Malta bird hunt

A quick update.  I've been in touch with Steve Micklewright from Birdlife Malta re the spring hunt of migrating birds.  He says the Catholic Church there is still "sitting on the fence" but hopes that "as the referendum approaches we hope that they will be able to make a clear statement."  He also thinks they are embarrassed by the bizarre firing of guns from the top of a church to celebrate the patron saint of hunting  - firing blanks into the sky at birds.   What an extraordinary state of affairs.  It really does echo my thoughts given in the National Justice and Peace talk recently (see previous blog for text) that the Church so often is afraid to rock the boat and can't decide what it really thinks about nature.  This is such an obvious issue to lead from the front and I really am at a loss to understand the reticence.  Keep going Birdlife Malta.

Philippines, the environment and the Catholic Church

At least 10,000 dead, whole areas flattened and millions homeless - yet another terrible tale of natural destruction disproportionately affecting the poor.  The Philippines is well used to being battered and flooded, but this was on a different scale.  It is hard to imagine the fear of those caught in the few hours of atmospheric rage.  And now, as survivors sift amongst the wreckage for their loved ones we will see many pictures in the media of anguished and heart-broken people.

Haiyan

Last December another typhoon, Sendong, far less powerful than Haiyan, deposited a month's worth of rain in one day over the southern most island of the Philippines.  This is not a lot - a small typhoon by the standards of the area - however It left nearly 1500 dead and as many missing.

Sendong Victim

Both typhoons, the big and the small, hit the southern part of the Philippines where environmental destruction is quite simply terrible.   Logging, mining, quarrying, monoculture, land clearance for settlement etc have transformed a once richly forested area.  Natural vegetation absorbs water, tree roots stabilise the soils on steep mountains, mangroves dampen storm surges etc, etc, etc.  It is madness in such a dynamic part of the world to strip natural defences.  But after a century of such destruction for economic gain the rich are richer and the poor just as poor and more numerous -  and even more vulnerable to natural disaster.

The recent news footage post Haiyan, showed a priest saying Mass for the victims.  Many of the praying faces looked comforted because if there is one thing Christianity understands well it is suffering.  In fact of all the great world faiths it is the central role of a suffering Christ that makes Christianity of such poignancy for those whose daily lives are a battle against poverty with its accompanying torturers - mental and physical pain.

I'm glad he said  Mass in the ruins, it was a powerful image.  But for me on the grander scale it is also a sight that instills anger and frustration.

The Philippines is the third largest Catholic country on earth.  80% of the population is Catholic, that is just under 80 million people.  It is a Catholic country to its soul.  Shame then that it is one of the most environmentally devastated countries on earth.  This is a land that has literally been - and still is being - ravaged by commercial greed and over-population.  Forest cover has been reduced from 70% to less than 1% over the 20th C.

deforestation in Philippnes

Pasig river

Philippine mangroves have been reduced from half a million hectares at the beginning of the 20th C to about 100,000 hectares today - and 95% of that is secondary regrowth.  Mangroves, natures natural defences against storm surges and flooding, were ripped out to develop the coastline.

Industrial activity has polluted rivers.  50 out of the 241 rivers in the country are biologically dead.  The Pasig River which runs through the heart of Manilla is one of the most polluted in the world.

This environmental vandalism is not just a tragedy for the look of the country and for the fate of its wonderful natural history - like the magnificent Philippine eagle - it costs human lives.

Does the Catholic Church have a role to play here?  The Catholic Bishops are trying very hard in the face of massive commercial opposition.  As long ago as 1988 they wrote this statement:
What is Happening To Our Beautiful Land?

This is a wonderful piece of writing and there are many good people (clergy and lay) who are trying to do the right thing, but 25 years on the destruction continues.  The huge pressures that drive economic growth - a growth without any end point it seems - and the greed of the companies that mine, log and plant swathes of monoculture need more than one bishops conference and a handful of activists to face them.  They need the strong, powerful voice of a unified Church of 1 billion people to say enough is enough.  It needs a clear voice that sets a different agenda and shows a different example.  Simplicity, temperateness, a wise approach to money, equality and justice for people AND the natural world are counter-culture but these are values that chime with many. Is the Catholic Church the right origin for that voice?

To be honest I'm not sure - maybe if Pope Francis is allowed his vision.  But as things stand at the moment there is no clear teaching on what the Church thinks about nature.  Is it to be subdued for human use?  Or is it the face of God?  Does a Philippine eagle have the right to live or does the economic gain from mining take precedence?  Should the population growth of the Philippines continue as it is?

