Author: Margot

The King and Queen in Wisley Gardens

Posted on By Margot

Today we went to see the King and Queen at Wisley. And there they were, bethroned in splendid majesty, holding court at the head of the Canal. Serene, timeless, unchanging, a fairy-tale couple in a fairy-tale world.

Henry Moore’s sculpture came to Wisley Gardens in February this year, on loan until the end of September. And now there is a stay of execution, the loan has been extended “due to popular demand”. Of course it would be lovely if this work of art could find a permanent home at Wisley. Great gardens need great sculpture, and the garden at Wisley could be a really great garden for the whole human being, a place of beauty and for education. The RHS would answer that Wisley Gardens is a place for education, this is their focus, they campaign for school gardening, Wisley Gardens hosts a Clore learning space. Their remit is education, to pass on skills and knowledge and the love of gardening. This is not education for the soul, but for the mind and the body. Not for the soul.

Great art brings transcendence. Great art lifts our experience to a different plane, so we become a different type of human being. Great art is about our humanity. Great art places us on Dover beach, and demands that we call back the ebbing tide, so once more the sea of faith surrounds us.

And so, the King and Queen sit in state at Wisley and remind us of who we are, men and women, women and men, at once part of, and transcending nature.

References:

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

Henry Moore Foundation

The death of a liberal – Cardinal Martini (1927 – 2012)

Posted on By Margot

As the Synod of the Family is underway in Rome (October 2014), perhaps the words of Cardinal Martini should be remembered by all the Bishops in an interview just before his death:

“Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up. The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the Pope and the bishops. The paedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation” (‘ADDIO A MARTINI, “Chiesa indietro di 200 anni”, L’ultima intervista: “Perché non si scuote, perché abbiamo paura?” Corriere della Sera, 1 Settembre 2012)

Like Pope Francis, Cardinal Martini was a man who was in touch with ordinary people.

Carlo Mario Martini was born in Turin in 1927, he joined the Jesuits at the age of 17 and was ordained 8 years later. Carlo Martini was primarily an academic, a world renowned biblical scholar and later Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed Martini as Archbishop of Milan, one of the largest diocese in the world, a post which he held until he retired in 2002. Martini became a cardinal in 1983. For several years after his retirement, Martini battled with Parkinson’s disease, the same illness that incapacitated PopeJohn Paul.

Controversy

Cardinal Martini was regarded by some as a liberal (and therefore, it is sad to say, suspect). However, I found that he spoke with a great deal of common sense. For instance, on the debate on where does a human life begin. The absolutist position of official Church teaching is that human life begins at the point of fertilisation. Martini begged to differ, that a distinct human life comes later. As you can see, Martini was verging on the point of heresy against today’s orthodox Catholic teaching.

The reason why the death of Cardinal Martini hit the headlines is because of his last interview recorded just weeks before his death and published the day after in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, saying “Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous..”

Martini was a good man, and deserves our prayers. May he rest in peace.

Links

http://www.mmhawkes.co.uk/belief-or-nonbelief-by-carlo-martini-unmberto-eco/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19451439

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/world/europe/cardinal-carlo-maria-martini-papal-contender-dies-at-85.html

http://www.news.va/en/news/cardinal-carlo-martini-dead-at-85

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Maria_Martini

 

 

 

Islamic State or Satanic State?

Posted on By Margot

I am the One that whispers in the ear of the believer. My voice is beguiling, seductive.

I promise much to the one who follows me. Such rewards. Paradise at the highest level. Wealth. Power. Women. Whatever you desire I can give you.

I whisper in the ear, “Come, and I can show you the true meaning of what is written – a meaning that is hidden from the eyes of the ordinary believer. But you are special. You will understand what others cannot. And you are brave enough to act on this”

I whisper in the ear to the one who longs to hear my voice, “Come you are my chosen one, follow me. For today we will take vengeance on those who deny the truth, today the kafir will die, the kafir and his wife and his children. I may call you to become a martyr, for that will please me and your reward will be great, I may call you to give your life to kill the kafir”.

