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The
Common Good
Taking a Preferential Option for the Poor
A newspaper of the Christchurch Catholic Worker
No 93, Pentecost 2020 Price: free or donation
Post-Covid – a new Pentecost? Jim Consedine
Whatever else we have been told about the effects The tote is closed! The nation’s priests heard that spelt out
of Covid-19, we have learned that nothing will be the same clearly at their assembly two years ago. The facts are
in the future as it was before. staring us in the face. Many do not
Many ways of seeing and doing want to accept them. Pope Francis
things will have to change. does. He speaks to it all the time. In
Returning to a hopelessly remarks welcomed by the NZ
unequal, racist, and unjust world Bishops’ Conference (8 May 2020),
hurtling towards the destruction of Pope Francis at Easter said the time
the planet is simply not an option. was ripe for ‘new imagination’,
And that challenge applies to the allowing for ‘the breath of the
Church as well. An enormous Spirit’ to open new horizons. Our
opportunity has presented itself in Church needs to evolve into
the evolution of humanity and of something different, guided by the
our Church. Spirit and become more relevant
In this modern era, we have and nourishing for peoples’ lives.
not been well-served by new Because one model dies, that
‘idols’ — corporate capitalism, does not mean that everything dies.
exorbitant wealth in few hands, It means that we will have to rebuild
power acquisition, success, a Church that is more relational,
celebrity culture, widespread more community-based and
militarism, youth immortality, Pat Marrin orientated, less hierarchical, more
unbridled and unregulated technological development. literate, more empowering, more
Have we too often left behind not just our neighbour but involved with ordinary life, more lay-driven. More based
our collective soul? Have we forgotten that we are made on a living, dynamic faith in the light of the Gospels.
of spirit too?
These idols are parasites. They give us the Pope Francis at Easter said the time was
impression of enrichment. In reality, they empty us ripe for ‘new imagination’, allowing for ‘the
spiritually, sucking us dry. Is this the legacy we want to breath of the Spirit’ to open new horizons.
leave future generations? As Christians, are we being
asked for a paradigm shift in our thinking? That is the vision Vatican II challenged us with
Worldwide, young people are starting to reject these more than 50 years ago. That is the model circumstances
false idols. Two recent examples. The Bernie Sanders now dictate we need to further develop for our survival and
campaign in the US gave us a hint of that. A crusty 78- growth. If we listen carefully to ‘the signs of the times’ and
year-old senator, by daring to dream with passion about want to survive as a Church with a relevant message, we
social justice, rallying the youth a quarter of his age to a cannot delay any longer. The old model needs to move
more equitable, cleaner vision. And the world-wide youth over and let the shoots of a new one flower.
rebellion against weak climate policies and corporate self- We also have to revisit the Vatican II teaching on
interest coupled with the impact of Greta Thunberg’s the Priesthood of the Faithful. And the huge elephant in
rallying cry for a better future. the room – the continued discrimination against women in
ministry. We can no longer continue to fly on one wing.
Future Church The current model of clericalized priesthood and the male
What sort of Church should we hope for when power structure is well past its use-by date. It is time for a
things settle? One thing for sure is that there will not be a renewal of the priesthood in our Church. We need a
revival of church attendance to any great extent in the Church where priests regardless of gender are builders of
Western world. The model of clericalized Church that community, servants of the Word, nurturers of the needy,
most of us have grown up with has done its dash. It is over. presiders at liturgical gatherings and leaders of localcommunities. Some of the great thinkers and prophets in our spiritual
Our current model of Church was formed in history started movements through their desire to live
patriarchal times. That formation no longer serves us well. these foundational teachings more authentically.
Women deserve equality of opportunity to respond to their Many religious orders came from such an
vocational callings just as men do. It is a question of God’s understanding of Christ’s teaching. People saw the needs
justice, a power of love which sits at the heart of our of the poor in particular and responded. Ask Suzanne
Christian faith and empowers our response. We need a Aubert, Catherine McCauley, Mary McKillop, Vincent de
Church living the freedom of the Spirit and committed to Paul, Euphrasie Barbier, John of God, a few among a large
such development. selection. Mohandas Gandhi was greatly influenced by
them, as were Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day.
The Beatitudes and Corporal Works of Mercy I spent part of my lockdown time reading a 600-
At its core, our future Church will be a return to a page book, Voices from the Catholic Worker. It contains
deeper understanding of and commitment to living the interviews with hundreds of mainly younger people who
scriptures better. The Beatitudes (Luke 4, Matt 5) and the came to a committed understanding of the Gospels and the
Corporal Works of Mercy (feed the hungry, clothe the Church through their reflections on the Beatitudes
naked etc) were the ‘penny catechism’ of the early Church (particularly their challenge around social justice and
before most people were literate and before the Church peace-making) and their desire to practise the Corporal
became clericalized. For the first 300 years, believers were Works of Mercy. These teachings changed their lives,
taught and encouraged to live these radical Christian fuelled their faith, gave them a meaningful existence.
teachings which were central to scripture and basic to their
lives as Christians. They learnt them by heart. Another central foundation stone will have
In a new post-Covid age and facing a planet under to be to enflesh the 2015 vision of Pope
threat as never before because of human action, are we Francis in Laudato Si’ for a serious
being called to revisit these and other key fundamental involvement to preserving the health of our
texts and apply them to life as the early Christian did? planet. This is no longer an option.
