Servant Leadership

Mark 10:35-45 throws light for me on one of the Second Vatican Council's most important teachings.  Jesus tries to teach the disciples that leadership among his followers is not to be like that of the rulers they know, lording it over their subjects and making their authority felt.  He offers himself as the model of Christian leadership: not to be served but to serve.
The Council describes a servant church.  Both laity and clergy make up the People of God, a communion of believers.  The image is that of concentric circles with the Bishop of Rome in the center, encircled by the other bishops, and then the laity. 
In Mark's Gospel the disciples don't get it and not many centuries later we see church leaders "lording it over" the laity and "making their authority felt."  One speaker at the conference said that for about twenty years after the Council, Rome seemed to have got it.  Since that time, however, he described an even greater centralizing of authority in the Roman Curia.
Jesus says, "It must not be so among you.  Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant, whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all."

Vatican II at 50

I had been hoping for a way to observe the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962.  So October 11-12, I went to Georgetown University in D.C. for a conference, "Vatican II After Fifty Years: Dialogue and Catholic Identity."  It was excellent.
There were six speakers who presented different aspects of the Council.  Threading through all was a common theme that because of the Vatican Council dialogue has become an essential part of Catholic identity.  Jesuit John O'Malley gave the opening talk, describing dialogue and tracing its development.  A few years ago I had read his book, "What Happened at Vatican II?" and found it extremely enlightening.
Massimo Faggioli, a young Italian layman, now living in the United States, gave the most fascinating talk, "The Battle Over Gaudium et Spes - Dialogue with the Modern World."  The Latin name of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World means "Joy and Hope."  The document shows a clear openness to the 20th century, to the dimensions of human culture opened up by advances in the historical, social, and psychological sciences.  He pointed out that there were some present who were not as open to the 20th century as the document was, but it was still accepted by more than 2,000 of the 2,500  bishops present.  He ended by saying that if we ignore Gaudium et Spes, we will have neither joy nor hope.
I found the conference hope-filled and energizing.
(The picture above is of the intricate ceiling of one of the rooms in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, one the the places I visited on my recent trip to England.)

S-Temple

I drove yesterday with two friends along Stemple Ridge to enjoy autumn's colors spread over the most spectacular mountain views in our neck of the woods.  Every turn brings a scene more beautiful than the last, God's revelation deepening as we keep searching.
I discovered this ridge about ten years ago on my way back from one of my many sight-seeing trips into nearby West Virginia.  Driving up a narrow mountain road by myself I kept getting glimpses of mountains reaching into the distance.  When I got to the top, I took a left on another road to see if I could get a better view.  The scene in the picture above was the one I came upon, though that day was full summer, not fall.  When I turned and followed this ridge towards home, I found striking view after striking view.   Since this drive is so close to where I live, I was surprised that no one had ever told me about it.  I have since told many people about it and taken friends there to show it to them.
I kept forgetting the name until I realized that by dropping the "S" I would get the word for the house of God.

Holy Places

St. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597.  Two years earlier when Pope Gregory the Great sent him as a missionary to England he told Augustine, "Do not pull down the temples.  Destroy the idols; purify the temples with holy water, set relics there and let them become temples of the true God.  So the people will have no need to change their places of gathering."
When Augustine built his cathedral at Canterbury, it doesn't seem to have been the site of an earlier temple, but there are other churches in England and Ireland and in other parts of the world that are built on sites of pagan worship. That worship would have made the site a holy place.  "Holy" means set aside for God.  Or possibly the pagans themselves chose the site because they sensed a special other-worldly air about it.
Pope Gregory's advice reminds me that Catholic means finding God in many different ways and in many different places.
This picture was taken in the crypt of the cathedral.  It is the remains of an earlier Romanesque church upon which the present cathedral was built.  The sculpture that seems  to float in the air is made of nails and hangs over the spot where St. Thomas a Becket's body was originally enshrined before it was taken up in 1220 to the newly built Trinity Chapel.  (Clicking on the picture enlarges it and makes it possible to see the floating body.)

Old Canterbury

The first cathedral built on this site was built in 597 by St. Augustine of Canterbury who had been sent by the pope as a missionary to England.  Several cathedrals have been built and rebuilt on this site since then.  Most of the present cathedral was finished in 1077
St. Thomas a Becket was murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.  Almost immediately the site became a center of pilgrimage.  Already in 1184 Trinity Chapel was added to the cathedral behind the high altar to accomodate a shrine that held the body of St. Thomas.  The stained glass windows in the above picture were built at that time.  They depict miracles and stories associated with St. Thomas.  The shrine was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1538.  Fortunately these splendid windows were not.
These dates thrill me.  To be able to walk around in a 900 year old church and contemplate 800 year old stained glass windows, I'm sure added to the profound prayer experience that I described two entries ago.  Stained glass has always lifted my heart.  Living in a nation where "old" is 200 years inspires the awe I feel in a building as old as Canterbury Cathedral.

Canterbury Cathedral

In England I found myself resenting the fact that all these grand, old, cathedrals that were once Catholic were now Anglican.  It seemed to me that Catholics weren't noticed much.  When I went to the Tourist Information Office in Canterbury and asked the young lady where the Catholic church was, she was very taken aback and finally recovered enough to say, "I don't think there is one."  A man working the same desk came over and told me where it was, and added, "It's the only Catholic church in Canterbury."
I found myself in sympathy with the disciples in Mark's Gospel the Sunday I came home.  They want Jesus to stop a man who is healing in the name of Jesus, "because he does not follow with us."
I heard Jesus say to me, as well as to them, "Why would you want to stop them! Whoever is not against us is for us."  A good guide for working for Christian Unity.
In each of the Anglican churches that I visited, I was able to find a quiet corner where I could sit and pray.  Finding God in other churches and in the people of other denominations can bring us a long way toward unity.

Canterbury Pilgrimage

 

I went to England recently for two weeks.  My main goal was a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.  I was not disappointed.
The lighted candle in this picture marks the spot where a shrine containing St. Thomas a Becket's body stood for several centuries before Henry VIII destroyed it.  The picture looks down the main aisle of  Canterbury Cathedral towards the entrance. 
Not far from this spot in the 12th century Thomas, the archbishop, was murdered during vespers by four knights from King Henry II's court.  Almost immediately the cathedral became a very popular place of pilgrimage.  I was pleased to be a pilgrim among the 800 years of pilgrims who flocked here.
Near the lighted candle I found a quiet corner where I could sit and pray.  God drew me into some time of deep prayer.  Before leaving the cathedral I asked St.Thomas to pray for the healing of my many small infirmities.  I also prayed that I might know when to stand and when to fold, when to follow my conscience and speak truth to authority and when to let go of an issue and keep my peace.
The night before last I watched the old movie "Becket" with Richard Burton as the archbishop and Peter O'Toole as Kind Henry II, two powerful actors.  The movie extended my pilgrimage to Canterbury.