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Winter 2013
“Blessed are those who hunger for earth’s oneness
for they will be satisfied.”
(Matthew 5:6)
” ~ \
CONTENTS: 2013 C.R.I.S. MEETING DATES
(Library closed):
”
C.R.I.S. NORMAL OPENING HOURS:
The Way Opened Up by Jesus – A Commentary
on the Gospel of Matthew
Jose A Pagola
Convivium Press, 2011
226.207 PAG
For those who read ‘Jesus – An Historical Approximation’ by the same author, this
new book needs no recommendation. The first Christian communities were followers
of Jesus and for them this meant walking in his footsteps, in his way. This Christian
way is a journey we follow step by step throughout our lives. Pagola opens for us this way as recorded in the
Gospel of Matthew. Pagola follows the order of Matthew, not sentence by sentence but by chapter themes e.g.
the Baptism of Jesus, You are the Salt of the Earth, Do not be Afraid. Each theme is enlarged under five
headings e.g. Do not be Afraid, (1) Following Jesus without fear, (2) Liberating our communities from fear, (3)
Learning to trust God, (4) Facing the future with confidence, (5) Saying no to fear. Pagola emphasizes the
Good News of God proclaimed by Jesus and he suggests ways of following him and his attitudes in our
communities today. ‘…they invite us to live these times of crisis and uncertainty, with a deeply rooted hope in
the risen Christ.’ p.24
Unfortunately Christianity as most people live it today is forming adherents of a religion not followers of
Jesus. The danger is that many today do not have the inspiring experience of the Christian life, walking in the
way which Jesus opened up. “Many Christian communities cannot imagine the transformation that would
occur today, if the real-life person of Jesus and his gospel were to become the centre of their life” p.23. Pagola
‘invites us into a process of change, a process of following Jesus and identifying with his vision” p.24 ‘We
prepare the way of the reign of God by letting the power of the gospel transform our way of living, loving,
enjoying, struggling and being.’ p.132. The reign of God is already present like the mustard seed or the yeast
or the salt that transforms.
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them,’ Matthew18: 20. The first task of
the Church is to learn to gather in the name of Jesus. We have built a Church where Christians think that
believing certain doctrines and carrying out certain religious practices, they are followers of Christ as the first
disciples did. ‘The first task of the Church is to learn to gather in the name of Jesus. To nourish his memory,
live in his presence, renew its faith in God and open new paths for his Spirit. If we’re not doing that, all our
efforts may be defeated by our mediocrity” p. 173
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Matthew 22: 1-14 shows that no one can stop God’s invitation from
reaching everybody. Everyone can hear it. Everyone who hears the call of goodness, love, and justice is
accepting God. Pagola is convinced that many are accepting God’s invitation in ways that we cannot discern.
Many keep running away by trying to forget God and losing themselves in many kinds of escapes, refusing to
take life seriously but the invitations keep coming. What is life? Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I
going?
Pagola writes to recover the Good News, not to condemn but to liberate, not to judge but to awaken hope. We
all need to listen more deeply and attentively to Jesus’ words. We need to learn to give to others what is alive
in us, to help others, to share our joy, hope, acceptance, love and presence. A slow second meditative reading
of this book will help deepen in us the dangerous memory of Jesus.
Br Michael Flaherty cfc
Anthony De Mello S.J., The Happy Wanderer
A Tribute To My Brother
Bill de Mello
Gujarat, India, 2012.
282.002
I have to admit that before I read this book I had only a superficial knowledge of Anthony de Mello – even
though his fame deserved better. My immediate response to this book is that it was a work of love.
Bill was young when Anthony left home for the long and demanding training of a Jesuit. There was a sort of
contact over the years. Tony died unexpectedly in 1987 and in 2000 Bill put a short biography on the internet.
Mail poured in to demand more. Hence this book in 2012.
The research needed the time and uncovered a life of substance that revealed a host of admirers, all of whom
would attest to the inspiration of a student, teacher and author of great breadth of wisdom and love.
Bill had to find the real Anthony and this book is the result. But he didn’t do it alone as the pages will attest.
Many, many people contacted Bill and from those contacts the story has evolved.
