represented in place policies which reduce child He is a member of the among children living in house- poverty will be the most important Child Poverty Action Group. holds below the poverty line . test for this year’s election .
5 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 easter christ our light
Sandra Winton
ight falls . Aslant and were witnessing something rarely from above, it falls on attempted now . The murmuring mountains, on the sea, stopped . There was silence . The Lon trees, buildings and fields . We men twirled their sticks and slowly say light hits but I think rather that the tiniest glow of red appeared . it lays itself on the earth . Each morn- The size of a pinhead or a seed, it was ing I watch it move upon the hillside tenderly cupped, blown on and tipped onto outside my windows, making everything, crumbled dry leaves . Gentle breath nourished houses, trees, roads and craggy Flagstaff step it until the minute flame caught . First tiny twigs forward into colour and aliveness . Light comes like and then larger were brought to the glow until everyone a blessing . We use words of tenderness to describe its had a burning brand . We walked around the whole ministrations: it bathes, washes . clearing holding our flaming bamboos . We pushed back And sometimes light comes from below, and we the darkness . We gathered singing in the glowing church . crouch over its birth . Light is a central symbol of Easter . Christ is depicted Many years ago I saw light made in the hands of liturgically as the sun that rises over the horizon onto people . a dark world . His rising is enacted symbolically in the lighting of a candle . One symbol is drawn from nature, the other created by human hands . Perhaps it is like this too in our experience of the divine . Sometimes it is given to us, surrounds us, unbid- den and regular as the alternation of light and dark . Love, life, healing fall on us and over us and we can do no more than open our eyes and be grateful . The kindness of people, everyday courage, small gestures of understand- ing, the daily devotion of parents, the miracle of children, the beauty of a flower, a cloud or a turning wave . We do not create these — we merely receive . Then there are the times when divine light kindles in our hands . We may not be aware of it but we can be I was working in a small village in Vanuatu, subsidiary co-creators of the light that pushes back the darkness . A of a large and thriving parish with a substantial concrete gentle word, a small gesture, a holding faith, a refusal to church and six-classroom school . Mahe village had a give up, planting a seed, feeding a bird, a step to forgive- bamboo church, no school and a cluster of thatch huts ness . One day we are blowing on the flame; on another lived in by mainly first generation Christians . One year we are receiving it from someone else . It is fragile . The the priest decided that they could have their own Easter darkness is immense — war, poverty, exploitation and ceremonies . It was the first time . We explained the rites despoiling of the planet, human greed and cruelty . It and they immediately seized on the symbol of the Easter can take a powerful act of faith to keep blowing on the fire . We could make the fire, they said . For us jovial Kiwis, tiny embers of hope and believing that death and dark- used to the priest putting a cigarette lighter to the barbie ness are not the ultimate destination . prepared with sticks and kerosene, so that it flares up The hand of God can sweep over the heavens quickly and we can get back into the church smartly, and entrust itself into a human palm . The light it is hard to imagine what light and fire can mean of Christ is both immense and fragile . It when taken back into bare human hands . soars above us and is passed among us . It was pitch black in the large clearing in This is Easter . n front of the church . Everyone gathered around two men who crouched with sticks prepared . Sister Sandra Winton is a psychotherapist living in In the faint moonlight I could see the whites of Dunedin. She was a foundation member of the
Illustration by Donald Moorhead . the eyes of awestruck children . Even the adults Dominican Sisters’ Mission in Vanuatu.
6 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 general election 2014 every child counts This article is part of the GOSPEL MANIFESTO 2014 (see Tui Motu, March 2014) Susan St John No one deserves to be shut outside, let alone innocent children . For the past three years we have been told by the Ministry of Social Development that The right of every “ 175,000 of our children live in families child in New Zealand where the disposable income after to security, food, housing costs is less than 50 percent of shelter, education and healthcare . the median household income adjusted ” for family size . This line is impossibly low and these families have nothing in hristians are called to help The welfare system does not allow reserve, hence the growth in foodbanks their ‘neighbour’ and do parents to supplement their benefits and debts to loan sharks and hospital so willingly on a person to in meaningful ways and the tax system admissions for third world diseases . personC basis according to the teach- is punitive . Another cruel policy is We should remind our politicians ings of Jesus . But in an election year, adding GST at 15 percent on to all the that shocking as 175,000 of our chil- Christians have a special responsibility basics families must have, like food and dren in significant hardship sounds, to challenge each and every political electricity . Policies such as Working for we were actually misled . After correct- party to show how they will care for Families, Paid Parental Leave, and early ing for Treasury’s major blunder in the poor with appropriate, workable childhood care and education subsidies counting, we now know that as many national policies . Continuing with are discriminatory, badly designed and as 250,000 children are below the 50 the present ones will just see more and inadequate . With high costs for school percent line . Many are well below . more families swept away to become fees, uniforms, daycare, school trips, Can our politicians please pledge the flotsam and jetsam at the margins doctors’ visits and medicines for over to treat all children equally, to change of society . A badly structured economy 6s, many children have blighted and policies such as Working for Families where desperately poor people need restricted childhoods . But worse, a to give the proper support to all of the foodbanks and loan sharks to survive, regime of benefit sanctions is now tip- worst-off children, to see all work as means churches and other NGOs ping the most vulnerable into an abyss valuable, and to treat those who cannot become overwhelmed in meeting from which they may never recover . In work with respect? n basic needs . This leaves too little time an election year these policies must be for the church’s key role of nurturing challenged by Christians . Susan St John is the the spiritual growth of families and Christians understand the need for Associate Professor of Economics helping to strengthen relationships inclusion and the power of redemption . at the University of Auckland. and build cohesive communities . Politicians must say how they will make sure that all low income families, The Easter Story especially the most marginalised, those by Joy Cowley supported by benefits, have enough With beautiful original colour illustrations money to survive on and to prevent by Donald Morrison complementing Joy the damaging effects of poverty on Cowley’s text on the story of Easter and their children . what it means for us. The stress is on love Current policies for families have and healing, on growing in prayer through been driven by a focus that has made paid talking to Jesus, leading the reader to gratitude for “the wonderful Easter Story”. work, of any kind, society’s ultimate goal $19.99 Published by Pleroma Press and source of value . Families on benefits +$4.50 p/pkg have become the new pariahs in a judge- Freephone 0508 988 988 mental, punitive and uncaring society . A [email protected] mother’s unpaid work of nurturing her 38 Higginson Street, Otane Central Hawke’s Bay children has been rendered invisible and www.christiansupplies.co.nz treated as of no worth .
7 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 easter requiem for the fallen
This year many nations commemorate the centennial of the beginning of World War I, global war on a scale never before seen. The composer of the libretto of a new Requiem writes about the profound feelings which only music and poetry can evoke when reflecting on the complex and ordinary relationships, both individual and collective, that underlie this unique event in New Zealand history.
“Men do not die in battalions or in crowds, but one by one by one, until the total is beyond counting”
Vincent O’Sullivan
hen we were invited to once wrote in a letter, “war is inde- its dramatic arc from the approach write a Requiem com- scribably disgusting ”. He also spoke to the altar, through to the final memorating the New of “the individual horror, the fine committal and the congregation’s WZealanders who died in World War personalities smashed suddenly into drawing together, fairly much as I, Ross Harris and I jumped at the red beastliness ”. Rupert Brooke’s always it had been treated . Each chance, before quite realising where silly words about spilling “the sweet section had, you could say, its own we were going to jump . A Requiem red wine of youth,” or the vapid musical expectations, an inherited after all is one of the time-honoured recruitment phrases of dying “for approach that the Latin words forms in Western music, as well as King and Country” repelled us . The impose . But the other was to make a solemn ecclesiastical occasion . A Duke of Wellington’s despicable this communal event attend to the quick glance at Google brings up term, “cannon fodder”, seemed to individual dying soldier — how the not just the great composers we us far closer to the truth of how so value and centre of an ordinary life expect — the Verdi, Mozart, Berlioz and Britten — but hundreds of many died . As a programme note is precisely there, in its splendid others who have used the form in would say, “No commemoration ordinariness . So a piece that paid various historical settings . But we is just that does not bear as well tribute to what was everyday for both were deeply interested in “the the dreadful physical reality that fellow New Zealanders, that too is war to end all wars” — surely the deprives men finally of all that what we were after . most absurdly optimistic phrase Home entails ”. The Mass began with Horomona of the century — while in Ross’s Home then — that was to be Horo, a marvellous exponent of Second Symphony a number of central in how we approached taonga puoro, with both his chant- years ago we already had worked the work, and what we wanted to ing and playing against a solo cello . together on the events surrounding emphasise for its audience . For those Then the Libera nos brought its a young soldier from Invercargill, who read experience in traditional traditional Latin plea to be set free who was executed on the Western requiem terms, this could mean the from evil . This set the piece as a Front for desertion when he walked return to what Wordsworth called Requiem for one man, as much as it from the trenches back to a village “God, who is our home ”. For those was for each of those who died with and the woman with whom he had whose emphasis is more focused on him, and who had shared his hopes: fallen in love . time and place, the end emotional “From the fear that we have of What also attracted us to the point is not so different — what fear, proposal of “Requiem for the mattered most through life mat- Libera nos, Domine, Fallen” — the name was early tered most at its end as well, the From the hate we return for decided on — was that neither of love for individuals, the love for hate, us saw anything in the least “glori- and of a community . Libera nos . ous” about war, and yet we had a So as musician and writer, we From the menace that scars, profound respect, a reverence even, were attempting to do two things . from the wound that grieves, for the young men who died in it . One was to treat the grand tradi- From the racket of battle As an English poet killed in France tional form of the Requiem, with as hope deceives,