Who are we? Most have continued to live a committed Christian
faith while remaining part of the Church, raising families,
Members of Te Wairua Maranga Trust, which
being involved with community development, taking ‘an
publishes this paper, have since August 1989 been operating
as a community following a Catholic Worker spirituality. We
option for the poor’, practising hospitality, struggling for
view the Treaty of Waitangi as our nation’s founding more just social structures, active peace-making and
covenant. We try, however inadequately at times, to live the witnessing to Christ in the marketplace.
Sermon on the Mount and its modern implications. We
operate three houses of hospitality in Christchurch named Fresh thinking
after Suzanne Aubert, Joseph Cardijn and Thomas Merton. Another central foundation stone will have to be to
We offer hospitality to people in need either on a temporary enflesh the 2015 vision of Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ for
or more permanent basis. We have a continuing outreach to a serious involvement to preserving the health of our
a number of families offering friendship and support. We planet. This is no longer an option. Our planet is being
promote non-violence and a ‘small is beautiful’ approach to
suffocated to death by a million cuts daily. One example.
life, practise co-operative work and peace-making, focus on
issues of justice, support prison ministry, help create Due to climate change, the world has lost more than one
intentional communities, and try to practise voluntary quarter of its land-dwelling insects in the past 30 years.
poverty and personalism. From bees and other pollinators crucial to the world’s food
We engage in regular prayer and we also celebrate a supply, to butterflies that beautify our spaces, the bugs are
liturgy every Wednesday at 6:00 pm at the Suzanne Aubert disappearing at a rate of about 1 percent a year (Nature,
House, 8A Cotterill St, Addington, (off Poulson St, near May 2018). The August 2019 report of the UN
Church Square), followed by a shared meal. Anyone is International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) calls for
welcome – phone Francis, 338-7105. ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all
We do not seek funding from traditional sources. We aspects of society in order to avert global warming’ which
hope to receive enough to keep our houses of hospitality poses ‘an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to
open and our various works going. Catholic Worker houses human societies and the planet’.
do not issue tax receipts since they are running neither a If we proceed to consume and practise at our current
business nor a church social agency. We invite people to levels, we will continue to be part of the planet’s sinful
participate personally and unconditionally. Should you wish destruction. Our response as disciples of Christ does not
to make a regular contribution, you may do so through our
allow for this. What is our message in the face of this
Te Wairua Maranga Westpac Trust holding account (number
031703-0036346-02). Donations may also be made to Te unprecedented challenge? What are we doing about it in
Wairua Maranga Trust, Box 33-135, Christchurch. The concrete terms?
Common Good: Editor: Jim Consedine, Is a new Pentecost called for? ‘If nothing will be
jim.conse@xtra.co.nz.. Layout: Barbara Corcoran the same in the future as before Covid’, haven’t we been
burkespass@gmail.com. presented with a great opportunity? What is the Holy Spirit
asking of us today?
www.catholicworker.org.nz
The Common Good Page 2 No 93Editorial Coronavirus in a Time of Climate Crisis
At our last Māori mass here in Ōtaki, we named integrity, ecosystems were more balanced and
and blessed three kōhatu mauri or life-force stones. checked. In our time of climate crisis, we have
This is a traditional Māori practice for helping people entered into imbalances of many types due to habitat
focus and ground their intentions. loss and unpredictable weather patterns.
Our three kōhatu mauri, called Te Whenua, Ngā We also live in a world chock-full of people. A
Wai and Te Tuarangi, represented our land, our good number of affluent people are now global
waters and our universe and heavens. The kōhatu citizens. They have the means to travel across seas,
when blessed were given the task of embodying for borders and landmasses regularly. A biologist once
our community a collection of concerns and hopes. commented, that not only are human beings full of
The kōhatu Whenua microbial life and dependent on them, the microbes
was tasked with holding the invented us in order to get around! In a densely
coronavirus within the populated, urbanized and polluted world, microbes
context of the larger issues find themselves with ingredients and conditions
facing our earth community. enabling them to flourish.