Bill finds an extraordinary human being, who has a deep compelling love of Jesus, who wants to draw others
into his discovery and this book shows the development of his contemplative growth and his creative
temperament. One of the responses I remember, telling of his opening up the scripture by a listener. “They
always left me feeling elated, refreshed and happy”.
Many fans will rush to read this book and have their stories about the effect of “one minute wisdoms”. “Why
don’t I see goodness and beauty everywhere” or what I call a parabolic conundrum in “the Prayer of the Frog”
– as the drunk looking over the bridge seeing the reflection of the moon, being told it is the moon, inquiring
“How the hell did I get way up here”, with the wisdom “The world we live in is mostly a mental construct”
(my own example) Mello’s comment.
Beautifully written, and capturing a wide panorama of an extraordinary man.
Ben McCabe, cfc
AN INFINITY OF LITTLE HOURS
Nancy Klein Maguire
Public Affairs, New York, 2006.
271.71042264 MAG
During the years 1960-61 five young men, three from U.S.A., one from Germany
and one from Ireland, entered a Carthusian Monastery know as Parkminster in West
Sussex, England.
This book very sensitively outlines their experiences, daily horarium, challenges and difficulties.
There is something about the composition that captures in its telling the ‘tossing in the deep end’ of this
undertaking and reveals the stark search for God that underlies this story of Carthusians whose claim they have
never been reformed because never deformed.
It is essentially a story of these five young men and early we know that only one will remain and this
knowledge colours our reading as we are presented each person in his daily living of the rule and its demands.
The author interviews these people at later days, wins their confidence and gains the trust of the group but she
also contacts old present day Monks who had impacted on our five trainees. We get some insights into the
expectations within this enclosed order. We come to admire and wonder at the courage and adaptability of
these young men thrown on their own resources in being faithful to the spirit of the place as they follow their
dream to love God more deeply.
We do enter a world that we experience only in books and not in daily life. We meet people who are
interesting young men, have left families and friends, have almost no contact with the outside world. We meet
the monks who impacted on their lives.
We get a sketch only of what is impacted on the Carthusian order and Parkminster in particular but most is a
glimpse as is the sketch of their departures and re-entry to their previous life.
There are aspects of this story that impact on our own lives as we read.
Thanks Susan for recommending this to me.
Br Ben McCabe, cfc
Contemplation in a World of Action
Thomas Merton
University of Notre Dame Press, New York, 1998
255.01 MER
Is the Contemplative Life Finished?’ This is the title of one of the Chapters in this
collection of Merton’s essays and writings made into a single commentary. While strongly defending the need
for the contemplative life, Merton insists that if it is to have any purpose and meaning in our present day world
it needs renewal - not reform.
Who should read this book, besides those in monastic orders? All religious orders seeking this renewal; all
spiritual directors; all those whose spirituality includes contemplation; all who want to become fully alive and
fully human. Any move towards contemplation or mysticism requires a need to be part of the ‘world of action’.
Separate the two and they will not survive.
Thomas Merton had been Novice Master in the Gethsemani Trappist monastery for more than ten years. He is
writing from experience and one of the questions he is trying to answer is why men do not persevere in the life.
He writes: most of those who entered Cistercian monasteries by the scores and even by the hundreds (there
were in all about two thousand postulants received into the Gethsemani community over a period of some ten
years in the forties and fifties) later took their departure.
This does not mean that the values of monasticism no longer existed, but that they were present in a form that
made them morally, psychologically or spiritually inaccessible for modern men and women.
This upheaval happened whether the religious order was monastic or apostolic. The call for renewal was for
the whole church. Today so many are walking away from a church that refuses to move into the ‘world of
action’. What is required? Using the social sciences Merton emphasises the importance of identity. One must
know oneself. His dealings with so many in spiritual direction makes him see that no two are the same but
through the discipline of an ordered life each is called to come to a real freedom of the children of God.
Merton, more than most, understands the needs of modern man.
The call is for the monk to come down from the mountain and to assist the people in the world below. It is a
real balancing act that is not to be achieved just by keeping to the ancient boundaries set by the monastic life,
nor by doing the work of active orders. It requires a really mature mind and a real faith that this is God’s
calling. Each must believe in the work of the Spirit calling him to go beyond himself.
