Australasian Religious Press Association TUI MOTU PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR InterIslands 2016 CELEBRATING 20 YEARS 1997–2017

The Common Good JANE HIGGINS explores dialogue as a way of achieving the common good MIKE RIDDELL asks if we have the will to commit to the common good Independent Catholic Magazine SIMON RANDALL reflects on what he learned in local politics Issue 214 April 2017 $7 PLUS: PETER MATHESON introduces Erasmus CONTENTS FEATURES EDITORIAL Committing to the Common Good ...... 4 Easter and the Jane Higgins The Geese are Getting Fat ...... 6 Common Good Mike Riddell A Calling to the Common Good ...... 8 Simon Randall Beneficial to Me and Those Around ...... 10 he days, now negotiating their portion of light with Bridget Taumoepeau night, are cooler and shorter than last month. They The Common Good: Muslim Understanding move us indoors earlier and surprise us with that and Practice ...... 12 T crisp smell of early frost. Soon we’ll welcome the Easter Najibullah Lafraie fire, already anticipated in the gold streaking the trees Story of a Little Soul ...... 14 along the pathways. Joy Cowley As we journey through Lent and Holy Week we relive Erasmus: Iconic Figure with Star Allure ...... 18 the stations of the cross in the passion story accentuated Peter Matheson by the suffering in our world. We can arrive at Calvary Mission in the Wake of the Reformation ...... 20 heavy-hearted and exhausted. Yet it’s through punctuations John Roxborogh of courage, like the women standing at the foot of Jesus’ COMMENT cross, mothers protesting their disappeared children, parents Editorial ...... 2 protecting their families in war zones, emergency services Deeply Shameful and a Matter of Huge Regret . . 3 rushing to sites of terrorism, families relocating from rising Ann Gilroy seas and children with imprisoned parents supporting one another, that we’re energised towards solidarity, re- COLUMNS furnished with hope in the common good and invited to Constructive Conversations About Politics . . . . 26 recommit in discipleship. The Easter fire is our symbol of the Louise Carr-Neil potential for good that our participating with Christ in God’s Calling the Media to Account ...... 27 mission can realise around us. Jack Derwin This month we’ve focused the Easter light on the social Crosscurrents ...... 30 justice principle of the common good — of putting our Jim Elliston energy into what is good for all, rather than seeking solely Looking Out and In ...... 32 self-interest or siphoning resources into a privileged group’s Kaaren Mathias desire. Sieger Köder’s cover painting encourages us to SCRIPTURE imagine a neighbourhood and world where we all belong, are nourished and contribute. It is the kind of Eucharistic An Ecological Reading of Matthew’s Gospel ...... 22 Elaine Wainwright celebration that Mike Riddell recommends in which we’re conscious of the community good rather than being Journeying to Emmaus ...... 24 absorbed in the crowd uncritical of where we are going — Kathleen Rushton like geese being farmed for pâté. Joy Cowley gifts us with REFLECTION an imaginative story of a soul meeting Suzanne Aubert — Poem: As Fledglings Dare ...... 16 showing two different attitudes towards a good life. Maria Cordis Richey This is just a taste of the feast that is our Easter 214th REVIEWS issue. We thank all our contributors whose reflection, scholarship, spirituality, commitment and artistry has Book and Film Reviews ...... 28 combined in producing this magazine. LETTERS And there’s a bonus. As a celebration of our 20th year Letters to the Editor ...... 31 of Tui Motu publishing we are offering a month of daily emails, each containing a gem of inspiration mined from back copies of the magazine. If you and your friends would Cover painting: Das Mahl (The Meal) like to have the Tui Motu Easter Inspiration arriving in your by Seiger Köder. From MISEREROR inbox, sign up on the Tui Motu website or send us an email Lenten veil “Hoffnung den and we’ll sign you up. The Inspirations will begin Aus Gegrerentzen” © MVG on 24th April. Medienproduktion, 1996. As is our custom our last word is our blessing.

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Website: www.tuimotu.org 2 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 DEEPLY SHAMEFUL AND A MATTER OF HUGE REGRET by Ann Gilroy

he Australian Royal Commission safeguard children. clinging to its own security.” into Institutional Responses to Francis O’Sullivan, CEO of the Many who went before the TChild Sexual Abuse will present Truth, Justice and Healing Council Commission said that for cultural its final report to the Australian coordinating the Catholic Church’s change it is essential to include women Government in December 2017. It has response to the Royal Commission, in Church governance. spent four years “investigating how summed up the “why” from the Bishop Vincent Long said: “As institutions like schools, churches, evidence: “The most significant a bishop, I need to lead the way in sports clubs and government issues include compulsory celibacy, promoting the Church as acommunio , a organisations have responded to clericalism, inadequate training and discipleship of equals, that emphasises allegations and instances of child formation, denial and secrecy and, very relationships rather than power.” sexual abuse”. During this time the significantly, the Church’s culture. Much Professor Neil Ormerod told the commissioners have heard thousands of the dysfunction, crime and cover-up Commission that he thought that one of stories from men and women of child sexual abuse in the Church, in of the reasons the Archdiocese of whose lives have been blighted by one way or another, can be linked back Adelaide had a low number of child perpetrators of sexual abuse who had to one or more of these issues.” abuse claims (compared to other the responsibility of caring for them The Church leaders described the Dioceses) was because from the 1980s as children. regulations and processes, in individual Archbishop Leonard Faulkner, instead of The Commission has had its final Congregations and Dioceses as well having an auxiliary bishop, introduced hearing of the Catholic Church’s as together as Church, to safeguard a pastoral team of four, including two implication in child sexual abuse. children and for the accountability women, to work with him. The 2017 Films such as Oranges and Sunshine for those preparing for and engaged Catholic Directory suggests that is and Spotlight have published the in ministry with people. As Francis continuing with four Chancellors, three stories of wretchedness, cover- Sullivan said: “Over the past two of them women. ups and the fractured lives in this decades and certainly over the past Professor Ormerod also said matter, so there is no need to say four years the way the Church engages that “effective pastoral supervision more. The revelations have shocked, with children, is unrecognisable from [of priests and others engaged in angered and saddened the Catholic the 1950s, 60s and 70s.” ministry], in line with other professions community especially as the majority Following the Royal Commission who work with emotionally distressed have positive experiences of good it is expected that the work will people, was an effective way to priests and religious in their lives. We continue in light of new research and mitigate abuse happening.” join with the sorrow, shame and huge recommendations. Regular supervision and spiritual regret expressed by the contemporary “The institutional culture of the direction is a requirement of the Bishops, Leaders of Religious Church is where the real change Bishops’ protocol Integrity in Ministry. Congregations and Catholic people. is needed,” Francis Sullivan said, Bishop Vincent Long spoke of When the Commissioners acknowledging that culture is so hard the efforts made in his diocese questioned the Bishops and the Leaders to move. “I hear in the voice of many to enculturate overseas trained of Religious Congregations about the people in the Church, further abroad priests. With the significant number findings published in the February and which I share — it is the struggle to now working in Australia and New 2017 Analysis of Claims of Child Sexual see concerted, consistent real change Zealand parishes it is essential that Abuse Made with Respect to Catholic in the heart of the Church, from Rome they receive in-depth and on-going Church Institutions in Australia (available to parishes in the most remote parts of theological and cultural preparation on the Royal Commission website) it the world. for ministry here and understand the was obvious they were also looking “The Catholic community [is} calling for place of supervision. at current practice. As well as asking a Church that resembles what the Pope Our Church leaders now need how and why some Church members has called for — a Church which is bruised, the combined wisdom of the whole in ministry, particularly in the 1960s hurting and dirty because it has been out Catholic community and in prayer and 70s, became perpetrators of abuse, on the streets, rather than a Church which and humility commit together to deep they also asked what is in place now to is unhealthy from being confined and from cultural changes in the Church. ■

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 3 Committing to the Common Good JANE HIGGINS suggests that we will make better decisions for the common good when we engage in dialogue.

ommon good, common ground, commonweal. safeguard one’s privacy, and rightful freedom, including in “Common” from the Latincommunis , meaning “public, matters of religion. Cshared by all, many” is a challenging, even a troubling word in our world these days, where the prevailing culture Broaden Our Horizons is preoccupied with building walls, closing borders and Perhaps this seems utopian. But Pope Francis in speaking of holding tight to what is “mine”. And yet, Church documents the common good in Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, are infused with the encourages us not to word. From Vatican II to be overwhelmed. He Pope Francis’s Evangelii suggests that we try to Gaudium (EG) and Laudato “broaden our horizons Si’ (LS), there it is: our and see the greater common humanity, our good which will benefit common home, the us all” and that we do common good. this without uprooting ourselves, without getting Common Good is lost in the global. In an Inclusive exhortation towards The common good is that old appeal to “think almost the first thing to global, act local” Francis be discussed in Gaudium urges us to “work on a et Spes, The Pastoral small scale, in our own Constitution of the Church neighbourhood, but with in the Modern World, a larger perspective” EG( , a major document of par 235). Vatican II. Chapter Two of that document speaks Recognition of of “the whole human Diversity race” being “involved An important part of with regard to the rights that larger perspective is and obligations” relating the recognition that our to “the social conditions Brophy, Johnson and Courtney families collaborating on a barn mural, nations, our cities, even which allow people, either North Canterbury. Photo by Dave Brophy. our neighbourhoods, as groups or individuals, have become immensely to reach their fulfillment.” How do we nurture a society in which people feel diverse places. How then, Moreover, “every group they belong and are therefore prepared to make that do we seek the common must take into account communal commitment towards the common good? good within that diversity the needs and legitimate without suppressing our aspirations of every other group, and still more of the human differences and without losing our identity? family as a whole.” In a 2015 speech in Paraguay, Francis picks up this This was written over 50 years ago — but read now theme: “The common good is sought by starting from our in the context of the refugee crisis, child poverty and differences, constantly leaving room for new alternatives. climate change — it is a prophetic call to be profoundly In other words, look for something new. When dialogue countercultural. is authentic, it ends up with ... a new agreement. Dialogue What are the “needs and legitimate aspirations” to is not about negotiating. Dialogue is about seeking the which the document refers? In its next paragraph, the common good.” Council sets out what is needed for a genuinely human life: food, clothing, housing, the right freely to choose a state Real Conversations Needed of life and set up a family, the right to education, to work, This call to dialogue for the common good is a powerful to one’s good name, to respect, to proper knowledge, the challenge to our fractured and siloed world. We’ve had over right to act according to the dictates of conscience, and to 30 years of a global economic orthodoxy that champions

