Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
PHOTO: J PHOTO:VATICAN_II_IN_SESSION Pastoral Review Editorial Office Natalie K. Watson (Publishing Editor) Tel. +44(0)77 6674 4011 pastoralreview9@gmail.com Ashley Beck (Reviews Editor) ashley.beck@stmarys.ac.uk Stephanie Bennett (Editorial Administrator) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 sbennett@thepastoralreview.org Amanda Davison-Young (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 adyoung@thetablet.co.uk Malgorzata Chylinska Pequeno (Design and Production) mchylinska@thetablet.co.uk To subscribe or to manage your subscription Tel: +44(0)1858 438736 thetablet@subscription.co.uk One year: £27 (UK), £35 (Airmail) To advertise Lisa Smith (advertising manager) Tel: +44 (0)1903 534 041 lisa@ottwaymediasolutions.com Head Office 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 publisher@thetablet.co.uk Editorial Board Ashley Beck, Maureen Glackin, David Jones, John Lydon, Stephanie MacGillivray, Káren North, Gerald O’Collins SJ, Thomas O’Loughlin, Paul Rowan, Peter Tyler, Clare Watkins, Natalie K. Watson © The Tablet Publishing Company Limited ISSN1748-362X www.thepastoralreview.org ‘Silence is the key to everything. First, silence teaches us to go inside ourselves to find real life rather than to reach for it always and forever outside ourselves. Second, silence provides us with the harrowing ground of the soul. It breaks up the clods of our lives, it roots out the weeds, it levels the rocky ground in which we’ve grown. Most of all, it is in silence that we hear our own cries of fear and pain and resistance, which only in silence can really be addressed. In silence, we come to know ourselves.’1 These words by the American Benedictine Joan Chittister reflect how the monastic tradition values silence; they can also be applied to the Church as an institution. At times we are called to be silent as a community, perhaps particularly during or after a time of crisis (such as the Covid pandemic) and certainly when we are trying to be penitent as a community because of sinfulness (for example, because of the abuse scandals). Such silence and time for reflection is valuable; it needs to happen at different levels within the community. The synodal pathway which Pope Francis initiated about a year ago involves a certain amount of silence within the process of dialogue: we can only listen to others if we keep quiet! Being open to the Holy Spirit and reflecting on sins and mistakes both demand space and time: many pressures within the Church and society make this difficult. Jeremiah and other Old Testament prophets in their selfreflection, often showing a difficult relationship with God, point to the need for silence. However, the need to be silent and to show humility should not be an excuse for not saying anything at all. The temptation is strong – the extent to which the abuse scandal has weakened the teaching authority of the Church at all levels cannot be exaggerated. If we want to say something in society about sexual exploitation and the abuse of power – which are serious and ongoing moral issues – we will feel vulnerable if we think we will be accused of being hypocrites. Awareness of serious mistakes and humility certainly demand that we show care in the language which we use, and this might lead us simply not to bother; also, at a time when the influence of the churches in society has declined anyway, we might want to keep our heads down, however bad things might be. We might even
page 5
Editorial A time to be silent and a time to speak Ashley Beck PHOTO: JEREMY-BEZANGER, UNSPLASH think that if things are bad the last thing people want to hear is a message from the churches which seeks to proclaim God’s justice, let alone one which calls them to repentance. One of the worst pretexts for saying nothing is preoccupation with our internal problems: so in the current context, people may be saying that we should simply be worrying about how to get people back to church after the pandemic. But that sort of response to the need for silence is mistaken, inattentive to the prophetic tradition, a ‘deafening silence’. British society faces enormous challenges in terms of the application of Catholic social teaching: truth-telling, political integrity, respect for international law, the cost-of-living crisis, the right to strike, the crisis in the NHS, the cult of the nation state, militarism and warmongering, corruption, the climate change crisis, under-resourcing of state education – many of us have our own long lists. Much needs to be said, and the poorest in our society depend on the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth to speak. The ministry of Pope Francis, which has given so much moral leadership in the last three years, shows the way forward, the way to get the balance right. ___________________________________________ 1 Chittister, J., Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life, New York: Crown Publishing, 2017, p. 158. October/November/December 2022 | Pastoral Review Vol. 18 Issue 4 | 5

Page Text

View plaintext

PHOTO: J

PHOTO:VATICAN_II_IN_SESSION

Pastoral Review Editorial Office Natalie K. Watson (Publishing Editor) Tel. +44(0)77 6674 4011 pastoralreview9@gmail.com Ashley Beck (Reviews Editor) ashley.beck@stmarys.ac.uk Stephanie Bennett (Editorial Administrator) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 sbennett@thepastoralreview.org Amanda Davison-Young (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 adyoung@thetablet.co.uk Malgorzata Chylinska Pequeno (Design and Production) mchylinska@thetablet.co.uk

To subscribe or to manage your subscription Tel: +44(0)1858 438736 thetablet@subscription.co.uk One year: £27 (UK), £35 (Airmail) To advertise Lisa Smith (advertising manager) Tel: +44 (0)1903 534 041 lisa@ottwaymediasolutions.com Head Office 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 publisher@thetablet.co.uk Editorial Board Ashley Beck, Maureen Glackin, David Jones, John Lydon, Stephanie MacGillivray, Káren North, Gerald O’Collins SJ, Thomas O’Loughlin, Paul Rowan, Peter Tyler, Clare Watkins, Natalie K. Watson © The Tablet Publishing Company Limited ISSN1748-362X www.thepastoralreview.org

‘Silence is the key to everything. First, silence teaches us to go inside ourselves to find real life rather than to reach for it always and forever outside ourselves. Second, silence provides us with the harrowing ground of the soul. It breaks up the clods of our lives, it roots out the weeds, it levels the rocky ground in which we’ve grown. Most of all, it is in silence that we hear our own cries of fear and pain and resistance, which only in silence can really be addressed. In silence, we come to know ourselves.’1

These words by the American Benedictine Joan Chittister reflect how the monastic tradition values silence; they can also be applied to the Church as an institution. At times we are called to be silent as a community, perhaps particularly during or after a time of crisis (such as the Covid pandemic) and certainly when we are trying to be penitent as a community because of sinfulness (for example, because of the abuse scandals). Such silence and time for reflection is valuable; it needs to happen at different levels within the community. The synodal pathway which Pope Francis initiated about a year ago involves a certain amount of silence within the process of dialogue: we can only listen to others if we keep quiet! Being open to the Holy Spirit and reflecting on sins and mistakes both demand space and time: many pressures within the Church and society make this difficult. Jeremiah and other Old Testament prophets in their selfreflection, often showing a difficult relationship with God, point to the need for silence.

However, the need to be silent and to show humility should not be an excuse for not saying anything at all. The temptation is strong – the extent to which the abuse scandal has weakened the teaching authority of the Church at all levels cannot be exaggerated. If we want to say something in society about sexual exploitation and the abuse of power – which are serious and ongoing moral issues – we will feel vulnerable if we think we will be accused of being hypocrites. Awareness of serious mistakes and humility certainly demand that we show care in the language which we use, and this might lead us simply not to bother; also, at a time when the influence of the churches in society has declined anyway, we might want to keep our heads down, however bad things might be. We might even

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content