1.8 million babies are born every year here - although the rate of population growth is slowing.  The annual percentage increase was 2.04% in 2002, today it is 1.69%, but still one of the highest in Asia.

If the Catholic Church truly used its respected voice to show a different way - a way that urged restrained growth, shared spoils justly, saw men and women as equal, looked upon the earth not as some basket of goods but as a wonder of life, then maybe the combined Catholic voices would grow stronger and more unified.  At the moment it is too weakened by division and disillusionment.

Pope Francis looks like a man who can make a difference but he will face opposition from within and outside the church.  There are many vested interests and powerful people with a lot to lose if his vision of justice and renewal is enacted.  Let's pray for him.

Jesuit Pope and Life on Earth

 Its too early to tell how Pope Francis will re-invigorate the Church but two things strike me , one - he is a Jesuit, and two - he chose the name Francis. I have long admired Jesuits, their intellectual rigour, the lack of pomp around their manner and dress, their belief in living and working in amongst the people, their use of the imagination as a powerful tool for prayer. Many seem to be able to walk with their head in the stars but their feet placed firmly on the ground. Some of the most impressive and "real" people I have ever met are Jesuits. I was honoured to be asked to address the Superior General of the Jesuits (Father Adolfo Nicolás) at a meeting of the British Province a year ago and found him to be a gentle, charismatic man who was at once humble but insightful. I wonder if Pope Francis will have the same qualities. He seemed to exude them from the pictures on the balcony.

The Jesuits as a a worldwide order have also made a commitment to place care for the natural world at the heart of Jesuit teaching and action.  They have formulated plans and projects to promote careful, sensitive, respectful living in all their communities.  See the EcoJesuit website.

 St Francis is known for both his compassion for, and action on behalf of, the poor and for his love of nature. The legends that surround him are many, preaching to birds, talking to wolves, contemplating the stars, rescuing fish, calling an insect his sister and so on. He obviously had a deep passion for nature and one of his famous sayings is: "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." Now that is worth hearing time and again in our world today. When we see the cruelty, the disrespect and the utilitarian way much of the world treats not just animals but the whole of the natural world, then I wonder if we are just a few steps away from terrible atrocities everywhere. We are so good at de-sensitising ourselves to suffering.

 He taught that all of the natural world, animate and inanimate, are our brothers and sisters. How forward thinking is that. We still are no where near accepting what Francis knew to be true 600 years ago. We still don't accept we are all in this together, all of us are related and interdependent, for many it is too challenging a thought. But if we accept we are 98% chimp then we are also 60% fruit fly and 50% cabbage. Truly we are not that different. In his book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" Bill Bryson writes: “Every living thing is an elaboration on a single original plan. As humans we are mere increments – each of us a musty archive of adjustments, adaptations, modifications and providential tinkerings stretching back 3.8 billion years. Remarkably we are even quite closely related to fruit and vegetables. About 1/2 the chemical functions that take place in a banana are fundamentally the same as the chemical functions that take place in you. It cannot be said too often: all of life is one. That is, and I suspect will for ever prove to be, the most profound true statement there is.” That is a wonderful statement arrived at through looking at the evidence and the conclusion is earth shattering. St Francis knew it way before DNA was even heard of.

 I'm not sure we will see much of doctrinal change but we may see an awakening that some way down the road may lead to more open ground. Pope Francis seems to be someone who puts social justice (and that includes justice for all life) at the top of the agenda. The fact he uses public transport, not limos, lives in a flat not a palace etc are just wonderful ways to lead by example.  Nothing will happen quickly in terms of changing the controversial teachings, but journeys are not always about speed. As long as we can rid the Church of the image of negativity, rejection, disapproval and arrogance and welcome everyone no matter who or what they are, then it will be a Church I will be proud of.

 Pope Francis has the chance to change the mood for many people but he has to carry on doing what Francis said - "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

The M4 Shepherd

Sometimes random things stick in your mind for years, and it was many years ago I remember listening to a programme on Radio 4 about a man who is the shepherd of a flock of sheep which graze the grassy banks of a big reservoir right by the side of the M4 near Heathrow.  The sheep keep the slopes from becoming overgrown; it is cheaper and easier than mowing places that are so steep.  The shepherd was interviewed and the conversation went something like: “Isn’t it strange being a shepherd of a reservoir, especially so close to the M4 and Heathrow, a shepherd usually looks after sheep in the countryside or even mountains?”  He replied, “Not at all, sheep are sheep, doesn’t matter where they are really, the job is the same.”  What an oddity to remember, but somehow the image of a shepherd concentrating on sheep, despite the roar of planes taking off and the thunder of millions of cars zooming past, was comforting.