8 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 From the stalking of death the vastly dramatic possibilities of that “ordinary” becomes in itself a and unmarked graves, the Dies Irae, with its emphasis on word of blessing . Libera nos, Domine ”. fear and destruction, to turbulent “Where are they, the streets of And so it went on through the and chromatically passionate levels . the new Jerusalem? rest of the Mass, alternating the tra- Our main point of departure Where do they lead, ditional Latin lines, the voice of the from the usual Requiem pattern the paths of glory, bewildered, fearful man obsessed was towards the end, when in the Where does the spirit walk in with what he has left behind and Memento Mori an old digger sings the risen dust? what it is he hopes to see again . an unaccompanied lament for I have told you that . For that is the deepest story of war . the mate he remembers who died I have told you that . Men do not die in battalions or in beside him, but a lament too for the I have even joked about it in crowds, but one by one by one, extended tragedy which survival my lemon-squeezer hat! until the total is beyond count- can also mean . His words are for In the streets of home, ing . The Agnus Dei, for example, the survivors as well as the victims, that is where — at home . dramatically serves both strands of and the line between may indeed How the bliss we crave at last this approach, with the time-laden be a thin one . It is he who delivers is what we have known . prayers of the Mass finding their the In paradisum, a direct summing Veni, creator spiritus, resonance and counterpart in the up of what the entire work has been Creator, come . thoughts of one man in extremis . driven by — where, living or dead, Comrades, “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata we want to be . Again, the hope is Our abiding word for Home ”. mundi, Lamb of God, who takes to “Requiem for the Fallen” Nothing by way of commemo- himself the weight of the with music by Ross Harris and ration alters by a jot the reality of world, text by Vincent O’Sullivan, was another’s death . Everything, for us, Stand beside us, beside us now, given its first performance at comes down to as much respect, as in encroaching dark . St Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington, much resolve, as we can bring to Lamb of God, who has gone during the New Zealand Arts the final phrases of any Requiem, before us to the slaughter, Festival in late February . It and especially for one for our own, Be with us in the pressing of was performed by the New and for those who survive . death’s flock ”. Zealand String Quartet, Voices The writing needed to be simple New Zealand Chamber Choir, “Requiem in aeternam. and direct as songs must be, for one Horomona Horo and Richard Dona nobis pacem.” n hears them only once . And unlike a Greager . John Button, music poem, which is already completed reviewer for the Dominion Post, Vincent O’Sullivan is the current New and must stand by itself, a song declared it “a major work”, and Zealand National Library Poet Laureate is merely an outline, a possibility, critic Lindis Tyler thought it (2013-15). As well, he is a novelist, short story writer, playwright, music librettist, until music expands and defines it . “one of the major events in any critic, essayist and and literary editor. Ross’s way of taking the words and genre in this year’s festival … It He is emeritus professor of English at the drawing them towards something captured the essence of one of Victoria University of Wellington. so much larger and more resonant the most profound experiences allowed him to write both plan- in the history of this country .” gently and gently, yet also to take
9 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 easter
A short story for Easter
he first time Tim came to see drawings, carefully flattening them a me was the Thursday before out on the chest’s wooden surface . Easter, scrolls of tightly- Lightening sparked from some- Trolled drawings under his arm . He where inside the piles of paper . thousand greeted me with a nod, walked Despite the day’s high blue sky, silently across my office space to I heard the far-off growl of thunder . shapes the plans’ chest in front of the Dust motes collided in sudden window and set the drawings down . stripes of light . of Without speaking, he scanned the He had brought layers and layers view of the city beyond my office — of detailed working drawings . Black telephone wires threading their way and white draughtsman-like diagrams clear around stone and concrete, stealthy, were at the top of the pile, followed century-old yews, the mute bell- by increasingly expressive renderings blue tower of St . Catherine’s Cathedral . of the small chapel he had in mind . I His initial letter of contact was mesmerized, under a spell . glass served as an introduction to himself At first glance, his line drawings and his proposed project . He’d appeared stiff and brittle, embed- outlined his ideas and intentions, ded deep within the weave of the clarifying at the outset that should paper . They seemed lifeless, stuck I choose to work with him, my down fast . But as we moved from involvement would be professional, one page to the next, marks begin but peripheral . Nothing in his plans to tremble and stir . They detached could be changed . There would be themselves and slid across the page, no probing, no questions asked . rearranged themselves in the top His intention was not to be in any left hand corner, mid-page, off- way awkward or obstructive — to centre right bottom . Every now the contrary, he would go out of and then, one threatened to leave his way to facilitate the process the paper altogether, to take off — but it was imperative that the and dart instead around the room . baton remain firmly in his hands . I ducked instinctively . There was a Claire Beynon Plainly, I was the man with the passion in his plans that betrayed contacts, the easy access to builders, the calm and quiet of his meticu- stonemasons and crafts people . He lously typed letter, his careful shirt trusted my reputation when it came and tie . By the time he’d begun to site sensitivity, my creative use of introducing colour to the windows traditional materials: these were the of his building, I was shaking my things that had urged him to come head and nodding, diving to my to me in the first place . How else desk for contract and pen . could he find out whom to com- Outside the window, clouds mission to create the stained glass churned and massed on the horizon, for the windows? To whom should misshapen athletes lining up for a he entrust the intricate carving of a race, waiting for the starters’ gun . pedestal font? He’s insisting on a basic rectan- He would, of course, see to it gular ground plan . There’s nothing that my contributions to the build- complicated about this building . ing were appropriately acknowl- It’s a small, simple stone structure, edged . Did I think we’d be able to foundations laid out precisely along work together on such a project? the axes of a compass . North . South . Did I think I could tolerate his East . West . It’s the stained-glass restrictions? windows that are complex — after In my office, he unrolled his all, he explains, it’s the windows that will tell the story . He wants fourteen of them, is as adamant about this as he is about everything else . Ten or twelve won’t do . Yes, he knows, it’s a tiny space, but by his calculations (and given the high vertical thrust), fourteen would not present a problem . He’s designed the two short walls to accommodate the widest, three-paneled windows . Facing due East and West, they will describe the beginning and end of the story, deliberately positioned to catch the light from the rising and setting sun . His drawings give the impres- sion of a continuous unbroken window — a luminous wall of coloured light, held up by roughly- chiseled stone blocks, interrupted only by the necessary support of the slimmest stone pillars . Floor- to-ceiling stained glass will tempt light into the room, he says — hold it there like a slow inward breath . Have I noticed how effectively light nudges shadows into corners? The two long sidewalls will reveal the finer details of the story, coloured glass the perfect medium to chronicle a life — her life — chapter by chapter . One window Photographic artworks (opposite and above) by Claire Beynon . for each of the years he had with her, for the combined age of their hear children . They’re a little way At the front door, the new red children . One for each day of away, carting buckets and spades, umbrella, four folded swimming their two-week holiday . Fourteen paddling in the shallows . A group towels, a brown paper bag filled windows for the fourteen minutes of tanned teenagers plays volleyball . with organic oranges … it took from the time she entered Bluebottles lie washed up on the the sea — laughing her way in, her sand, foam stuck half-heartedly to Tracing the blue North wall sun-browned hands scooping up their deflating balloons . Crabs sidle now, I hear her cry . Shadows fall . the waves — to that final moment up to empty shells and sandcastles . Darkness stalks an unsteady sea . I when bitter salt water flooded She drowned on a Sunday . First hold my breath, dive below the sur- through her body . up in the morning, she’d tiptoed face, swim into the watery silence I read what he doesn’t tell me in out of the house around sunrise, of a thousand shapes of clear blue the drawings of the windows . They closed the door on him and their glass . describe it all — deliberate group- sleeping children, and gone out for The light in my office shifts . I ings of line and pattern following a walk around the Valley . They’d turn on my feet . the passage of time, the subtleties of woken an hour or so later to find There’ll be no apse or nave, he light moving across the hours and her in the kitchen, humming — a says . moods of a day . A predominance of bunch of freshly-picked flowers Just enough room, I say, for a font, orange and yellow glass set into the loosely arranged in a jam jar and a single pew, a jam jar of flowers . n Southern wall takes me to the beach set out on the kitchen table . On where I stand at ease, bare toes bur- the marble cutting board, two Clair Beynon is a painter, poet and rowing into gritty warmth on what lemon halves, one red onion, the writer who lives in Dunedin: seems like any ordinary morning . I obligatory head of unpeeled garlic . www.clairebeynon.com
11 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 james k baxter
Jerusalem Poems by James K Baxter These six sonnets, previously unpublished, were given to Tui Motu for publication by Father John Weir SM .
1 3 I wait for an hour in the car at Parakino The wind that blows from my left hand While Father Te Awhitu catechises the children, Riddles me with evil of my own making —
That gentle priest — these mild green hummocked hills ‘Augustine sinned and repented; this man makes repentance Are a herd of bulls, the toughs from Bashan The cloak of sin’ — ‘How soon till Mother Church
Waiting to tear me to pieces – dear John, ‘Finds out the snake she carries in her breast?’ — I have my old rucksack loaded with provisions ‘Will the Bishop have to support his illegitimate children?’
From Wanganui — bread, sardines, bread, My sin is God’s business; He who is Love Biscuits, chocolate, even oysters — how can I be poor May judge our loves differently from men
When the gut rumbles after a day’s digging Or demons — but the wind that blows from my right hand On milk and watercress? So bitter an enemy Shows me myself as God will make me,
Never was known, brother, as I am to myself, A rotten kumara with a white ruff The tarantula hidden in the rock! And now I possess Of mildew round his neck, who has given sap to others,
The Jerusalem Psalms Father Caulfield bought for me, And has no place in the hangi, only to be thrown Robbing myself yet again of mental poverty. Over the fence to lie on the ground of God’s terrible mercy.
2 4 Yet if they wanted to share out what I am wearing ’The moment I was born I was thrown upon You’ — It would not go far among them—first, the quilted coat Indeed, Lord, indeed,
With a cigarette hole burnt by Hone Tuwhare Merciful Master whose image is Te Ra Whose wife stitched aroha into the clever seams — Shining in midheaven — it is Your Beauty
Then, the sandals, well worn, and the calfskin jacket Leads me to darkness among Your creatures, I rubbed over with Dettol to kill the crabs, Making me weep in Grafton
Each in its way a gift — then, Father Te Awhitu’s trousers For that great beauty thrown down in the mud — (A chastity belt I used to call them in Grafton Gipsy, Bob, Yancy, Clarissa,
And slept all night once beside a doll, Jeremy, Norma, Russ — my litany Wearing them, upsetting her apple cart As Francis told over the names of Adam’s joy —
For that night at least) — then, a tiny medal of Mary And now I weep again in a cold kitchen Round my neck — last, the football shirt Unable to distinguish You from them
From a Cistercian abbot — they would have enough Except that You can join me to the tree For one man’s wardrobe, but one only. From which Your blessing flows to them.