4 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 division between people through idolising winner-take-all Nurturing Local Belonging forms of individual responsibility and independence. The If relationships of belonging constitute the ground on which dramatic inequality this has produced within nations is the common good grows and flourishes, perhaps this is one perceived by the cheerleaders of this orthodoxy as collateral important place to focus our efforts. How do we nurture a damage, or even as desirable. society in which people feel they belong and are therefore We’ve seen the rise of a populism in which fear of “the prepared to make that communal commitment towards the other”, of people “not like us”, has stoked the fires of racism common good? How do we nurture authentic dialogue within and religious bigotry. diversity in order to explore and understand what the common All this in the context of huge insecurity following the good looks like in our own context? global financial crisis and a series of bitterly fought and Here in Aotearoa, it’s election year. We have an opportunity long-drawn-out conflicts that have forcibly driven millions to scrutinise party platforms for policies that enhance of people from their homes — an almost unimaginable 65.3 belonging and communal commitment and to challenge policies million, according to the latest estimate of the United Nations’ that promote inequality and exclusion, including those that Refugee Agency, the UNHCR. exclude future generations from sharing in the beauty and It’s no surprise, then, that Francis cautions inEvangelii bounty of our common home. Gaudium, that we are These are complex experiencing a “crisis of issues without simple communal commitment”. answers. Consider, for This crisis has not example, the NZ Super emerged out of nowhere; debate: to means test or it has been decades in not to means test? On the making. one hand, means testing targets resources where Commitment to the they are most needed. Community On the other, universality What response can we brings people together in offer in the face of this a scheme where everyone tremendous challenge? has a stake. How can we embrace Consider the new the common good and Ministry for Vulnerable pursue it in earnest? Children. Again, targeting I recently came vulnerable children may across the work of focus attention on those Cecelia Clegg and Joe in need but, as the United Liechty on sectarianism Nations has pointed out, in Northern Ireland where is our government’s and it put me in mind policy commitment to of the way people are wellbeing for all children building walls, literally and young people? and metaphorically, Painting project completed. The targeting of against one another. Photo by Lilly Warrenson. government assistance Sectarianism, Clegg in a context of significant and Liechty suggest, is How do we nurture authentic dialogue within diversity inequality risks stigmatising “belonging gone bad”. in order to explore and understand what the common those who receive it. And That led me to wonder good looks like in our own context? there may be a refusal of if an important part of communal commitment the crisis of communal commitment to which Francis refers from those who see themselves as paying for a system to is in fact a crisis of belonging. How difficult is it to feel a which they don’t belong. These complexities highlight the need commitment to the wider good of a neighbourhood, a city for the kind of genuine dialogue to which Francis refers. or a nation if we don’t feel that we truly belong to those So, let’s make this an election year in which we ask places and those communities? candidates and parties to address how their policies promote This crisis of belonging manifests itself in many ways, belonging, justice and dialogue within diversity, in pursuit of the from the global financial elite refusing to pay tax in those common good. ■ countries where they make their millions, to the isolated individuals so alienated from their societies that they perpetrate terrible acts of violence against them — the Jane Higgins is a Christchurch-based people to whom Hannah Arendt refers in her classic text, community researcher and evaluator who writes fiction in her spare time. The Origins of Totalitarianism, when she observes that loneliness is “the common ground for terror”.

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 5 THE GEESE ARE GETTING FAT

MIKE RIDDELL asks if we have the will and commitment to stand for the common good in this age of individualism and consumerism.

oie gras is a luxury food; a of connection to those around us; to share in communal life. high-end pâté. It is made by in the withdrawal of people from For much of history this has been Fforce-feeding ducks or geese political life; in subservience to unexceptional, in that survival was with corn by means of a feeding tube. an exploitative economic system; dependent on some sort of tribal Their livers swell to such a size — ten in a lack of generosity, tolerance structure. Necessity made us all times that of a normal bird — that and simple kindness. We seem to participants in the common good. The breathing becomes difficult. When have accepted Margaret Thatcher’s great shift came with the combined ready, the birds are slaughtered and dictum that “There is no such thing shock of the Industrial Revolution and their livers harvested. as society.” consequent urbanisation. These were They are not valued for their both symptoms of a new economic own worth as creatures — rather What we hunger for is, system — capitalism. they have become organic in the words of Francis production facilities for the farmers. again, “a community Individualism Taking Over These feathered friends have no But it is to the more recent consciousness of the fact that they which sacrifices particular Technological Revolution that we are being fattened for the gastric interests in order to share, must turn to understand the routing delight of connoisseurs. They are in justice and peace, its of the common good in favour of only aware of their own suffering. aggressive individualism. With this I think of them with both goods, its interests, its upheaval we shifted from being compassion and foreboding. They social life.” consumers of goods to consumers speak to us of our own helplessness of ideas. And with the feeding-tube as citizens of a utilitarian society. Common Good Under Siege embedded firmly in our gullets, our For many years now we in the West The common good is a bedrock of livers have swelled with selfishness have been force-fed a steady diet of Catholic Social Teaching. In essence it and narcissism. individualism and avarice. Some of us is a very simple foundation on which Somehow it has become normal have become fat on this regime. Few all social theology rests — that we to immerse ourselves compulsively understand that we are being farmed are in this whole human enterprise in social media streams that pretend for the pleasure of an elite. together. We neither possess our lives to represent community, but are I see the effects of our fat individually, nor are able to claim our engineered by hidden algorithms. livers in the casual cruelty of full humanity without recognising our We participate in life vicariously, my peers; in the single focus on interdependence with those around through outrageously manufactured individual betterment; in the lack us. The Trinitarian God has created us celebrities such as the Kardashians.

6 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 Too many of us begin to regard the Gather around Eucharistic Table poor as an unnecessary impediment Our acts of resistance can be small to our own well-being. in recognition that all expressions of difference are political when lived out. Individualism is Society’s Virus The Eucharist with its origins in the It seems the vast majority of us have communal meal, is a challenge to the accepted the ridiculous notion that status quo. But it needs to return to its it is possible to live a life without roots where food and wine are shared dependence on others. This foul around the safe space of a table and pestilence is the virus that has where vigorous debate is grounded in infected the whole of the Western joy and belonging. world. It is an evil that undergirds the collapse of justice, the xenophobia of Engage with Compassion nations, the trivialisation of politics, Compassion is the arterial blood the exploitation of indigenous of common life. This summons us peoples, and the explosion of to the memory that anything that addictive behaviours. happens to the least of us is borne We have been sated and sedated by all of us. Giving to charity is a into compliance, repeating learned rather remote way of acknowledging mantras as if they were our own. that. A more engaging path is that Our surveillance societies are more of friendship, in which hands are intrusive than even George Orwell held, tears shed and hearts warmed. predicted. The genius of them is that It is more difficult to hate strangers rather than being imposed upon us, when embracing them. we have chosen them in the name of security. Any threat of opposition is Protect Earth quickly snuffed out. The natural world, which is our Listen to Our Prophets Who does this ideology serve? common ground and shared gift, calls The task of prophets is to remember The geese or the farmers? The to us for protection. Exploitation of and declare. We are guardians of the real answer is neither. It serves our mother, our whenua, is a form of common good and called to announce the apparently blind market rape that diminishes our prospects of it. I’m minded of a parable by and its masters — a kind of life itself. In small ways we can stand Kierkegaard (somewhat paraphrased): unacknowledged Satan in the together for our rivers and seas and “There is a town where only geese biblical sense of that word. All that mountains and air, delivering the live. Every Sunday the geese waddle is clear is that the purchasers of foie reminder that they are not resources out of their houses and down the gras have a certain overlap with the but treasures. beneficiaries of this system. main street to their church. They Talk Together waddle into the cathedral and squat in their pews. The goose choir sings Resistance Needed We can talk together, freeing and then the goose pastor comes and Here we are then, having conceded ourselves from the toxic streams of reads from the goose bible. our humanity and dignity without so propaganda that flood our screens “He encourages them: ‘Geese, much as a scuffle. We are an occupied daily. Only in such honest dialogue God has given you wings! With these territory, and as such our only viable do we begin to regain the memory of wings you can fly! With these wings strategy is that of resistance. That what it means to be human. We may you can rise up and soar like eagles! demands some sense of what we are recall the truth that we only begin to No walls can confine you, no fences fighting for and what we have lost. know ourselves by engaging with the can hold you. You have wings and you As Pope Francis has said recently of other. And conversations held in the can fly like birds!’ Catholicism: “It is a scandal to say one absence of devices are conveniently “All the geese shout: ‘Amen.’ And thing, and do another.” most difficult to surveil. then they waddle home, their livers The common good brings Should we fail in our quest to uncomfortably swollen.” ■ recognition that we are essentially retrieve our communal being, it may communal in our existence. Both be that it will be forced upon us by capitalism and communism are suffering on an unprecedented scale. distortions of relationality. What we The consequences of a disordered hunger for is, in the words of Francis society are almost always horrific — Mike Riddell writes novels, plays, films and apology notes. again, “a community which sacrifices history is littered with the grotesque He cooks when he can and particular interests in order to share, outcomes. When everything is taken breathes intentionally on a in justice and peace, its goods, its away from us, it seems we finally daily basis. interests, its social life”. begin to cling to each other.

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 7 A CALLING TO THE COMMON GOOD SIMON RANDALL reflects on what drew him Family Influences I am a product of my upbringing. I to become involved in local politics. grew up in the 80s as a middle child of four with two loving parents. The area we grew up in had seen generations of ately I have been introducing fundamentals of life, we are reaching relatives born and raised in it and I had myself as a recovering politician. a peak of public scepticism about grandparents close at hand. Our family LThat usually results in a smile politicians and political institutions. came from a strong Catholic tradition or a comment about how I’ll now be I would suggest that the rise and the Church we attended had able to do something useful with my of Trump, Brexit and other recent stood witness to many key moments life. It’s my personal statement about events are a result of this scepticism in our family life — celebrations of the my current self-inflicted identity and a feeling among the public of sacraments, births, comings of age, crisis as I’ve recently left the life of being estranged from wider society. marriages and farewells. a local body politician. It also has However, especially in the face My values, the foundation of me reflecting on the nature of being of these challenges, it is the most my political understanding, were politically involved — what drove me important time for us all to engage. forged largely subconsciously by my to it and what might drive others, too. From my perspective all political experience of all of this. Being well I think it is a salient time to ponder institutions are essentially social connected into family and the wider such things. With such glaring issues constructs and we all have a duty community teaches the importance as the ever-widening gaps between to own and nurture them. If the of service of others, the care for those who have and those who have institutions we created initially no those who need it and self-sacrifice not, instability in employment and longer serve us, then I would argue for a greater good. These attitudes the quickening pace of environmental we have a similar duty now to change hold family, community and even destruction threatening the and renew them. society together.

