Interesting times

By Lone Veiler

What interesting times we are living through. Seismic. The state of the Church has constantly been on my social media feeds, but not all in a 'let's all give up and go home' way, because I am relieved that light is being shone in the darkest of places and I am actually feeling surprisingly positive. It's not as if we haven't been given the heads up by our Lady throughout the past hundred years, and of course before that we were really in for it. It's sobering, and humbling, and it's been hard keeping (how can I put this politely) my equanimity recently.Revelations regarding the frankly depraved and despicable behaviour of Bishops and Archbishops, men who should be walking in the shoes of the apostles, has rendered me speechless on occasion, and that's no mean feat I can tell you. Never have Ember days been so meaningful, and never have they been so difficult. We've seen so much hubris, I am looking forward with trepidation to see what nemesis has in store.

What will have transpired before this article sees the next edition? Who can say? I'm sure some folks would very much like to see the scandals all covered up and forgotten. I know what I would like to see by then. If we aren't blessed with Our Lord's return, I'd settle for the resignations and public penance of every man who abused his position and/ or covered up the abuse, followed by lives of utter retirement and even more penance. And not Vatican II retirement and penance, no, proper full-on penance and a much less than Spartan retirement. And possibly a really nice conclave.

So, persecution of the faithful being rather to the front of my mind, I put Paul, Apostle of Christ, in the DVD player rather hoping it would cheer me up. I'm not sure it did. The film follows the last few days of St Paul's life in prison in Rome awaiting his execution, St Luke's visits and writings, and the fear and suffering of Christians living in hiding in the city. Under constant threat of violence and horrible death, the brutality and inhumanity of being a Christian in Rome under Nero is neither glossed nor sensationalised, and neither is the fear and indecision of those wondering whether to stay or flee their home. It brought home how little things have changed for our fellow Christians worldwide; for Rome, insert country of persecution of choice.

‘We are not oblivious of Tradition and its deep symbolism and meaning’

Which brings me neatly to online shopping. Yes, Amazon, that multi-billion-pound love-to-hate-but-it's-so-convenient-isn't-it-how-else-can-we-get-replacement-cello-strings-and-a-copy-of-Gormenghast-by-next-day shopping ‘experience’ (I hate that word. I don't want a shopping ‘experience’). Yes, well, back to Amazon, and no I'm not saying it's great, but it is convenient. For some time, it's had a charity facility whereby they said a donation (paltry, but it's still a donation) would be made to your favourite charity upon checkout. For a while it was actually just a drop-down list of Amazon's favourite charities, but now, I can get them to donate to Aid to the Church in Need at the click of a button as my charity of choice. It might just be a little thing, as small as their donation, but there is something immensely satisfying in knowing that ACN is on Amazon's radar. So, if you are inclined, you too could choose ACN as your designated charity. 1

Oh yes, Gormenghast. It's one of those return-to books of mine, where the warping of a castle's traditions over long years into something meaninglessly oppressive and soul destroying, just for the sake of tradition, leads to tragedy. The entire life of everyone in the castle revolves around arcane rituals, the performance of which are entirely dependent on innumerable sets of variables from age to the weather, and which are never-ending. I think it's a fabulous, if a bit unsettling, book and to my mind the best of the three (being the middle one between Titus Groan, and Titus Alone). It is a book about the futility of traditions devoid of meaning, of blind obedience, lip-service and unquestioning duty, and the resentment and abuse of power that the regime instils in the leading protagonists, one determined to run from its suffocation, the other determined to destroy it from within by remaking it to his own design. It has a certain resonance with me at the moment, not only because of the current 'interesting times' within the Church, but because by discarding the beautiful and meaningful and glorious traditions of our Church in the 1960s we are where we are now. Ember days, Rogation days, novenas, pretty much anything that was deeply worthwhile and powerful swept aside, pared down, infantilised. It seems to me that the modernisers of Vatican II viewed the Faith much as Gormenghast, a monolithic thing ripe for deconstruction.

The trouble is, the deconstruction hasn't entirely worked, has it? We are not oblivious of Tradition and its deep symbolism and meaning, and it's becoming more visible with each year. Deo gratias, the future lies in returning to the timeless Faith which is growing in spite of scandal. Tradition: it's so hot right now.