What an extraordinary man! He will probably never be canonised in our time because he so challenges those
who would set boundaries based on the past and who condemn the efforts of those modern religious who,
together with a strong informed laity keep working to carry out these reforms. Merton’s message is clear:
reform or perish!
Reg Whitely cfc
2013
1 Corinthians
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
Michael Glazier Inc, Delaware, 1978
227.206 MUR
The renowned Scripture scholar, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, sets the scene for this
most enlightening commentary.
Paul had come to Corinth in a depressed state. After his failure at Athens, he had to face the cynical
wickedness of a great port city. His chronic illness may have flared up, and he was aware that his physical
presence was not impressive. Yet he refused the artifices of rhetoric and logic, and simply proclaimed Jesus as
the crucified Lord. (P17).
Many in his audience were “conceited, stubborn, oversensitive, argumentative, infantile, pushy ..... they were
the most exasperating community that Paul had to deal with, for they displayed a positive genius for
misunderstanding him. Virtually every statement he made took root in their minds in a slightly distorted form,
and from this defective seed came some of the most weird and wonderful ideas ever to dismay a teacher. ....
They devised and justified a number of highly recreative heresies”. (Introduction. ix).
Paul’s friends, Chloe and her family visited him, relating the sad state of affairs in Corinth. They brought
many questions from home. The text-in-reply indicates this.
Murphy-O’Connor shows how divisive groups in Corinth had “put the cart before the horse”. They split into
philosophic sects, following various teachers. High-mindedly, they saw Christ only as the Lord in Glory. His
humanity and hence, “the folly of the Cross: - God’s plan – counted for little. Paul insists that “their
theoretical speculation on divinity must yield to the challenge of an historical personality, Christ, who is ‘the
power of God and the wisdom of God.’ ” (Cor. 1:24).
Preferring “the higher gifts” – “the glamour gifts” – aligns the Corinthians with the conventional “wisdom of
this world”. Even “the expectation of miracles can be made to look very religious, but is reality born of
sceptism – lacking trust”. (P14). As purely “spirit-people”, many believed that “the body has no permanent
value because it is swept away by death. .... Anything done in and through the body has no moral value”. (P51)
Paul emphasises the importance of the body (12:12-31). His analogies lead to the forceful proclamation, so
familiar to us today: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”. (1Cor 12:27).
Paul gets cross about reported irregularities in the Eucharistic gathering. He does not criticise rubric or ritual.
But “when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse”. (1 Cor 11:17). The rich met in house
churches for a big meal. The poor turned up after work – all the food was gone. They went away hungry –
physically and spiritually. Yet the only basis for any Christian assembly is love and “interpersonal
responsibility”. Thus, “there can be no Eucharist in a community whose members do not love one another”.
Love is “the more excellent way” which Paul endorses lyrically in Ch 13. I may have all the showy “gifts”, he
says, but without love “I am nothing” – literally, “NO-THING” – meaning no new existence “in Christ” – the
most oft-repeated phrase in all his writings.
Murphy-O-Connor is not averse to correcting the RSV translation when the Greek implies a difference. The
strange injunction forbidding women to speak in Church – and if they have a question, must wait until they go
home and ask their husband – (14:34-35) is clarified. (P133). The concept is so unlike Paul, who shows great
appreciation for women in ministry and community.
It is clearly a marginal note, written either on receipt of the letter or in later transcription. Some translations
take it out of the “wrong” position in the text, and add it at the end as an uncharacteristic footnote.
Paul does not deny the somewhat odd “gift of tongues”. But he begs, “Please only one at a time and always
with an interpreter”. Otherwise, the speaker is merely indulging in a “private devotion” – of no use to the
community. And community means everything to Paul. If they all start speaking at once, then a stranger
coming in to the assembly will think they are all raving mad. (1 Cor 14). “Tongues have a marked vertical
dimension, but their horizontal dimension is nil, because nothing is communicated”. (P128).
A possible Corinthian question was: “Should a married couple separate because one is a believer and the other
not?” (Cor 7:10-16)). Paul settles that. Sure, if one wants to part, then the other “is not bound”. But more
importantly, “God has called us to peace”, not to marital bickering, especially about points of religion.