We named inequality of The human community is hunkering down
income, our climate crisis, our biodiversity crisis, our during this pandemic, to see it out, and in many cases
over-consumption/waste crisis, our race and hate in order to survive. This is necessary and wise given
crisis, our refugee and wars crisis and our housing our threat levels. Many will want to return to
crisis. business-as-usual lifestyles when the pandemic is
The kōhatu Wai was tasked with holding the over. The ingredients and conditions that have
coronavirus within the context of the many issues enabled this crisis may be easily forgotten and
facing the waters of our world. We put into this stone overlooked. Opportunities that have opened for us,
our concerns for the world’s oceans, in particular their discussions we needed to have will be passed up.
warming and acidification. We included our world’s In this global pandemic we are displaying to
lakes, rivers, streams and springs along with seasonal each other that we care and are able to respond
rains. radically. We are altering our lives in response to
The kōhatu Tuarangi was tasked with changing circumstances. A similar responsiveness is
embodying all that is sacred, and the mysterious needed at all levels everywhere to address the climate
immensity of our heavens. We acknowledged the crisis and its deeper underlying causes and calls.
human community, and all of Creation, as an
unfolding journey of evolution. Opportunity
In blessing these stones we honoured their Ecological commentators are reminding us that
shape and weight and all they represent for us, we this is an important moment of choice. It is an
commended them into the goodness and grace of opportunity to pause, reflect and reset. The more our
God, in hope of their guidance as we journey into world sinks into uncertainty and fear, the greater the
uncertain territory. opportunities to be compassionate and present. We
can even begin the great task of re-imagining our
Context civilization. All of this can happen in our global
Our coronavirus, like everything and everyone moment of pause and reflection, because what’s
in our world, exists in a context. The ultimate context before us is the possibility of genuine re-connection
is that everything is connected, everything is a gift to the Source of all life.
and promise of our Creator. The kōhatu mauri remind We are being called to muster all the awareness
us of the wider ecosystems of life in which everything and presence we are capable of, doing this we will
has its place. The coronavirus is with us in a steadily lean into the future wanting to come to be through us.
warming world, a world where temperate winters are We will find the resourcefulness to make the changes
getting shorter and milder. Warmer conditions and like a clean energy transition in support of a genuinely
shorter winters mean conditions become optimal for life-sustaining society. We will name and address
certain creatures to thrive. many other transitions we have to make in order to
A warmer world means conditions everywhere draw down our harms and enter a time of full renewal.
are changing, and in some cases collapsing. World Catholic Worker Peter Healy SM is a member
wilderness areas are warming, especially ice pack and of the Marist Ecology Commission and lives at Otaki
glacial zones. In cooler times these places had greater Beach.
The Common Good Page 3 No 93Covid-19 and the Wasting Disease of Normality
‘But what of the price of peace?’ asked Jesuit priest kept going, profitably, by America and Britain. Before you
and war resister Daniel Berrigan, writing from federal panic, consider them.’
prison in 1969, doing time for his part in the destruction of The pandemic has brought home what the threats of
draft records. ‘I think of the good, decent, peace-loving global destruction by climate change and nuclear war
people I have known by the thousands, and I wonder. How should have long ago- that the promises of normality will
many of them are so afflicted with the wasting disease of never deliver in the end, that they are lies that lead those
normality that, even as they declare for the peace, their who trust in them to the ruin. Daniel Berrigan saw this a
hands reach out with an instinctive spasm in the direction half century ago, normality is an affliction, a wasting
of their loved ones, in the direction of their comforts, their disease more dangerous to its victims and to the planet
home, their security, their income, their future, their plans than any viral plague.
-- that twenty-year plan of family growth and unity, that Author and human rights activist, Arundhati Roy, is
fifty-year plan of decent life and honourable natural one of many who recognizes the peril and the promise of
demise.’ the moment: ‘Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the
From his prison cell in a year of mass movements to mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing
end the war in Vietnam and mobilizations for nuclear else could. Our minds are still racing back and forth,
disarmament, Daniel Berrigan diagnosed normality as a longing for a return to ‘normality’, trying to stitch our
disease and labelled it an obstacle to peace. ‘‘Of course, future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture.
let us have the peace,’ we cry, ‘but at the same time let us But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible
have normality, let us lose nothing, let our lives stand despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday
intact, let us know neither prison nor ill repute nor machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be
disruption of ties.’ And because we must encompass this worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics
and protect that, and because at all costs -- at all costs -- have forced humans to break with the past and imagine
our hopes must march on schedule, and because it is their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a
unheard of that in the name of peace a sword should fall, gateway between one world and the next.’
disjoining that fine and cunning web that our lives have
woven… because of this we cry peace, peace, and there is Call to conversion
no peace.’ ‘Every crisis contains both danger and opportunity,’
said Pope Francis about the present situation. ‘Today I
A new normal? believe we have to slow down our rate of production and
Fifty-one years later, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate
the very notion of normality is being questioned as never the natural world. This is the opportunity for conversion.
before. While Donald Trump is ‘chomping on the bit’ to Yes, I see early signs of an economy that is less liquid,
return the economy to normal very soon based on a metric more human. But let us not lose our memory once all this
in his own head, more reflective voices are saying that a is past, let us not file it away and go back to where we
return to normal, now, or even in the future, is an were.’
intolerable threat to be resisted. ‘There is a lot of talk about ‘There are ways forward we never imagined – at
returning to ‘normal’ after the Covid-19 outbreak,’ says huge cost, with great suffering – but there are possibilities
climate activist Greta Thunberg, ‘but normal was a crisis.’ and I’m immensely hopeful,’ said Archbishop of
In recent days even economists with the World Canterbury Justin Welby at Easter. ‘After so much
Bank and the International Monetary Fund and columnists suffering, so much heroism from key workers and the NHS
in the New York Times have spoken about the urgent (National Health Service) in this country and their
necessity of reordering economic and political priorities to equivalents all across the globe, once this epidemic is
something more human. Only the thickest and cruellest conquered we cannot be content to go back to what was
minds today speak of a return to normal as a positive before as if all was normal. There needs to be a
outcome. resurrection of our common life, a new normal, something
Early in the pandemic, the Australian journalist that links to the old but is different and more beautiful.’