8 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 My family has always been keen trying to increase housing density to Bring People on Board on a good argument and this taught meet increasing needs and existing So my next point is partner to the me to question the way things are homeowners who perceive this as above — bringing people along for and not to accept uncritically those a threat. And we in New Zealand the journey is vital. It serves no one if things which are in conflict with my are less familiar with establishing a council chamber becomes an ivory fundamental values. Although my communities in apartments and tower. Politicians can make the best family was not involved in politics terraced houses than we are in streets decision but it will have no impact if in a formal sense, politics seemed a lined with bungalows and villas. the community resists or doesn’t offer natural home for my desire to serve support. I’ve found that collaboration others and to initiate change. No one group or is hard but essential. individual is a “pure” Getting into Politics Popular Not Always the Best This led me when I was 19 to stand advocate for the What is popular or easy isn’t always for my local community. I missed common good and the best. Politics can be a lonely life out by a wide margin. I then finished decisions end up at times and the desire to go with university and started teaching and the flow is a pretty fundamental was elected finally when I was 25. lopsided if based instinct. However, I tried to place After the reforms of governance solely on those who emphasis on what was the best in Auckland I was elected to a understand how decision I could make regardless of Local Board and ultimately became popularity. This was not easy and the Chair. It was a steep learning political processes there are few direct incentives to curve. It seemed that everything work and have the make difficult decisions. was presented as a discrete, stand- time or ability to alone, short- or medium-term issue Procrastinating Is a Decision which didn’t seem to relate to an engage with them. Not making a decision is making a overall picture. It was hard to make decision. We can think that doing links between what I wanted for Keeping the Big Picture in Mind nothing or making minimal change my community and the reality of Several important insights have helped is having no impact. But society is a how that worked. It took time and me to understand the cumulative dynamic system and as it changes our good mentors to help me see the effects of the choices we make — to approach also needs to change. So connections between issues but also see the big picture — rather than to avoiding a decision can have a greater to change the way I engaged. see each decision in isolation. impact in many ways. All decisions are choices based on I am not sure I will ever have My Key Issues values. I wasn’t always conscious of resolved my thoughts on the role of I settled on a number of key issues the values because we act from them politics and politicians in serving the which I saw as achieving a wider good automatically. I found some choices common good. I have figured out rather than an isolated individualistic in my time particularly difficult and that for me it has a lot to do with the outcome. For example, youth also found myself supporting different connectedness which exists between employment benefits the individual choices from my colleagues. When I all of us. Acting to strengthen these and the benefits of employment flow was trying to understand if I was on connections and uplift all people is to their families and community, their the right track in my decision-making, to place importance upon and work employers, the economy and the I found that it helped to work out towards the common good. That is wider community. which values were the most important certainly what drew me to political Connected walking and cycling to me. involvement in the first place and networks give individuals more what I strove for in my time in options for moving around and help Hear All Perspectives local government. I can’t say that I decongest roads for those who need Not everyone is heard, or equally achieved all I wanted to or always to use them. At the same time they able to participate. This is a key got it right. There is always more to bring neighbourhoods together, message for politicians when making be done. ■ changing the conversation about decisions — and one that is not what living in a community looks like. universally accepted. No one group or I think of housing as a human individual is a “pure” advocate for the good rather than as a commodity. common good and decisions end up While being housed makes us lopsided if based solely on those who protective of what we have, not understand how political processes Simon Randall is from Auckland having stable, appropriate housing work and have the time or ability to and was elected to local government for nine years. wholly undermines our ability to engage with them. It can be difficult His background is in science participate in society. This sets up to get other perspectives into the mix, and education. an inherent conflict between those but this is important.

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 9 , oil on canvas, 30x40 © by June Pauline Zent. www.etsy.com/people/artzent Zent. Pauline June 30x40 © by , oil on canvas, Hands Together Hands

I grew up in Scotland in a non-Scottish family and realised that my mother felt that she never quite belonged Beneficial to Me in that society. When I went away to boarding school in England, many of the girls had never been to Scotland and and to Those my accent set me apart. It was no surprise that my greatest friends became, and remained, girls who were different either ethnically or religiously. Around Later I chose to become a Catholic in a family whose roots were in Protestant Northern Ireland. And, as if that BRIDGET TAUMOEPEAU was not enough, I married into another culture. To continue the theme on a lighter note, I chose psychiatry as my ponders some of the influences medical speciality and was often looked down on by the that have contributed to her medical fraternity as not being a “proper doctor”! Through all these experiences I realised that I, too, understanding of working for could be the “other”— different, suffering prejudice or the common good. exclusion although in quite minor ways compared to the suffering of many today.

he common good is an overarching principle of Belonging Is Essential Catholic Social Teaching which, like human dignity, All people want to belong and be part of society even if Tpermeates all that we do and think in applying the they may be aware that they are in some way different from Gospel in our everyday lives. the majority. Those considered “other” may have an even One of the joys of old age is having the time and stronger drive to integrate and to take on the responsibilities ability to reflect on my life and what have been significant of a contributing person. The groups with whom they influences that have determined the way things have identify may assist them in understanding their own role in turned out. I think that early in life, in quite minor ways, I the common good and are worthy of our consideration. became aware of the concept of the “other”. My own belonging within the Church led me to understand

10 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 the concepts of service and vocation. I realised that the As we grow up we learn about dealing choices I make must not just be beneficial to me but need also contribute to the common good of all people. with others and behaviours that have the potential to include or isolate. Pope Contributing Is Essential Francis reminds us of the importance of Living in another culture was also a challenge but opened my eyes to a very different view of our connectedness to family in learning these early lessons. family and community. As doctors in Tonga we were considered wealthy of the common good is called for — in our own micro- (although we were dirt poor by Western standards) and worlds, in organisations where we work or volunteer, in our as such expected to shoulder a lot of the expenses of the decisions about how to vote, where we will spend or invest extended family. On the other hand the family made it very our money, what cause we will fight for, how we will support clear that I needed to work as a doctor because I had had the well-being of the planet and so on. the privilege of that training and so family members would We need to be informed in order to make a decision. share the load of caring for our children. In this way the That information comes from seeing and listening — common good of family and society was addressed. however, the assessment and response are driven by As I reflect on those newer Tongan experiences, I think our world view, belief system and faith. I feel blessed back to the influence of my parents and particularly my that I have access to Scripture that informs, teaches mother’s devotion to the idea of fairness. She applied the and challenges me. Its timelessness means it is forever principle mainly within the family but she extended the idea, relevant. It lays out the principles that can permeate all also teaching us that the privileges of wealth and education our decisions — love of neighbour, being non-judgemental, brought responsibilities and needed to be shared. stewardship, caring for the marginalised. I heard recently I found a reassuring congruity between Scottish the recommendation that when it comes to voting for a Presbyterianism and the values of the South Pacific. political party we should measure the candidates against Several Church denominations were represented in my the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1–12; Lk 6:20–22) and Matthew 25. father’s family. My Quaker aunt impressed me with her Catholic Social Teaching developed from the fruits of years of service after the war working with “displaced reflection on the Gospels and society. Now we have a Pope persons”, endeavouring to reunite them with their families. who demonstrates See, Judge, Act in many ways — bringing She was addressing the common good of post-war Europe. the refugees to Rome; visiting areas of conflict to model And so slowly and surely the idea and practicalities of the harmonious relationships; condemning the arms trade; common good emerged in my life. being generous and inclusive with the homeless; using his considerable international influence to promote peace and Common Good Work of All to write about our responsibilities of care for the planet I do not agree that the common good is something that has and for each other. These examples demonstrate ways of to be tackled primarily at a high level in society, that it is putting the common good first. something for which politicians are responsible. The principle of the common good applies at all levels in our lives. Learning from Good Examples It’s first in our families. We make many, many As well as drawing on these sources, we see people around decisions that impact on individual members as well us who are responding to the challenges of everyday life as on the family as a whole. We do not choose our here in New Zealand. For example, the groups who work parents or siblings and it is in our family that we have the with homeless and poor people; who open their homes and opportunity to negotiate relationships that address the hearts to migrants and refugees; who give of their time and common good of that little group. talent for the betterment of their parishes; who combat the As we grow up we learn about dealing with others and selfish misuse of our planet’s resources. All are contributing behaviours that have the potential to include or isolate. to the common good in one way or another. Pope Francis reminds us of the importance of family in All this requires and motivates me to respond to what I learning these early lessons. His interest in team sports, see around me. It is an ongoing challenge but not a burden. particularly his beloved soccer, is around the idea of It is an opportunity to learn from others, to put myself in working together for the betterment of the team rather the world of the “other”, to acknowledge that each and than the individual. every one of us makes up the wholeness of society. But above all it is the chance to respond to the beauty of the Choosing the Common Good Gospel message to follow Christ. ■ Considering the common good at any level — family, school, work, parish, community, or greater national or international causes — always creates tension between our own individual Bridget Taumoepeau has a love of ambitions and putting those aside for the greater good. I find psychiatry, theology, Ignatian spirituality, the principles of See, Judge, Act as a guide in this decision- families (especially her own), her parish making better understood asSee and Listen, Assess and and all sorts of craft. Respond. We face situations every day where a consideration

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 11 the COMMON GOOD — Muslim understanding and practice

caliphates and empires, except for a NAJIBULLAH LAFRAIE explains that for couple of centuries at the outset, there Muslims working for the common good is a were always multiple Muslim-majority personal and community responsibility and countries. These Muslims have a commonality with other compatriots. a way of serving God. Below that we have the levels of the city, the suburb and neighbourhood and finally the family. uslims consider Islam as a We can see that it is the “deen”, a comprehensive Understanding Goodness duty of a Muslim first to Mway of life. It regulates As for the “good”, for Muslims it is not only the relationship of the inculcate in themselves the identified by the teachings of the individual to their Creator but also social values mentioned Holy Quran and the Sayings and to themselves, to their fellow human tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. beings, to the environment and at the beginning of this Social justice, noted above, is a good. to the universe as a whole. As the article­ — values such as Other goods include equity and Islamic history clearly demonstrates, justice, equity and fairness, fairness, equality, fraternity, honesty, the aim of Islam is not just to create cooperation, modesty and decency, righteous individuals but also equality, fraternity, compassion and mercy, generosity righteous societies. This is based cooperation, decency, and charity, safety and security. on the Quranic view which deems compassion, generosity Classical Muslim scholars have establishing justice as part of the used the concept of “common good” in mission of the Prophets sent by and charity. Then they the contexts of Islamic law, Sharia. The God: “We sent Our messengers work with their families, word they use in Arabic is Maslahah, with clear signs, the Scripture neighbours and other which has also been translated as and the Balance, so that people “public interest”. For them, “maslahah could uphold justice” (51:25). groups in their cities and consists of considerations which So, promoting and achieving the countries to promote and secure a benefit or prevent a harm but “common good” is at the core of a achieve the common good which are, simultaneously, harmonious Muslim’s social activity. with the objectives maqasid( ) of the based on those values. Shari’ah. These objectives ... consist of Levels of Commonality protecting the five `essential values’, What is “common” and what is “good” from the Almighty were Islam in the namely religion, life, intellect, lineage from an Islamic viewpoint? First and sense that they asked their followers and property. Any measure which foremost a Muslim is a member of to submit themselves to the Will of secures these values falls within the ummat-ul-Islamia, the global Islamic their Creator (and that is what the scope of maslahah, and anything which community. The Holy Quran enjoins word “islam” means in Arabic). Muslims violates them is mafsadah (‘evil’), and Islamic unity, and the Prophet share a commonality with all the preventing the latter is also maslahah.” Muhammad is reported to have said: people of faith, particularly Jews and “The parable of the believers in their Christians, who are noted in theQuran Achieving the Common Good affection, mercy and compassion for and called “the People of the Book”. Achieving the common good is not each other is that of a body. When Above that level we share a common only an objective of the primary any limb aches, the whole body reacts humanity; or in the language of the sources of the Islamic law (the Quran with sleeplessness and fever.” Quran, we are all “children of Adam”. and Sunnah of the Prophet), it also But there are other levels above Below the level of ummah we have serves as a secondary source of the and below the level of ummah. Islam Muslims living in certain countries. law itself. Scholars have distinguished does not consider itself as a new This is a fact of life in today’s “nation- three types of maslahah (common religion. All the religions that came states”. But even when we had good): 1) it is based on clear textual

12 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 evidence; 2) it is contradictory to an consulting him first. community that calls for what is good, undisputed text; and 3) the original Islamic law and Muslim urges what is right and forbids what sources are silent about it, neither governments’ public policies apply is wrong: those who do this are the confirming nor rejecting. not only to the Muslims but to non- successful ones” (3:104). The first type is called mutabara Muslims living in Muslim majority This is part of the social (accredited); its validity is definitive countries as well. Protection of their responsibility Muslims have. Enjoining and not open to debate. The second religion, life, intellect, lineage and others to do or not do something type is called mulgha (discredited) property is guaranteed the same way implies that the individual has already and cannot be taken into account, as the Muslims. implemented that themselves: “O ye despite our assumption that it may The Second Righteous Caliph who believe! Why say ye that which be a “common good” (an example Omar is reported to have assigned ye do not? Most loathsome is it in the given is legalising usury or interest a regular allowance for an old blind sight of God that you say what you do because of its prevalence in modern Jewish man from the government not do!” (The Quran, 61:2-3). transactions). A maslahah of the third treasury by instructing the officials: We can see that it is the duty type is called “mursala (undetermined), “See to this man and his like, for we of a Muslim first to inculcate for it allows the [jurists] to use their have not done right if we devour their in themselves the social values own analysis and personal reasoning youth and neglect their old age. The mentioned at the beginning of this in order to formulate a legal decision in the light of the historical and geographical context, using their best efforts to remain faithful to the commandments and to the “spirit” of the Islamic legal corpus where no text, no ‘letter’ of the Law, is declared.” In this way it becomes a secondary source of Islamic law.

