Harper Lee: Set the Watchman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Set_a_Watchman

This is a book that is making waves, the subject of many reviews. I enjoyed it enormously.

Coming at this time, it is a bombshell. Everyone is pleased that South Carolina has taken down the Confederate. It had become a symbol of racism and a growing obstacle to race relations in the South. Yet there are people, many people, in the South - Whites of course - who saw the flag in quite another light. The Civil War in the United States was a war about slavery and race, but it was also much more. It was a war to retain the agricultural society that had been built there over a period of two hundred years. Slavery and racism had to change; the society remains. Racism is still a key to understanding the South but so also is the distinct society that Southern Whites fought for.

Harper Lee and especially her publisher have taken on a huge issue in the South with the publication of this book. I cannot judge it on its literary merits. Many are saying it is a failed novel. Perhaps so; I enjoyed reading it and it spoke deeply to me. I think much of the criticism of the novel will come from Northerners. I am waiting for some reviews from the South.

Much of what I found in the novel has a parallel with the situation between Quebec and the ROC (Rest of Canada): Not an exact parallel but nonetheless…. French Quebecois are, for the Rest of Canada much like the South is for the North and the issue of racism, framed in terms of immigration and multiculturalism, is very much part of the tensions today.

White society lives on in the South and it includes the powerful issue of racism but also of the unique identity and sovereignty of the South.  The novel suggests that diversity in dialogue is the way forward. I deeply believe that!

Pope Francis on Climate Change

https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com

My comment is not intended to explain the encyclical nor to provide a summary. I just want to encourage you to read it carefully. It comes in at less than 200 small pages. It can easily be read in one day, two half days or an hour a day for a week. There is nothing in it that anyone who is familiar with ecology, especially eco-theology, will find especially new. What is new is that this is a very official Church document and thus it presents a framework for the work of the Church in the next decades.

There is a precedent. In 1963, Pope John XXIII, after convening the Second Vatican Council, published an encyclical called Pacem in terris. In this encyclical, and for the first time in history, the Church addressed the question of human rights in positive terms and laid out an argument for world governance through international law. This encyclical, Laudate sii – the opening words of St. Francis’ Canticle of the Sun, does something similar for the care of the earth. It is about climate change and it takes a very strong position. However, it is much more than that, it situates human beings in relation to the earth and elaborates for the first time the ethical, spiritual and theological principles that guide us in that relationship.

As the Pope himself insists, this is not a scientific document though it draws extensively on what scientists are saying about climate, ecological systems and the impact of humans on the earth as well as the way in which humans relate to one another especially in an urban setting. Ultimately, it is a document about moral guidelines for living into the future that are deeply rooted in our biblical tradition as Christians. In this respect it is a fundamental document not just for Catholics but for anyone who follows a belief tradition.

In the text you will find a strong call for not only ecumenical action (with reference to Patriarch Bartholomew) but also to interreligious solidarity (with a reference to the Sufi tradition).

In general, my impression is that the text was carefully crafted to take into account the basic framework of contemporary ecological studies and eco-theological studies. There is only one glaring flaw: no mention of women. It seems to me that the contribution of women to the development of cosmic consciousness, ecological sensitivity and eco-theology has been impressive. Surely there could have been some place at least to acknowledge that. Here is another case of the Church’s inability to integrate one half of humanity into its theological and spiritual framework.

That aside, it is a ground-breaking document in several respects and stands as a dramatic call to action for decision-makers all over the world. That includes each of us, every day.  

Canada's History of Cultural Genocide : Is There Hope?

Bent-box - Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Last Sunday friends gathered in a park in Ottawa to discuss their experience of the closing session of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. You will remember that this commission was set up in 2008, travelled all across Canada to gather the witness of survivors of Indian Residential schools. These schools, 160 of them, existed in Canada for over 150 years with the stated objective of destroying their identity as indigenous people.

The question we were asked as we gathered was “What gives you hope?” I offer three items for reflection:

1  1 )      The Idle No More movement has mobilized young Aboriginal people from every indigenous culture. It has, in particular, touched the lives of young Aboriginal people livings in cities, off-reserve. This is the majority of Aboriginal people in Canada, over half a million, the first generation, if you will, not to have attended residential schools since they were born after the last school closed in 1996.  It has been the focus for a recovery of Aboriginal culture among young people. It is a great sign of hope.

2  2)      At this point in our collective history, Christians have a huge challenge to free their religious tradition from the stain of having participated in what the Truth and Reconciliation commission has called cultural genocide. The voice of the Churches has, in some ways, been rendered unacceptable to a portion of society that finds it difficult to discover the underlying gift of religion in the history, structures and dogmas of Catholicism in particular. On the other hand, I have repeatedly seen Aboriginal elders, some Christian and other not, speak publicly of the Creator and engage in prayers and ceremonies of thanksgiving and of healing. From what I can see, the Aboriginal people in Canada are the only ones who can speak publicly of the Creator, of the Path and celebrate their ceremonies without apology. This is, for me, a graced event. God works in mysterious ways that humble and teach us.

3  3)      As I mentioned, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called the story of the residential schools, and indeed of the whole history of the relationship of Aboriginal people with the European settlers since the early 1800s as cultural genocide. Genocide is a strong word. Some recoil in horror at the suggestion; others try to mitigate its implications. For me it is a sign of hope. Because the reconciliation sought by the Commission is rooted in truth and only the truth can set us free. Accepting humbly the truth of genocide can mark a new beginning and an momentous process of healing. When the word genocide was invented in 1944, it was an attempt to give a name to what happened to the Armenians at the beginning of the 20^th century and what happened in Germany in the middle of the same century. The populations implicated in these events had great difficulty accepting the reality. It took generations for Germans to come to term with it. However, in the end, today, I think we can say that the process has helped their societies become more inclusive and humble. (This in spite of the rise of neo-Nazism in Europe in response to immigration.) For me, the accusation of genocide is a call for us to examine the truth, become more humble, open and compassionate. This is a sign of hope.

The King and the Beggar

The story below is very old. I heard it many years ago in Peru. However, it is much older than that.

It is said that, once upon a time, a poor beggar was making his way along a country road. He had with him a sack with a few small things he had gathered along the way to keep him alive. Of a sudden, great noise could be heard coming from behind. He turned and saw a golden carriage with a liveried driver riding high above and driving six great white horses. Of course he moved to the side of the road to allow the carriage to pass and lowered his eyes as was prudent.

When the carriage arrived beside him it stopped abruptly and no-one less than the King himself descended from the carriage. Striding over to the poor, shaking beggar, he addressed him: “Could you perhaps be so kind as to give me something?”  The beggar was astounded and more than a little perplexed. “My Lord, how can you, the King and Lord of all these lands, ask of me, a poor beggar, that I should give you something. I have so little that I can barely find enough to keep me alive."  But, the King merely regarded him kindly.  

So the poor beggar reached down into his sack and from the very bottom pulled out a grain of wheat. “My Lord, out of my poverty, I offer you this small token. Please accept the little  that I am able to offer.”  The King bowed, held out his hand and accepted the grain with a large smile. He thanked the beggar, mounted once more the carriage and, in a great cloud of dust, the carriage rumbled on down the country road.

The beggar, after shaking his head for a time at this marvel, continued his journey and arrived late in the day at the small hovel he called his home.  After going in and placing his cap on the table, he sat down and opened his sack. In the very bottom of the sack he found a grain …. of the purest gold.

“Ah, he thought, would that I had given all I had!”