I whisper “You are chosen to show that Islam is not the soft religion that so many want it to be, a cosy religion that absorbs the heresy of democracy and allows different faiths to live together. Come I can show you that this is blasphemy.”

I whisper, “Come you are called, join my Jihad”

I whisper and they listen.

My name is Satan and my black flag is flying.

Editor’s note:

Ordinary Muslims are incredibly upset at what they see is happening. Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are the complete antithesis of what they believe. Satan is at work, now just as he has been throughout the whole of human history, whispering in the ears of anyone who will listen. Islamic state or Satanic State – the choice is yours.

Alan Henning: Hero and Martyr

Posted on By Margot

Saturday morning. We woke up to the news that Alan Henning had been brutally murdered by his captors. We know little about Alan, except that he was an ordinary sort of chap who wanted to do good. Lots of people are like Alan, except he took it a step further, or indeed, several steps further, by giving up his time and money and family life in order to help the Syrian people. And in the end, he gave his life.

Alan was definitely a hero. But was he also a martyr? The Greek meaning behind the word “martyr” (μάρτυς) means witness. In one sense, all Christians and Muslims are called to bear witness to their faith, and so, all true believers are “martyrs”. However, another layer of meaning is added to the word “martyr”, namely that the exemplary martyr is the one whose witness results in being put to death, the one who dies because of their witness. For Christians, the ultimate martyr is Christ himself. Alan is a martyr, for bearing witness to a better vision of humanity, and for that his life was taken.

Alan’s family are distraught, but they should be proud that Alan was the man he proved to be, brave and generous. And perhaps his courage and humanity should be recognised, a posthumous perhaps. The ultimate would be the the Nobel Peace Prize.

May you rest in peace Alan, and may we not forget what your goodness.

The resignation of Bishop Kieran Conry

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Today it was announced that Bishop Kieran Conry was resigning as our Bishop, because, as he put it, he had been unfaithful to his calling as a priest.

As his letter was read out, the church was silent. There had been no warning, jut this, a resignation. For most people, Bishop Kieran was a good bishop, approachable, a man of faith, human… And it is that humanness was seems to have led to his downfall. Another priest has been sacrificed on the altar of perfection. And the swivel-eyed loons of an austere, ungiving Catholicism are dancing in ecstasy on the grave of Bishop Kieran’s reputation. Who is next in their sights, Cardinal Vincent Nicholls? Perhaps Pope Francis? Would even the Lord himself have passed muster, with his dangerous, liberal ideas that floored the Pharisees with their emphasis on “right” teaching and living? Would St Peter, that flawed individual, or St Paul, riddled with angst, be good enough? Today’s gospel challenges all of us who think we know what makes a good Christian. The true followers of Jesus are those who know they need to be forgiven, the tax collectors and prostitutes.

This should be a wake-up call to the whole Catholic Church, to stop denying the humanity of our priests, to stop crucifying our priests by expecting them to be “in persona Christi” all day and every day. Sadly, for Bishop Kieran, there may have been no other course of action, he had to resign. We know not the details behind his resignation. But many of us wish he did not have to go. Cannot a flawed human being, truly contrite, make a good bishop?

It is time for the Church to change, to concentrate on the mission of the Church, to bring the Good News of God’s love for us to the world. It is time for the Church to realise that blanket priestly celibacy is counterproductive and does not sustain the Church’s core mission.

A letter to Scotland

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Dear people of Scotland

This week you will decide your future and my future, and the future of everyone in the United Kingdom.

I am English and I am proud to be English, even though my father was descended from those brave Scots who had had carved a life for themselves in British Guiana. My grandfather was a Cunningham and my grandmother a Cameron, and there is a roll call of other Scottish names in my family tree. Even though I am English, I prefer the Union Flag for the England needs Scotland (and Wales and Northern Ireland)

Whichever way you vote will bring in a new United Kingdom. The resilience and determination of both peoples from Scotland and England will ensure that we will prosper even if not together, but separation will come at a terrible cost for both our countries for the foreseeable future. Do not underestimate the hurt that you will do to Anglo-Scottish relations. Do not be lulled into thinking that the only opposition to sharing the pound, currency of the United Kingdom, exists in only in the “Westminster clique”. Most English people believe that currency union must go hand in hand with political union, and the English have a great distrust of anything that seems like foreign domination.