Religion and Government Policy Maslahah applies not only to the laws expounded by Islamic jurists but to public policies enacted by the government as well. The governments in Muslim majority countries are duty bound to protect the five “essential values” for their citizens. They are religion, life, intellect, lineage and property. They should also pursue public policies that promote the common good as understood by the Muslim zakat (religious tax) is for the poor and article­ — values such as justice, equity jurists. needy, this man is one of the needy of and fairness, equality, fraternity, As Islam is a comprehensive way the people of the Book.” cooperation, decency, compassion, of life there is no distinction between Moreover, a Saying of the Prophet generosity and charity. Then they religion and politics. Islamic governance Muhammad that has been taken as work with their families, neighbours (originally called “caliphate”) is not a justification for maslahah (common and other groups in their cities and theocratic. According to the majority good) is equally applicable to Muslims countries to promote and achieve the of Muslims (the Shiites have a different and non-Muslims: “la darar wa la dirar common good based on those values. view on this), after the death of the fi’l-Islam, in Islam, no harm shall be This is also a spiritual experience Prophet his successors inherited only inflicted or reciprocated.” for a Muslim because while doing his political leadership, not his religious these things they remember God and mandate. Nonetheless, throughout Individual Responsibility they do it for the service of God and history until the colonial subjugation, Pursuit of the common good by for earning God’s good pleasure. ■ Islamic scholars played an important Islamic law and Islamic governance role in shaping the public policies of does not absolve individual Muslims Muslim majority countries. For example, from doing so as well. In several Dr Najibullah Lafraie is a the Grand Mufti had a prominent instances the Holy Quran instructs Lecturer at the University of Otago. He was Minister of position in the Ottoman courts and the Muslims to enjoin what is good State for Foreign Affairs in Sultans would rarely decide a significant and forbid what is evil, individually Afghanistan, 1992-96. domestic or foreign policy without or in groups. For example: “Be a

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 13 Story of a Little Soul BY JOY COWLEY

Sacred Mystery comes with feeling. We know this. We also know how hard it is to describe feeling. What Mystery needs is the garment of story to make it visible in words and, that no doubt, is why Jesus spoke in parables. The Mystery of God’s unconditional love calls for more stories and here is one that is close to Lent in our time and place.

magine, if you will, a neonatal clinic on the other side of what we call “death” — a place where newborn souls Iare gently tended by midwives before being sent home with God. This welcoming centre is set halfway between incarnation and the spiritual realm and has elements of both: green floor tiles, white desk and chairs, and air filled with a dust of gold light that has a living, breathing quality. Several midwives work in shifts and today it’s Suzanne Aubert who is at the desk. She has been called to give reassurance to a small soul that wants to return to its human body. “A child?” Suzanne asks the midwife. “Spiritually, yes,” the midwife replies. “But in life- school years he is 78 and this was a major stroke. He’s undeveloped, Suzanne, and he’s brought much anger with him. This may be because his body is still on a life-support system in a hospital.” Suzanne Aubert notes a shiver in the midwife’s light. “Dear Sir, you are in a house of welcome. Your body has “Did he vent his anger on you?” just given birth to your soul and this is where all souls are The midwife bows her head and smiles. “He thinks received. Some bodies have long labours, allowing their a female soul has no authority. But there was worse to souls time for preparation. Your birthing was sudden. You come. While we were talking, three larger souls passed may still be a little confused.” through. Two were Muslim and one was an atheist. He was He stops pacing. “You’re telling me I’m dead?” extremely upset.” She smiles. “No, my dear Sir, there is no such thing as Suzanne nods. “Le pauvre petit enfant. He needs love, death, only transformation. Sister, much room for God’s love. I will talk to him.” We all go through it and it’s quite simple. You come As the midwife leaves, the small soul rushes in, rippling into incarnation with a spark of God in you and that spark the calm air and causing the white walls to shake. Yes, he grows into a soul. When it is time for you to graduate from is certainly damaged. His light is pale and fractured with life school your body goes back to the earth and your soul anger. “It’s a mistake! I demand to see the man in charge!” comes to God who — ” Suzanne leans across the desk and holds out her hands. “Cut the gobbledygook!” he shouts. “I’m dead. That’s “What is your name, my dear?” what you’re saying, isn’t it? But I’m not supposed to be dead. “Name?” His voice pierces like a red-hot needle. “You are I’ve got a country to run. So help me, I’m not discussing this asking me my name? If you don’t know who I am, I’m certainly with office staff. Take me to your boss!” not going to tell you. Show me how to get out of here!” Suzanne Aubert is not disturbed. She has seen many a “I have to call you something,” she says. child frightened, angry and her voice is soothing. “I know He is too agitated to stand still. “My staff call me Sir,” he the suddenness has been a shock, dear Sir, but if you listen, snaps. “What is this crazy place? A bad dream? How do I I think I can help you understand.” wake up?” “Help?” Instead of growing calm, the small soul projects

14 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 He pauses and says in a different voice. “Huh! You think I don’t know about love? Believe me, I’ve been loved by the most beautiful women in the world — too many to count.” “Was it really love?” she asks, and when he doesn’t reply, she says, “What about your parents?” He vibrates so violently she thinks he may harm himself. “Don’t try that old Freudian nonsense on me! I had the best parents anyone could wish for! They taught me the difference between good and evil and made me the man I am!” He gathers his light together. “I’m wasting time here. Where’s the big guy?” Suzanne smiles. “Everywhere. In this place, in you, in me. Every created thing is a manifestation of God.” When she realises he hasn’t understood, she goes on. “Dear Sir, it’s very simple. Allow me to take you through it again. When we have our physical birth on earth, there is a spark of God inside us. We call it the seed of the soul. That spark of God will grow in the way we live for the common good. When the soul is ready, the body gives birth to it. Sir, you are in a place of celebration. Most souls are very pleased to be born.” His response is one of cold fury. “You are judging me!” “Not at all!” “You’re saying there’s something wrong with me because I don’t want to be here!” “No! Listen! There may be a reason for your reluctance. You haven’t entirely left your body yet. It’s in a hospital on life-support, which may be why you are still holding some body consciousness.” “So I’m not dead?” Suzanne sighs. “Let’s say your birthing is not quite complete. You are still attached.” The small soul comes closer. “So I can go back? Wake up from this crazy dream?” She hesitates, then reaches out to him. “Yes, if you are sure that’s what you want, it is possible. You can go back.” There is no opportunity to say more, for the soul flies Illustration by Lily Warrenson Lily by Illustration like an arrow through the white wall which dissolves in the itself around the walls as a ball of yellow fire, trying to passing, then is firm again. The golden light in the room find a way out. “I know what this place is! Sheep and settles into stillness. goats! Heaven and hell! It’s the Judgement Zone, isn’t For a while, Suzanne Aubert sits with old earth memories it? Where the poor slobs wait in line to get a verdict? of compassion and sadness for the pain of ignorance. She is Well, I tell you this, old woman, I’m a godly man, not some wiping her eyes when the midwife returns. idol-worshipping heathen. When it’s my time I’ll be going “It was the right thing,” says the midwife. straight to heaven.” He comes back to the floor beside her “He doesn’t know how hard it will be,” Suzanne says. desk, stressing each word. “This — is — not — my — time!” “When he starts breathing on his own they’ll switch off Suzanne remembers how she took children on her the machine. But he won’t talk or walk again. He’ll be like a knee and calmed their fears. You can’t do that with souls. puppet without strings.” You can only merge your love to be a part of them. This The midwife drags a chair over and sets it next to soul, however, is staying well out of her reach. She says, Suzanne’s. “He’ll lose his toys, the wealth, power, ambition “There is no judgement place. That’s the truth. God is pure — all that will be useless! He will have a great emptiness.” love and love never judges us. We judge ourselves. As for They smile at each other and Suzanne says, “God so heaven and hell, they are how we live on earth. Heaven is loves emptiness!” living in loving kindness to ourselves and others, and hell is “Yes,” says the midwife. “The little soul will grow.” ■ living with hate that causes harm.” “Baloney!” he cries. “That kind of talk’s a sure way to NZ writer Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, destroy civilisation! We’ve got to hate our enemies! There are grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat bad guys coming after the good guys and if we don’t destroy facilitator. She lives in Featherston with her them, they’ll overrun our country, killing us all. You want that husband Terry Coles. should happen? We’ve got to drop those bombs to stop it!”

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 15 16 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 As Fledglings Dare

new feathery feats on wings Sky-seeking, nest-returning, so the springs Of spring in us bring rising and return. We yearn For what we know not and for what we know. We go

On wings at first unsteady in their flight, fearing delight and tentative and slow, Grateful for twigs below to soften our return. Yet having dared the air at last we know why feathers grow.

We know too some slight newness in the world created by our wings as they unfurled – Unfurled a little. Feathered soon with grace, we rise a little higher, making space – space to be sure that we can soar.

We rise and hover there, see earth and air and nests and aspiration in our care.

For the Forever-Risen in His flight has made it right that fledglings dare.