These poems are printed with the permission of John Baxter and the James K Baxter Trust . 12 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 Jerusalem Poems by James K Baxter These six sonnets, previously unpublished, were given to Tui Motu for publication by Father John Weir SM .
5 I have seen Your church in the face of a Maori girl Hour after hour watching —
Afraid to move my arm in case she wakened From the dark mercy of the drug — lit only
By the one candle burning Below Your arms extended — if the ploughshare
Breaks through the clay of this old heart, Let there be harvest — ‘Nigra sum
‘Sed formosa’ – the song of the Bride is heard By You only — but when I lie down
A hundred times like a sack of dung On the church floor when the nuns have gone to bed
Is it so different to love those children And to love You from whom no thought is hidden?
6 Merciful Master, let it be cold here In order that their souls may get heat;
Let what I do not eat become their food, And what I dare not ask, because of fear,
Let Your absence from this poor man be Your presence Among them — I am that Samaritan woman
Who pleaded for her tribe — Hemi the nobody Who sat cross-legged at the Marton dance
Because he loved the homosexual singer And taught him to say — ‘Hari Krishna,
‘Hari Ram’ — strange to himself, An old goat with a grey beard and sandals —
Merciful Master, forget You made this creature In whose breast You burn tonight,
And remember those You permit me to love, The children who do not know You as their Father.
— Hemi
[Photos: Cathy Harrison] 13 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 james k baxter “... a letter to god”
This interview is part of a longer conversation which TM had with Father John Weir SM about the life and work of James K Baxter, one of New Zealand’s best known and finest poets.
fter a good morning tea, John became the impetus to write poems . came and sat down with me in “The poems are very connected, the office. Without more ado, though written in isolation, always . weA began talking about the unpub- But then he needed to fulfill another lished poems, printed on pp 12–13 of part of himself and so he would go out this issue. and connect with others, in particular people who were different, intellectu- Were these poems written in the ally too, and who were on the margins context of the already published in society . It was with these people Jim Jerusalem Sonnets? felt most comfortable . It was impor- “These unpublished poems were tant to him that people retain their written early in Jim’s stay at Jerusalem, individuality . One of his criticisms of after returning from Auckland where society was that it oppresses people he was living on his own . He wrote and reduces their individuality and these poems out of desolate isolation, uniqueness and forces people to act in feeling lonely for the absence of friends . the same way and be the same, and he James (Hemi) K Baxter And that was always part of his reason was opposed to that . to establish community . This came seem to have been expressions of his “And there was always a religious about as a substitute family, and in feelings and ideas, written as if to a dimension to Jim’s life too, always . my understanding, from the isolation friend . Looking back now, we see The very first time that I read his he felt as a child in the family he grew that his best poems are overt con- poems as a seminarian, it was with up in in Dunedin . He had a loving but versations, like these six poems . A astonishment because there was both remote father, a martyr to the pacifist dialogue occurs . The other poems are a NZ environment encapsulated movement; and a very clever, intellec- also dialogues but they are written to and transfigured into the poem and tual, highly educated mother, daughter unknown friends . He always wrote also a deep spirituality, though at of Professor Macmillan Brown, to with someone in mind . Sometimes that stage Baxter had not become a whom he was closely attached . But he dedicated them to a particular formal Christian . Yet there was this she was quite unphysical in her dem- person, and sometimes he turned deep spirituality, quite profound, onstration of affection to the children . them into a letter-form, diary form . linked with the New Zealandism of He received intellectual stimulation, It was the concept of communication the poem . I struck that for the first but no hugging or kissing . That wasn’t within friendship . It was that com- time in an early poem called Sea part of the Baxter tradition . munication that was the key thing, Noon written when he was about 16 ”. “Jim’s brother, Terence, and he within friendship . were very different kinds of people . “And of course, if a poem isn’t a When did you have first contact with They didn’t share a close friendship . communication, it’s nothing, because him? So Jim felt lonely in the family, lonely it is a word or words . When Jim read “Well, I was writing poems as a as an adolescent and at Kings High his poems, they became part of his young man myself in the seminary . School where he was persecuted to ordinary speech, like a conversation . Like Baxter I had been writing poems a degree as a pacifist . He was the So it is from that loneliness that was since the age of seven . Lots of people only lad in the school who didn’t do at the heart of his life, through child- write poems, but they do that only military training, but went with the hood, then through adolescence, sporadically . After I had written a school gardener to the gardens . through unhappy love affairs, and group of them in my early seminary “It was from his cleverness and then through a partly unfulfilled years, I wrote to him in 1959, just isolation that he wrote poems . They marriage, these various isolations after he became a Catholic, and sent
14 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 some poems asking him to comment felt most at home and whom he most on them . Jim wrote back saying kind wanted to help . Their experience things, such as, there was promise of resurrection was a very dull and there, but I needed to suffer a bit glimmering light, and it really was more, and then the true poems would for him too . So his experience of the emerge . Cross was much deeper and the dark “A couple of years later, not sure night was much more profound than about the suffering, I sent more poems . his experience of the resurrection . This time he accepted that I was a That note keeps coming through ”. poet . But much more importantly he asked me to write back to him and It’s here in these poems. become his friend . That letter began “Yes, it could be . During 1972, the a lifelong friendship . I sent a poem year that he died, he had an experi- to him which I wanted to dedicate to Father John Weir SM ence of conversion to Pentecostalism him . He wrote back, “Dear John Weir, [Photo: Cathy Harrison] or the charismatic movement in the your poem came to me like water Catholic Church ”. from the dry ground . I have lived so This is very clear on the last ofour long in the desert that I had thought poems, where he writes “You have This was very early in the history of it would last forever” (In becoming a made this creature in whose breast the charismatic movement in New Catholic he had lost confidence in his you burn tonight. Zealand? non-religious friends, because they “Yes, exactly — along with “Yes, it was . And he told me in were not religious; and yet among all And remember those You permit me about June of that year — he died the Catholics he had met since his to love, in October — that he felt that he reception the year before, he hadn’t The children who do not know You had been healed . Then he wrote a found among them any poet, any as their Father. number of poems, and one book writer who knew or understood any- So it’s interaction, the person and in particular, which expressed this thing about literature or poetry) . And the divine, the natural and the divine, charismatic tradition and concepts so he missed his non-Catholic friends the human and the divine ”. and his experience of the charismatic who knew a great deal about literature movement . and yet didn’t know anything about The idea of suffering comes out here “After he returned to Wellington religion and weren’t interested . And very strongly too. and then to Jerusalem, Jim under- he believed he could find both of these “Yes . Suffering, of course, can went some other experience which attributes in me, a seminarian who take many forms but it is asceticism removed that joy from his life . wrote poetry . And that’s what caused in one form or another ”. And so the last months of his life him to say I had come like water from were unhappy ones where, for me, dry ground, because it contained these I see here the theology of nothingness. there is no sign of the resurrection . two elements of New Zealand writing “Yes, yes, indeed ”. Indeed, if you read the last poems in and spirituality . the Collected Poems (all of which are “That’s how our contact began . I abandon myself completely and I am in chronological order) that sense of It began a formal correspondence; I nothing. It reminds me of Catherine dullness will come through until the have about 100 letters from him, and of Siena. final poem, the Ode to Auckland. lots of poems — among the poems “Or St John of the Cross, who This poem is a devastating this group of poems written from might have been Baxter’s special appraisal and utterly uncharismatic Jerusalem . They are really like let- source for that concept . There is a in any sense ”. ters . In themselves they become the theology of the Cross implicit in his At this point we took a break in substitute for letters, and are part of personal theology and implicit here the conversation — to be continued ongoing communication . In fact, in too is a theology of resurrection ”. in the next! n some piece of writing, Jim said that all poems are part of the one poem Say more about that. That’s John Weir is a Marist priest who was a which he wrote, and that one poem important. close friend and confidante was really a letter to God . So all poems “It is very important . But that of James K Baxter, are part of the one poem, and the one never became the strong emphasis in and became his editor. Recently he has poem is part of the letter to God . And Baxter’s life or writing, because of the been preparing for publication Baxter’s of course, God is also one of us so we nature of his experience and because Complete Prose become part of the communication ”. of the kinds of people with whom he and also his Complete Poems .
15 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 T H E R E S U R R E C T E D C H R I S T
Send forth your spirit
Lord send out your spirit to hands outstretched upraised to receive it passed hand to hand above heads in a darkened church the journey of your cross amongst your people on Good Friday their crosses touching yours mixed, imitated, accepted as you take them in your passion in your death and your life each Sunday of our lives transformed as our hands touched touch your cross your life in us spreading throughout the darkness on Easter Sunday on that Easter morning as the women ran shouting and we passed the light from the Easter fire, the flame heartbeat of community the mass of light spreading to the darkest recesses of minds afraid then and now of hearts that yearned yearn for you to recreate our lives in your passion and your resurrection Sculpture by Karlheinz Oswald, Mainz Cathedral, Germany . [Photo: K Toomey OP]
— Joanie Roberson
16 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 T H E R E S U R R E C T E D C H R I S T
Walk in a damp forest Surrounded in Resurrection
on a still spring day Shell of Cicada glassy waters lie idle how was it for you reflecting grey clouds forced from your home onto nature’s estuary through such a small gap did you know this was devastated by quakes your destiny savaged by chain saws to sing from the the forest stands adjacent tree tops resilient still announce Summer’s surrender daring to come again introduce us confound the elements to Autumn days?
under its canopy Holding your empty shell dancing with joy reminds me a carpet of needles I can do it, squelches softly underfoot metamorphosis scenting the air after metamorphosis . with divine fragrance The Gum tree too — Jim Consedine has her story bark of protection lies at her feet her splendid nakedness a delight to behold
Heat of summer days required to reveal the new layers of your beauty .
