Pray the News » Gerard Whiteford

One Word – Dislocation

Denis — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:16:41 +0000

I am a resident of Christchurch city and like many thousands of other men, women and children were awoken rather abruptly by a 7.1 earthquake in the early hours of Saturday 4th
September. Much has happened between that Saturday and today as I write. I have had time for an reflection which have been significant to me.

Four days after the earthquake we celebrated the Birthday of Mary (8th September)and I have never celebrated the feast so meaningfully. Why? It is summed up for me in the word
‘dislocation’. The Gospel proclaimed at the liturgy for that feast-day was the account in the Gospel of Luke of the Annunciation. This Gospel I have read many, many times, however to read the passage with the ground quite literally still shaking beneath you adds a realism to the event in that young woman’s life.The nicely planned life of Mary is thrown into disarray. I never really appreciated the shock (and possible trauma) that the ecounter with the angel brought into Mary’s life. I now have possibly some idea. My life was running pretty smoothly, well planned out, comfortable living environment, appreciative community members, a ministry that is fulfilling and – wham – it is all turned upside down and inside out with a 7.1 earthquake.

Mary, had her life all planned; betrothed to Joseph, she was to remain a virgin, enter into marriage at the appropriate time and remain a faithful and dutiful wife according to the Law and custom of her people.Oh no! Quietly at prayer, there is a knock on the door, “Who is it?” (earthquake No.1) “Only me, Gabriel” Oh just an angel visiting! “G’day! (Gabriel obviously had Aussie ancestory) “Guess what, you are to become mother of the Most High” (earthquake No.2), “But how since I am a virgin?”, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you” (earthquake No.3).

Now I can no longer live in the Parish house, ministry is disrupted, ‘things’ I use to rely on lie locked away in an inaccessible building – and the ground continues to rock!! As it did for Mary consequent to her saying yes! Saying yes can bring aftershocks that continue unabated.

I am closer to Mary now than I have ever been in 37 years of professed religious life!

Poor vocabulary

Denis — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:58:24 +0000

Maybe the issue here is our lack of vocabulary rather than any intent to show affection. The English language only has one word for love and it is used interchangeably for almost everything. We can say I love my husband, or my wife and I love chocolate or McDonalds. Each is using the same word and it is only in the context that we can ascertain the difference.

The word love in the English is almost invariably associated with romantic love. The Greeks, on the other hand, have four different words to describe love. Each word gives a different nuance to the word that helps us to understand more fully what is being spoken of. The four words are Eros, Storge, Philia, and Agape. Eros is a love based on attraction; Storge is what we find in families between different members; Philia, is a love of kinship and shows itself in altruism; Agape, is the unconditional love for others in spite of their character flaws and weaknesses.

It was once thought that the Inuit people (Eskimos) had an unusually large number of words for snow – and it was presumed this was as a result of the influence that said snow had in their life. However research has discovered that rather than there being a large number of distinct words, what the Inuit people had done was to add a suffix or prefix to their word for snow to give a specific description to ‘this snow’. For example ‘snow on the ground’, ‘drifting snow’, ‘falling snow’. And maybe this is a possible solution for ourselves. And wouldn’t you know it, we do it already! Take the word “paint “. We have oil-paint, acrylic paint, water-colour paint. Adding a prefix describes and defines “paint”.

Maybe rather than stopping loving, we become more vocabulary rich! God is love (agape) after all!

The one cruel fact we do know

Denis — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:19:24 +0000

I had a very interesting discussion about the incident earlier this week. The discussion moved between items like ‘when do the police decide to pursue?’ ‘Who makes the decision to begin the pursuit, who makes the decision to stop?’ And an interesting line I had never before considered was put forward, namely, that the ones pursuing may be little older than the one being pursued and does this construct a lethal mix? We discussed ways of changing the law so that fast cars could not be purchased by individuals under a certain age (we never decided what age?) There was talk of the lethal mix of alcohol and fast cars; of “showing off” to gain attention! (To my knowledge there was no mention of alcohol being involved). Then I got all psychological about young people having no real sense of mortality (one of the key signs of mid-life!). The sense of “it can’t/won’t happen to me.”

Valuable as the discussion was I returned home with a FIF (funny internal feeling), and just as I was climbing into bed it dawned on me that neither of us had made any mention of the fact that a life had been lost! The one, cruel fact that we did know was that a young life had ended. And that fact has immediate impact and consequences for family, relations, friends, workmates and any others who had any connection with this young man.

May he know the mercy of God.

Why did I hestiate when asked my occupation?

Denis — Sun, 30 May 2010 06:49:09 +0000

I am a Roman Catholic priest. Recently I returned from a journey to Australia. Midway through the airplane journey both from and to New Zealand the stewardess handed out the Immigration Form which needs be completed prior to arrival. One of the ‘boxes’ that needs be filled out has the heading “Occupation” – Usually, I complete this ‘box’ by writing in ‘Catholic priest ‘. On this occasion, I hesitated. I have yet to fully process the source of that hesitation; was it fright, anger, shame, insecurity? What I do know is that, for the first time I became really aware that I was one of a group of men who have been in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, namely the sexual abuse of minors.