— Maria Cordis Richey, RSM

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 17 available to the growing literate class, outside the universities, new editions of the works of Augustine, Jerome and the Cappadocian Fathers. He felt most Erasmus at home in the printing press of friends ICONIC FIGURE with STAR ALLURE such as John Froben, of Basel. Erasmus was no mere scholar, though. He had a vision of a less PETER MATHESON introduces the Dutchman, cluttered Church and of a spirituality Desiderius Erasmus as a visionary reformer that gave worth and dignity to daily life, to the personal and communal work and contemporary of Luther but who stayed and relationships of ordinary people. He with the Catholic Church. thought that the ploughman in the field should have direct access to the songs and prayers of the faith. He had a feel, he spotlight will be on Martin surfeit of it. Certainly that was the too, for the folly of the Gospel. One of Luther this year as it is 500 view of Catholic reformers such as his most famous and witty books isThe Tyears since his 95 Theses about John Colet, Dean of St Paul’s London; Praise of Folly. He wrote: “Christ seems indulgences sparked off what we often Thomas More, famous for his fraught to take his greatest delight in little call, rather carelessly, the Reformation. relationship with Henry VIII; and the children, women and fishermen.” But movements for reform have always superb classical scholar, Erasmus. In Erasmus sophistication was been part of the Church’s history. The Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) yoked to a yearning for simplicity, great monastic movement of the Early stemmed from the Netherlands but his innocentia. Discipleship was not about Church was launched in a desire for work had a truly European resonance. a retreat from the world, about “being renewal of Christian life. Perhaps the He was an iconic figure with star allure. religious”, but about following the best known of all reforming waves was To receive a letter from him — and his way of Jesus in the world. Key words that of the Franciscans and Dominicans web of correspondents was huge — was for him were harmony, moderation, reaching out to lay people in the a coveted distinction. Often his letters peacemaking. He said that mercenary 13th-century cities. We need to see went straight into print. You won’t go warfare and the pursuit of martial glory the Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, in far wrong if you imagine enthusiastic were a dreadful curse. He condemned the context of these ongoing reforms. teachers, lawyers, priests, monks and them in memorable terms: “Princes That’s why historians these days nuns from Spain to Hungary sporting a display brawn rather than intelligence.” speak of a multiplicity of 16th-century lapel badge: “I love Erasmus!” A superb Today we could learn much from reformations — Catholic, humanist, Latin and Greek scholar, Erasmus his passion for good communication. communal, Lutheran, Reformed symbolised for thousands of laymen and One of his intriguing insights is that and Radical. In fact, the Church women, as well as clergy, the need to get conversation comes alive not through around 1500 throbbed with reform back ad fontes, to the sources. By this he clever words on the lips of the speaker, movements of many kinds — lay, meant to study the writings of the Early or through the attentive ears of the monastic and clerical. Fathers and above all the Bible. listener, but in the space between. The culture of the 1500s was In many of the courts, cities He had a profound awareness of the unbelievably different from ours and monasteries of Germany, Italy, dynamics involved in a real meeting today. At that time the influence of France and elsewhere, little groups of minds. One mark of true humanity, the Church permeated life in a way or sodalities gathered to discuss his he believed, was civility — patient we cannot begin to imagine. Warm, writings — rather like today’s book listening to the viewpoint of those personal piety was expressed in clubs. As Erasmus’s writings were in who differ from us — real dialogue. In countless manifestations including Latin we might be tempted to dismiss the bitter controversies on everything pilgrimages, the celebration of saints’ these gatherings as élitist but their from domestic to religious to political days and Marian festivals and above members were the opinion-makers matters much could be achieved, all, in the sacraments and devotions of the age; advisers to princes, city he believed, if only those involved which accompanied every moment clerks, merchants, teachers, students would agree to sit around a table in a of individual and communal life from and poets. respectful and prayerful manner. birth to death. Some felt the problem One of Erasmus’s greatest Erasmus could wield an acidic pen. was not a lack of spirituality but a achievements was the brand new He had no patience with pomp and edition of the New Testament in 1516 ceremony, a purely outward piety. He Peter Matheson is a peace — going back to the original Greek. activist, a Presbyterian minister fiercely criticised Renaissance bishops and author of books about Luther profited from it, as did biblical and popes, such as Julius II, for their Cardinal Contarini and scholars throughout Christendom. neglect of pastoral and theological Reformation women Erasmus was alive to the potential and radicals. matters and their participation in military of the new printing press to make campaigns. A savage satire, almost [Wikipedia] Younger the Holbein Hans by Erasmus of Portrait

18 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 certainly written by him, portrayed Pope Julius being “excluded from heaven”. Erasmus and his followers campaigned for a better educated clergy and lampooned the pluralism, absenteeism and other abuses of the upper clergy. They also believed that proportions and priorities had been lost in much popular and superstitious piety. He said: “You could rush off to Rome or Compostela and buy up a million indulgences, but in the last analysis there is no better way of reconciling yourself with God than reconciling yourself with your neighbour.” His concern for the unity of the Church distanced Erasmus from Luther — who described him, predictably, as a “slippery eel”. However, the truth is that their aims and perspectives were rather different. Erasmus stood for a gradual reform of the Church which would be achieved by a better educated clergy and by nudging the laity towards a personal, inward faith. For him the worst evil was hardness of heart and the best remedy — self-knowledge. Erasmus also had his faults. He could be vain and twitchy when criticised. Some would say that he had scant appreciation of the sacramental and mystical life of the Church and tended to reduce the Gospel to a moral code. But like his great model, the 4th-century Church Father, Jerome, his long-term influence was benign and lasting. The humanist spirit he personified has nothing in common with modern humanism. His concern was profoundly religious and his championing of tolerance and moderation come close to what we would see today as a humane and liberal outlook. We can glimpse his understanding and hope in his words: “Christian mercy should not be of the ordinary kind. God is appeased by several forms of sacrifice, spiritual hymns, songs, prayers, watchings, fastings, poor clothing; but no sacrifice is more effective than mercy towards your neighbour. Since we continually need God’s mercy in all things, we should always try to relieve each other with mutual mercy and to bear one another’s burdens. With one heart and one mind we shall sing eternally that the mercy of the Lord surpasses all his works.” ■ Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 19 Mission in the Wake of the Reformation

JOHN ROXBOROGH explores how social influences and reading Scripture guided Protestant Churches to engage in mission beyond Europe.

here can be some surprises when we look at the was what was essential in the face of death and judgement. Reformation and the focus and understanding of To understand what God wanted, each person should be able Tbiblically-backed mission in the 500 years since. to hear, and if possible read, the Word of God in their own The debates sparked by Martin Luther made it clear language. Trained preachers were needed but every role and that, for those who believed that the Church of the day was station in life was thought of as a calling from God. fundamentally mistaken, the Bible was the only authority to which the Church should be accountable. Protestants Mission Focus on Europe believed that a true Church looked to the Scriptures Political and social circumstances also shaped their for how they should worship and obey God. They soon understanding. It is no accident that Presbyterian Churches discovered that the meaning of the Scriptures was not adopted a system of governance rather like the Protestant always clear. And while they fiercely affirmed the principle cities of Geneva and Strasbourg. While some, like John of private judgement, in practice, the new Churches, Knox, highlighted the text of Mt 24:14 with its emphasis like the old, depended on their leaders to interpret what on preaching to all nations, most thought of the “nations” “Scripture alone” actually meant in their particular contexts. as referring to the nations of Europe. Since Protestant rulers held sway over few places with Reading the Bible Essential non-Christian populations, it was easy to believe that As the Reformation spread across Northern Europe the “Great Commission” of Mt 28:19–20 ceased with the ordinary Christians were profoundly affected by the Bible Apostles. The fact that the Catholic Church was newly in understanding their relationship with God and their roles engaged in mission overseas did not help Protestants look in the life and work of the Church. Christian discipline still beyond their own circumstances. Catholic orders like the mattered but Romans 1:16–17 was a key text underlining the Jesuits were active in mission in the areas of Spanish and belief that personal faith and trust rather than acquired merit Portuguese conquest in South America and parts of Asia, as

20 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 well as further afield in Japan and China. If Catholics were missiologists like Joseph Schmidlin SVD engaged with doing it — it must be suspect! Among Protestants only the Protestant and Catholic mission history and built his Anabaptists and a few isolated Calvinists and Lutherans thinking on John 20:21: “As the Father has sent me, even had a sense of missionary duty. so I send you.” In time, this text underscored the shared realisation that mission is always God’s before it is ours; all Mission Focus outside Europe we do is rooted in the Missio Dei — the mission of God. It was only when Protestant rulers expanded their realms It has taken us a while to understand the dynamic through trade, colonialism and empire, that the missionary relationship between Scripture, tradition and circumstance texts of the Bible seriously began to challenge Protestant in communities and to learn to engage with people and thinking. As awareness of peoples in North America, Africa, culture to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches in Asia and the Pacific grew, Protestants become champions our time. Groups such as the International Association for of overseas mission convinced that Jesus’ charge to “Go Mission Studies bring together writers including Catholic into all the world and preach the Gospel” applied to them. Stephen Bevans SVD, and the late Protestant David Bosch In new political and social circumstances, new instruments (author of the classic text, Transforming Mission) showing of mission also had to be invented. The first Mission Societies the importance of cross-fertilisation of Catholic and had royal charters, but from the 1790s voluntary missionary Protestant learning in mission. societies, such as the Baptist Missionary Society, were Political and social circumstances shape our modelled on commercial enterprises. understanding of God’s will. In particular, an open engagement with cultural diversity helps us see that Mission Duty of All Christians the Word of God is never exhausted by the often false There was also a change in the understanding of what it alternatives generated by conflict. In times when the very meant to be a real Christian. In the 1600s, debates about idea of truth is challenged, experiences in mission across theology and worship had become so intellectual that cultures can help us believe that new insights will continue only the educated and scholarly could follow the logical to appear to refresh and lead God’s people. ■ reasoning they said was needed for true belief. Popular religious revivals for ordinary people grew up as a reaction and through the experiences of conversion and personal is a Presbyterian Minister renewal many felt the sense of being “constrained by Jesus’ John Roxborogh and an Honorary Fellow in the Department love” (2 Cor 5:14). Methodism had a mission to the working of Theology and Religion at the classes of Britain and on the American frontiers and was University of Otago. soon taking its message to the world. A sense of collective guilt for involvement in the slave trade fuelled a sense of missionary obligation as part reparation for the harm done. News of what was happening in Africa, India — and New Zealand — spread through missionary journals, letters and MAKING A Sunday Schools. To many the message sounded like a call straight from Scripture: “Come over to Macedonia and help DIFFERENCE us!” (Acts 16:9). The magnitude of human need in places like Africa and NOT A FUSS China led to the discovery of texts such as Luke 4:18–19 where Jesus applied the “social gospel” of Isaiah to himself. The Society of St Vincent de Paul has flourished in Others identified with the Pentecost narratives of Acts and New Zealand since 1867. 150 years of service, the promise: “You will have power when the Holy Spirit generosity and compassion, without fanfare or fuss. has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Others took to heart in the It’s time to celebrate the Vinnies fantastic contribution prayer of Jesus (Jn 17) when facing the lack of unity among to New Zealand life. Keep this remarkable story alive sending Churches and their missions. As understanding by joining your local Vinnies Group and making a of other religions grew past naïve first encounters, other difference in your community. Donations to our work Scriptures became relevant — Jesus came “not to destroy, are very welcome – see our website for details. but to fulfill” (Mt 5:17); Paul called Philippians (Phil 4:8) to affirm what was true, honourable and just, without regard to where such qualities might be found.