— Bridie Southall
Sculpture by Karlheinz Oswald, Mainz Cathedral, Germany . [Photo: K Toomey OP]
17 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 spiritualtiy missing the point
Modern technology and social networking have fuelled a compulsive “fear of missing out” among many people, especially the young. Only when we discover that our real strength comes from within not without will we be truly free.
Daniel O’Leary
lease turn back,” my passenger contributor to this condition . Last quantitative advances occurring said after we had travelled six or November, the term “internetuse dis- in the sciences and in technology . “ seven miles, “I’ve forgotten my order” was added to the Diagnostic “We are in an age of knowledge and mobileP ”. There was panic in her voice . and Statistical Manual of Mental information,” he wrote, “which has Even though there was no emergency Disorders (DSM), the international led to new and often anonymous in her life just then, and we would be psychiatric manual . kinds of power ”. back in a few hours, the thought of Especially vulnerable are younger He referred to the “diagnostic being phoneless was very distressing . people . Addicted to pocket comput- overload” in which people become Full-blown “fomo” — the Fear of ers, such as smartphones and tablets, desperate . Seduced and confused Missing Out — is one of the most anxious teenagers are constantly by “the new idolatry” of a culture insidious social anxieties of our age . monitoring their popularity among of consumption and competition, The word itself made it into the their peers, tormented by feelings of people lose their sense of direction, Oxford English Dictionary a few inadequacy and doubt . Easy access of self and, ultimately, of reality . months ago . The addictive state of to pornography fosters this paranoia, There is a destruction of the human mind it refers to is fuelled by our offering a distorted image of human spirit happening, a “process of increasing engagement with modern bodies and relationships . Unchecked, dehumanisation” inflicted by these technologies and social networking all of this transparent neurosis can silent assassins of the soul . Despite sites of all kinds . It is more than a lead to a disastrous loss of privacy, to many useful suggestions, why is the deep desire to keep in touch . It car- the torture of being bullied, to self- situation getting worse? ries a compulsive fear of being left harm and despair . Essentially, we are here dealing out of the loop in terms of the latest For young and old, the use of with questions of a spiritual order fashions, of gossip and gadgets, of drugs only compounds the issue . — a sense of one’s identity, of one’s popularity among peers, or of keep- Desperate, stressed out executives origin and destiny . “In the deepest ing ahead of competition at work . are taking performance enhancers part of me, who really am I?” In a Extreme fomo, in all its shapes in their struggle to stay on top, not postmodern, post-religion world, and forms, and at any age, is an to miss out on their competitors’ there are no easy answers . exhausting, competitive and obses- progress . A growing number of Yet no matter how neglected it sive mental and emotional condi- businessmen and women, seeking an may be, is there still not some incho- tion that can consume people’s edge over colleagues and rivals, are ate intimation of a better life in eve- energy and seriously affect the taking “smart” drugs to keep them ryone, waiting to be nudged awake, quality of their lives . Neuroscientist awake and alert, victims of phobias an unconscious, primal memory Baroness Susan Greenfield believes and unbalanced ambition . waiting to be unlocked? the condition will get worse . In her Richard Kingdon, co-founder of However driven, drained or recent first novel, 2121: a tale from City Beacon, an addiction clinic for damaged people may be, is there not the next century, she writes, “I think workers in London’s Square Mile, always some inner belief in a feeble the quality of our existence is threat- whose clients are young City work- flicker of a finer self, a moral, mys- ened — and the kind of people we ers, said that such abuse will eventu- tical seed still alive in the depths of might be in the future ”. ally damage their minds and bodies, their buried life? Their essence, their There are, currently, an increas- leading to depression and thoughts of DNA, their very being — are they ing amount of reports and warnings suicide, and that his clients represent not all somehow quickened by the about people’s deep fear of losing a “barely the tip of the iceberg” . breath of a mystery we call God? sense of themselves, of right rela- In his recent Evangelii Gaudium, Deeper than their heart, their most tions with others, of getting lost Pope Francis acknowledged the intimate soul, they carry an original in a compulsive and unreal way of “epochal change” set in motion beauty and blessing, but their fearful living . Social media is seen as a major by the enormous qualitative and compulsions and desperate drives
18 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 keep blocking the hints and traces of that faint but graced awareness . From that awareness emerges Easter Convict their true identity . It is the treasure hidden in the neglected fields of their Caught by the sound of my own name souls . No longer trapped in a false persona, it is called “the true self” . A prisoner am I on the run from Truth This is very different from who threatening, I claim, they were told they were, and who to hold me captive . they think they are . Relentlessly, they are persuaded they will radiate What more need I yield? personality, presence and popularity Where else can I hide with their peers, once they enhance from that look at once their appearance, their fashion, their terrifying yet melting ambition, their success rate . this wayward heart Nobody tells them they are so obstinate and unlicensed? already chosen and cherished into existence by a primal and loving Is this the freedom Truth being; that long before they were brings and sets me free? born, their names were already written in Heaven . This taser-like hit upon Christians believe in each one’s my soul holds, captures individual worthiness, their inner and seizes me surely; dignity, with no overpowering ego- Captive and yet captivated desires for popularity, prestige or I run wild and free? profit, no more need for envying, Not yet for I am shackled pretending, accessorising and com- still . Not by chains peting so as to get on . All of that but by movement and belongs to the new idolatry, the old distraction, my eyes self and a lesser God . averting that healing, The divine genes in everyone searing gaze, are what names and defines them . that look of love Treasured beyond measure, their that scalpels the depths identity is found in their kinship of my soul . with God from the very beginning . A key self-identifying moment is I cannot be my own when God is no longer perceived as policeman . I can only “out there” but inextricably within . turn myself in: They do not look out at God as a arrested, my soul’s at rest . separate identity; rather, they look I cannot be my own out from the God who is already surgeon . I can only be numbed by the Light utterly incarnate in them . whose scalpel’s incisive They will no longer have to build, Truth makes Way for protect or promote any idealised, a Life sentence of freedom: unreal self-image — what others human being fully alive . think of them, whether they are “good enough”, popular enough, — Kevin Dobbyn, March 2013 successful enough . What matters is who they are before themselves and before God . n
Fr Daniel O’Leary’s website is www .djoleary .com Published by kind permission of the London Tablet (www.thetablet.co.uk)
19 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 faith pilgrimage “if you have faith ...” The writer reflects on the experience of a sabbatical/renewal time last year: on faith — and on the perennial underpinnings of such adventures: faith, tourism, and money making. Susan Smith
became aware of the importance Today pilgrimages are inextrica- Manner: Life Lessons from the Camino. of pilgrimages in the Catholic tra- bly linked to three realities — faith, Rupp probably did not intend that the dition as a young sister studying tourism, and money-making . Not lasting messages I took from her book EnglishI when we were introduced to that these are entirely new phenom- were the lack of adequate sleeping, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, that won- ena . I recall reading that bishops in showering and toilet facilities, and the derful collection of stories — exhor- the middle ages actively promoted need for such physical preparedness tatory and ribald — that Chaucer’s and encouraged pilgrimages to their that walking the Camino demanded . pilgrims shared as they made their dioceses . Pilgrimages were and are I also went to the Hollywood take on way from Southwark to the shrine lucrative operations for the non- the Compostela pilgrimage, The Way of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury pilgrims associated with them . It is a (2010), and was not wholly convinced Cathedral . Such pilgrimages were part challenge preventing money-making about that either . and parcel of Catholic life before the and tourism from obscuring the In 2013, I was offered the pos- Protestant Reformation . deeper reality that pilgrimages can sibility of two months’ sabbatical/ mean for the believer . renewal time by my community and pilgrimages before so discerning what would be best was In the middle ages, people would the more not so easy . Eventually we planned journey to the Holy Land, a pil- But pilgrimages often require some- an itinerary that included joining the grimage that became more difficult thing . For example, if one is going Chicago-based Catholic Theological when Palestine was absorbed into to walk to Santiago de Compostela, Union’s study tour, ‘In the Footsteps the Ottoman Empire . People also physical fitness emerges as an extremely of Paul’, where I visited cities where journeyed to Rome and other places important part of being a pilgrim . almost 2,000 years ago Paul pro- associated with the Apostles, notably People who made this pilgrimage tell claimed the good news; Ireland where Santiago de Compostela in Spain . me they averaged up to twenty-six kilo- we stayed at Glendalough, the most Pilgrimages highlight the multi- metres a day . This type of pilgrimage important centre of early Irish monas- faceted religious and spiritual life of is not for me! The doubts I had about ticism and where the hermit priest, St Catholicism in the Middle Ages until the Compostela pilgrimage and my Kevin, emerged as a key figure in its the 16th century when the Tridentine ability to make it were confirmed by history; and France, where our con- reforms introduced a stifling uni- American spiritual writer Joyce Rupp’s gregation had come to birth in 1861 formity that sought to suppress that 2005 publication, Walk in a Relaxed in Lyon . In hindsight . I could see that extraordinary diversity that pilgrim- we had planned mini-pilgrimages to ages had encouraged . places important in our church and congregational histories . pilgrimages now In the 20th and 21st centuries many extraordinary faith believers have made or make their What was important for me about our way to sites associated with appari- pilgrimage time in Europe? Most sig- tions of Mary — Lourdes, Fatima, nificantly I was struck by the extraordi- Czestochowa, or Medugorje . The nary faith that led people like Paul and Catholic Church’s 2013-4 Year of his companions to go to the Aeropagus Faith here in New Zealand involved and stand up with a message that was so pilgrimages to the Hokianga to cel- new and yet at the same time demon- ebrate the life and work of the first strated such a sensitivity to the beliefs missionaries . Pilgrimages are about of the Athenians (see Acts 17:22–28), being in touch with an aspect of our and such a willingness to challenge the Christian heritage that enlivened the Pilgrims at Chartres Cathedral commonly held assumptions of Jewish faith life of those who make them . believers . I was amazed too at the faith
