The plane is somewhere between Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve been in New Zealand for over ten days
now and still have a week to go before I leave for Australia. It’s been an enlightening trip on many levels.
In the first place, it occurs to me that New Zealand may be one of the last great civilized nations on earth. Over 25 years
ago they refused to accept nuclear weapons–anybody’s nuclear weapons, including our own–on New Zealand territory.
And they have not changed their minds.
The rules here are casual, tailored more to people than to systems. Airport attendants allowed friends to go through the
security line with me and ignored the slight overweight limit on the bag. Parking lot attendants waved us into reserved
parking spots. Conference organizers changed program schedules in mid-air. Things are done, it seems, with a kind of
ease.
But not all. A local bishop felt obliged to issue a public statement that he did not "approve" of my speaking in his diocese.
There were, of course, no specific issues raised at all. Just a kind of discomfort with the fact that I was "outside the
teaching of the church." What that means or what precisely was said, he does not explain. I have a notion he’s never
really read a thing I’ve written.
However, since I had been engaged to speak by a Catholic lay group, not by diocesan offices at all, the only remark I
heard in New Zealand about it was "He didn’t approve? What does that mean? Why would we ask for approval?" The
point is an important one. When the church does not enter into dialogue on issues, does not model some real thinking on
issues rather than simply try to suppress the thinking of educated people, the laity simply stop looking to the church for
guidance. Sad.
The best news, of course, were the equally public statements by another Bishop and Archbishop from New Zealand who
saw no problem at all in the topics raised–The Relationships between Spirituality and Culture, the Concept of God in Our
Time, and the Relation between Ecology, Theology and Feminism–or the need for discussion of them if the church is to
grow in this society at this time. Hopeful.
The embarrassing thing, as an American, was the internet article on the subject generated by a so-called pro-life news
service based in North America whose headline completely exaggerated–no, lied–about the situation by insinuating that
a bishop had labeled me a "pro-abortion" nun. He didn’t and neither do I. You’d like to think that Catholics would do a
more honest, more thoughtful, more nuanced, more reflective article than that. Otherwise, how trust anything they say?
Disappointing.
So, it’s been an interesting trip, a wonderful trip, with only this one small blip on the screen, a reminder that we are still
between two churches in our time and in serious need of the people who will calmly and trustingly lead us all together to
new vision.
But that in itself may be more than enough insight for one trip.
now and still have a week to go before I leave for Australia. It’s been an enlightening trip on many levels.
In the first place, it occurs to me that New Zealand may be one of the last great civilized nations on earth. Over 25 years
ago they refused to accept nuclear weapons–anybody’s nuclear weapons, including our own–on New Zealand territory.
And they have not changed their minds.
The rules here are casual, tailored more to people than to systems. Airport attendants allowed friends to go through the
security line with me and ignored the slight overweight limit on the bag. Parking lot attendants waved us into reserved
parking spots. Conference organizers changed program schedules in mid-air. Things are done, it seems, with a kind of
ease.
But not all. A local bishop felt obliged to issue a public statement that he did not "approve" of my speaking in his diocese.
There were, of course, no specific issues raised at all. Just a kind of discomfort with the fact that I was "outside the
teaching of the church." What that means or what precisely was said, he does not explain. I have a notion he’s never
really read a thing I’ve written.
However, since I had been engaged to speak by a Catholic lay group, not by diocesan offices at all, the only remark I
heard in New Zealand about it was "He didn’t approve? What does that mean? Why would we ask for approval?" The
point is an important one. When the church does not enter into dialogue on issues, does not model some real thinking on
issues rather than simply try to suppress the thinking of educated people, the laity simply stop looking to the church for
guidance. Sad.
The best news, of course, were the equally public statements by another Bishop and Archbishop from New Zealand who
saw no problem at all in the topics raised–The Relationships between Spirituality and Culture, the Concept of God in Our
Time, and the Relation between Ecology, Theology and Feminism–or the need for discussion of them if the church is to
grow in this society at this time. Hopeful.
The embarrassing thing, as an American, was the internet article on the subject generated by a so-called pro-life news
service based in North America whose headline completely exaggerated–no, lied–about the situation by insinuating that
a bishop had labeled me a "pro-abortion" nun. He didn’t and neither do I. You’d like to think that Catholics would do a
more honest, more thoughtful, more nuanced, more reflective article than that. Otherwise, how trust anything they say?
Disappointing.
So, it’s been an interesting trip, a wonderful trip, with only this one small blip on the screen, a reminder that we are still
between two churches in our time and in serious need of the people who will calmly and trustingly lead us all together to
new vision.
But that in itself may be more than enough insight for one trip.
REPORT from NEW ZEALAND
 |  |  |  |  |
| Home||Benedictine Sisters of Erie||Catalogue||Joan in the News||Contact Benetvision Fund for Prisoners||Retreats||About Benetvision||Ideas in Passing Benetvision • 355 East Ninth Street • Erie, PA 16503-1107 • Phone 814-459-5994 benetvision@benetvision.org • Fax 814-459-8066 Copyrighted © 2007 Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA |