My
orientation, and my bias, is toward spiritual practice and ecumenical dialogue.
This week has been a roller coaster ride in seeing the good and the bad. In all of it it I was reminded that any meaningful and authentic life is one lived in relationship with others and that any spirituality will likewise be relational.
Here
are the three "events" for me over the past week.
I. Reporting a Culture of Abuse
On Monday, I read more about the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church. You
have probably heard of the film, Spotlight,
"The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of
child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking
the entire Catholic Church to its core." I have heard good things about
the movie, though I haven't seen it yet. Our local diocesan newspaper,
One Voice, which is rather conservative, ran an article about the
film. The title of the article was, “Spotlight is not anti-Catholic, Vatican newspaper says.” On the same page they ran another news item about yet more sexual abuse at a Catholic school in Pennsylvania.
Both articles were from the Catholic News Service.
The article about Spotlight observed:
"it is now clear
that too many in the church were more worried about the image of the
institution than the seriousness of the act."
"All of this cannot
justify the very grave crime of one, who as a representative of God, uses this
prestige and authority to take advantage of the innocent," the article
said.
The film, in fact, shows
the kind of devastation wrought on victims when "they don't even have a
God to plead with anymore, to ask for help," it said.
Hundreds of children
were sexually abused over at least 40 years by priests and other religious
leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, a statewide grand jury found.
At least 50 priests or
religious leaders were involved in the abuse and diocesan leaders
systematically concealed the abuse to protect the church's image, according to
a grand jury report released March 1 by Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.
Even
after at least 15 years of increasing awareness of the scandal, as a Catholic
convert, I find it shocking and incredible that what I can only call "a
culture of abuse" has existed within the church. Even with the distressing
news of new allegations in Pennsylvania, I see it as a sign of hope that
it is being reported rather than ignored in our diocesan paper. A tenuous hope,
some may say, but I must also acknowledge the positive aspects of our community
of faith. At least more of our society is aware of the problem which hopefully will lead to better protection of our children. (To read a poem I wrote on the subject in 2002, “Slowly God Arises,”
go here)
II.
Responding to A Culture
of Hate
 |
Being Muslim in Alabama panel discussion
(Photo from Over the Mountain Democrats Facebook page) |
On
Wednesday night of last week I went to a forum at the Vestavia Library,
"Being Muslim in Alabama." The event was billed as “a discussion with Mark Potok,
Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Khaula Hadeed, Executive
Director of the Alabama Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations;
Ashfaq Taufique, President of the Birmingham Islamic Society. Today's polarized
political climate calls for reasonable dialog and sincere effort from each of
us to better understand the rich, varied fabric of American society and all the
members of the U.S. culture that never
stands still. Come learn more about Alabamian Islamic relations and ways we can
better understand one another as we work to make a better community for us all.”
Potok shared some statistics involving hate crime and hate speech. He pointed out that following 9/11, hate crimes actually went down until 2010 when specifically anti-Muslim groups began to appear. In 2014, other hate crimes went down while anti-Muslim hate crimes went up. We began to see ginned up issues and conspiracy theories geared toward inciting fear and hate.
Khaula Hadeed and Ashfaq Taufique shared a bit of what it is like being Muslim and living in Alabama. We heard some informative discussion, yet with the polarization and the reactionary political environment we are witnessing today, solutions are not
easy. One of the most salient bits of
advice offered was that we should simply get to know someone of the Islamic faith. “Have
a meal with them,” Mr. Taufique said. “It is difficult to hate someone you have shared a meal with.” He added that he gives this same advice to people in the Islamic
community regarding getting acquainted with others. “It will not diminish your
faith,” he tells his colleagues, “to get to know your non-Islamic neighbors.”
The
most encouraging thing for me was not in any answers (there are no easy or
simple ones), but the encouraging thing was that the auditorium was filled to
capacity with citizens who are concerned about making a difference.
III.
Mindfulness in Our
Spiritual Practice
 |
| (Photo from Jim Burklo's website) |
On
Friday morning I read Jim Burklo's blog on “Prayer and Mindfulness” which highlights the relational aspect of spiritual
practice in terms of self and others as well as self and Other (i.e.
“God”).
In my own experience,
the best thing I can do for my friends is to listen to them. If I’m doing too much of the talking, then
I’m not adequately listening. And when I
listen, I do best if I really listen: just be present in silence and give my
friend my full, compassionate, truly interested attention. . . Mindful prayer is being God’s friend, and
letting God be a friend to us: simply
being, attentively, with each other’s’ being.
Spiritual
practice is indeed an endeavor that involves listening, waiting, and paying
attention. With all of the reminders this week of betrayal of trust in the
church and words of hate in the public square, it was good to be reminded of
the need to push the personal “reset button” by spending time in meditation and to practice mindful prayer.
There you have my Monday - Wednesday - Friday summary of the week past. Now on to the week ahead.
* * * * *
You may also be interested in reading the following posts:
-
