REFLECTION FOR FEBRUARY 2013    PETER MILLAR

                              petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

SCOTLAND’S CARDINAL

 On the eve of his departure for Rome to take part in the election of the new Pope, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic has been propelled by Pope Benedict to an abrupt resignation. This sudden fall from grace for the cardinal, who is shortly to be 75, was because a few days ago a UK newspaper revealed that three serving priests and one former priest in the diocese had made public accusations about his “inappropriate behaviour” toward them in the 1980’s. Keith O’Brien has denied the allegations but in his parting statement he ambiguously apologised for any failures in his ministry and to those he had “offended”. He will not now take part in the election of the new Pope.

Professor John Haldane of St Andrew’s University who is a leading Scottish Catholic and an adviser to the Vatican, called the resignation “shocking and sad”, and many people in Scotland have spoken warmly of the Cardinal’s ministry and his place in public life over several decades. I did not agree with many of Keith O’Brien’s pronouncements, but I feel sad that his ministry has ended in such an abrupt way. It would be an impoverished spirit who could not feel some sympathy for him. Our thoughts also go out to the priests who have made the accusations. They too are hurting. His resignation has also created a further crisis for the Roman Catholic  church. That too is sad for all of us who are concerned about the work and witness of the whole church in our time.

This speedy resignation shows clearly how sensitive the Roman Catholic church has become towards sexual scandal. As one writer said, “The long years of circling the wagons are over, at least in the developed world. Cardinals now get the same treatment as priests. There was a time when complaining about your bishop or cardinal to Rome was a one-way ticket to a posting on Craggy Island. There are probably still a great many crimes or misdemeanours that a priest with a sense of self-preservation would hesitate to denounce his superiors for – but it seems that sexual abuse is no longer one of them. This is progress, though slow and belated.”

Here in Edinburgh in May at its General Assembly, the Church of Scotland to which I belong, will once again be discussing the situation  in relation to gay women and men in the Christian ministry. This is a debate within all the churches which has gone on ceaselessly for years - as if human sexuality in its multiple dimensions was the thing that mattered most to God. It is a debate which has brought in its wake, among much else, deep hurt, alienation, anger, separation, judgment, hypocrisy and divided families and churches.  What God must make of it all is beyond our limited human imagining. I am sure the One who holds us all weeps over things other  than sex.

In my own understanding,  I believe that Christians are called to live what has been called over the centuries  “a holy life”. There is within that quest a sub-text which we can describe as a “vision of perfection” which in our deeper selves we know to be unrealistic. Unobtainable. There are some forms of perfection that are damaging even to try for. The demand on Catholic priests (except the married ones who not so long ago fled to Rome, from the Church of England because they refused to accept women clergy!) to live through each day as if sex was something that happened to other people is absolutely unrealistic. I think such an understanding is actually opposed to the liberating news of the Gospel. Many priests and nuns think that too.

Priests are sexual men – just ask them!  Often highly sexual individuals which is why in some cultures (such as the Philippines) they are allowed to have unofficial  hetrosexual  families. Yet outwardly – and this is true also of the present debate on gay ministers in the Church of Scotland – the churches refuse to creatively engage with the reality which is human sexuality. It’s all too messy: too complicated. ( I remember Dorothy and I being told by some of our clergy colleagues in the Church of South India that they could not accept female priests in case they gave birth while serving Communion!  Honestly, that is true.) Thankfully their view was not a majority one, and  today there are some great women priests within that church. For my own part, I always thought God’s heart would celebrate and joyfully accept such a birth taking place in the sacredness of a church building and in the midst of a praying people. Others thought differently!

The sad fall from grace of the Scottish cardinal once again shows that making certain human beings accept moral standards which by and large are unrealistic often takes us down a road not of a more profound, engaged, compassionate and joy-filled spirituality but one marked by hypocrisy and human torment. That is not to say that if an individual chooses celibacy we should not honour such a decision. Of course we should, but that remains a different issue.

Over the years in some of my books  I have written about the need for us  to be more tender with one another when it comes to the area of human sexuality. At various levels we are all vulnerable and carry moral frailty, and it is a gift from God if we have enough self-awareness to face these fragmented parts in ourselves. To be able to accept personal vulnerability and inner contradiction opens  us to a more genuine empathy with others. And in that fact is real hope.  God’s hope.

Fred Kaan’s well-known and prophetic hymn says it so well:

                                         Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us,
                                         teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
                                         Be present,  Lord among us and bring us to believe
                                         we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.
==================================================================================                        For details of my new book book just Google   -    www.ionabooks.com
It is called:      “A TIME TO MEND : Reflections In Uncertain Times”   and is published by Wild Goose Publications, Glasgow, UK.  The ISBN number is:   978 – 1 – 84952 -247 – 2.

Thank you again for your many e-mails from many parts of the world. So many of us are engaged in seeking  greater justice and truth within our wider human family. It’s inspiring to think of that when  much around us is uncertain. I find Richard Rohr’s  short daily meditations which you can get through your e-mail very helpful. They  come freely . All you need to do is to Google -  “Richard Rohr” and the details will come up. He like many of us, is committed to an engaged Christianity.

To ponder:                   GOD MATTERS.  THE WORLD MATTERS.  WE ALL MATTER TO GOD.