20 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 cathedral constructed on the site of an ancient temple honouring the Roman god, Attis . More recently in the 19th century Suzanne Aubert was baptised in the church of St Nizier . Lyon was also where my own congregation was founded in 1861 . So it was good to wander around the streets of old Lyon, to know that physically we were follow- ing in the footsteps of our sisters, or to pray in the chapel in which they too had prayed the prayer of the Church . I remembered those many sisters who had had made physically demanding journeys in the 19th and early 20th Pilgrims at the Byzantine Icons Factory, Kalambaka . centuries from Lyon to New Zealand, India, the Pacific Islands, Canada, and and generosity which inspired people to free of tourists, and its Cistercian-like Vietnam to name but some of the build monastic cities in Celtic Ireland simplicity was in stark contrast to its places where Mission Sisters now live or great cathedrals and monasteries in grand neighbour . As I sat there relish- and work . France . We had ample opportunity to ing its relative quiet and solitude, I felt Because Taizé is close to Lyon we wander around the ancient monastic an extraordinary sense of relationship went there for our Sunday liturgy . The city of Glendalough now in ruins, and with those who had gone before me . ecumenical monastery of Taizé was to visit three or four nearby churches built in 1940, not far from the ruins of also in ruins . All these buildings were chartres the famous monastery at Cluny . The constructed without the technological From Paris it was but a short train summer season which sees enormous support taken for granted today . This journey to Chartres to visit the numbers of pilgrims at Taizé was over allowed me to appreciate the faith of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, but still there was a large congregation our spiritual ancestors who expressed now a UNESCO world heritage for a prayerful and simple Eucharistic in such a tangible way their belief in a site . The cathedral was completed in celebration . The universality and bountiful God . 1250, the fifth church to be built on richness of contemporary ecumenical that site . Four previous churches had Christianity was obvious . paris been constructed there since the 4th On to Paris where we visited Sacred century . Its artistic splendour explains cherish the tradition Heart Basilica in Montmartre . it is a UNESCO heritage site, but that The experience of being in these Construction of the basilica began same artistic splendour spoke to me of wonderful cathedrals and monaster- in 1875 and was finished in 1914 . the loving faith that led to the creation ies thronged with tourists and fellow The building, full of African, Asian, of the wonderful stained glass windows, Christians from all over the world American, Oceanic and European and the amazing statues and friezes that allowed me to appreciate more deeply tourists when we visited, witnessed adorned both the exterior and interior what “the communion of saints” to the revival of Catholicism after walls . The large congregation gathered means . Visiting these places reminded the persecution of the Revolutionary for Mass in the crypt again spoke to me me that we are part of something decades, and the harassment and of our faith tradition, and our need to much greater than our own particular discrimination experienced by French celebrate the heritage that is ours . parish or diocese . We are part of a Catholics in the latter part of the 19th tradition that stretches back through century . It was packed with tourists lyons and taizé the centuries, that stretches outwards and also with Mass-goers so that we And then on to Lyon where we spent to all the world’s peoples, and that experienced that meeting of two some time in the Cathedral of St touches us within as we stand in awe groups with sometimes converging John the Baptist, completed in 1476, at the faith of previous generations . n and sometimes different expectations . and again constructed on the site Immediately behind the basilica is of a more ancient church where St Susan Smith is a biblical scholar, and a St Peter of Montmartre church built Irenaeus would have gathered with Sister of the Congregation of Our Lady in the 11th century on the site of an other disciples in the 2nd century . We of the Missions (RNDM) living and ancient temple dedicated to Mars . found, too, the Church of St Nizier working in Whangarei, and teaching in When we visited it was remarkably another fine example of a Gothic many parts of the world.
21 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 spiritualityt of justice dan After meeting with Marc (Tui Motu, December 2013), I’ve often wondered about the life experiences of the many homeless people I came across in Europe and the USA. On a snowy winter’s day in Chicago, I met up with Dan Suerth. This is his story, spoken in his own words. Shaun Davison used to be a union carpenter, but when the recession hit I lost my job . I got another job in a factory “butI I lost that as well . My girlfriend was a waitress and we had an apart- ment but after a while we fell behind on the rent and got evicted . She went down to St Louis with our daughter, to live with her mam . I stayed on here, looking for work . I stayed with a friend for a while but when his daugh- ter came to live with them I had to go . I lost everything little by little and then I ended up living under a bridge . That’s where I stay now . “At first I slept on the trains but they kick you off trains when you get to the end of the line . I’ve been walking around at night, just so tired, looking for a place to sleep . If you come to the train station here and sleep on the bench, the police will move you on . So I found this place under the bridge . People will still come and rummage through my stuff when I’m not there but I don’t have anything valuable . “My parents got divorced and I don’t see them any more . I stayed with my uncle but he died of a heart attack five or six years ago . So I Dan Suerth . [photos: Carmel Henry] haven’t really got anyone here . “They do have homeless shelters the point I’m at, it’s real hard to get even answer his phone . I was kind of and when it’s cold they fill up real back . All you can do is keep trying . banking on that . That would’ve given fast . Those places are for women and “Another thing about being me the money to take the bus down . children first and then older people, homeless is that people really take “When you’re in a situation like which is fair enough, but I’m pretty advantage of you . One guy said that I am, people want to pay you the much bottom of the list . I’m in my he wanted me to paint this house . I least they can because they know early 30s . I’m the last guy they’re said that I’d do it and normally I’d you’re desperate . When I was a gonna give a bed to . charge say six or seven hundred dol- union carpenter I was getting at “I made these flyers looking for lars . But I wanted the money before least $35 an hour . But now I work construction work and I handed out Christmas to go down to St Louis to for three or four dollars an hour, about 200 but not one person called . see my daughter . So I said that I’d just to get something to eat . Even if I can get a job interview, I’ve do it for $200 . Then when the time “It took me a long time before I still got to figure out how to shower came to pay me he said, “I’ll pay could get the guts to go ask people and clean up for it . Once you get to you next week ”. And now he doesn’t for some money . Some people are
22 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 real mean to you and that kind of think, “I don’t want to be here when kills your self-esteem . I would say 90 I’m that age ”. percent of the people just completely “There’s this one guy that I hang ignore you . It’s like you don’t even out with and we look out for each exist . other . If I have some money or some “I’ve had plenty of days when I’ve food and I see that he doesn’t have eaten nothing . When it gets real cold, anything, I’ll give him some . I’ll share the food is second priority . Getting things with him . warm is first . I’d rather be hungry “When I graduated high school and warm then the other way round . I joined the carpenters’ union right And it does get cold here . It was like away . I used to hang out with my minus ten degrees the other day . buddies in the bars all night . I’d go to “I got arrested by three detectives concerts and football games . I never for panhandling, that’s asking for wanted to get married or nothing but money . I was just asking people for when I met this girl and I had my change and they arrested me . They daughter, I realised that’s the sort of took me to the police station, finger- life I wanted to have . I’m more of a printed me and I had to wait there family type of guy . That’s what I want for eight hours before they let me to get back to . I can’t give up on that . go . Then I had to go to court . If you I know that every day I’m getting fur- don’t ask for money and just shake a ther away from it — but that’s what’s cup — that’s okay . But if you actually keeping me going . If I give up on that ask people for money then you can I’m just a guy that’s walking around get arrested . HOMELESS asking for change all day . “There are a whole lot of homeless “It hasn’t been a good experience On any given night, approximately people who have mental illnesses but 656,000 men, women, and children but you know I’ve learned from it . I’ll tell you this funny thing . One day are homeless in the USA. I’ve learnt to appreciate things like I was so tired, I hadn’t slept for 3 to 4 • 56% are living in shelters and a warm place to sleep, some food days . I was walking around and I was transitional housing, while 44% and just having a little bit of money . talking to my buddy when I looked are unsheltered . When I was making good money, I around and he wasn’t there . He’d • 59% are single adults and 41% didn’t value money at all . A hundred never been there . I had just been talk- are persons living in families . dollars was nothing but now it’s like ing to myself . After that I’ll never look • Lack of affordable housing and a million dollars . That’s what a mil- at homeless people that are talking to health care, lack of support lionaire would have . themselves the same way, because I services and low-wage jobs “Mainly what keeps me going know I did that . That’s what happens are the primary cause of is my daughter Audrey . She’s two . I when you’re sleep deprived . You start homelessness among families in have this picture of her here . She’s a the United States . imagining things . daddy’s girl . That’s why I wanted to Source: Chicago Coalition for the “When people say you just gotta Homeless website go down to see her at Christmas . But get a job I say, “Well give me one . I’d now I’ll get down for her birthday on love to work ”. An estimated 34,000 people, January 20th ”. “Under the bridge I still keep a or about one in every 120 New bottle of water and I keep my tooth- Zealanders, were unable to gain Conclusion brush . Of the four of us I’m the only access to housing in 2006 . A quarter Dan showed me a photo of himself one who brushes his teeth and tries of these people were children under with Audrey. Due to an unexpected to keep clean . I’ve probably got more 15 years, living with their families . event, Dan had obtained the money for teeth in my mouth than all the others About a third of the adults in our the bus ride down. We stayed talking put together! And they are always population were working, but still about seeing his daughter, avoiding the could not get a house for themselves making fun of me when I brush my authorities and appreciating the simple or their family . teeth . They say, “Who are you trying things in life. n http://www.statisphere.govt. to impress?” But I say I’m just trying nz/further-resources-and-info/ to keep my teeth . official-statistics-research/ Shaun Davison is the Director of “I’ve seen so many people here series/2013.aspx Religious Studies at Pompallier College, who have let themselves go . One guy Whangarei, and the author of On a is his late 50s and I look at him and Mission (Steele Roberts, 2013) spirituality mr tayer A short story for Easter
Jean Houston