What if you vote No on Thursday? September 19th will be day 1 of United Kingdom Mark II, that you (and the other UK nations) will help shape. The changes will be seismic and we need you to help with this. Together we can build a better country for all the people in the United Kingdom. Team GB in action. The UK needs DevoMax for Scotland and also for Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as devolving power to the English regions. We have all suffered from the decline of our heavy industries. Vote No and make the United Kingdom a better place for all of the people.

Margaret Hawkes (nee Cunningham)

Should Scotland be an independent country?

Posted on By Margot

 

Maybe, before this referendum became a reality, I would have said YES, Scotland should be independent. From an English perspective, why do we need the Scots, with their whining and the massive chip on their shoulder about being hard done by? Hey the act of union joined two countries, Scotland was not the only country to lose its identity; England too lost something. We lost the English parliament, our nationality; we had to share everything, including our currency. What loyalty should we have to a country which gives free university education to Scottish students, and to other members of the European Union but not to those from England?

The Act of Union forged one country that was able to bestride the world like a colossus, one country that formed the British Empire and created the wealth of the nation that is now to be divided. Only together could this have happened. England, Wales and Scotland; augmented by Ireland in a later Act of Union. Now the heady days of Empire are a fading memory. But the wealth generated from the age of Empire still sustains the United Kingdom although the spread of wealth is somewhat uneven. Resources are unevenly distributed throughout the UK. Scotland has oil; the South East of England has the powerhouse of London. Our heavy industry, shipbuilding, steel making, coal mining all belong to a bygone age, along with textiles and other manufacturing. Their demise has left heavy scars all over the UK, not just in Scotland. The challenge to the government of the UK is to ensure that prosperity is evenly distributed.

Would England be better off without Scotland? Maybe England would be better off if she shed Wales and Northern Ireland as well as Scotland, and stood once again, after many hundreds of years on her own. A proud nation, a nation with a world class capital. Maybe. But England would be poorer, for the wealth of England comes not from being England, but from being part of a union. Would Wales and Northern Ireland benefit from the breaking up of the Union? If Mr Salmond can argue that small countries can have more vibrant and successful economies than larger countries, then surely this must hold for Wales and Northern Ireland. Small is beautiful, so smaller must be even more beautiful.

The fundamental question that should be asked is not about the independence of Scotland, but rather can the financial instruments of the United Kingdom be separated out into their component parts? If this cannot be done, then whatever the vote is on September 18th, Scotland could never be fully independent of the United Kingdom.

Should the United Kingdom be destroyed so Scotland can have its independence? If there is anything that Team GB in the 2012 Olympics has taught us, is it not that as the United Kingdom, we are a nation that can still bestride the world like a Colossus.

We have a shared history, may we still have a shared future.

 

UK day

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Come what may on September 18th, when Scotland votes in their referendum, there is something that can and should be done. A new public holiday is needed, to celebrate the United Kingdom in all it’s glory, and hopefully to celebrate a full United Kingdom with all four nations at its heart. Over the last few years there have been various lukewarm attempts to introduce a new bank holiday, St George’s Day, Trafalgar Day and others. But this public holiday will be a special day – not like the old Empire/Commonwealth Day, but a day when we can reflect on who we are and marvel at the diversity of our combined nation. And hopefully, it will not also be a day of mourning, when we reflect on the leaving of one nation from our fold.

Many countries celebrate the founding of their nation. We do not. If there is something that the Scottish Referendum gives us, it is an opportunity to start again and to celebrate who we are, a United Kingdom with many different peoples and identities. A national day strengthens the nation and fosters a sense of identity. If the Americans, the French, the Norwegians, the Italians and so many others celebrate with pride their national days, ought we, as the United Kingdom, do the same?

And the date of this new public holiday? What about the Monday nearest September 18th?