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ACTA Leeds
Our next network lunch
12 - 2 pm
Thursday 12 March 2020
Upstairs Room North Bar Cheltenham Parade Harrogate HG1 1DA

The presentation will be by Denise Mason on Vatican II and the role of lay people, drawing on her participation in the excellent course for the Certificate of Pastoral Ministry (see below). Why not put a note in your diary and come along. Bring a friend.

March presentation by Denise Mason
Certificate in Pastoral Ministry Course on the Vision of the Church: Vatican II

As a follow on from Dennis’s talk at the previous meeting, Denise will present an extract from the Certificate in Pastoral Ministry Course on the Vision of the Church: Vatican II, which was delivered by Bill Huebsch. Bill teaches on contemporary events in church history and Vatican II in an engaging and easy manner. The whole module covers the story and promise of the Council and a dynamic view of its on-going relevance for the Church’s self-identity. We will take a peek at the area around how the Council ‘woke up’ to the area of pastoral theology and look at the points of orientation around which we organise all pastoral ministry. Every action we take, no matter where we work, is oriented around some key principles which all flow from the Vatican Council. This maybe important for you as an individual in your work or something to consider taking back to your own groups within the parish.

Bill writes, “There is great value in knowing about and teaching about Vatican II. We should all understand the vision of Pope John XXIII and why he called this remarkable council. It changes our approach to ministry when we understand what happened there. Keeping the vision before us, telling this story over and over again, knowing our history well – these are all ways to help make Vatican II powerfully effective.”

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation – 1 Peter 2:9

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ACTA Leeds Network Lunch: Harrogate 4 Dec 2019

Once again we shared an ACTA Leeds networking lunch with great food, drinks and lively discussion in the upper room at North Bar, Harrogate. What a welcoming place. These network lunches have become a regular quarterly forum for sharing good parish practice and promoting the role of lay people within the Diocese. They are opportunities to have some serious discussion on these issues. (Is there anywhere else where that’s happening? Please let us know).

Dennis Loughran’s presentation at the December network was entitled ‘Whatever Happened to the People of God?’ He reflected on Canon Law and Church teachings on the power of Parish Priests and Parish Pastoral councils. Dennis spoke with considerable insight and authority, having been in Rome at the time of Vatican II. In Rome he had received daily briefings on what the world’s bishops were saying and the ‘need for lay people to be given a bigger role in the Church, including a part in the priesthood of Christ’. Dennis gave us copies of his paper which included detailed references to Church teaching and tensions between the bishops and the Curia at that time. A summary of his paper is given below. We hope the full paper will become available on the Leeds ACTA website in due course.

Dennis’s presentation left us with a clearer understanding of why lay people have been short-changed, namely the inability and lack of willingness of power holders within the church to realise the vision expressed by Vatican II. Clericalism at parish and diocesan level is the result of years of hesitancy and lack of faith in the People of God. After the presentation we all felt frustrated about the current position of ACTA in Leeds, where there has been a refusal by Bishop Marcus to engage in any dialogue, over a four year period. Sheelagh’s presentation on Parish Pastoral Councils at September’s network lunch had highlighted some of the negative effects of clericalism on parish communities today. Following Dennis’s presentation we better understood the basis for such clericalism and lack of lay involvement in parishes. Tony Pickles suggested that we write to Bishop Marcus, particularly now that there had been two meetings of the newly established Diocesan Pastoral Council (…..news to some present).
The recently published Annual Review (2019) of the Diocese of Leeds (available in churches now) states: ‘We also live our Faith with the rest of the Diocesan Family which comprises all laity and clergy in our One Diocese. As the Father and Shepherd of the Diocese, the Bishop has inaugurated a Pastoral Council formed of those who actively exercise a lay apostolate in our parishes. Representatives include those from our Justice and Peace Commission, the SVP, Legion of Mary, Knights of St.Columba, Union of Catholic Mothers, Catholic Women’s League and the Catenians.’ (P.4 ….you’ll need to look hard).
We had various views on whether ACTALeeds should write to the Bishop about representation on the new Diocesan Pastoral Council. However everyone was reminded that our experience in trying to engage formally with the Bishop has not been fruitful in any way, and that consequently we have re-defined our role. ACTALeeds now holds quarterly open network lunches with presentations and discussion in order to share good parish practice through publication of a quarterly newsletter for its 250+ supporters across the Diocese.
David Jackson provoked further discussion and thought on the relevance to parishioners of a deeper understanding of Vatican II and the role of lay people today. He suggested that many parishioners were involved in charitable works, eg with refugees, CAFOD, foodbanks, SVP and that this didn’t require knowledge of the basis of lay ministry within Canon Law. However, it was argued that if ACTA is ‘to contribute fully to the life of our Church so that we may be a more effective sign of the Kingdom of God’ (mission statement: National ACTA) it surely requires us to have some grasp of the teachings of Vatican II and what was discerned by the Bishops about the role of lay people at that time. The problem of our pastors not ‘smelling the sheep’ in our diocese will no doubt be a topic of frustration/discussion for a while yet (possibly long after Brexit is ‘done’).

