One Thing Follows Another.

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 anyone?).  Pope Francis is the pinnacle of the progressive humanist endeavour He’s following the teachings to the letter, he is the logical conclusion of what began fifty plus years ago. He is a loyal son of the council. One thing follows another.