hen I was about 14, I was Ahhhh!” I joined him on the ground attendance at God’s own party, a con- seized by enormous waves to see what had evoked so profound tinuous celebration of life and its mys- of grief over my parents’ a response that he was seized by the teries . But mostly Mr Tayer was so full breakupW . I had read somewhere that essence of caterpillar . “How beautiful of vital sap and juice that he seemed to running would help dispel anguish, it is,” he remarked, “this little green flow with everything . Always he saw so I began to run to school every day being with its wonderful funny little the interconnections between things down Park Avenue in New York City . feet . Exquisite! Little furry body, little — the way that everything in the I was a great big overgrown girl (5’ 11” green feet on the road to metamor- universe, from fox terriers to tree bark by the age of 11) and one day I ran phosis ”. He then regarded me with to somebody’s red hat, to the mind of into a rather frail old gentleman in his equal delight . “Jeanne, can you feel God, was related to everything else 70s and knocked the wind out of him . yourself to be a caterpillar?” and was very, very good . He laughed as I helped him to his “Oh yes,” I replied with the He wasn’t merely a great apprecia- feet and asked me in French-accented baleful knowing of a gangly, pimply- tor, engaged by all his senses . He was speech, “Are you planning to run like faced teenager . truly penetrated by the reality that that for the rest of your life?” “Yes, sir,” “Then think of your own meta- was yearning for him as much as he I replied . “It looks that way ”. morphosis,” he suggested . “What will was yearning for it . He talked to the “Well, Bon Voyage!” he said . “Bon you be when you become a butterfly, trees, to the wind, to the rocks as dear Voyage!” I answered and sped on my way . une papillon, eh? What is the butterfly friends, as beloved even . “Ah, my About a week later I was walk- of Jeanne?” (What a great question for friend, the mica schist layer, do you ing down Park Avenue with my fox a 14 year-old girl!) His long, gothic, remember when …?” And I would terrier, Champ, and again I met the comic-tragic face would nod with swear that the mica schist would begin old gentleman . wonder . “Eh, Jeanne, look at the to glitter back . I mean, mica schist “Ah,” he greeted me, “my friend clouds! God’s calligraphy in the sky! will do that, but on a cloudy day?! the runner, and with a fox terrier . I All that transforming, moving, chang- Everything was treated as personal, knew one like that years ago in France . ing, dissolving, becoming . Jeanne, as sentient, as “thou” . And everything Where are you going?” become a cloud and become all the that was thou was ensouled with “Well, sir,” I replied, “I’m taking forms that ever were ”. being, and it thou’ed back to him . Champ to Central Park ”. Or there was the time that Mr So when I walked with him, I felt as “I will go with you,” he informed Tayer and I leaned into the strong though a spotlight was following us, me . “I will take my constitutional ”. wind that suddenly whipped through bringing radiance and light every- And thereafter, for about a year Central Park, and he told me, “Jeanne, where . And I was constantly seized by or so, the old gentleman and I would sniff the wind ”. I joined him in taking astonishment in the presence of this meet and walk together often several great snorts of wind . “The same wind infinitely beautiful man, who radiated times a week in Central Park . He had a may once have been sniffed by Jesus such sweetness, such kindness . long French name but asked me to call Christ (sniff), by Alexander the Great I remember one occasion when him by the first part of it, which was (sniff), by Napoleon (sniff), by Voltaire he was quietly watching a very old “Mr Tayer” as far as I could make out . (sniff), by Marie Antoinette (sniff)!” woman watching a young boy play The walks were magical and full (There seemed to be a lot of French a game . “Madame,” he suddenly of delight . Not only did Mr Tayer people in that wind ). “Now sniff this addressed her . She looked up, sur- seem to have absolutely no self-con- next gust of wind in very deeply for prised that a stranger in Central Park sciousness, but he was always being it contains… Jeanne d’Arc! Sniff the would speak to her . “Madame,” he seized by wonder and astonishment wind once sniffed by Jeanne d’Arc . Be repeated, “why are you so fascinated over the simplest things . He was con- filled with the winds of history ”. by what that little boy is doing?” The stantly and literally falling into love . I It was wonderful . People of all ages old woman was startled by the ques- remember one time when he suddenly followed us around, laughing — not tion, but the kindly face of Mr Tayer fell on his knees, his long Gallic nose at us but with us . Old Mr Tayer was seemed to allay her fears and evoke raking the ground, and exclaimed to truly diaphanous to every moment her memories . “Well, sir,” she replied me, “Jeanne, Look at the caterpillar . and being with him was like being in in an ancient but pensive voice, “the
24 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 game that boy is playing is like one I “Au revoir, Mr Tayer,” I replied, He was old Mr Tayer . Why did he played in this park around 1880, only “I’ll meet you at the same time next always come and walk with me every it’s a mite different ”. We noticed that Tuesday ”. Tuesday and Thursday, even though the boy was listening, so Mr Tayer For some reason, Champ, my fox I’m sure he had better things to do? promptly included him in the conver- terrier, didn’t want to budge, and when I Was it that in seeing me so completely, sation . “Young fellow, would you like pulled him along, he whimpered, look- he himself could be completely seen to learn the game as it was played so ing back at Mr Tayer, his tail between at a time when his writings, his work, many years ago?” “Well… yeah, sure, his legs . The following Tuesday I was were proscribed by the Church, when why not?”, the boy replied . And soon there waiting where we always met at he was not permitted to reach, or even the young boy and the old woman the corner of Park Avenue and 83rd to talk about his ideas? As I later found were making friends and sharing old Street . He didn’t come . The following out, he was undergoing at that time and new variations on the game — Thursday I waited again . Still he didn’t the most excruciating agony that there as unlikely an incident to occur in come . The dog looked up at me sadly . is - the agony of utter disempowerment Central Park as could be imagined . For the next eight weeks I continued and psychological crucifixion . And But perhaps the most extraordinary to wait, but he never came again . It yet to me he was always so present thing about Mr Tayer was the way that turned out that he had suddenly died — whimsical, engaging, empowering . he would suddenly look at you . He that Easter Sunday But I didn’t find How could that be? looked at you with wonder and aston- that out for years . I think it was because Teilhard had ishment joined to unconditional what few Church officials had love joined to a whimsical — the power and grace of the regarding of you as the clut- Love that passes all understand- tered house that hides the holy ing . He could write about love one . I felt myself primed to the being the evolutionary force, depths by such seeing . I felt the Omega point, that lures evolutionary forces wake up in the world and ourselves into me by such seeing, every cell and becoming, because he expe- thought and potential palpably rienced that love in a piece of changed . I was yeasted, greened, rock, in the wag of a dog’s tail, awakened by such seeing, and in the eyes of a child . He was the defeats and denigrations of so in love with everything that adolescence redeemed . I would he talked in great particularity, go home and tell my mother, who Some years later, someone handed even to me as an adolescent, about the was a little skeptical bout my walking me a book without a cover which was desire atoms have for each other, the with an old man in the park so often, titled The Phenomenon of Man . As yearning of molecules, of organisms, “Mother, I was with my old man again, I read the book I found it strangely of bodies, of planets, of galaxies, all and when I am with him, I leave my familiar in its concepts . Occasional of creation longing for that radiant littleness behind ”. That deeply moved words and expressions loomed up as bonding, for joining, for the deepen- her . You could not be stuck in littleness echoes from my past . When, later in ing of their condition, for becoming and be in the radiant field of Mr Tayer . the book, I came across the concept more by virtue of yearning for and The last time that I ever saw of the “Omega point” I was certain . finding the other . him was the Thursday before Easter I asked to see the jacket of the book, He knew about the search for the Sunday, 1955 . I brought him the shell looked at the author’s picture, and, of Beloved . His model was Christ . For of a snail . “Ah, escargot,” he exclaimed course, recognized him immediately . Teilhard de Chardin, Christ was the and then proceeded to wax ecstatic for There was no forgetting or mistaking Beloved of the soul . Years later, while the better part of an hour . Snail shells, that face . Mr Tayer was Teilhard de addressing some Jesuits, a very old and galaxies, and the convolutions in Chardin, the great priest-scientist, poet Jesuit came up to me . He was a friend the brain, the whorl of flowers and and mystic, and during that lovely and of Teilhard’s — and he told me how the meanderings of rivers were taken luminous year I had been meeting him Teilhard used to talk of his encounters up into a great hymn to the spiralling outside the Jesuit rectory of St Ignatius in the Park with a girl called Jeanne . n evolution of spirit and matter . When where he was living most of the time . he had finished, his voice dropped, I have often wondered if it was my Jean Houston, a principal founder of the and he whispered almost in prayer, simplicity and innocence that allowed Human Potential Movement, wrote this “Omega … omega … omega ”. Finally the fullness of Teilhard’s being to be story in March 1988. he looked up and said to me quietly, revealed . To me he was never the great (Permission to republish this short story “Au revoir, Jeanne ”. priest-palaeontologist Père Teilhard . has been requested).
25 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 scripture death and resurrection of jesus Matthew 27:45 – 56: Good Friday; and Matthew 28:1 – 10: Easter Sunday 18 – 20 April, 2014 Kathleen Rushton
he gospels are like diamonds with skilfully cut edges which show beauty otherwise hidden . A skilful “cut” in Matthew’s gospel repeatsT that Jesus is “Emmanuel — God-with-us” who assures “where two or three gather in my name I am there in your midst” (18:20) . God-with-us is present in the least of his brothers and sisters (25:40, 45) and will be with us to the end of the age (28:20) . God-with-us is earthed, one of us . Among earthy fishing and farming folks, he talked of nets, catches, flowers in the field, seeds, sowers and shepherds who, to quote Pope Francis, “know the smell of the sheep ”. We are to be earthed as disciples taking the good news to all nations (28:18-20) . Yet, in another “cut” Matthew shows that there can be no understanding of the birth of new life, which God-with-us brings, without connection with the total cosmic setting . At his birth, his star was observed rising (2:2) . Darkness from noon on, accompanied his dying three hours (27:45) . Earthquakes occurred at his death (27:54) and his resurrection (28:2) . Even though earthquakes and other startling imagery accompany his return in glory, the emphasis is on birth (24:7-8) . Cosmology, which comes from a word which originally meant beautiful order, is a scientific world- view of the cosmos . Ancient cosmologies held there was a connection between the cosmos and humanity . The Earth was seen as resting place for humanity . Cosmology was linked to a wisdom which led to contemplation as the precursor to ethical action . Ninth Century Ivory Crucifixion Plaque from Metz
three tiered universe Similarly, at the resurrection of Jesus there was When Jesus died, Matthew tells of three things that another earthquake (28:2) . The tomb, the Earth and happened: 1 “the curtain of the temple was torn in an angel of the Lord descending from heaven suggest two” (this curtain was a symbol of heaven); 2 “the that the universe is linked also with new life . There earth shook”; and 3 “the rocks were split” (27:51) . is, also, no understanding of the significance of the Then, “the tombs also were opened, and many bodies resurrection of Jesus without its total cosmic setting . of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised ”. The The Earth is emphasised for there is no ascension three tiered universe of ancient cosmology (heaven, account in Matthew . God-with-us continues to earth and under the earth) are shaken . This total with be the disciples saying: “All authority in heaven cosmic setting shows the significance and the mean- and on earth has been given to me” (28:18) . Earth, ing of Jesus’ death . Death is not about escaping or as well as heaven, is the focus of the authority given withdrawing from the world . Death has meaning in to Jesus whose death and resurrection are unified in connection with the heavens, the earth and the deep . the context of creation .