John Pilger reminded the world of the baseline normal that In these perilous times, it is necessary to use the best
Covid-19 exacerbates: ‘A pandemic has been declared, but social practices and to wisely apply science and
not for the 24,600 who die every day from unnecessary technology to survive the present Covid-19 pandemic. The
starvation, and not for 3,000 children who die every day wasting disease of normality, though, is the far greater
from preventable malaria, and not for the 10,000 people existential threat and our survival requires that we meet it
who die every day because they are denied publicly- with at least the same courage, generosity, and ingenuity.
funded healthcare, and not for the hundreds of
Venezuelans and Iranians who die every day because Brian Terrell, a CW for more than 50 years, lives
America’s blockade denies them life-saving medicines, with his wife Betsy Keenan at the Strangers and Guests
and not for the hundreds of mostly children bombed or CW, Maloy, Iowa.
starved to death every day in Yemen, in a war supplied and
The Common Good Page 4 No 93Suicide: Redeeming the memory of a loved one
Jim Consedine
Last year in New Zealand, 685 people, of all ages We should not unduly second-guess ourselves when
and backgrounds, died by suicide. That is nearly two every we lose a loved one to suicide. What might I have done?
day. This is double the traffic accident rate. Yet, so often Where did I let this person down? If only I had been there
we don’t talk of suicide with the same freedom and insight at the right time! Rarely would this have made a
and openness with which we speak of other forms of death. difference. Most of the time we weren’t there because the
This must change. person who fell victim to the disease did not want us there.
A spiritual writer for whom I have the greatest He or she picked the moment, the spot and the means
respect, Ronald Rolheiser, an American Catholic priest precisely so we wouldn’t be there. Suicide seems to be a
and lecturer of my generation, has every year since 1986, disease that picks its victim precisely in such a way so as
written an article on suicide for his worldwide syndicated to exclude others and their attentiveness. This is not an
columns which are read weekly in more than 30 countries. excuse for insensitivity or neglect. Rather, it is a healthy
His belief is that we too often define our relationship check against false guilt and fruitless second-guessing.
with the deceased through the prism of the person’s death Indigenous cultures including Maori and
– and not their life. I think he is right. We all have mainstream traditional religions have for thousands of
difficulty placing the early, middle and later years of a years reminded us that life and death are two sides of the
suicide victim’s life to the forefront of our remembering, same coin. Maturity of growth as human beings comes
because of the sadness and shock of what has happened at from accepting the light and dark sides of life and working
death. out ways whereby one doesn’t dominate and control to the
He says suicide is the least glamourous and most detriment of the other. These cultures and spiritual
misunderstood of all deaths and gives sage advice on how traditions teach us that physical death simply moves us to
to approach a death by suicide. another phase of living.
Rolheiser gives us four points to ponder. Regrettably, our modern consumer culture allows
In most cases, suicide is the result of a disease, a no such understanding, insisting that fulfilment, success in
sickness, an illness, a tragic breakdown within the life and happiness come from making more money, getting
emotional immune system. Or simply, it could be a mortal higher status and constantly buying more new things –
bio-chemical illness. which, of course, quickly become old things. That is why
For most suicides, the person dies as does the victim our planet’s very existence is threatened by the amount of
of any terminal illness or fatal accident, not by his or her its rubbish!
own choice. When people die from heart attacks, strokes, Our whole modern cultural approach is false, based
cancer and accidents, they die against their will. The same on specious, passing promises that like ever-changing
is generally true in suicide. quicksand, engulf us and leave us bereft of spiritual
We should not worry unduly about the ongoing life nourishment and fulfilment - and of hope. And wondering
of a suicide victim, still believing as we used to, that why.
suicide is the ultimate act of despair. This in rarely the For most, suicide is a result of a disease of the mind,
case. God’s hands are infinitely more understanding and a collapse of the emotional immune system. There are
gentler than our own. some diseases that all the love and care in the world cannot
We need not worry about the fate of anyone, no cure, hard as we may try.
matter the cause of death, who leaves this world honest, It is incumbent upon us , the loved ones who remain,
over-sensitive, over-wrought, too bruised to touch, and to redeem the memory of those who die and not let the
emotionally crushed, , as is the case with most suicides. manner of their deaths become a false prism through which
Often those who have died by suicide are spiritual seekers their lives are now seen.
who can find no relief for their pain this side of death’s A good person remains a good person in eternity
curtain. God’s understanding and compassion exceed our and a sad death and misunderstanding does not change
own. God isn’t stupid. that.