Mission and Collaboration Since Vatican II, the challenge to read the Bible as a missionary document has become an ecumenical venture and Catholics and Protestants have been learning from Society of St Vincent de Paul one another for longer than their history of conflict Freepost 992, PO Box 10-815, Wellington 6143 might suggest. The first Protestant missionaries in China TEL: 04 499 5070 EMAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.svdp.org.nz studied the preceding Jesuit missions. Pioneer Catholic

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 21 An Ecological Reading of Matthew’s Gospel

ELAINE WAINWRIGHT pays particular attention to the interaction with the environment of Peter’s house and his mother-in-law’s place in it in her reading of Matthew 8:14-15.

senses function — seeing, hearing, 8:14 When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law touching — each giving access to lying in bed with a fever; 15 he touched her hand, and the fever left the material. All of these elements her, and she got up and began to serve him . NRSV interact in the text and invite our ecological engagement.

he text I have chosen for an constitute the Galilean ministry of The Place and Houses ecological reading this month Jesus and both are rich in potential The story in Mt 8:14–15 locates Jesus Tis just two verses, Matthew for ecological readings. in a very specific place. The narrative 8:14–15. It is usually named the says he enters a house — Peter’s healing of Peter’s mother-in-law Healing Stories in Matthew house. Materially, the text evokes and it belongs among a collection of Before concentrating on the healing Capernaum’s 1st-century basalt healing stories in Mt 8–9, similar to of Peter’s mother-in-law, we can houses with their roofing constructed that of Jesus’ teachings in Mt 5–7. consider gospel healing from an of branches and clay. These houses These chapters and collections of ecological perspective. The healing were the scene of the lives and stories are framed by Mt 4:23 and stories invite readers into the economic activities of the families Mt 9:35: “Jesus went throughout profound materiality at play in the text who lived in them. (In Mt 4:13 we Galilee, teaching in their synagogues — the materiality of bodies broken, read that Jesus makes his home in and proclaiming the good news of bodies touched, bodies healed — and that town.) the basileia/kindom and curing every the stories take place in geographical, The families’ food production disease and every sickness among cultural and social habitats. and other industries were carried the people.” Teaching and healing Another key aspect is how the out in either the rooms of the house

22 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 or in the courtyard. Hence, the Not Just Healing — A Call with the other-than-human actants in ecological texture of the opening Another aspect Mt 8:14–15 is the narrative. words of the text is constituted by a not always recognised but has However, my study indicates complex mix of basalt and branches, significant ecological implications. that there is a significant story- food, clothing, bedding and perhaps We have just read this text as a line of female characters in the the multiple resources associated healing narrative within the context text, beginning with the women with the fishing industry for which of the healing collection of the in the genealogy (Mt 1:3, 5, 6, Capernaum was famous. gospel (Mt 8-9) and noted the 16) and ending with the women importance of seeing and touching. commissioned to proclaim the Jesus Sees the Woman resurrection (Mt 28:1-10). Therefore, Jesus enters Peter’s house and it’s not surprising that the Matthean sees Peter’s mother-in-law. She It is essential that community retained the story of a is introduced in language that is woman called to discipleship as seen descriptive of the violence of the we don’t dismiss the in Mt 8:14-15. illness on her human body — she is woman’s doing as the On the other hand, it is also not “cast down”/beblēmenēn as well as ordinary good deeds of a surprising that this radical story being feverish. That Jesus sees the might have morphed into a more woman functions as the initial stage woman in the household. acceptable one — the healing of a in the healing process. Ecological The significance of woman rather than the woman’s readers will note that it is seeing diakonia in Matthew’s call to discipleship. The attentive which leads to healing. It is a seeing ecological reader will note this which recognises the dis-ease, the Gospel comes from gendering of a text as much as to the brokenness, the mal-functioning Mt 20:28 when Jesus materiality encoded within that text of bodies within socio-cultural and and their interrelationships. ecological systems, all of which are in appropriates it to his own need of healing. ministry — “he came not Woman Called to Ministry to be served but to serve”. In the last phrase of Mt 8:15 the Jesus Touches the Woman woman is said to be doing diakonia Then with a shift in sensory activity or diakonia-ing. It is essential that we seeing gives rise to touching. The text However, when the form or don’t dismiss the woman’s doing as says that Jesus touches her hand, structure of Mt 8:14–15 is compared the ordinary good deeds of a woman making explicit what is implicit in with other healing narratives, we find in the household. Peter’s mother-in- touch, namely that touching and a discrepancy in form. It becomes law is doing what the women did who being touched are reciprocal in clear in the statement that Jesus sees followed Jesus to Jerusalem and right the one act. Touch is a call and a the woman and takes the initiative to to the foot of the cross (Mt 27:55). response to a call. Jesus responds to heal. Generally in healing narratives, Like them, she ministers to Jesus. The the call from the tormented body of the person requests healing or significance of diakonia in Matthew’s the woman and his touching calls for supplicants ask on their behalf. This Gospel comes from Mt 20:28 when healing from within her. shows that Mt 8:14–15 is much Jesus appropriates it to his own I think that the intimacy of touch closer to the structure of a call story ministry — “he came not to be served and being touched in the Matthean (see Mt 9:9) than a healing story but to serve”. Gospel embodies a way in which God (see Mt 8:2–4). Actually, it is exactly I hope this reading of the short is with the Earth community as we parallel to Mat 9:9 when Jesus calls story, Mt 8:14–15, will encourage saw in Mt 1:23. God is near in the Matthew, except for the phrase “the you to explore the healing stories intimacy of touch, in the meeting of fever left her”. This is the only call of Mt 8–9 further attending to the flesh, in the restoring of material/ story of a woman to discipleship of telling details of the relationships of fleshly brokenness. Touch is a key Jesus that has been preserved in the the material, the habitats and all the characteristic in the more-than- New Testament. characters in the stories. This is a human world and its healing, a world challenging but focused invitation. ■ which is home to multiple species Attending to Nuances of Story and life-forms. It is important to recognise this call Photograph: Basalt houses, Capernaum © by Todd Bolen. www.BiblePlaces.com. The final two phrases of our when reading ecologically as it makes Used with permission. narrative describe the woman’s us attentive to the manifestations of bodily change. She was being raised oppression and injustice in both the Elaine Wainwright RSM is a up and she was doing diakonia. human and other-than-human worlds biblical scholar and the Healing is manifest in material or and their interrelationships. Women’s Executive Director of Mission corporeal changes which are then participation in the Matthean Gospel and Ministry for the Mercy interpreted to make meaning within story is minimal compared to the Sisters in Australia and Papua New Guinea. the cultural sphere. centrality of male characters and even

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 23 Journeying to Emmaus KATHLEEN RUSHTON uses two artworks in her interpretation of the Emmaus Story in Luke 24:13-35.

he painting and the icon, two interpretations of and he vanished from their sight” (Lk 24:31). The kitchen the Emmaus story, are separated by nearly 400 maid represents true faith for she does not see physically Tyears and come from opposite positions around as the two disciples did. Yet, she hears the Word of God the globe. The painting is from early 17th-century Spain and believes. Anne Thurston said: “The kitchen maid and the icon from 21st-century Aotearoa New Zealand. becomes a symbol for the woman today who reads the Each can take us on a different yet similar journey into scripture with her head inclined towards what was written, the encounter between Jesus and two disciples who were listening attentively for the wisdom there, but with her feet slow to recognise that the One they were talking about firmly and solidly planted in her present reality as she asks: and to was with them. ‘What is the Good News for women now?’” It is amazing what we find when we gaze at Diego Velazquez’s painting, Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Planted Firmly and Solidly Emmaus. In the centre a young, black, kitchen maid is at An ever-new, reoccurring question arises for people with her workbench surrounded by kitchen utensils. She has their “feet firmly and solidly planted in [their] present stopped working. Her full attention and concentration draw reality” in Aotearoa New Zealand: What is Good News the viewer into the picture, into what absorbs her. She for people today? Velazquez places a poor, marginalised, leads us to follow the tilt of her head and the direction of black, servant woman at the centre. Maybe she is a bonded her eyes. What has she heard? What has she seen? labourer or slave. Her position is very different from the two disciples. We might ask ourselves who we would Planted in Present Reality paint at the centre of this scene today and what story our Framed within her picture is another painting, though character would tell. incomplete, that of the supper at Emmaus. We see the faint Phil Dyer’s 2002 icon, Meeting Christ on the Way also figure of Jesus with his hands raised blessing the bread. On places a woman in the story by depicting a couple, a man the right is a disciple leaning forward and on the left we and a woman on the road to Emmaus. This depiction see only the hand of the second disciple. In a 17th-century is supported by an interesting convergence between Seville kitchen the kitchenmaid looks back. Her scene is John’s tradition that Mary of Clopas, a relative of the juxtaposed with the time and story of the Emmaus supper mother of Jesus, was present at the cross (Jn 19:25) which we enter through her kitchen and her eyes. and Luke’s tradition that Cleopas was a disciple who This Emmaus scene captures the moment just before the shadowy figure in the background disappears for: 3rd Sunday of Easter 30 April “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him;

24 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 was in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion (Lk 24:18). good, those flowing through the plains showed the Clopas and Cleopas are forms of a rare name found only in yellows and browns of fair, intermittent and poor. these two gospels and in Hegesippus, a 2nd-century writer. Mary of Clopas, then, may well be the wife of Cleopas who Non-Violent Resistance accompanied him on the road to Emmaus. Among other Jesus himself lived in violent times. Justin Taylor SM husband and wife disciples in the early church are Andronicus points out that in Roman occupied Palestine, for those and Junia (Rom 16:7) and Prisca and Aquila (I Cor 16:19). first hearers of Luke’s Gospel, “going to Emmaus” Again, we might wonder what story a couple today might tell would mean going to join those who advocated a of their meeting Jesus on the Way. violent military option to overthrow the Romans. The icon’s setting is a rural Canterbury landscape. In the Usually Jews worked in peacefully with their foreign background is the snow-capped Torlesse Range from which rulers because, from the time of Jeremiah, they three rivers flow irrigating the plains. In his explanation of the believed that their various situations were part of icon, Phil Dyer points out that the travellers did not perceive God’s plan to chastise and redeem Israel. This view the Risen One’s presence but that creation responds with changed from the time of Maccabees when some eager expectation (Rom 8:19) “as shown by the fern fronds (but not all) Jews, began to support armed revolt. The — symbols of new life — which unfold along the path, and Battle of Emmaus (166 BCE) against the occupying silently invite the viewer to also unfold the moments of hope Greek forces was a significant victory for Judas and grace that are encountered in the course of daily life, Maccabeus (I Mac 3:40; II Mac 8:8–29). sometimes being so close that they are missed in the business The two disciples spoke “about Jesus of Nazareth, or mundaneness of living.” who was a prophet mighty in deed and word Now viewing the icon nearly 20 years later we know before God and all the people” (Lk 24:19). With that creation is responding with eager expectation not disappointment they recount how he was condemned silently but in loud lament inviting us to be attentive to the and crucified. They had hoped he was going to be greatly diminished flow and quality of water in the braided the one to set Israel free (Lk 24:20–21). “Going to rivers and also in the aquifers deep beneath the plains. A Emmaus” suggests they were joining those taking front-page article in the Christchurch newspaper The Press the violent option because they were disillusioned (24 Feb 2017) included a map sourced from the Ministry with Jesus who, as Pope Francis reminds us in his of Environment showing Canterbury rivers colour-coded World Day of Peace message, “marked out the path according to their “swimability”. While the rivers of the high of nonviolence.” After meeting, and later recognising country regions showed the blues and greens of excellent and Jesus, the two disciples returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 and their disciples (Lk 24:33). So we journey reading scripture with our head inclined towards what was written, listening attentively for the wisdom there, but with our feet firmly and solidly planted in the present reality of Aotearoa New Zealand. We can ask: “What is the Good News for people now?” At times we might be like the two confused, puzzled disciples journeying away from Jerusalem and then meeting the Risen Jesus unknowingly (Lk 24:15), the same Jesus we meet so often unknowingly. In the Emmaus journey as in our journey, we traverse a range of emotions: sadness, disappointment, confusion, gloom, bewilderment, blindness and suspense, as well as discovery, hope, joy, dawning recognition, care, non-violence, empowerment and excitement. ■

Top left: Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus, Diego Velazquez. c.1618 (Beit Collection, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. © This page: Icon Meeting Christ on the Way, written by Phil Dyer. 2002. © Copyright and used with permission.