I wish to state categorically that I regard the sexual abuse of minors as a criminal offence and needs be reported to the criminal authorities and be dealt with by them. To me that is just. I cannot and will not make apologies for priests who have been involved with the sexual abuse of minors. However, we need be reminded that what we know now of sexual abuse and paedophilia, we did not in earlier times. It has been acknowledged by Church authorities both within New Zealand and elsewhere that the handling of cases and persons was ill-conceived and tragic mistakes were made. There is, now, within the New Zealand Church, a careful, transparent and robust process for dealing with any complaint of sexual abuse. There is no evidence that celibacy causes priests to abuse children. Neither is there any evidence that homosexuality is a cause for the sexual abuse of minors. Throughout our society, most such offenders are not celibate or homosexual. Rather they are married or have a sexual partner.

I do not consider justice diminishes the virtue of charity. The picture I have in my imagination at the moment is the front page cover of TIME magazine of some years back which showed Pope John Paul II visiting his would-be assassin Mehet Ah Agca. The cover picture shows John Paul II holding the hand that held the gun that was meant to kill him. This moment takes place within the confines of a prison cell!

I believe I am being called to a Gospel spirit of justice, compassion and mercy. Where there is evil and wrongdoing it needs to be brought into the light where it is met with justice. Those who have been wronged need experience the compassion of Christ. Those who have offended need be shown mercy.
Abuse is not healed by further abuse. Hurt cannot heal hurt.

Millions for Rugby World Cup

Denis — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:21:52 +0000

I’m no social scientist and the intricacies of benefit payments I find difficult to follow; however I am reasonably in touch with the Gospels and the message of Jesus and the recent news about shifts in benefit payments has had me asking myself, “is our government based on any Christian principles, or is it more about balancing the books?”

I hear with some regularity that we have to tighten our belts, we are not out of the recession yet! etc, etc. And yet millions of dollars can be found, with apparent ease, to help fund the Rugby World Cup, or to assist with an America’s Cup yachting challenge.

Of course these events will showcase New Zealand to the world – yeah right, says Mr Tui!!

What if we showcased to the world a New Zealand where the sick, the lame, the poor, those in prison were treated with a dignity that helped them in feeling whole persons.

One disability does not make you an in-valid. I know from personal experience.

I can also verify that a helping hand given in love can go a long way in bringing a sense of self worth.

The Grass is always greener on the other side

Denis — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:09:40 +0000

When I am presented with a new (or maybe simply an alternative) way of proceeding, I acknowledge I am cautious. That cautious approach often presents itself as hesitancy and often at looking why the “idea” won’t work. It is a great way to kill the imagination and creativity of the dreamers. Jesus ran into trouble with political and religious leaders of his day by presenting something “new”, an alternate way of doing things. You can eat and drink with prostitutes, sinners and tax collectors. You can heal on the Sabbath. You can receive water from a woman at the well. And LIVE. (and you know it hasn’t always been done this way; only as far back as I can remember as it been done this way)My experience of farming is very limited; my experience of dairy farming is non existence, so whether this “cubicle” farming will be good or detrimental to the cow’s health or not I am unable to say. Whether the milk be significantly different from “free range” cow’s milk I have no idea. I have heard it is not so much about the cows per se as the environmental impact on the area from the amount of water being drawn off and waste products being collected etc. What has caught my attention is what is perhaps the generic question underlying this, namely, how do I react or respond to a “new” idea? Now “cubicle” or “stall” farming is not radically new. It is in fact a common practice in many northern hemisphere countries (and maybe that is why we place a cow in the crib at Christmas!) However, we in New Zealand are used to seeing cows in the padlock quietly munching and then once or twice a day making that trek to the milking shed and back. That’s the way it is done here. And just maybe that is the issue. I remember reading of the strife the Ford Motor Company experienced when Henry Ford insisted that they keep producing the Model T when other motor companies were producing bigger, brighter, cars. The company was near bankruptcy due to the intransigent stance that Henry Ford took.

Reawakening to Life

Denis — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:25:55 +0000

Reflecting on this marvelous story of the successful separating of conjoined twins has raised this question for me. It concerns the preparation that surely preceded such an operation. No doubt a team of medical specialists sat down on a number of occasions and carefully planned the sequence the operation would take. Each would contribute their expertise and experience. Each realising that their part was critical to the whole. There may well have been some initial disagreements.

Each had before them always a greater good namely offering a new way of living to each of the sisters; this greater good no doubt was the driving force behind all they considered and guided their decision making. Altruism was the fuel that was being burnt!, and long into the night! 32 hours for the entire operation.

My question I hold is what would happen if a similar kind of altruism burned during all those International Committees and Conventions and Convocations and Delegations etc when groups from around the world meet to discuss climate change, world poverty and disease, unfair agricultural sanctions? What would happen I wonder if all the pharmaceutical companies rather than competing for “their” answer to AIDS (and of course the huge financial windfall) actually pooled their knowledge and clinical trials? I suspect there would be an answer to AIDS within a very short time. I concede, I am no scientist, however I do know that greed and power do not live so comfortably with altruism.