Paul is writing a personal letter – probably with help of a secretary. “Quicker and neater”, says Murphy-
O’Connor. Note the lovely human touch in 1:10-17. Paul names a few whom he baptised, but, bless him, “I
do not know whether I baptised anyone else”! A comforting thought for our overworked, long-serving priests
today. Paul’s main mission is “to preach the Gospel”. He can confidently leave baptising to others.
We may be tempted to think that the Corinthians’ behaviour has nothing to do with us. But as Ed Conrad
teaches, “Scripture is a mirror, not a window”. The essence of Lectio Divina is to apply the “Word of the
Lord” to the contemporary situation. In the light of Paul, we examine our own life. If we, too, organise
Church and community guided by the “wisdom of this world” – of politics, outward show, consumerism and
exclusivity – then we are way off track. When the unity of love “in Christ” is fractured, we still hear Paul’s
earnest cry: “Is Christ divided?”
Let us recall the otherwise unknown lady, Chloe. She was not just gossipping, but truly upset that Paul’s
message had been so distorted. Paul never had the chance to read a “Gospel”, nor know that his letters would
become “Scripture”. Neither could Chloe have imagined that her distress would incite such a valuable, long-
lasting response.
Murphy-O’Connor offers us that blessed harmony between text and context – the best antidote to
fundamentalism. A short review cannot do justice to this grand little book. Here is the best summary of 1
Corinthians: “Despite the temptation, Paul is never authoritarian. He is paternal, but in a bracing, astringent
way. This letter is perhaps the greatest example of the true pedagogy of love”. (Introduction xiv).
After 2000 years, Paul still teaches us today that “those who dare to preach the present love of God in Christ,
must reveal Christ in their own personality” – as Paul did. He reminds the Corinthians, and us, “that the reality
of the Kingdom of God consists in evidence of transformation, modelled on Christ, and not in empty
speculation about doctrine”. (P34, 35). To accept this truth is a daily “Grace”, and also a challenge to us, “the
Body of Christ”. Both Paul and Jerome Murphy-O’Connor guide us on the way.
Kay Stringer
14th February 2013
Feast of the Greek brothers, S.S. Cyril and Methodius, 10th century. Aided by Pope John IX, they championed
the native Slavonic language in both Scripture and Liturgy for their Christian converts.
Note: Other helpful texts by Murphy-O’Connor.
Paul, The Letter Writer 227.066
St Paul’s Corinth 227.207
Also: Great Themes of Paul. Eleven CD set by Fr Richard Rohr, O.F.M. 227.066 ROH.
Stop the Traffik – People shouldn’t be bought
and sold.
Steve Chalke (with chapter by Cherie Blair)
Lion, Oxford. 2009
364.15 CHA
The abolition of transatlantic slave trade was achieved in 1807 but the slavery of
women and young children still goes on in our world. ‘Stop the Traffik’ is a global
movement formed by the author Steve Chalke in 2006. It has spread around the world to most countries with
over 1,000 member organisation. It fights to put an end to people trafficking by campaigning to prevent the
sale of people, prosecuting the traffickers and protect the victims. Human trafficking is ‘the dislocation of
someone by deception or coercion for exploitation, through force prostitution, forced labour, or others forms of
slavery’ P.10.
This book is based on extensive research into this world problem, gives the true stories of those caught up in
trafficking. One woman on honeymoon woke up to find her husband gone, the hotel she was in was a brothel
and that she had been sold into prostitution. Each case of trafficking is different but common elements are the
woman or child and their families live in dire poverty, they are illiterate, they are promised work and money
for the family, they are taken to a country where they cannot speak the language, they are sold to another
person and are raped and/or beaten, their passports are taken and they are told they must work to pay off their
travel costs which never happens and they must comply or their families will harmed. Young boys similarly
can be sold into prostitution or slavery to work on for example West African cocoa plantations.
In 2008 Steve Chalke was appointed as UN Gift Special Adviser for Community Action against Human
Trafficking. He knows how UN operates. This book is subsides by UN.GIFT, United Nations Global
Initiatives to Fight Human Trafficking. The facts are that ‘70% of the world’s poor are female, two out of
three illiterates are women, 2% of titled land in the developing world is owned by women, half a million
women a year die as a result of pregnancy or child birth’ p.27.