Kathleen Rushton RSM is the Residential Scholar at Vaughan Park Centre, Auckland and is continuing her research and writing on John’s Gospel.

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 25 lection season is just around the corner. On 23rd democracy is that it allows us to vote for candidates who September New Zealanders will turn out to have represent our views and, hopefully, our voices. So how do Etheir say by casting their votes. Political parties are we have constructive conversations with people who see beginning to gear up for the campaign trail and are starting politics in very different ways from ourselves? to declare policies and priorities. Already we have seen “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you significant changes, such as the resignation of John Key don’t.” This very simple statement by Bill Nye provides and subsequent announcement of Bill English as Prime one of the keys to listening well and understanding others’ Minister, as well as Jacinda Ardern taking the place of points of view. When we enter into political discussions, Annette King as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. we are bringing our whole person with us — our culture, The lead-up to the election offers increased religion, upbringing, the sections of society that we have opportunities for conversations about politics over the existed in, our educational background and so much dinner table. Political discussions can have the effect of more. So the political views in any conversation may well polarising people and causing tensions in friendships and encompass a vast range of experiences and thoughts. family relationships. The way that we cast our vote is often It helps to make a conscious effort not to see differing deeply personal. The boxes that we tick on our election opinions as scary or wrong, but as ways to facilitate the forms encompass the very things that we value and think growth of our own ideas and thought processes. If we are important to a fair and functioning society. And it’s one approach every conversation we have about the upcoming of the few times that every voter has an equal say. In an election with openness — without assuming we know what election my vote has exactly the same weighting as the CEO other peoples’ views will be, or whether they lean to the of a multinational company. When it comes to complex left or the right — we create an opportunity to deepen issues such as the rates of child poverty in New Zealand and our own understanding and develop our thinking. By government action on climate change, it is little wonder that approaching each conversation as if we have something to we find it difficult to reconcile different views. learn from it, we are more likely to have constructive and Being able to talk about politics constructively is a non-judgemental conversations. desirable skill. The beauty of living in a representative Learning to ask our conversation partners more questions than they ask us is another avenue for developing successful political conversational skills. It follows from the approach of treating each conversation as a learning opportunity. By asking open-ended, thoughtful questions and resisting the urge to jump in with our own ideas, we are more likely to get an in-depth understanding of the other person’s opinion. Learning to ask questions well can also be a sophisticated tool for opening up the conversation so we can include our own views. Nobody enjoys being told they are wrong and changing someone’s opinion is a mighty mountain to conquer. But by asking a thoughtful question there is the chance that it will stretch a person’s thoughts on a subject in a positive way. We can always find common ground. While we may have very different opinions on, say, climate change from the person we are debating with, it is very likely that they will share something — a love of our beautiful National Parks, or the accessibility of our coastline, or wanting to PSALM 27:8 swim in our rivers. By focusing on this common ground we can engage in these crucial conversations in a non- To make a donation, visit us online confrontational and healthy way. ■ at www.caritas.org.nz

Louise Carr-Neil, an Auckland native living in Hamilton, is passionate about An appeal on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic gender equality and human rights. Bishops Conference. In her spare time she enjoys running and vegetarian cooking.

26 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 whatever hot air has just escaped the White House, we may remain blissfully unaware of what is happening elsewhere. Right now, for example, famine is sweeping South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen, threatening the lives of some 20 million people. So serious is this threat that 1.4 million children in those four countries alone are considered at imminent risk of death this year. I do not consider it a radical argument to say that the media CALLING THE MEDIA TO ACCOUNT would serve us all more valuably by covering this humanitarian disaster in- am a journalist, but I have an But as we became more depth instead of the political posturing irreconcilable and fundamental interconnected technologically, there happening in the US right now. disagreement with the media was a very reasonable assumption that I our news and media would become I do not wish to take a cheap environment I work in. Journalism shot at journalists, nor do I want has been replaced, it seems to me, by broader and more diverse. I would to discredit the media altogether. “content creation” — a response to the argue that never eventuated. Digital However, I do think our newswomen incessant hunger and commercial need news sites that sprang up with the and newsmen would do well to reflect to fill 24 hours of airtime, airwaves and meteoric rise of the Internet only on what the media environment has digital headlines with whatever is at led to the same stories being spread become and at what expense. hand. Harassed by this ever-refreshing and amplified. We can now read 40 Just like democracy, the media works daily news cycle, we forget ourselves versions of the same puff-piece across only when we’re all paying attention. It and, in doing so, forget each other. a whole range of media: what we have pains me to see that the most popular Donald Trump, the recently elected is a more comprehensive view of the stories in national newspapers are those so-called “leader of the free world”, is same news, not the smorgasbord of concerning celebrities or political froth, the very epitome of this disposable analysis we hoped for. but I understand the media is a business media phenomenon. So much publicity It is true that we now have access like any other. I’m not saying it is wrong is given to Trump and his toxic to an abundance of perspectives, but for us to be gripped by the breakup of 140-character tweets, that it is now a cursory survey of the largest news Brangelina, only that we move on to click impossible to open a newspaper — or sites leaves me with the feeling that on a more pressing and significant news an iPad application impersonating a the conversations generated aren’t story when that moment has passed. ■ newspaper — without encountering meaningful — rather, they are self- half a dozen references to him and perpetuating, content produced for the his utterances. Meanwhile the world sake of filling a commercial void for a Jack Derwin is a journalist, continues spinning — but all we can struggling industry. A regrettable glance freelance writer and pending seem to talk about is a single man. at the comment section usually only graduate plotting his return to Latin America. That’s not to say that media tunnel compounds this feeling. vision is a new occurrence. For very While we are bombarded with plain and practical reasons the news cycle cannot be expected to cover the Don’t miss out! individual and collective plights of 200- A multi-sector MON 15 - WED 17 MAY, 2017 dialogue on living odd sovereign nations. Traditionally, the joy of the Gospel SMC CONFERENCE & FUNCTION CENTRE, 66 GOULBURN ST, SYDNEY and leading mission broadsheet newspapers, “the wireless” If you strive creatively for justice, peace, and the TV evening news followed reconciliation and God’s mission of mercy in roughly the same format: domestic Australia and globally, please join us for the Mission: one heart many voices conference in current affairs first, then one or two May 2017. It is a unique opportunity to listen, stories from our allies, our neigbours converse and experience the many and diverse voices that are an expression of the and culturally familiar countries. one heart of mission. To some extent this tradition Above all, the conference purpose is to affirm, persists. Cultural proximity explains inspire, nurture and imagine. It will enable why a terror attack in France attracts participants to ‘go forth boldly’ (EG 261) living the joy of the Gospel and leading mission. days of coverage in New Zealand and Australia, while larger attacks in Kenya and Nigeria barely earn a headline. While both are tragic, one is deemed to be more interesting to audiences. Register today at mohmv.com.au

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 27 A Church in Change: New Zealand Catholics Take Their Bearings

Edited by Helen Bergin and Susan Smith generally reflecting on both the Published by Accent Publications, 2016 past and present realities of the Reviewed by Anne Tuohy authors’ experiences of Church with an eye to future challenges and ith A Church in Change: future possibilities. In diverse ways, New Zealand Catholics Take each chapter contributes to the WTheir Bearings, Helen Bergin rich landscape that is New Zealand to affirmunity while navigating the and Susan Smith bring another local Catholicism. What emerges from these changing currents of the contemporary spiritual/theological anthology to the contributions is an appreciation of both experiences of diversity comes from New Zealand scene. Like their previous the broad and the singular influences the sacramental imagination that lies publications, this book offers a wide our religious voices have contributed to at the very heart of our tradition. It range of reflections from a diverse the shaping of our land, life and culture. reflects a commitment to take the group of people centred around a From the long-held conversations mission of the Church seriously while unifying theme; in this case that of around education and social justice, still acknowledging that “we are being Church. Drawing on a variety of to the emergent ecological dialogues, prophets of a future not our own” life experiences, the different chapters it is clear that while the New Zealand (Archbishop Oscar Romero Prayer). in this book vividly demonstrate that Church may be numerically small it has In presenting thematic the time when the word “Church” certainly covered a lot of ground. perspectives into the rich and suggested a universal picture of One thing that struck me when diverse reality that is our Church, Catholic life has gone. The experience reading this book was the engagement this book offers something for of Church for contemporary Catholics with, or tension between, continuity readers across a range of ages and living in Aotearoa New Zealand is now and change. The Catholic Church has experiences. It caters to different one of diversity and change. had a long history of — and much levels of theological and religious The book is divided into three practise with — surviving in the face of literacy appealing particularly to the sections with each of the 23 chapters change and adversity. I think this ability non-specialist reader. ■

challenge, rather than fait accompli. Who Do You Say I Am? And by others, too, not just young The Christ Story in the Cosmic Context people. I recently heard Bishop Robert Barron say that we need to engage by Kevin Treston with these commenters because otherwise we let them assume there Published by Morning Star is no response. Publishing 2016 Kevin’s book is filled with Reviewed by Colin MacLeod questions. The book is designed for small group discussion in which evin Treston is an educator and people can engage deeply with writer committed to facilitating contemporary scientific knowledge Kdeep engagement with faith at and then reflect on tradition, personal and institutional levels. He has Scripture and faith. This book is not a record of taking on the complexity for the faint-hearted as there is an of being Church in the modern world overt call for significant change in with a critical but always hope-filled Church teaching and personal belief. pragmatism. His latest work,Who Do However, the science is presented You Say I Am? is exactly what readers in a balanced and coherent manner of his previous books might expect — a about the “real world” than their and the author never loses sight of challenge to look at the universe and parents will ever know. Comments the deep reality of the divine. The the divine anew. such as: “Science clearly shows that challenge is not to get swamped by From being a teacher in a Catholic God doesn’t exist”; “There is no the detail of the book but to keep in secondary school until recently, I heaven or hell”; “If there were no mind the ultimate question: Today, know the claims which often leap religions there would be no wars.” Yet here, surrounded by old and new from the mouths of teenagers blessed these statements need to be listened knowledge, Jesus asks me: “Who do with the belief that they know more to because they are often made as a you say I am?” And I must answer. ■

28 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 out to discover the fate of fellow Jesuit, Scorcese’s emphasis on silence Silence Fr Cristóvão Ferreira, who is believed to means that negative images of faith have apostasised under torture. Making prevail over positive ones. In this world, Directed by Martin Scorcese landfall in secret, they discover and there is more doubt than certainty, Reviewed by Paul Sorrell minister to small Christian communities darkness than light, sorrow than joy. which are suffering brutal persecution The driving forces of the narrative are artin Scorcese’s remarkable from the shogunate. Scorcese generates doubt, mistrust and fear. When we new film has been a long tremendous dramatic tension as the finally meet Fr Ferreira (Liam Neeson), Mtime gestating, but is well mission proceeds: while the two priests he shuffles onstage, a subdued, worth the wait. Although dealing with bring the Gospel and sacraments to defeated figure. Scorcese’s depiction intimate and very painful encounters, it their scattered flock, in so doing they of Christian faith is deeply ambiguous: generates a sense of grandeur through put them in terrible danger. by the end of the film, has Fr Rodrigues its depiction of the clash of cultures and As the film slowly unfolds, the finally surrendered the ideal of heroic ancient religious traditions, as well as its meaning of the “silence” of the title is martyrdom for a simple trust in the meditative pace and powerful evocation explored. On one level, it is the silence mercy of God? of time and place. But while stories of of the Japanese Christians who must Silence is an important contribution heroic martyrdom and steadfastness keep their faith secret. On a deeper to world cinema. The sense of under torture may have fuelled the faith level, it is, as Fr Rodrigues fears, the authenticity it elicits results from the of Catholics in earlier, more threatening silence of a God who takes no action years that Scorcese put into crafting times, how far is this kind of spirituality to save the people. There is also a it and the lengths to which the actors appropriate in today’s world? brooding, meditative silence cast over went to inhabit their roles. Garfield, for Based on Shusaku Endo’s 1966 the film, reflected in the numerous example, spent several months being novel set in 17th-century Japan, the shots of water, damp forest and figures led through Ignatius’sSpiritual Exercises storyline of Silence is simple. Two young emerging from the mists. At their most by a leading American Jesuit. However, Portuguese Jesuits, Frs Sebastião despairing, the missionaries see Japan at the end of the film, we ask: is God Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe as a desolate swamp where the new still silent, or is the “still, small voice” (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver), set faith cannot take root. discernible to those with ears to hear? ■

