BishopAccountability.org
	Bishops and the Need to Get in Touch Total Catholic December 11, 2011 http://www.totalcatholic.com/tc/index.php/uk-and-ireland-news/1954-editorial-bishops-and-the-need-to-get-in-touch There are many reasons why we might criticise our bishops, although doubtless there are just as many reasons why the bishops might criticise the laity. The main complaint I have heard this year is that, amid the economic crisis in the wider world and the Church’s lamentable failure to address cases of abuse, the bishops of England and Wales chose to make a fuss about eating fish on Friday. The hierarchy might argue about exactly what was said but they knew full well that the media would report their decision in this way. The announcement followed their meeting in May and was to take effect in September as a way of marking the first anniversary of Pope Benedict’s visit. The somewhat grumpy reaction came about because it looked as if the bishops had not noticed three things: the world seems to be in economic meltdown; they had lost credibility over their handling of endless abuse cases and, anyway, most of us have ignored whatever it was they said, whenever it was they said it, if they ever told us that it was acceptable to have meat on Fridays. In short, the bishops showed that they are out of touch, with no sense of timing. Call me old-fashioned, or foolishly loyal, but I am with the bishops on this, even though I am one of those who has done their best not to eat meat on Fridays. I confess that this has been helped by a love of fish and chips which is not perhaps in the spirit of the injunction to abstain from meat but it is a factor in obedience to the rule, even through the years when it turns out that the rule had been relaxed. The starting-point for backing the bishops against the curmudgeons is that in last year’s prequel, the bishops were criticised right up to the Pope’s visit for going ahead with the initiative during the same two crises of economics and of lack of trust in the Church. In a different way to fish on Friday, a papal visit was thought by many to be an odd response. In the face of much opposition, however, it was a triumph. A highlight for me, watching on screen, was when Pope Benedict came out of St Peter’s home for older people in Vauxhall and walked across the road, ignoring security, to greet the neighbours. I later learned that my sister and father, who were there, had had some difficulty in convincing the taxi driver from Waterloo that the Pope was indeed coming to Vauxhall. “Give over. You’re having me on. You’re having a laugh. Oh, wait a minute, the road’s closed. What’s this, then? The Pope is coming? Here? Oh my God!” I mention all this because, up to Pope Benedict’s mesmerising visit to the voiceless of Vauxhall, the best bit of ‘bishoping’ I have ever come across was by Bishop John Jukes, whose funeral took place this week in the nearby St George’s Cathedral of Southwark. In 1983, my wife and I were at home one evening with our first two (twin) babies in a new housing development in Kent. The doorbell rang. It was Bishop Jukes. He was not singling us out, nor any other church-going Catholics. He was visiting every new home. If you have ever lived in a new house in commuter-land, with neighbours who are also struggling with big mortgages, long travelling times and young families, you will appreciate that not many people had knocked on one another’s doors. By the time he got to us, Bishop John Jukes knew more of the neighbours than anyone did. He was pointing here and there, telling us who lived where, sharing aspects of our neighbours’ life histories and suggesting how we could band together to develop a sense of community. He was also happy to hold our babies and to listen to us. In between the visits of Bishop Jukes and Pope Benedict, another kind of episcopal visiting has also impressed me. Thanks to Bishop Terence Brain of Salford, the bishops’ conference produced in 2004 a profound document on prisons – A Place of Redemption. Bishops Brain, Jukes and most other bishops have track records of visiting prisoners. This does give our Church leaders a solid foundation on which to make contributions to public debates on crime and justice. Only this past week, for instance, one of the country’s most senior judges called for Parliament to reconsider sentences for murder. Bishops do not need to be out of touch. They can get in touch very easily by getting on their bikes and visiting parishes, as well as prisons. More precisely, when visiting parishes, they can follow the example of Bishop Jukes of not just visiting the presbytery but of knocking on doors. That would be truly welcoming all-comers home for Christmas. Last year, the bishops were right to proceed with the papal visit. This year they were right to renew calls for a distinctive mark of our Catholic identity. They said then that they “recognise that the best habits are those which are acquired as part of a common resolve and common witness”. In the coming year, they could honour Pope Benedict and the memory of Bishop Jukes in resolving to bear a common witness themselves through visiting us in our homes. For bishops at their best are not only ‘in touch’ with contemporary society and with the enduring traditions of the Church but they are also able to touch our lives. It is the simplest gift of time that is the most touching.
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