The death of Pope Benedict XVI attracted attention worldwide as people reflected on his important and distinguished life. Much has been written and said about him, some of it positive and some of it negative. In considering his life’s work, it is helpful to consider the record of St Peter, said to have been the first bishop of Rome and whose call to ministry is described in tomorrow’s gospel reading.
Peter had his failures, notably when he denied Jesus three times and later opposed the Gentile mission. St Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that he had a face-to-face row with Peter about his attitude: “But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.” Differences of opinion between good people are not new in church circles.
The times we live in impact on the way we think and act. When I was ordained in Belfast in 1969 this island was convulsed by violence, and, despite claims to the contrary, much of it nurtured by sectarian hatred on all sides. It was a deeply a troubling time as each act of terror caused me and many like me real pain and distress. But we were also celebrating the new thinking of the Second Vatican Council and its recognition that division among Christians “openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.” Inter-church relations were helped by the acknowledgement that “other Christian communities are validly termed: churches, communities, and ecclesial communities. They validly possess (in varying degrees) those elements which make the baptized a church.” These developments spoke directly and positively to the situation we were in at that time.
It was also a time however of rapid social change in Europe and beyond. Many of the old certainties and disciplines that my generation grew up with were being challenged; new insights and opinions were raising questions to do with family life and relationships, women’s rights, gender identity, reproductive medicine and much more. As these matters were discussed differences emerged not only between churches but perhaps more significantly within churches as church leaders, among them Benedict the conservative, struggled to hold the line.
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The former archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams suggests that we should look beyond the labels to have a fuller understanding of Benedict’s ministry. In a recent radio interview, having explained that he had known the late pope and found him “warm and friendly”, Dr Williams went on to speak about Benedict “the thinker and theologian” – a man deeply troubled by the rising tide of secularism which the archbishop described as “a dictatorship of relativism” where truth is decided by what suits the individual without accountability beyond self, where “naked power wins.” Therein, he suggested, lies the source of our unequal, unhappy and divided world.
This is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which has as its theme Be-Longing: Praying for Unity amidst Injustice. The following quotation from the resource material suggests that for Christians staying as we are is not an option, that change is essential if we are to conform to the will of Jesus for his church: “Jesus prays that we will be ‘completely one’, praying for an authentic and selfless unity, one with no half measures, reflected in the person of God, in the unity of the Trinity. Such unity is challenging, it requires self-reflection, humility, a release of power and control, and an openness to change. Isaiah reminds us of the hypocrisy that can still exist in our churches, claiming a love for others, but really only extending a full welcome to those who are like us. Many have experienced pain, rejection, abuse, and exclusion within the Church. A Christian expression of unity must include everyone and offer healing and justice.”
We can of course only hope to include everyone when we learn to live with difference and diversity.
Jesus was very good at that.