Claire Blair a leading barrister, wife of the former Prime Minister of England and committed campaigner for
women’s equality, wrote Chapter 2 on Women. This excellent chapter covers human rights, female trafficking
and economic exploitation, violence against women and what can be done to overcome this. Gender gaps vary
for country to country but basically women’s disadvantage remains clear. Women know this. A women
interviewed in the slums of Nairobi when asked what event would change her life, replied, ‘I would be born a
man.’ By reinforcing ‘a culture of where women and girls are seen as commodities or possessions and lacking
the worth of their male counterparts, they help to create the conditions where this trade (trafficking) can
flourish’ p.27
‘Stop the Traffik’ gives practical steps - become aware, tell others, join the global movement, how to act and
ideas how to get started. Excellent teaching materials such as DVD’s have been produced. A book to be read
and acted on
(CRIS has multiple copies of this book. Copies are available from Koorong Books Waymouth St.
The recent film ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ vividly portrayed scenes where human trafficking is occurring.
See also Radhika’s Story – Surviving Human Trafficking by Sharon Hendry)
Br Michael Flaherty, cfc
Half the Sky – How to Change the World
Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl Wudunn
Virago, London, 2010
364.15 KRI
Women make up half of the world’s population but are still struggling for equality. The
authors are married with three children and live in New York. Both have won Pulitzer
Prizes in journalism. This book explores the slavery of women in this century. Their
research is based on personal interviews with women especially in a journey through
Africa and Asia. Topics explored are slavery, kidnapping, forced prostitution, rape,
honour killing, bride burning, AIDS, deaths in childbirth, female infanticide, non-
education of girls, causes of dire poverty and misogyny. Statistics are telling but are kept to a minimum and personal
stories of women interviewed are highlighted and telling. While men are mostly responsible, women contribute to
problems by educating boys rather than girls, getting medical treatment for boys rather than girls, aborting girls,
supporting honour killing, acting as madams and continuing female genital cutting. Never the less the authors conclude
women aren’t the problem but the solution.
The pattern of forcing girls into prostitution follows some or all of the following. The kidnapped girls are uneducated, in
dire poverty, of low caste, promised paid work, taken to bordering countries, sold to new owners, forcibly raped and if
they continue to resist they are severely beaten, starved and drugged, unable to speak the language, not allowed out,
guarded against escape, threatened with death, made to work 7 days a week, 15 hours a day, not given condoms, receive
no medical help and are exposed to AIDS. Sexually conservative countries e.g. Pakistan, Iran and India have larger
percentage of forced prostitution than China where for various reasons girls freely become prostitutes. “Paradoxically, it
is the countries with the most straitlaced and sexually conservative societies, such as India, Pakistan and Iran that have
disproportionately large numbers of forced prostitutes. Since young men in those societies rarely sleep with their girl-
friends, it has become acceptable for them to relieve their frustrations with prostitutes.” p 6. One million children are
forced into prostitution each year. In some societies police are part of the problem not the solution. Drug dependence
makes some girls return to their place of forced prostitution even after they escape and they have been returned to their
families (See p.42). This book commends the value of an immersion experience so that potential helpers from First
World countries can understand the complexities and difficulties arising from the local culture, religion and family
customs and lead towards possible solutions. My own experience of meeting people in their homes, visiting schools and
teaching a class in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi, Kenya confirms this.
The solutions for each country differ widely and can only be known by research and by personal experience of living and
working among the people. Culture, religion and family relations of a society are difficult to comprehend by First World
individuals. The spread of AIDS is an on-going problem but the authors research found that as regards AIDS “a woman
with a husband is in more danger than a girl in a brothel.” p153 A common belief in some countries for a cure of AIDS
is to have sex with a virgin.p12. Just writing out a cheque is not going to solve the problem. One solution does not fit all
cases.