I know the job of a shepherd has changed beyond recognition through time.  Today shepherds ride around on quad bikes, even helicopters, and they use chemicals and trucks and all kinds of breeding techniques on their sheep, it simply isn’t the same as it was 2000 years ago.  The sentimental image of a man carrying a crook and carefully tending his flock all day in the fields has long gone, shepherds are in the modern world; the emotional involvement however is most likely still the same.  How a shepherd does the job day to day has changed, what he or she feels probably hasn’t.

In May 2009, lambing time, The Guardian interviewed a shepherd about daily life and when asked why he loves it Andy Jackman replied: "It's not a job, it's a way of life, and it's got to be treated as a way of life, because you couldn't do it otherwise. But it is extremely rewarding. And you're here now talking to me at the most rewarding time of the year." What's so nice about it? "Life," he says immediately. "Life. Life is coming up in front of your very eyes. And you're helping to bring life into the world."  No change there then, the heart of the job is still the same.  Andy Jackman didn’t say he loved it because it was in the countryside or up a mountain, but because it was about life.

This image has been stronger in my mind the last few weeks as the Catholic Church charters stormy and unknown waters.  This vast and traditional institution faces change and it is notoriously slow at changing.  The media is baying for a shift in position and transparency; the laity is unsettled and disturbed by the accumulating mass of crimes and cover-ups (or head-in-the-sand approaches).  The public shaming of Keith O’Brien has been a severe blow.  How will these senior shepherds re-group and focus in Rome over the next few days with so much pressure?

The image of a shepherd doing the job of tending no matter how fast life zooms around is a good one.  The job of a leader is to stay focussed and lead through change, not to ignore it or be carried away by it.  The M4 shepherd and Alan Jackman are modern shepherds who operate in a contemporary world whilst still doing the basic job of caring and managing.  So it is with the leaders of the Catholic Church, it is imperative not to be tied to a past that no longer exists but at the same time hold firm to the basic instruction of Jesus to “feed my sheep.” Change is inevitable and often good but if change is always regarded as wrong then the leader can no longer lead successfully in a dynamic world, and the sheep suffer.  I’ll be praying for calm wisdom and courage as the media storm whirls around the Vatican and I’ll also be praying for healing for all those who have been hurt, wronged and degraded as the walls crumble.

Letter to the New Pope

I can't imagine popes ever read letters from the masses but here is one for the new pope, whoever that may be.

Dear Pontiff

When the first astronauts went into space and looked down on the earth they were overcome by the sight of our planet whirling in a vast blackness.

“If somebody had said before the flight, ‘are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?’ I would have said, ‘no, no way.’ But yet when I first looked back at the earth, standing on the moon, I cried.” Alan Shepherd.

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the earth.  I put up my thumb and shut one eye and my thumb blotted out the planet earth.  I didn’t feel like a giant, I felt very, very small.” Neil Armstrong.   

“As we got further away the earth diminished in size.  Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine.  That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart.  Seeing that has to change a man.” James E Irwin

“My view of our planet was simply a glimpse of divinity.” Edgar Mitchell.

In more fanciful moments I like to imagine that if those astronauts had opened the window of the space ship and listened they may have heard the planet as well as seen its beauty, a planet that sings 24/7.  All of life sings; human voices merge with those of birds, mammals, amphibians, insects and fish to produce a cacophony set against a backdrop of wind, water and storm.  Songs of praise to the author of the universe are mingled in there too, constantly chanted by the faithful round the globe; their songs are focussed directly at God and we instinctively raise our faces to the heavens to voice our praises. As far as we know, and we know very little, we are the only singing planet in a universe so vast we cannot describe it.

It is hard however to keep these observations in mind when there is so much to take us away from the stars and so many problems that press in with such urgency.  Inevitably the day to day-ness of life takes precedence.  For me that is one of the reasons for prayer, all Christians must keep their feet on the ground but have their head in the stars if they are to maintain a sense of the wonder of God as well as care for those immediately around them.  As you take office and survey the Catholic world over which you have the onerous role of leader, I wonder if the miracle of a singing planet will blend colour into the many decisions that lie ahead?

No one of any learning can fail to be aware of the litany of huge problems this bright jewel in space faces; struggling to supply the needs and wants of 7 billion people - rising to 9 billion soon. If we are all  to live with dignity and without hardship (perhaps even face death) then these problems are not only pressing, they are of paramount importance.  But it is not to these that I want to highlight, it is to the small, ordinariness of life, the little things, the humdrum life on earth that I would like you to remember every single day in your communion with God.