CW Website FUNERAL CHOICE
Leading articles from the first 24 years of A Catholic Worker Project
The Common Good
Alternative funerals Cheaper alternatives to consumer funerals
Restorative Justice
Other theological issues www.funeralchoice.co.nz
www.catholicworker.org.nz
The Common Good Page 5 No 93For a New Beginning two metres apart
sitting at the bus stop
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
a pause during my walk
Where your thoughts never think to wander, one sunny morning late April
This beginning has been quietly forming, the year of Covid
Waiting until you were ready to emerge. feeling how surreal
this lockdown really is
For a long time it has watched your desire,
noticing families out walking
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
an aberration on a weekday
Noticing how you willed yourself on, hailing passers-by
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown. who swerve onto the road
like rugby wingers in full flight
It watched you play with the seduction of but return the greeting, smiling
safety
pondering the mystery
And the grey promises that sameness
how an organism,
whispered, microcosmically tiny, totally invisible
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, has brought our modern world
Wondered would you always live like this. industrialised, corporatized, militarised
to its knees, begging
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
two metres apart
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and —Jim Consedine
dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
Syrian Boy
That is at one with your life’s desire.
and other poems
Awaken your spirit to adventure; By Jim Consedine
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, Fifty poems published June
For your soul senses the world that awaits 2019
you. Price - $20, includes p/p
Order from:
Ploughshares Publications
—John O’Donohue PO Box 33-135,
Christchurch 8244, NZ
Or email –
jim.conse@xtra.co.nz
The Common Good Page 6 No 93Around the Traps
Poverty exacerbates Covid threat – Aid
Homeless housed – More than 1000 NZ motel agencies have expressed grave fears for the 855,000
units have been made available for the homeless since Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, whose borders are
the lockdown started and they are being assured they sealed. In Cox Bazar, Bangladesh, there are 40,000
can stay. The Government is pumping $107.6 million people per square mile living at eight times the
into facilities and services to keep the most vulnerable density of the ill-fated Diamond Princess cruise ship.
New Zealanders in need of housing under a roof for a Moria camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos, originally
long time. Since the alert levels were put in place, built for 3000 people, now houses nearly 20,000, with
more than 1100 additional motel units have been 160 people sharing each toilet and more than 500
secured for people living rough and homeless by people using one shower. In some parts of the camp,
government agencies, community housing, iwi and 325 people use one tap. This violence makes basic
Maori providers. — The Press, 27 April 2020. living standards untenable.
Climate change and Covid – Compared to —The Press, 18 April 2020
Covid-19, we may feel that climate change is unlikely Trump’s insane attacks on Mother Nature -
to kill us. A dangerous misconception. You may President Donald Trump’s relentless attack on sane and
never see it written on any hospital chart, but every enlightened environmental policy tramples years of
day, climate change is facilitating the circumstances intense work among environmental groups, US industry
for mass human fatalities. Wildfires, drought, intense and politicians of every stripe to achieve broad consensus
on pressing issues. The attack also shreds the plea of Pope
storms. Reduced food and water supplies, which will
Francis’ ‘Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,’
exacerbate hunger, disease, violence and migration.
the encyclical that gathers into one document Catholic
If we are going to spend NZ$20 billion thinking, accumulated over years, about the faith
stimulating the economy, let’s spend a bunch of that community’s relationship to creation. This is
money on a Green Covid response – infrastructure unfathomable thinking.
projects that hasten us towards a zero-carbon future —NCR, 24 April 2020
rather than landing us slap bang in the middle of Homelessness worldwide - More than 1.6
another existential crisis. This is critical. billion people worldwide live in substandard housing.
—Russel Norman, Greenpeace NZ, April 2020 Of those, at least 150 million have no home at all. On
Covid threat in Africa – South Sudan, which any given night in the United States, 41,000
has suffered famine, has four ventilators for its unaccompanied youth, aged 13-25, are without a home.
population of 11 million people., and 24 intensive And on all of those nights, hundreds of Catholic women
care beds. Somalia has 15 ICU beds for its population religious are working to shelter them, feed them, and
of 15.8 million people. protect them.
—The Press, 18 April 2020. —Global Sisters Report, April 2020
A Universal Basic Wage
Street vendors, recyclers, carnies, small farmers, profits for just a few — needs to downshift, take stock and
construction workers, dressmakers, the different kinds of renew itself.
caregivers: you who are informal, working on your own or I give thanks for all the people, especially women,
in the grassroots economy, you have no steady income to who multiply loaves of bread in soup kitchens: two onions
get you through this hard time. and a package of rice make up a delicious stew for
The ills that afflict everyone hit you twice as hard. hundreds of children.
