THE WALDENSIAN REVIEW No. 116 Summer 2010 Editor: Mrs Erica Scroppo Newbury, 85 St Andrew’s Road, Cambridge CB4 1DH. Telephone 01223-315753, email [email protected] From the Editor Dear Friends and Supporters, Thank you to those of you who found the time to send me your views and suggestions for the Waldensian Review and its future. Thank you also to those who spoke to me about it. Well done to those who spotted the ‘esoteric’ remark that slipped through the proof correcting. All the others, according to the old Italian saying ‘Chi tace acconsente’, ‘Who doesn’t speak agrees’, I assume like the magazine as it is and don’t think there is need to change it or improve it. If necessary many would be happy with just one issue a year provided that size and content did not change too much. What in the end was decided at the Committee Meeting in March is that we shall have one printed 16-page magazine per year (in late Spring or early Summer) and a 2–4-page newsletter before Christmas. This should keep everyone happy and up to date about what is going on in Italy and in the Waldensian Church. It should also save us some money. Indeed the financial situation is a bit worrying and not just for the Wal- densian Church Mission. All the Churches are feeling the pinch and we have just found that there are no grants available to help us with the support of ‘our’ student Luca Ghiretti who is to spend one year studying for an MA in Pastoral Theology at Wesley House in Cambridge. He’ll be coming at the end of September and we are asking everyone to help us in supporting Luca’s final year of training for the Ministry. As I have previously explained in these pages, we as a Committee have chosen to help in those fields where the Waldensian Synod has voted not to provide any State money. It is my personal opinion that that Synod decision ought to be re-examined. However, meanwhile we try to help Church life and Evangelisation, which is what Italy really needs. We have therefore decided to fund once again the youth Bible studies in Sicily. These are accompanied by regular meetings and social get-togethers for young people from all the churches throughout Sicily. We have also sent a donation towards the repair of the old windows in the 19th-century church of Riesi, since the situation had become so bad that in winter the building could not be properly heated and was getting increasingly damp and damaged. Once again thank you for your continued concern and interest, your prayers, and your financial help. I myself look forward to seeing you on 9 October at our annual AWAYDAY so that I may have the opportunity of thanking you in person for all your steadfast support. ESN, Editor Cover photo: Procession to the church where a service would mark the fast as part of the protest against a very unpopular Immigration Law proposed by the Government. AWAYDAY 2010 9 OCTOBER, 10.20–4.00 French Protestant Church, Soho Square, London 10.45 am Rev Mike Thomason: My life as an Army Chaplain so far … Mike Thomason is a URC minister and Army chaplain. For the Waldensian URC Fellowship he led several youth trips and during one of them he met his future wife. 11.50am Professor Janet Soskice: The path that led me to writing Sisters of Sinai Janet Soskice is Professor of Philosophical Theology at Cam- bridge University and her book on the Scottish twins has been a great success. 1–2 pm Lunch (bring your own, drinks provided) 2 pm AGM Erica Scroppo Newbury and Eric Murray will report on the Synod, the Waldensian Church and Italy and the work of the Mission Mark Stephens will report on the financial situation. Luca Ghiretti, the Italian Methodist student at Wesley House, will give a short address to the gathered friends. Tea, bookstall, CALENDARS and delicious Italian ‘biscotti di Debora’. Please PUT THE AWAYDAY IN YOUR DIARIES NOW SINCE, in order to save all funds for the Mission, WE ARE NOT going to SEND reminders or INVITATIONS! WALDENSIAN CALENDARS 2011 Very beautiful again, stunning views of the Waldensian Valleys and Bible verses in five lan- guages as usual. Still cheaper than commercial counterparts £7.50 (p&p included). Please SEND cheques (payable to Walden- sian Church Mission) to: Milvia Walker, 19 Forest Approach, Woodford Green, IG8 9BW. REMEMBER to include your address! You can have them sent directly to your friends: 1 If you want to do it cheaply yourself you can roll them up in some brown paper. Once in place they will fall flat and make a special addition to any kitchen, study, hall … From the Chairman Dear Friends, It has been a delight to write reporting on the Waldensian work we’ve helped develop and sustain in Italy and Sicily, a real privilege. But this year I want to share a stark fact which won’t surprise you. We are facing financial dif- ficulties. No, we are not insolvent! But donations are dropping severely and general income from shares and legacies have more than fallen. So we have to tighten up on what we are doing, sustain what we have committed ourselves to, and be careful about what new work we can undertake. It means too that we shall have to take steps to replenish the funds that we have to rely on, and that can’t be a bad thing because when expansion comes we need the funds to do it with! So what are some of the steps we are taking? One idea is to limit the Re- view to one edition per year, designed to review the work we have done and plans for the future, and it will come before the AGM with details of dates, speakers, etc. Then in place of the autumn one, we could have a slim broad- sheet, appeal based, news about the calendars, etc. ... Erica raised a range of exciting possibilities about the Review in the last issue, and about ways in which individuals and churches could help us. Look it up and see what you could do, and get in touch with her. Then we are usually committed to a major project too. This year it is in supporting Luca Ghiretti, the student minister coming to Wesley House, Cambridge. The Waldensian Church finds this part of a student minister’s training so important in developing all that the Church does. It is well known for its evangelical and spiritual outreach, and also increasingly highly regarded for its work in the community. So much so, that last year the President of the Senate said in his letter of greeting to the Waldensian Synod that they were regarded as the Protestant Conscience of Italy. No mean accolade! And we play our part in helping build up its growing ability to meet the needs of the modern world. So I am asking you now: ‘Please see what you can do and give to help us’. God bless and keep you, Yours, Eric Murray 2 AWAYDAY 2009 On 2 October we had another inspiring talk by a member of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion: this time it was by its Director, Dr Denis Alexander. As an evolutionary biologist and a Chris- tian, Dr Alexander spoke about the ‘theme of the year’: Darwin and Evolution, claiming that there is no need to choose between Creation or Evolution, mainly because they are two very different things. It is the dogmatic perspective of secularists such as Dawkins, who see God and Science as rivals, which Dr Denis Alexander. has created a previously non-existent problem. All this has also engendered an equally dogmatic coun- terpart: ‘Creationism’. The point is that the same problem can be analysed from different points of view and at varying levels and this applies also to the Book of Life, which can be observed and analysed from Scientific, Ethical, Aesthetic and Religious points of view, all of which are equally, if differently, important but which are certainly not in conflict with one another. Religion answers different questions from Science and scientists can only describe and interpret the how of what God has created. Why the Creator did what He did is considered second-guessing that does not concern serious Science. We are made in His image, not Him in ours. Neither is it the task of scientists — who anyway would not have the means — to prove the existence or non-existence of God. For us believers, God is the Composer and the Conductor while Creation, in which He is im- manent, is still a work in progress which is happening all about us now. The idea that Science and Religion must be in conflict is a recent assump- tion, which stems from a misplaced idea concerning the nature of both Science and Religion. At the same time the image most atheists have of God is often a risible parody of some tribal totemic divinity in which no Christians could recognise anything they believe in. Science and religion have been intertwined from the beginning of hu- man thought and the birth of modern Science goes back to Newton’s deeply rooted religious beliefs. Even in more recent times, Evolution did not create any conflict within the Churches: on the contrary, Darwinism was widely accepted into Christian theology soon after the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 and indeed since then historically mainstream religions have had little problems with evolution.