A delightful episode shows the parish A Parish Apart celebrating Good Friday at the river using symbols of burden and water to DVD directed by Sinéad Donnelly let go of hurts and fears and trust more Reviewed by Tony & Ruth Spelman deeply in God. The story communicates the he DVD, A Parish Apart, courage of people supporting life- produced and directed by giving change in a parish followed by TSinéad Donnelly in 2015, the process. Their vision of parish life the painful loss of energy when things offers an inspiring insight into Kiwi focused on simply loving. As young “revert to the norm”. This would be spirituality expressed with dignity, joy and old became engaged in liturgy useful for parishes committed to and humour. It is the story of Carterton and deepened their understanding encouraging lay spirituality that goes parishioners who dreamed about the of Scripture they began to notice beyond reading and music ministries. kind of parish they hoped for and what sacramental moments in their lives, The DVD can be viewed online happened over the next 13 years. moments where they sensed God at https://vimeo.com/173566656 A pastoral team worked with parish work. These understandings were A hard copy can be requested from priest Eddie Condra to lead and guide life-changing for those interviewed. [email protected] ■

Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 29 Jim CROSSCURRENTS Elliston

Atheist Worship Cabinet after he attempted to modify (See Elliston, TM Nov, 2009:30), For us God is revealed through the neo-liberal push of then Finance developing imaginative programmes creation as well as through Jesus. Minister, Roger Douglas. He resigned and spreading its philosophy to But we see “as through a glass, as Prime Minister and from Cabinet. neighbouring schools, as Pat Snedden darkly” and many correctly reject our The democratic elements of the reported in TM May, 2012:14–15. imperfect notion of God along with scheme were soon subverted. The our faulty witness. Public Service had not been geared to Not Reassuring Human nature is full of apparent respond appropriately to a devolved Volvo is launching its latest semi- contradictions, but on digging a little model of administration. A market autonomous vehicles equipped with deeper we find reality often belies model soon appeared. a Skype productivity app. NZ general appearances. An AP report recently The Ministry closed its small manager Coby Duggan announced: highlighted one such anomaly. Utah regional offices and schools lost “Volvo’s vision is to produce a atheist Gregory Arthur Clark said the contact with advisors who could seamless transition from the office to local Sunday Assembly offers social reasonably be expected to know them the car allowing us to spend less time and emotional connections for people and their special circumstances. behind a desk.” without religion, to help them through In 2014 Education Minister Hekia According to a NZ Herald life’s trials and tragedies. Abandoning Parata introduced the Investing in report, Kiwi drivers will soon be a religion can be “psychologically Educational Success (IES) initiative to able to make Skype calls from their wrenching”, Clark said. “People still tackle under-achievement and to dashboards. Duggan claimed current want to feel connected to others, abandon the competitive model in developments in driving technology without the magic and, in some cases, favour of a collaborative one. The slow will reduce the need for drivers to without bigotry.” uptake of the initiative is blamed on have their full attention on the road, insufficient consultation as well as allowing them to utilise their time Education Woes suspicion and resistance from teachers. better while travelling. A good education system is a vital Schools are encouraged to This is not a reassuring thought. component of society and for some cluster together in Communities Contemporary accident statistics years successive governments have of Learning (COLs) in groups of suggest very many drivers would do well tinkered with the remnants of former about ten. Auckland’s Point England to devote more — not less — attention Education Minister David Lange’s School was a pioneer in this regard, to the road. Life gets scarier and scarier. 1988 reforms, Tomorrow’s Schools. beginning by working closely with And then there’s President Donald Lange’s scheme was a socially deprived community Trump . . . ■ devolutionary, rejecting the market model and recognising that equality of opportunity required a flexible Address: approach. Its driving force was Independent Catholic Magazine Ltd, democratic participation in education. 52 Union Street West, Dunedin North, It envisaged Boards of Trustees 9054 TUI MOTU InterIslands P O Box 6404, Dunedin North, 9059 and a Parents’ Advisory Council (long The Independent Catholic Magazine Limited since abandoned) to help parents in Phone: (03) 477 1449 Tui Motu – InterIslands is an independent, Email: [email protected] making an appeal for assistance if the Catholic, monthly magazine. It invites its readers Email for subscriptions:[email protected] school was below par and community to question, challenge and contribute to its education forums (also a non-starter) to discussion of spiritual, social and ecological issues Editor: Ann L Gilroy rsj in the light of gospel values, and in the interests of Design & layout: Greg Hings thrash out the issues and communicate a more just and peaceful society. Inter-church and local views to the government. inter-faith dialogue is welcomed. Printers: Southern Colour Print, 1 Turakina The name Tui Motu was given by Pa Henare Road, Dunedin South, 9012 In the original scheme the Tate. It literally means “stitching the islands Board Directors: Neil Darragh (chair), Education Review Office was together...”, bringing the different races and Rita Cahill rsj, Philip Casey, David Mullin, required to monitor the schools’ peoples and faiths together to create one Pacific people of God. Divergence of opinion is expected Paul Ferris, Cathrine Harrison, performance and likewise the and will normally be published, although that Agnes Hermans, Judith McGinley op, government’s allocation of resources does not necessarily imply editorial commitment Kevin Toomey op to the viewpoint expressed. and the maintenance of the national Honorary Members: Pauline O’Regan rsm, infrastructure. ISSM 1174-8931 Frank Hoffmann, Elizabeth Mackie op Issue number 214 Lange lost the confidence of his

30 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 change. Overcoming temptation Parallel Inspiration makes us a better person. I read the Gospel of the day “be LETTERSto the Graeme Donaldson, Dunedin merciful as God is merciful; do not EDITOR judge“ (Luke 6:36-38) and I sat with Share Our World it for a time. Then I picked up my On Sunday 12th March in church, Tui Motu and read Refugees by Brian We welcome letters of comment, we read a particular prayer during Bilston — first down, then up — and discussion, response, affirmation or the “confession” which made much I am left absolutely stunned! This argument of up to 200 words. impression on me. I’d like to share it: prose/poem is incredibly powerful, The editor reserves the right “When we build our comforts and especially the lines, to abridge longer letters, while pleasures on the sacrifice of others, “Should life have dealt a different keeping the meaning. instead of sacrificing our privileges hand to build a world that all can share: Be These haggard faces could belong to We do not publish anonymous merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” you or me.” letters except in exceptional I wonder why the Churches fail to I found that the day’s Gospel and circumstances. proclaim this need to share from the the poem ran parallel for me. Many rooftops. thanks for printing this piece. Using MY Art an Honour Gerard van den Bemd, Auckland Pat Hick, Cambridge Thank you so much for using my art once again (TM March p14). I am always honored. I will keep you posted on new work in the months to There is a time for.... come. Thanks for sending me a copy “Recognise your own need or of the magazine. Steven Cavallo, New Jersey, USA mood among these beautiful photographs and use the ‘starters’ Troublesome Mass to give confidence to create Translation personal prayers” Many New Zealand Catholics are not pleased with the English translation .00 + 6.50 P & P of the liturgy in the Mass foisted on $25 us by Rome. What I am most not in “Visit our website to see the entire range” agreement with is the wording of the Freephone 0508 988 988 Our Father when it says: “Save us from [email protected] the time of trial.” I think the wording 38 Higginson Street, Otane should be: “Save us in the time of Central Hawke’s Bay trial.” No one can avoid temptation. www.christiansupplies.co.nz It is similar to death, taxation and Subscribe to Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine

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Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017 31 Bible has been banging on about this for millennia! Giving intentional focus to things that are good and noble and choosing to look for signs of resistance to the pervasive powers of injustice are what I am trying to do. At the moment I’m choosing not to read depressing or dystopic books and I am looking out for weekend movies that have more light than dark. Last week the community mental health programme I am part of held a sports programme that focused on the participation of women with psycho-social disabilities. To the surprise of many of us, it was a great LookingLooking OUTOUT andand ININ success. Older women joined in the egg-and-spoon race while the girls’ resilience groups we’ve been running n the past couple of months, I and honourable, and right, and pure, and participated in the Indian wrestling have felt a little overwhelmed by lovely, and admirable. Think about things game of kabaddi with the vigour and Ithe enormity of evil and general that are excellent and worthy of praise.” commitment of any rugby player. chaos, environmental damage and The idea of fixing my thoughts On a deforested hillside last social injustice that seems to prevail suggests a very intentional focus week, I also noticed there was a huge in every direction I look. Last month’s on changing my pattern of thinking, flowering blossom tree that somehow column was a lament on India’s glaring which is exactly the idea found in the had remained standing. There is a environmental damage. But there is psychological treatment of Cognitive resistance movement out there. I just much else that overwhelms me — the Behavioural Therapy. This approach need to look for it. huge inequalities related to gender suggests that we can choose to use a I’ve reflected on the importance of relations around me in India; the new lens on life at a time of persisting being grateful in this column before, inertia and unresponsiveness of health sadness and negative thoughts and seek but I need to keep practising it. Our bureaucrats in this land where children to find the positive in the circumstances Sunday night family gratefulness diary still die of hunger; and 70 per cent of and events of our own lives. celebrated a 10-year anniversary people with epilepsy have no access to The second biblical teaching recently. Practising these two care; let alone the antics of demagogues related to personal self-discipline disciplines won’t turn me into across the world who claim: “I am not is the injunction to give thanks in Pollyanna or some kind of perpetual politically correct” as an excuse to enact all circumstances. There are many joy-germ-for-Jesus but at the racist immigration policy. verses inviting us to be thankful — 1 moment, more importantly, they help So how do I move from paralysis Thessalonians 5:18 is one of them: me get out of bed and start on the to poise and practice? I have been “Rejoice always, pray continually, give work I need to do today. ■ thinking about how two key biblical thanks in all circumstances.” teachings on personal disciplines turn Being grateful is recognised as out to be very sound advice and are an important personal discipline for Kaaren Mathias is a mother of four young people, is married to also endorsed by scientific studies. positive mental well-being by people Jeph and has spent the last 11 The first of these is in Philippians 4:8: like Martin Seligman (Mr Positive years living and working in India. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, Thinking) and many others — and the

With an Easter touch of faithful kindness draw our focus to community God among us.

From the Tui Motu team

32 Tui Motu InterIslands Issue 214 April 2017