Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Catholic Church & Child Abuse
I live in a country where I only have superficial exposure to local news so I couldn't tell you, for instance, whether, child abuse in any shape or form is an issue here. My wife, a filipina, tells me there is child abuse in the Philippines but that it doesn't get much news coverage. As a general rule Thais worship their kids and the relationship vice versa is generally deeply respectful. Of course it may well be that child abuse is rife and simply is not given much media attention. They are good here at pretending things don't exist, especially around sex and sexuality! However the news from the West seems to be dominated by the clerical child abuse scandals rocking the Catholic church.
By the time I was received back into the Church by Fr Bernard it had already taken a fair beating in the UK for its failures in respect of child abuse. I recall the painful cross-examination the then leader of the communion in England & Wales, Cardinal Murphy-O'Brien received at the hands of the BBC's John Humphries. Visceral. However the Church in my humble opinion became a much more humble institution as a result.
When I found myself being drawn back to formal religion I did a bit of sampling and went to many churches in and around the London area for mass. It really seemed the Church had changed a lot. The priests were talking about spirituality, and were preaching a message of tolerance and love. There was no thumping of lecterns and foaming rants from the pulpit about the immorality of our times. I am pleased to say it has remained this way.
Much of what is happening today relates to former times. It is residual. It is not, so to speak, current, thank God. We have some difficult times to sit through but I do not doubt that the church will become a better church by virtue of being humbled.
Yesterday I read the Pope's letter to the Irish Catholic community. I was already predisposed to finding it hard work but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and in fact I would say it showed the hand a great spiritual leader. The fact remains, though, this should never have happened and it should have been dealt with much more decisively at the earliest opportunity. The Church must always be a safe place for the vulnerable, especially children
As for the residual stuff I am not surprised by any of it. The Church that I grew up in had gotten ahead of itself. People sometimes call it "triumphant", I would call it arrogant and conceited. It had too much power and influence, and too far removed from its basic mission.
I try not to forget that Christ, the Son of God, is really a very big challenge. The King of Kings started life in a cave because there was no room at the inn, surrounded by common animals. His first visitors included kings but also shepherds. His human father was a chippy, a carpenter. We don't really know a lot more about Jesus but in the end he was treated as a common criminal, sentenced to a humiliating death by crucifixion as a result of a baying mob, stripped of his clothes which were then the prize in a game of chance. Everything about this God made man was humble, no airs and graces, plain ordinaryand he was regularily the subject of ridicule and contempt. Finally on this theme Jesus' conveyance was a donkey, not the equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz. Whatever happened to the inheritors of this tradition, who,as opposed to being victims have become the aggressors and offenders?
By the time I was received back into the Church by Fr Bernard it had already taken a fair beating in the UK for its failures in respect of child abuse. I recall the painful cross-examination the then leader of the communion in England & Wales, Cardinal Murphy-O'Brien received at the hands of the BBC's John Humphries. Visceral. However the Church in my humble opinion became a much more humble institution as a result.
When I found myself being drawn back to formal religion I did a bit of sampling and went to many churches in and around the London area for mass. It really seemed the Church had changed a lot. The priests were talking about spirituality, and were preaching a message of tolerance and love. There was no thumping of lecterns and foaming rants from the pulpit about the immorality of our times. I am pleased to say it has remained this way.
Much of what is happening today relates to former times. It is residual. It is not, so to speak, current, thank God. We have some difficult times to sit through but I do not doubt that the church will become a better church by virtue of being humbled.
Yesterday I read the Pope's letter to the Irish Catholic community. I was already predisposed to finding it hard work but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and in fact I would say it showed the hand a great spiritual leader. The fact remains, though, this should never have happened and it should have been dealt with much more decisively at the earliest opportunity. The Church must always be a safe place for the vulnerable, especially children
As for the residual stuff I am not surprised by any of it. The Church that I grew up in had gotten ahead of itself. People sometimes call it "triumphant", I would call it arrogant and conceited. It had too much power and influence, and too far removed from its basic mission.
I try not to forget that Christ, the Son of God, is really a very big challenge. The King of Kings started life in a cave because there was no room at the inn, surrounded by common animals. His first visitors included kings but also shepherds. His human father was a chippy, a carpenter. We don't really know a lot more about Jesus but in the end he was treated as a common criminal, sentenced to a humiliating death by crucifixion as a result of a baying mob, stripped of his clothes which were then the prize in a game of chance. Everything about this God made man was humble, no airs and graces, plain ordinaryand he was regularily the subject of ridicule and contempt. Finally on this theme Jesus' conveyance was a donkey, not the equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz. Whatever happened to the inheritors of this tradition, who,as opposed to being victims have become the aggressors and offenders?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
More things I hate about Tescolotus
As you know we have a beautiful little boy and we take him when we do our shopping and he likes to sit on the trolleys with the special baby seat on them. So today we went to Tescolotus to do our shopping but we couldn't get to the baby trolleys. They were boxed in against a wall and someone had very helpfully erected a stand over half of the access path. In fact it was well nigh impossible to use any trolley today because they were all jammed into each other and appeared to be inseparable. What makes this scenario all the more frustrating is the trolley area faces the reception desk and the unsuccessful efforts of customers to get trolleys is happening right under their noses and guess what: nobody does a thing! Too busy admiring their looks in their mirrors and this includes the men! Well I waded in and pulled out a bunch of trolleys and then manoevred a baby trolley out and just on time when I have completed my mission a member of staff arrives...... Tescolotus Ratchaburi does not appear to be run for the benefit of its customers!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
What I Love and What I hate about Thailand
I hate the queues at Tesco Lotus and the inefficiency of their staff. You know the situation, it happens in supermarkets all over the world. The bar code scanner doesn't work, manual entry of the bar code doesn't work, the phone call to reception doesn't work, and then ten minutes later the customer decides not to take the goods in question and then five minutes later the same customer challenges the price of some goods which are supposed to be on special offer...... And then it happens again with the next customer. You know this situation doesn't happen at markets! In the great scheme of things a high class problem.
What I love is ordering "Khao Ka Moo" or ข้าวขาหมู and feeling famished as I watch the delightful ladies in the local shop prepare it. It tastes divine and at 25 baht a dish it is dirt cheap. That was our lunch today. I love my local car wash. You take your car in and they drive you home and take the car away and then return it to you. 120 baht or about £2.60. The quality of the car wash is brilliant.
And here is our little treasure, the owner of two teeth and bow able to clap his hands; soon to walk and talk. Life is good and we are enjoying our long holidays. Hope you are well.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
It's Over!
And so finally I am on holiday! I am so relieve that term is now over and that I have survived and live to fight for another academic year. The last few days have been quite gentle with grading and report card writing. I am so pleased that I can say I have done my first year in teaching and perhaps more pleased to be able to say I won't have to do this first year again. I am reasonably happy with my performance. It was quite literally a baptism by fire. However I no longer fear the prospect of facing a class room of kids. I reckon I will be a much better teacher next year too. So that is it for now folks. Benedict is a joy more of him later.
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