Imagine a group of scouts going on an orienteering weekend up into the
mountains. They arrive at their starting point and gather round their leader
awaiting their instructions. The scout leader has attended all the ‘courses’ he
knows the lingo and the ethos, he has his tree huggers badge proudly stitched
on his arm, his sensitivity training badge pinned over his heart and his
cultural diversity badge tattooed on his forehead.
The leader wishes them
good luck and bids them farewell, a moment of silence ensues, before the
questions begin from the perplexed youths. What about the map? Where is the
compass? What direction do they take? Their mentor smiles at them indulgently
and patiently explains that maps are too rule bound, after all the boys need to
find out for themselves rather than rely on directions imposed on them from
some old, fastidious cartographer. As for the direction well, whatever they
feel is the best direction is the direction they should take, the experience of
the journey, not the destination, was the important thing here.
Desperately a last question is
thrown at the scout leader, how do we know when we reach the finish? At this
the leader scowls, he accuses the boys of looking for certainties, if they
think that a given place is the finishing point then it is. Each boy must
decide for himself when that will be. With this he trudges off leaving the scouts
staring at one another.
The last time anyone checked
these tragic youths were still lost in the wilderness; some had struck out
east, some west, some north and some south. Others bereft of purpose merely sat
down where they were, waiting and hoping. As for the scout leader, energised by
the experience of liberating these boys, he is busy preparing for the next
orienteering expedition and the next group of minds in need of enlightenment.
The primary duty of a
Catholic is to get to heaven. The
destination for a Catholic is eternal salvation and the vehicle to achieve this
end is the one holy and apostolic Catholic Church. Well … it used to be. Our
present ‘scout leader’ seems not to have twigged this pertinent fact – cue exhibit...whatever
(to be honest I’ve stopped counting) namely the video in which he reveals how
he understands the salvific mission of the Church. Now there is a new commission,
not from our Divine Lord but courtesy of Messers Lennon and McCartney, all you
need is love. That’s right folks, don’t worry about what religious symbol
you have got in your hand as long as you feel that warm fuzzy sensation, we will
all get there in the end. But where exactly are we going? Or is it merely about
becoming ‘companions on the journey’?
Amid the confusion and
chaos, perhaps a bible quote is most apt. ‘For what things a man shall sow, so
also shall he reap’ (Galatians 6:7).
Honestly I don’t understand why so many folks are on
Papa Bergoglio’s case? Why do the conservative Catholics gaze behind them
wistfully at the pontificates of John Paul and Benedict? The signs were already
there for those who had eyes to see (Assisi