Many of you live from day to day, without any type of I think of the sick, I think of the elderly. They never
legal guarantee to protect you. appear in the news, nor do small farmers and their families
This may be the time to consider a universal basic who work hard to produce healthy food without destroying
wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, nature, without hoarding, without exploiting people’s
essential tasks you carry out. It would ensure and needs.
concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so I want you to know that our heavenly Father
Christian, of no worker without rights. watches over you, values you, appreciates you and
Our civilization — so competitive, so supports you in your commitment.
individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and —Pope Francis, Easter Sunday 2020
consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate
The Common Good Page 7 No 93A Shepherd’s Call for Peace
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Once again information has surfaced regarding US US is permanently at war
governmental efforts to mislead and misinform people The US has killed untold numbers of civilians by
about the disgraceful destruction caused by United States unmanned aerial drones, bombing raids, cruise missile
wars of choice against people who meant the US no harm. attacks, and special operations missions in Pakistan,
In the Afghanistan Papers, the US Government Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The US
officials privately acknowledged their own uncertainty toppled the Libyan Government leading to years of violent
about why they were going to war against Afghanistan in chaos. In all these places US war-making has helped cause
2001. The trove of newly released documents about the humanitarian catastrophes.
18-year war unmasked years of high-level deceit and Rather than follow the lead of the Vatican and other
deliberate efforts to obfuscate realities on the ground in states that have signed and ratified the Treaty on the
Afghanistan. Prohibition of Nuclear weapons, the US now exacerbates
The US War on Terrorism began in 2001. However, a new nuclear arms race by upgrading every warhead and
a decade earlier the US invaded and bombed Iraq and delivery system, along with every production, command
followed the aerial attacks with an economic war in which and control site in the nuclear weapons complex.
sanctions cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of This tragic pattern and destroying begs the question
children. In 2002, the US invaded Iraq under false of our responsibility as Catholic followers of Christ. The
pretences, sparking a vicious civil war, destroying the endless War on Terrorism has fallen short of the Church’s
country’s infrastructure, harrowing the ground for Al- Just War requirements on multiple fronts. I call on
Qaeda in Iraq and the rise of ISIS, turning the country into Catholics in the military, including chaplains, as well as all
a bloodbath which continue to this day. who work for the military and any branch of the
US wars have literally set the Middle East on fire. armaments industry to heed Pope Francis’s call to set aside
Several million people in the Middle East and North Africa the futility of war.
have been killed, and tens of millions have been maimed, All Catholics should refuse to kill and should refuse
traumatised and made refugees. Over the past 19 years, US co-operation with US wars. Catholic taxpayers should
forces have detained tens of thousands of people in dozens make every effort to avoid paying for war and weapons.
of countries. Prisoners have suffered ghastly torture. Some Rather, embrace Jesus, who calls us to love our enemies,
will remain at Guantanamo Bay without trial until they die. put up the sword, and take up the Cross.
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is the retired auxiliary
bishop of Detroit.
Our Passionate God
The Christ who went to the poor like steel to a magnet was poor himself.
He was poor in his origins and in his birth, but even more so when he left behind
the uncertain but more or less stable life of a village tradesman and took to
wandering around the country without job, home or income. Yet finally, even
that was not enough, for cultural and economic poverty only symbolise the
deeper poverty of human beings.
The deepest poverty is the lack of God and only a poor God could be
vulnerable enough to share that, a God who has ‘emptied himself’ and ‘become
obedient even to death’, as the poor have to be , who die young at the will of
others. The poor Christ is not just the wandering preacher who has nowhere to
sleep unless somebody took him in. He is above all the one who died.
—Rosemary Haughton, The Passionate God, p328
The Common Good Page 8 No 93Obituary Peter Land - prophet 14.6.27 - 22.3.20
Peter lived a long and interesting, though seldom Judith offside with the other Europeans. This made for a
comfortable life. Being a prophet, he pursued and difficult and often lonely life, though we, their children,
proclaimed what he thought was right whether it made him had a glorious upbringing not knowing black from white.
friends or not. Usually the latter. Six of their nine children were born in Fiji. Then in 1971
Born in Tonga nearly 93 years ago, he was very it was back to NZ, six years near Whangarei, before a shift
much raised in the ways of the British colonial empire. His to Whirinaki where he lived for the last 42 years.
parents called England home, though neither had ever been Though often plagued with anxieties and feelings of
there and insisted on strict segregation between ‘we the inadequacy and being very self-absorbed, Peter also had a
British’ and ‘them the anyone else, especially natives, broad and cosmic outlook on life which he strove to share.
Catholics and Irish’. Their mistake was to allow their Always counter-cultural and prophetically aware of the
children to be cared for by the said natives and the hugely destructive nature of western capitalism, he
naturalness and joy of living Peter experienced as a child deliberately chose the valley in Whirinaki as a place to live
with the Tongan women in their household somewhat an alternative way. His values of manual labour and
subverted all the efforts of the Empire to form him. hospitality and challenging the system paved the way for
At age 8, with a foot in each of these opposite some of the following generations to embrace the Catholic
camps, he was sent to boarding school in NZ, the newly Worker ideals into their lives. And so we got St Francis
opened St. Peters, Cambridge, modelled on English prep CW Farm.
schools. The trauma of being uprooted from the warmth of Peter also had an attraction to classical Chinese
Tonga and Tongans to the chill of an all-white Waikato philosophy and taught himself ancient Chinese so he could
school was huge and from that moment onward he never read the originals. This led him on to publish his own
felt at home anywhere. All his schooling years were in NZ, translation, My Tao. He found the Chinese expression
with summer breaks back in Tonga until World War II much more compatible with his Christian faith than the
broke out. Just too young to enlist, he went on to a BA in Greek philosophy which so affected western Christianity.