Problems persist e.g. in Muslim countries there are few or no female doctors and women would rather die than to be
treated by a male doctor and the men in their families support this. Another problem is the number of women who
continue to die in child birth p. 110 & 121. Some women who escape from forced prostitution are not accepted by their
families when they try to return home because they had married (i.e they had been forced into marriages), they were
prostitutes or drug dependent and disgraced the family and in some cases were expected to commit suicide.
This book provides excellent personal stories of women who with great suffering and personal courage have successfully
broken free and now help to be part of the solution. These amazing people have overcome unimaginable hurdles in order
to change the world and tackle poverty, disease and conflict. Much has been done but much more needs to be done. This
book gives a list of excellent websites to follow up things discussed. It gives essential informed knowledge of the
backgrounds of the problems and hence leads to solutions. The authors conclude that the case for investing in girls’
education is still very, very strong.
Br. Michael Flaherty cfc,
2013
Radhika’s Story : Surviving Human
Trafficking
Sharon Hendry
New Holland Publishers 2010
A364.15 PAR
This is the true story of a Nepalese 14 year old girl who was drugged and
helplessly caught up in human trafficking experiences stretching over several years
of her life. Belonging to a high class rural, good family she was living in poverty.
To help the family survive she left school very early and spent her time trying to sell family produced
vegetables in a nearby large town. She was promised work in a well off family in India and as a 14 year old
girl, starving and desperately thirsty, accepted a sip of Coca-Cola. It was drugged. Radhika woke up hours
later in great pain only to discover that her kidney had been removed and sold at a high price. Later she
received $1,578 for the kidney from the rich family who received it. For Radhika this was a large sum of
money and she tried desperately to keep it.
She was unable to contact her family back home in Nepal. They had searched for her in vain. She was
desperately lonely and isolated. Not fully recovered from the loss of her kidney she was married by force. Her
husband, Rajesh was cruel and violent with her and demanded he be given some of her money. Rajesh brutal
treatment continued and he forced her to give him more of her money until it was all gone and then he
abandoned her. She was left on her own and pregnant. Fortunately Seti, Rajesh’s mother also desperately
poor, took her in and helped her through a painful pregnancy. Her son Rohan was adorable and healthy and
Radhika was happy and determined to devote her life to her son. He was part of her and no one was ever going
to take him away. Somehow she and Seti managed to grow enough food to live on. Radhika had something to
live for.
But her baby’s existence forced Radhika to face facts. She couldn’t be stupid and naïve any more. She had to
protect Rohan and she made up her mind if Rajesh returned she would take her child and leave and return to
sell vegetables at Balaju Market in Kathmandu. She was just 17 and life wasn’t over for her just yet: she had
proved she was a survivor and she would make sure her son was one, also.
Her sister Pervati traced her when she made the five hours bus trip back to Kathmandu. Family shame
prevented her returning to the family home. In dire poverty she put her trust in two men claiming to be her
husband’s cousins. In March 2005, with her son, she was forced to pack her bags and board a bus to an
unknown destination. After a 922 km journey to Assam, India, she received a slow, subtle and devious
introduction into the world of prostitution. After eight weeks, her 14 month old son Rohan was taken from her
and she was forced to be a prostitute. The price tag for sex was 200 Indian rupees ($2.89). She was not to
know that every year, an average of 250 Nepalese women and 200 girl children go missing in the state,
disappearing to all extent and purposes into the ether. According to United Nations (UN), about 2,500 women
and children around the world ‘disappear’ every day to be sold into sex slavery. Nepalese girls are particularly
favoured in India because of their light skins and trusting natures.
For Radhika there was no way out. She was housed on the fourth floor with security guards crawling all over
the brothel. Threats, lies, poverty, cruel punishments and separation from her son she loved dearly, keep her a
prisoner. For six months she was separated from Rohan so that his speech did not develop and he became
remote from her.
Later, after 6 months in New Delhi, she was moved 1417 km to Prune and after 3 months here to Mumbai.
Here she was housed with three other younger Nepalese girls. They planned to escape and took money from
drunken clients’ trousers.
Description:Mar 8, 2013 Many, many people contacted Bill and from those contacts the story has evolved.
Bill finds an extraordinary .. The facts are that '70% of the world's poor are
female, two out of three illiterates are Lucado, Max. 823.3 LUC.
