Month: April 2012

It was one of those things in the diary which I might have persuaded myself to treat as disposable at the beginning of a busy week. But it turned out to be a very interesting day.

We turned up at STV at Pacific Quay in Glasgow and very hospitable they were. We were given a chat and a tour – and introduced to the STV Local network of websites which at this point seems to cover much of Scotland but not yet Perthshire.

Then we got involved in a discussion with young people. Some of them came from Holyrood School Glasgow and were with us in STV. Others joined in through the Glow Programme of Education Scotland’s intra-net facility. And that’s when it got really interesting – for two reasons. Firstly most of us are used to dealing with journalists who ask questions. But young people who ask, ‘Why is religion and spirituality important in Scotland today?’ expect answers which make sense to them. And then the discussion which followed created more animation in the religious leaders than I have seen in a long time – I think because we actually began talking about faith and its importance.

So a good day and I was glad that I went!

A Thought for the Day on the Titanic and spirituality

I’ve just been back in Ireland for a post-Easter break. It was hard to miss the Titanic Centenary – built in Belfast and final departure from Cobh in the south. It was a sort of nostalgia-fest. Some of it was Belfast pride – apparently the tee shirts in Belfast say, ‘Well it was all right when it left here’. And some of it was about the tragedy of Irish emigration in the 19th century and the diaspora and all that. Here in Scotland we know about both of those.

Presidents – like bishops – are expected to say suitably benign things on this sort of occasion. But Ireland’s new President, Michael D Higgins, broke that rule. Reflecting on the foolish pride which claimed that the Titanic was unsinkable, he said,

‘We in our time have experienced the sense of crisis which occurs when something deemed unsinkable – in our case a speculative economy – is confounded not only by circumstance and error but by hubris

I think that there is a universal quality to that kind of leadership. It’s beyond politics – some would say it is spiritual but that risks getting confused with religion. Let’s just say that it fearlessly addresses things which are always part of human life everywhere. To smooth over the Titanic disaster with nostalgia demeans the reality of the loss. Better to name arrogance, pride, stupidity and wrongheadedness for what they are and for what they cost.

But there is another side to that kind of leadership. It’s positive and creative in its challenge. To be a successful society requires good leadership, good politics, consent. But good community like good family needs values which are beyond that – and they too have a spiritual quality. I’m thinking of generosity, readiness to sacrifice, willingness to go the extra mile, to forgive, let go and move on.

Those things are usually costly – but they give, shall we say, a quality of life which is blessed with an unsinkable buoyancy.

We had a great week at Blogstead Na Mara in Donegal. There was a slight problem on our return when the ferry was cancelled. We ended up on the longer, slower route. Poppy suffered the slight indignity of having her insulin injection on the car deck as we prepared to disembark

But here are some bits of the real Ireland

The crowded Irish beach – this one at Falcarragh just along the coast

Someone who was obviously prepared to trim my limited hair resources en passant as It were

This one is my favourite – obviously standard issue for undertakers in Donegal. ‘Wake!’ on its own would have a suitably Easter feel. ‘In progress’ suggests that it may take some time.

I can’t spell f.f.fuschia. Nothing stops a fuschia hedge growing in Donegal – and nothing stops a donkey eating it

And finally. Old Andrew died a while ago. He lived a subsistence lifestyle just across the valley and his 14 acre farm and what he represented are about to go under the hammer. I always remember going up to see him after Christmas one year when a mighty storm had blacked us out. ‘Do you have electricity, Andrew?’ I asked him. ‘Yes’ he replied. ‘I have the electricity’. ‘Is your electricity on, Andrew?’. ‘No’.

In the shed beside his cottage was his bicycle. This is the shed across the lane with the bicycle before that and the one before that.

I’m a fairly occasional visitor to Ireland – indeed our post-Easter week in Donegal is the longest we’ve spent there in a while. It’s always tempting to try and work out what is happening – just so long as you know that you are probably wrong. So here are two impressions

The first is that things have moved on in terms of economic crisis. Ireland was never Greece. People didn’t take to the streets as the economic screw was tightened. There are signs that the Household Tax of €100 – modest considering that there are no rates or Council Tax – may be one too many for some people. Something like one third of households haven’t paid and there are a lot of ‘Can’t Pay – Won’t Pay’ posters around

But, more importantly, moving on seems to mean that people have taken their vengeance on a failed political generation and are now directing their anger at one another. It’s about recognising that people were prepared to continue voting for politicians whom they suspected to be both incompetent and corrupt – just so long as the good times kept rolling.

The second is really fascinating. The Association of Catholic Priests has commissioned an opinion survey among Irish Catholics. That is in itself a remarkable development. Ireland is still overwhelmingly Catholic but 75% now say that Catholic teachings on sex are not relevant. The figures suggest that the majority view is that priests should be allowed to marry and that women should be allowed to become priests. But 35% of Catholics attend Mass weekly or more often. Rural Irish churches are still full – to an extent which Scottish Piskies could hardly imagine

So today’s the day. Belfast hopes that the new Titanic Centre will do for Belfast what the Guggenheim Museum has done for Bilbao.

And not just Belfast. Southampton too – and of course Cobh in the far south of Ireland which was the final point of departure of Titanic on her voyage to America. Here in Ireland, it became something of a nostalgia-fest – an opportunity to revisit the story of Irish emigration to the US. I’m old enough to remember being taken to see the big ships calling in Cork Harbour and to get a flavour of what emigration meant in the 1950’s

You probably haven’t read the speech of President Michael D Higgins in Cobh. He is an elected President – but above politics. So this is in my view a brave and magnificent statement of what has happened in Ireland. No whimsy or nostalgia. Just a sharpness which shames other political and church leaders ..

‘We in our time have experienced the sense of crisis which occurs when something deemed unsinkable – in our case a speculative economy – is confounded not only by circumstance and error but by the hubris which accompanied belief in what proved to be an irrational version of the economic. In addition to those who are materially impacted by the crisis, it leads to a collective loss of confidence, a questioning of previously unchallenged assumptions and an erosion of trust in institutions. In the humbling aftermath of that crisis, there is not only an opportunity to learn but a requirement to reflect – to address the erroneous assumptions that led to failure, to mobilise support around an alternative vision for our Republic and to put ourselves on course for a future which is sustainable and embraces us all as equal citizens.’

Easter Sermon

This is my sermon from St Ninian’s Cathedral this morning. As seems to be the trend with Cathedrals at present, there were lots of people. We did our best with a beautiful building and great music

I see, by the way, that my favourite Benedictine Monks in Rostrevor have updated their website. I often meet people who are ‘thinking about spending a little time with a religious community’. The new webcam will allow upon to join them at worship. No quite ‘retreat in the comfort of one’s own home’ but getting there. The website is www.benedictinemonks.co.uk

You may be interested in my Platform piece for The Scotsman

We had our Chrism Mass in the Cathedral today. it’s an important moment – all our clergy and Lay Readers gather to renew their ordination vows. This is what I said

Spring has come to Blogstead Episcopi – apart from the snow of today. You will want to know that out here we garden only in full eucharistic vestments.

The reality of course is that this was a tree-planting on Sunday at St Mary’s Dunblane to mark the accreditation of the congregation as an Eco-congregation.