26 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 the metz ivory crucifixion of ours, transforms it and draws it to itself ”. (April 15, 2006, Easter Vigil Homily) . Ilia Delio concludes, The Church’s Liturgical Year centres on the Easter “The risen Christ is the inner power of this evolu- Triduum . The Paschal Mystery which is celebrated tionary universe that impels us to go forward into a then, and is at the heart of daily Christian life, is greater unity of love ”. It would seem timely to appeal conveyed in the tiny ninth century Metz Ivory to artists in Aotearoa New Zealand, those recognised Crucifixion Plaque which was a book cover . The and those aspiring such as youngsters in schools, to holes once had precious gold studs . It is one of many celebrate in our context, as did the Metz artists, that similar works in which symbols and figures associated everything, seen and unseen, in the galaxies and on with the classical culture of the old Roman Empire the earth, the living and the dead looks towards and are set within a Christian culture . In what seems clut- gazes on the crucified-risen Jesus . Perhaps an Aotearoa tered to the present day viewer, the crucified Jesus is New Zealand version of Blake Prize (Australia) would shown in the cosmic setting of a three tiered universe . encourage dialogue between art and religion cosmo- The top section is the heavens . In its centre are logically inspiring wisdom, leading to contemplation two circular plaques of a personified sun and moon . as the precursor for ethical ecological action . In the Scriptural references are recalled: the greater and meantime, next time you are doodling, how would lesser lights of the Genesis creation story; the sun you show this? n and moon praising God (Ps 148:3); and darkening (Joel 2:10) . On either side, two angels reach down to Kathleen Rushton is a Sister of Mercy working in adult receive the spirit of Jesus . education in the Diocese of Christchurch. In the middle section, below the arms of the cross, ecclesia, the figure of the Church receives the blood from the side of Christ, symbolising the Eucharist . PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUALITY CONFERENCE On the other side, another figure, synagogue, holding a banner looks up in awe . The familiar figures of John “Beyond the Borders” 28-31 August, 2014 and the mother of Jesus are on either side . At the foot of the cross, are a soldier with the lance and another http://progressivespirituality .co .nz/2014/03/ with a sponge . The dead come out of two circular beyond-the-borders-conference burial chambers . Curled around the foot of the cross and symbolising Jesus’ cosmic conquest of evil is the snake . Below are the symbolic figures of Water riding a sea monster and Earth clutching two of her children . Greenery comes from her hand . Leaves and flowers border the whole scene . What the artist(s) celebrated is the universal, cosmic centrality of the crucified Christ . All creation is evoked . Every aspect looks towards the figure on the cross . Sun, moon and angels look down . In the middle section, Church and Synagogue, the living and the dead look towards him . The head of evil is under the cross . In the third section, Earth with her children and Water look up . Even the head of the Heke Adrian Credit: monster of the deep is raised . Everything, seen and unseen, in the heavens and on the earth, the living and the dead, looks toward Christ and gazes on him . Open up a imaging death–resurrection today hOrizOn Of hOpe How might the Paschal Mystery be imaged in 21st Pope Francis: Inaugural homily, 2013 century evolutionary cosmology? For Benedict XVI, Jesus’ resurrection “was like an explosion of light, an explosion of love . . It ushered in a new dimen- sion of being . . It is a qualitative leap in the history of “evolution” and of life in general towards a new Make your donations online at www.caritas.org.nz future life, towards a new world which, starting from An appeal on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference. Christ, already continuously permeates this world
27 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 book reviews evocative stories accuracy with insight
Book: Sophia and Book: The Vatican Daughters Diaries
By Rosalie May Sugrue By John Thavis
Steele Roberts Penguin Books Ltd ISBN: 9781927242308, NZ$30-00 ISBN: 9780241967416
Reviewer: Sr Madeline McAleese OP Reviewer: Bishop Charles Drennan
hirley Murray, in a comment ournalists claiming to be on this book, says: “Rosalie experts generally leave me Sugrue’s imagination, insight Jskeptical . And those claiming andS teaching skills enliven this inside knowledge of the Vatican . . material” . This is eminently true . In yeah right . Tui Motu (Feb 14, pp16-17) Mary John Thavis’ The Vatican Diaries Horn’s art shows the strength and however is exceptional . It is grip- holiness that can be seen in wise ping without being nauseatingly women of the present day . Rosalie so and it is free of the hyper-anal- Sugrue does the same with the wise The stories, however, are only ysis that afflicts so many would-be women of the Bible, from both testa- part of the work . There are also experts . ments . Her telling of their stories poems; prayers for worship; Thavis is a Vaticanista of thirty- and the history of their times with prayers of intercession; dialogues plus years’ experience . Clearly he imagination and compassion makes which could be used for dramatic knows the Vatican journalists’ den them come alive . Some may be men- productions; blessings for various inside out and his claims to inform- tioned by name as with Mary, wife occasions; reflections on creation, ative friendships among the sea of of Clopas or Priscilla, wife of Aquila; on aging, on the simple pleasures Monsignori who are the majority others have no name at all as in “The of life . The list seems endless . group churning out the work of the Little Jewish Maid” (Naaman’s serv- For those who follow the Vatican are no doubt true . Thavis is ant girl) . But the stories woven about Church liturgical cycle, there are well informed and knowledgeable . them make them real people . themes to be used at various times . What I find most edifying with The stories are told in language Palm Sunday has the words used in this book is that his description and that is easy to read, even for chil- the shape of palms . The Eucharist analysis of life in Vatville is free of dren . You can read one story at a is evoked in the shape of a chalice . sensationalism . It is telling — he time or more if your fancy takes And for those who wish to raise shies from no tough topic — yet it you . The use of “pet’” names Like their voices in song, there are is measured . He leaves space for the “Abie” (Sarah’s name for Abraham) references to appropriate hymns reader to do his or her own think- or “Zech” (Elizabeth’s anme for from our New Zealand “With One ing, having briefed us with just the Zechariah) is an endearing touch . Voice” hymn book . right quota of detail . They give us an insight into the This a small book . But an Thavis picks seven main topics lives of women of their time and enormous amount of work and (a lesser author would have tried may change our thinking from thought has been put into its pro- to squeeze out more) and in keep- women who are repressed by their duction . With imagination and ing with his central thesis, presents male counterparts to women who sensitivity it provides an insight them through the humanity of the are in control of their own destiny . into the wise women who have key players . It is the weaknesses and The sources of the stories are played an important part in our strengths of human character that well documented so that after history and who are sometimes draw the reader to the text . Rather reading Rosalie’s story you can take almost forgotten or unknown . n than merely observing a pantomime up your Bible and read from the or tragicomedy, we cringe in parts source . So the story of the Jewish and nod in others at the actions of Maid comes from 2 Kg 5 . the protagonists .