A great leader must keep their eyes on the distant horizon and see the path many miles ahead. Their job is not stumble on the immediate obstacles that are strewn over the ground and that easily trip up those with less vision, but to negotiate them with skill, whilst always journeying onwards.  Great leaders however must have acute peripheral vision too, they must be aware of what is happening on the edge of the mainstream, small things that often go unnoticed in the clamour all around.  It is important to notice that bright butterflies no longer bedeck the bushes in the garden, that swifts no longer soar in great numbers overhead in June, that roadside verges are less colourful that they used to be. These are seemingly small, inconsequential matters that pale into trivia compared to the changing state of the atmosphere or world poverty, yet they represent a slow but relentless diminishing of the face of God on earth.  Abundance is disappearing from this singing planet and its song is softer these days, still beautiful, still exuberant, but quieter.  The creatures and the plants that supply the joy of the ordinary day are slowly but surely getting thinner on the ground and along with them our ability to daily rejoice.

Anna Frank understood this all too well: “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” Whilst her incarceration in a drab world was imposed, we seem intent on re-creating her prison outside by allowing the colour, the sound and the diversity of life on earth to eek away. This planet does not have the character of smooth paper written over with a steady, careful hand, it is more a Jackson Pollock, a riot for the senses and a source of joy, wisdom and mystery.  Daily another blob of colour is removed.

There is a malady that affects us all, says Michael McCarthy, “a great thinning we cannot quite name,” that is “far subtler than the hacking down of rainforests... a profound change to the very fabric of life.”  The fact that there is a great deal less of everything may seem a shame, but it is more than that, it is a tragedy on every level.  Not only are we degrading the gift of life on earth, the face of God in the very stuff of life, we are observing cracks appearing in the dam wall.  At first a few are irrelevant to the ability of the wall to hold fast against increasing pressure building up behind, but as the cracks appear more frequently the dam can suffer a catastrophic failure.  If this does happen then the earth will not be able to pollinate enough crops for us to grow, supply enough fresh water for us to drink, and the soils will be as unproductive as sand on the shore.

Christ taught us that it is in the everydayness where God is to be found, in the quiet, holy routine of day-to-day life.  The natural world is suffering greatly, not necessarily only the spectacular and impressive like tigers and polar bears, but the ordinary, common things that make up the palette of daily life.  Remember them in your prayers, prove that they matter in your words and actions and help us to protect all of life on earth by bringing the holiness of the living world to the fore.  If it remains a sideshow, a matter of inconsequence, then species after magnificent species will slip quietly into oblivion and we will find that the rich, miraculous carpet we ride on through space will fade and then fail to support us.  God will surely hold us to account.

The Future of the Amazon

Here is the interview I did with a Brazilian Bishop on the future of the Amazon. he was a sincere man who obviously has a great feeling for the greatest rainforest on earth.  However there is an error - the new forest code is trying to reduce protection, not increase it!  I've asked The Tablet to correct this next week.Voice of the Forest

Tina Beattie has just published a thought provoking and challenging article called "The Catholic Church's Scandal: Modern Crisis, Ancient Roots."
It is well worth reading if you are interested in a historical look at the mindset that could have produced such terrible abuse. It is a courageous article and I agree totally with Tina.

The Tablet is, and has been for weeks, full of articles/letters/analysis of the crisis and how it is being handled - for those of us who are lay believers it is all very distrubing. I personally feel this could be a time of great renewal and grace for the Catholic Church. A time to reassess what is important, who should be considered fit to lead and a time to leave behind an obsession with clericalism. My only hope at the moment is for justice and peace for the thousands who were affected by the abuse. A letter in this week's The Tablet explains beautifully why this man is still a priest and still holds dear to his beliefs. Fr Joseph O'Hanlon from Canterbury writes:

"I shall remain a Catholic priest. But it will be priesthood lived in sorrow and in repentance that such sins have been committed in the name of all that is holy. I shall live with the bewildered people of God who cannot comprehend what has been done by those raised to the altar, with a people scandalised by those who have covered up crimes which call out to God for vengeance. I shall continue to believe that Chris is risen. But I remain convinced we are not."

Tablet Article

Not written up the Windsor experience yet, still recovering. But here is an article in this week's Tablet about green things and the life of a parish: Preach the Green Word. It worked well for Clifton Cathedral where we ran a year of events about the environment - see Sound of Many Waters.