Chris McDonnell, UK
christymac733@gmail.com

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November 8, 2017

It happened many years ago

Our calendar is littered with dates of memory, a scattering of history that we still recall. The tragedy is that so many of those dates involve some degree of violence, whether on the individual level or of conflict between nations.

 So we come to trace our ancestry from one gory event to another, from one field of battle through to the gallows where the victor took final retribution over the defeated enemy.

 At each stage we seek to learn a lesson that will break the cycle and somehow, time and again, we fail. The DMZ on the 38^th line of latitude marks the cease-fire line from the Korean conflict of the 50s. It was a war that was never concluded, just a cease-fire agreed.  Yet all these years later that cease fire is at risk of being broken.

 Think back through dates of the last century and find a year when a significant conflict was not happening. There are very few of them. Why is it that human conflict seems to be endemic, why do we never answer the questions posed by Pete Seeger in his song asking where have all the flowers gone? Experience has helped us learn little.

 The religious conflicts of the Christian era have not helped redress the balance. Across Europe the barbarity that arose from a difference of religious opinion touched our own shores on many occasions. The Elizabethan years and their immediate aftermath showed just how far people would go to justify their position. It was a society in religious and political turmoil.

 It seems that on a periodic basis humanity revises its codes and structures and where  common agreement on change cannot be achieved, then forceful methods are employed. In the course of readjustment, many are unavoidably caught up in conflict.

 One such date of memory comes in these early days of November, marking the Armistice to the War that, in Wilfred Owen's words, slew 'Half the seed of Europe one by one'. As one conflict exhausted itself, Revolution in Russia began another painful story that would run almost to the end of the Century.

 Arguments of injustice and ownership underlie so many disagreements that have resulted in the outbreak of war. Once positions are taken it is hard to back off, to admit mistakes and return to the table. Ed McCurdy the American song writer penned these words in 1950. Many different artists have recorded it since then.

 Last night I had the strangest dream/ I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed /To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room/ The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said/They'd never fight again

And when the paper was all signed/ And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads /And grateful prayers were prayed

 We still seem a long way from that dream.

 In a different manner, taking sides has resulted in entrenched positions within the Catholic communion of the West. The arrival in Rome of an Argentinean bishop, assuming the name of Francis, has sent shock waves through the Church, with open opposition to his leadership becoming more and more forceful.

 Recently, in reaction to the curial discontent that threatens his path of renewal, an open letter has been issued in support of the post-Vatican II Church that was the intention of the Fathers in the early 60s. The letter contains these words addressed to Francis.

 'Your pastoral initiatives and their theological justification are currently under vehement attack by a group in the church. With this open letter, we wish to express our gratitude for your courageous and theologically sound papal leadership.

 In a short time, you have succeeded in reshaping the pastoral culture of the Roman Catholic Church in accordance with its origin in Jesus. Wounded people and wounded nature go straight to your heart. You see the church as a field hospital on the margins of life. Your concern is every single person loved by God. When encountering others, compassion and not the law shall have the last word. God and God’s mercy characterize the pastoral culture that you expect from the church. You dream of a "church as mother and shepherdess." We share your dream.

We ask that you would not veer from the path you have taken, and we assure you of our full support and constant prayer'.

 This dream of peaceful and co-operative development reflects in a real way the continuing mission of the Church in the light of the Gospel story.

 Our memory of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth must not be clouded by legalism that over-rides the message of love and compassion that he left us. We must not be afraid.

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