28 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 film review accuracy with insight chronicle of injustice
inspected . They are forced to put up Film: 12 Years a Slave with all kinds of mistreatment without Director: Steve McQueen any hope of redress, sexually abused and subject to vicious floggings at Reviewer: Paul Sorrell their owner’s whim . Time and again, his unflinchingly realistic slaves pay a heavy price for jealousies and conflict among their masters . depiction of Solomon Challenged about his treatment of Northup’s 12 years spent as a his workers, Solomon’s erratic and slaveT in Louisiana in the 1840s and violent master, Edwin Epps, snarls: 1850s is based on a book he wrote “I can do whatever I like with these about his experiences . A century later, people — I own them ”. So oppressive his memoir was plucked from obscu- is this catalogue of abuse that we long rity by local historian Sue Eakin, who for even a momentary escape . A brief devoted her life to proving wrong the scene showing caterpillars feeding on bookseller who handed a copy across cotton bolls — a plague for which his the counter with the words “It’s noth- slaves are absurdly blamed by Epps — ing but a pack of lies” . comes as a visual and emotional oasis . A talented musician living a free The film raises a whole raft of life in Saratoga, New York, with urgent moral issues . How could an his wife and children, Solomon is ostensibly Christian society justify The Legionaries of Christ, the drugged by a pair of con men and this institutionalised inhumanity? Society of St Pius the X, Pope smuggled by paddle steamer to The cruel Epps uses the Bible to justify Pius XII, Aids, archaeological America’s Deep South . There, under flogging and, while Solomon’s first digs, and the black sheep of the the slave name of Platt, he undergoes master, the kindly Mr Ford, preaches Secretariat of State are all given 12 years of unrelenting brutality, to his workers from Scripture with ample airing . The account of degradation and humiliation at the something approaching Christian hands of a series of slave owners . Pius XII’s work with the Jews conviction, he is still a “slaver” . The Warned that any reference to his true and the analysis of Pope Benedict film’s most subversive character is an identity and status as a free man, or outsider — a jobbing builder from XVI’s dealings with the Pius X the fact that he can read and write, Canada who states his belief that leadership are particularly illumi- will lead to his death, Solomon learns laws are one thing, moral absolutes nating . His description of Foster, that he must guard every thought and another . This leads the thoughtful a Carmelite Friar, nicknamed the action if he is to survive . Forced to act viewer to consider modern forms of idraulico (plumber, because of his as “dumb niggers”, slaves reinforce slavery, from sex tourism to the gar- blue “suit”), world’s greatest living their owners’ perception that blacks ment sweatshops of Asia . Or, in wider Latinist, infamous denizen of the are an inferior race . terms still, the injustice of a world Secretariat of State, alcoholic and The film’s depiction of slavery is built on an economic and political proud, will have you gasping or relentlessly unsentimental . A group system where the many labour with laughing aloud . It’s all true! being sold is treated like cattle, made little reward to enrich the privileged Weaker points? I felt the book to strip naked and have their bodies few . Food for thought, indeed . n didn’t take off until chapter three after, ironically, a long description of a papal flight . While I didn’t agree with it all I willingly rec- ommend it as a worthwhile read . Indeed, much matches accuracy with insight . The Vatican Diaries was published early in 2013 . At one point Thavis says “virtually nothing happens in the Apostolic Palace unscripted or without tradi- tional form” . Francis, it seems, will furnish a different diary . n
29 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 comment Crosscurrents Jim Elliston new life . . . and ice cream conclusion the formation of a radical be a check on revenue and expenses A recent NZ Herald report describes approach regarding financial affairs every three months ”. how a local entrepreneur is building begun by Benedict XVI, with the a business aimed at helping unem- establishment of a new Department . . . and women’s role ployed young people to start their own as recommended by his special advi- Pope Francis asked Cardinal Walter ice-cream enterprises . 12-metre-long sory group of eight cardinals . Kasper, one of his favoured theolo- shipping containers with an area of 29 The “Secretariat for the Economy” gians, to give the main address on square metres are converted into mini- has as its head (Prefect) Cardinal the family to the recent meeting of factories by a local firm . Multiple George Pell, who will report directly cardinals . In a subsequent press inter- rooms are built into the container, to the Pope . No more situations view Kasper made some radical sug- allowing for temperature variations of where intermediaries can dress up the gestions regarding the role of women 40 degrees between them . truth . This is radical surgery . in the Church . There are currently four of these Francis has named Maltese Mgr “Women’s role in the Church “factories” operating in Auckland, Alfred Xuereb as its secretary gen- should be rethought and integrated with another five more planned eral . He has been personal secretary into the Pope’s ideas for greater to open throughout the country to Pope Francis since the early days synodal dynamism and a missionary this year . The co-founder, James of his pontificate . The Secretariat conversion: women should be offered Coddington, said the portable facto- will be run by lay people who are yet leadership roles within the pontifical ries would provide increased product to be selected . councils (minor Vatican departments) consistency when the company The Secretariat for the Economy and in the future Congregation for launches overseas in countries where will implement policies determined the Laity … The intuition which the youth unemployment is a problem . by a new Council for the Economy — female mind has to offer is a vital Some possibilities are Spain, Portugal, eight Cardinals/ Bishops, and seven resource … There is a high concentra- Argentina, South Africa and Kenya . lay experts with strong professional tion of bishops in the Curia today,” the And, of course, as they are housed in financial experience, all from vari- cardinal noted . “Many are bureaucrats shipping containers, exporting the ous parts of the world . The Council and this is not good . Bishops are (sup- factories is simplified . will meet on a regular basis, consider posed to be) pastors ”. policies and practices, and prepare Regarding Congregations (major . . . and radical surgery and analyze reports on the economic- departments) he said, “Although the Vatican financial matters have not administrative activities of the Holy boundaries of authority remain clear, hitherto been seen as reflections of See . In addition, the Pope will appoint a woman can still be present in deci- the new life we celebrate at Easter . an Auditor-General who will be sion-making processes and can easily Tales of incompetence and intrigue empowered to conduct audits of any carry out the role of under-secretary have been common for years . This agency of the Holy See and Vatican … even under the current canon situation has arisen mainly because City State at any time . “The aim is laws some things can be done … The of the general Italian culture which, to manage the Church’s resources as criterion for choosing the candidates lacking a history of the professional, best as possible so that some can also should be competence and spirit of neutral public administration we are be allocated to the poor,” Cardinal service . Naturally, women can also be used to, meant leaders had to rely on Pell said . “This new body will oversee driven by the desire to build careers personal connections . This engen- all of the economic and administra- for themselves, just as men are ”. dered patronage, jealousy, cronyism tive activities of the Holy See and the “A Church without women is a and corruption . Vatican City State . It will also be in mutilated Church,” he said . “There Several popes have tried to charge of setting an annual budget, are so many of them actively involved overcome this culture and many financial planning, and offering sup- in Church bodies . Can we imagine excellent priests and bishops have port in the form of human resources community, charity and cultural worked assiduously in spite of the and procurement, as well as putting centres today with no women? background, but the old culture together a detailed balance sheet . It Without them, parishes would close remained . However, little resurrec- will control the financial activities of down tomorrow . Women are already tions occur from time to time . the individual departments, starting ahead and out there in a Church like Pope Francis has brought to a with the spending review . There will Francis’, one that is ‘going out’ ”. n
30 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 comment graciousness
Peter Norris
very Sunday in St Margaret’s positions but the students are not . I the next step after people start to College, a variety of guests talk know that many people are trying to get appreciate one another is to listen to to students . The number of stu- the Archbishop to visit them, to speak one another . I saw this myself with the Edents participating has increased from to them and pray in public, when he two Archbishops, Philip Richardson 12, when we first started, to about 80, is really here for a break . By accident I and David Moxon . They are lovely, and the shape of the room holds it at ended up sitting next to the Archbishop gracious people with great senses of that . By the time this is publsihed, we for two meals when he visited New humour . The same can be said of will have the Archbishop of York as our Plymouth for the consecration of the Archbishop John Dew and some of guest . The fact that he is Primate of the Anglican cathedral some years ago . He our other bishops . It is amazing how Church of England and a Member of was actually a fun conversationalist and good humour replaces logic and argu- the House of Lords is irrelevant to the invited me to stay if I was ever in York . mentation in bringing people closer students . The fact that the regime in I passed through the next year and, to one another . his home country of Uganda tried to besides arranging some tours, he kindly We probably need to have our execute him for treason when, as a civil offered a room and ended up cooking a appropriate formal groups but we judge he found someone guilty of a sumptuous meal for the four people in should remember that they are not crime, captures their imagination . The the house . It struck me how this simple essential for church unity . They may students are intrigued that someone got yet well educated man enjoyed being a help us if we want to be closer, but him released on a technicality, and while host . He loved cooking and this was a innate graciousness will help more . the government was fixing their paper- concrete way of exercising hospitality . The more I read about the current work, friends smuggled him to England, Over the years I have been associ- Pope, and some of his appointments, where he eventually studied for the ated with a variety of church leaders the more I realise that he is really a priesthood and ended up as Archbishop from various denominations and conservative . Yet, at the same time, I of York . Our students do not know any- have heard them talk about ecumen- read of his graciousness and the lack thing about the Archbishopric of York, ism . They have very good arguments of pretence in his daily life . The gra- the politics of the Anglican church, and convincing language but the only ciousness and lack of pretence will call or Reformation history . They were, thing that really makes any difference not only Catholics but people of other however, very interested in the story of is their hospitality and their gracious- and no denomination to holiness . n someone who triumphed over injustice . ness to one another . Its looks to me like we are being I have seen people become friends Father Peter Norris is the Master of St told something by a new generation . not because of logic but because of Margaret’s College, on the campus of the We are concerned with structures and mutual appreciation . Oddly enough University of Otago in Dunedin.
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31 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014 a mother’s journal
CT scan . To pay for that scan we had less . In New Zealand I didn’t have to butt to sell one of our small fields and also my eyeballs against facts as glaring as the borrow some money for the treatment . fact that the sum I just spent on this new But the medicines helped a little bit and laptop would relieve Lata’s family from my husband said to me and our other oppressive interest payments and an eight children, ‘What use is land to us if the year debt . This debt I remind myself is mother of my children is only able to because India has the most privatised by Kaaren Mathias lie on the bed?’ Now I am much better health system in the world — and the and it is good that we could get some structural and policy forces from “devel- am feeling uncomfortable . I tap on treatment to help ”. oped” countries that have been pushing “ my new laptop, looking out an agenda of privatisation which the window of a high-up aero- ensures Lata and others cannot access planeI . Thousands of metres below good, affordable primary health care . is the real world of rocky soils, floors So do I remind myself not to needing cleaning, kids with home- drop in on Lata and her neighbours work … I haven’t encountered again? (Real flesh stories and rela- an international airport for over a tionships are harder to ignore than year and I’m reeling from my rite aid agency tales on a glossy bro- of passage from home to this high chure) . Can I flee from the uncom- and privileged perch . The huge air- fortable face-offs with gross injustice travel industry with its hefty carbon and inequality? Do I go home and footprint feels particularly offensive talk about Lata and her situation to me today . The worst of it is that I “So have you been able to pay back with my children and husband and see am in no position to rant or shake my all those loans? It must have been quite if collectively we have ideas on how we fist — my own air ticket purchase gives a stressful time for you all?” could respond? Do I reflect aloud about cash votes to an industry which fume by “No, it has taken us eight years to my angst in Tui Motu and then carry on
fume continues to push up global CO2 pay back Rs20,000 (NZD400) which with my busy life? levels and underline global inequalities . was half of the amount . The interest is I don’t know to be honest . But there Burrowing through the airport aisles of Rs5 per RS100 borrowed each month are things I must do: perfumes, liqueurs and make-up, blink- (annual interest therefore a whopping 60 Keep sitting and listening to Lata’s ing in the glare of chrome and shiny percent) so we are only able to pay that story and the stories of many others . marble feels impossibly distant from the most months . We are hoping to pay off Keep making friends with people in gritty afternoon I spent last week sitting the last Rs20,000 (NZD400) in the next low places . in a house with no electricity and a dirt two or three years so we can save up some Keep my heart soft . floor, listening to Lata: money for my daughter’s wedding ”. Bear witness . n “So then after the birth of my eldest So back up in my high-up perch I son, I really was too unwell to work remember Lata, and I am squirming . Kaaren Mathias lives with her in our fields or even to do the usual Again . husband Jeph and four children housework . We went to two different My conscience was assaulted less in North India, where she doctors and they said we had to get a often when I lived with oceans of separa- works in community health and tion between me and people with far far development. Her email address is: kaarenmathias@gmail .com
32 Tui Motu InterIslands April 2014