Auckland and Christchurch, before deciding to train at St On becoming Catholic, Peter formalised his
John’s Theological College, Auckland, for the Anglican attraction to St Francis of Assisi by joining the Franciscan
ministry. tertiaries and that spirit of a love of ‘Lady Poverty’, of
However, weeks prior to his intended ordination his things natural, was always with him, especially at the hour
theology studies persuaded him to become Catholic. of his death. Like Francis he chose to die outdoors, alone,
Socially, this was a deep shock to his family who saw it as embraced by the mother earth, content to go. In his last
betraying King and Empire. Now without a future, he months all his anxieties dropped away, and he faced each
retrained as a secondary school teacher during which time hurdle with a little chuckle.
he met Judith, also a recent convert to Catholicism, at He and Judith produced nine children, 64
Teachers College. They married in 1958 and promptly grandchildren and, so far, 56 great-grandchildren. May he
moved to Fiji where Peter’s father had grown up before rest in peace.
moving to Tonga. However, Peter’s attraction to the —Joseph Land
indigenous people and their way of living put him and
Reviews
Book Review. The Outlaw Ocean, Ian Urbina, The vessels off the coast of Africa executing local fisherman;
Bodley Head, London, 2019, $40. Reviewer: John the physical and sexual abuse of Indonesian fisherman on
McLister Korean boats.
The Outlaw Ocean by New York Times investigative Along with exploitation of people, Urbina reports
reporter Ian Urbina, is about a sea voyage few of us will on the pillaging and spoiling of the oceans: rough fishing
ever take. Urbina’s book pulls us from our armchair view trawlers from Spain devastating tooth-fish population in
of the sea and into the lives of the men and women who Antarctica; thousands of oils rigs sunk to the bottom of the
work on the world’s oceans. It is not a pretty place. sea when obsolete; and cruise ships secretly flushing the
Urbina documents his time spent with crews from waste of thousands of passenger into the ocean.
trawlers off the coast of Thailand to the Sea Shepherd But with every lawless place, there are those who
patrolling the Antarctic seas. The subtitle of his book sums seek to bring order from, chaos. Urbina’s stories are not
up his findings: ‘crime and survival in the last untamed just doom and gloom but of courageous women and men
frontier.’ fighting for justice and protecting the wonders of sea.
The crimes are brutal: Cambodians sold into slavery Next time you are in your armchair reaching for a
to work on Thai trawlers; security guards on Taiwanese book, Urbina’s The Outlaw Sea, described by Naomi Klein
as ‘just incredible’, makes for a fascinating if chilling read.
The Common Good Page 9 No 93Film Review. A Hidden Life, Starring symbol for the Nazi
movement. He realised he
August Diehl, Valerie Pachner and would never be able to
Matthias Schoenaerts. Directed by pledge allegiance to Hitler
Terrence Malick. 174 minutes. nor to serve the Nazi war
English/German Reviewer: Jim Consedine machine. It was simply
Occasionally true heroes rise up from the ashes of against his conscience, a
war, heroes who shed light on what might be if only God’s mortal sin.
law of love and peace-making was followed. Such a hero He was arrested,
was Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant farmer, who maltreated, tried by a
refused to fight in Hitler’s army in World War II – and paid military court where he
the ultimate price for his act of conscience. pleaded conscientious
Franz believed war to be evil and against the Will of objector status based on his
God. ‘We’re killing innocent life’ he told his parish priest. understanding of his faith. This plea was denied and he
He let it be known around his deeply Catholic village that was beheaded in prison, 9 August 1943.
he was a conscientious objector and wouldn’t fight for the A Hidden Life, Franz Jägerstätter’s story, is told
Nazis based on his Catholic beliefs. This was an very well by Terrence Malick, a veteran filmmaker with a
extraordinary position to take in Hitler’s Germany. history of good movies behind him. It is lengthy but
When finally he was called up in 1943, he declined, absolutely gripping. The music score is beautiful. As is the
despite the urgings of his bishop, his parish priest and his scenery – some of the best rural, alpine and valley views
entire village. And in sharp contrast to nearly the entire of Europe.
established Catholic Church in his country! His wife, Fani, The acting is impressive, portraying well the sense
and three daughters stood with him in his decision, despite of rampant nationalism, racism and xenophobia that
the price they would all have to pay of ostracization and enveloped Europe at the time. And somewhat foreboding
scorn of their Catholic neighbours – and his absence from given current developments there and elsewhere.
the rest of their lives. With his wife present at the ceremony, Franz was
In a remarkable document written in prison after his beatified by Pope Benedict in October 2008. He has
arrest, Franz described a dream he had in 1938 in which become a significant figure in peace-making and Catholic
crowds of people were struggling to board a shiny new Worker circles because of his courageous stance. His feast
train. At some point he heard a voice announce, ‘ this train is 21st May.
is bound for hell.’ Franz interpreted the train to be a
Letters
Malu ‘Aina Center Worcester CW
P.O. Box 489 Massachusetts, USA
Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760 30 March 2020
Aloha and Greetings Brother Jim, Dear Jim,
Great to hear from you and thanks for the retreat Peace! The virus has turned the world on its head.
model, your poem and Fr. Pete Healy’s reflection. All Our day-to-day bears only some resemblance to what it
much appreciated. was three weeks ago. We are serving our meals at a super
We are all in the same boat. I’m with you --over 70. long table to give each guest at least a metre or two
I haven’t seen a predicting loss of lives yet for Hawaii, but between the others. We have been watching the Pope's
it’s coming no doubt. Hopefully this time of hunkering daily Mass on-line. Our weekly peace vigil has become a
down and social distancing will help us all change the time when we hold signs to try and encourage others not
curve of life for our planet. to lose hope. We stand two meters away from each other.
Please exercise caution. You are a bit older than
Hang in there. Solidarity! Claire and me. We want you around for many more
years. Hopefully, your stay-at-home retreat will prove a
blessing and make you even more creative and holy.
Jim Albertini Blessings from Worcester,
Scott Schaeffer-Duffy
The Common Good Page 10 No 93South Brighton 212 Burwood Rd
Christchurch Christchurch 8083
Dear Jim, 19 March 2020
Dreams are free. What if New Zealand, instead of
taking part in the upcoming RIMPAC war preparation
exercises with the US, Australia, and 18 other invited
Dear Editor
How ironic it was that on Wednesday, 18 March, the
countries, instead stayed away and spent the millions it
day our parliament made courageous and welcome
was going to cost us to attend on providing COVID-19
changes to social practices to enhance the health and
assistance to small Third World nations with insufficient
wellbeing of the nation through the Covid-19
funds and resources to look after their people? Spend the
proclamations, they also voted to make a woman’s womb
money on welfare instead of warfare? Who knows, we just
the deadliest place on earth for thousands of unborn
MIGHT embarrass some of the other participants into
children under the same health and wellbeing banner. It
doing the same.
seems only those already born have a right to life!
Yours faithfully,
In solidarity,
Jim Consedine
Rex Knight This letter, though sent to The Press, was not
published.
Power or Leadership?
Have we made a mistake and set our sights on power rather than leadership all along? Why
is it that, in the midst of a pandemic, we had only one naval commander who stood up for care in
a care-less system? We had one public health doctor who stood up for ethical experimental
processes in the national science laboratory in a country of thousands of them? And he lost his
job for doing it.
How is it that leaders suddenly assume power when, clearly, ‘leadership’ and ‘power’ are
two different things? Nazi concentration camps ran on power but there was not enough leadership
in the system to stop the enforcement of its rawness, of its bestial efforts at conquest. And all of
that in the very age when the world’s witnesses to it are still alive.
Surely it is time to remember again that leaders are meant to call a group to become the best
of itself, not to prey on the worst of human appetites. Leadership unifies a group; it doesn’t divide
it. Leadership pursues the common good, not the personal good. Leadership saves the future for
us rather than render it stillborn in the present.
The saints and martyrs and prophets of the church never taught a cloying subservience in
the name of obedience when the world needed prophetic truth.
Real leadership is about the quality of life the leader shapes for the entire society. Leadership
is about the compassion the leader shows to those who seek good at the gates of the nation that
promises good to all. Real leaders carry the beacon of justice and truth within themselves and so
shine the way for others to carry it on after them. The leader exists to maintain the highest values
and virtues of the land, so that those values may live forever in the hearts of the people s/he leaves
behind.
From where I stand, we have been confused about the difference between power and
leadership. We have been too long in awe of tumult devoid of vision. We have lost a taste for real
solid gold leadership and accepted the gold-plated lookalike instead.
—Joan Chittister OSB is a Benedictine sister of Erie, Pennsylvania .
The Common Good Page 11 No 93In this issue Page
A New Pentecost, Jim Consedine .......................................................................................................... 1-2
Coronavirus and the Climate Crisis, Peter Healy SM .............................................................................. 3
Covid-19 and Normality, Brian Terrell .................................................................................................... 4
Suicide, a fresh perspective ...................................................................................................................... 5
Poems, John O’Donohue and Jim Consedine........................................................................................... 6
Around the Traps ...................................................................................................................................... 7
Obituary, Peter Land ................................................................................................................................ 9
Reviews and Letters .......................................................................................................................... 10-11
The Common Good
Te Wairua Maranga Trust
Box 33-135 76935
Christchurch 8244
New Zealand
Suffering and Hope
We in the midst of a highly teachable moment. We have a
chance to go deep and go broad. Globally, we are in this
together. Depth is being forced on us by great suffering, which,
as I like to say, always leads to great love.
—Richard Rohr OFM
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