In order for ACTALeeds to become a more effective agency for change (and to enhance olfactory processes) within our Diocese we agreed to:

widen our membership by asking supporters to forward the newsletter to parishioner friends and clergy.
ask those people who would like to be added to the ACTALeeds emailing list (for newsletters etc.) to contact Pat and give their details: pat@patbrown-at.co.uk
ask the bishop’s secretary if Bishop Marcus wishes to be added to ACTA Leeds newsletter email list so that he may be more directly aware of ACTA’s role in the Diocese.

We also considered some practicalities for ACTA Leeds. There are no large annual ACTA Leeds conferences to plan and administer, as used to be the case. These conferences were usually held at Leeds Trinity University and took a lot of time and preparation by a Planning Group. However our new arrangements have different associated costs, so, as mentioned in the last newsletter, a new bank account has been established to facilitate financial support.

ACTA Leeds Yorkshire Bank Account details are:

Name: ACTA Leeds: Sort code: 05-01-26 Account No: 10722432.

Any immediate donations will go towards the annual website fee (£90) and regular upgrading/updating of the ACTALeeds website (www.actaleeds.org.uk) which will help to share good parish practice more effectively (eg by uploading complete network presentation papers for all to access). Pippa Bonner and Pat Brown are the signatories for our new bank account. Any supporters wishing to donate may do so on-line (not by cheque please). Pat intends to have a donation option set up through the e-newsletter. We will agree future use of donations (eg presentation printing/travel costs) at our network lunches.

Whilst on finance, we recalled from a previous network meeting, that theologian Hans Kung has suggested various options for prompting Church reform. One of them was: ‘The individual can refuse to contribute to the Church financially…. Withholding money has always been an important method of pressuring for reform.’ (Can we Save the Church? Published by Collins: 2013 p.320). Parishioners where there is no effective Parish Pastoral Council may wish to consider re-directing some of their parish contributions to ACTALeeds. So lot’s to discuss.

ACTA Leeds e-Newsletter. The newsletter is assembled by Pat and we are very grateful for the work she puts into it. Contributions are currently made by regular network attenders. This publication has led other agencies, including National ACTA (see Pippa’s request below) and Leeds Justice and Peace, to ask us to publicise various projects/notices to our members. If you wish to contribute an article/letter for publication please mark it clearly ‘for publication’. Pat will include those (as appropriate or feasible). Suggestions for articles or your feedback to Pat may also be sent through the reply link at the foot of the newsletter.

Finally Pauline Middleton has kindly offered to keep an eye on developments in the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s Synod 2020. www.synod2020.co.uk . A brief overview included in this newsletter. This Synod established by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon will hopefully become a rich source of inspiration and action for our own work in the Diocese of Leeds.

We look forward to seeing you at our next network lunch on 12^th March or hearing from you before then.

Vince Borg/Pippa Bonner/Sheelagh Pickles

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD?
Positive and negative ideas before Vatican II
Summary of December presentation by Dennis Loughran

The fear of modernism in the C19^th and the resistance to democratic ideals, philosophy and science were considered a threat to the church’s authoritative position. The world outside the church was a dangerous place. On the other hand, there had been advances in biblical studies, patristics and liturgy north of the Alps, and the majority of the council fathers saw the need for change in many aspects of the church’s life. A minority, led mainly by cardinals and bishops associated with the Roman Curia, were resistant to change preferring the monarchical system of the past and authority remaining with the centre in Rome.

Vatican II: a new approach
From the opening of the council there was clearly a different language and style from Trent and Vatican I. John XXIII, spoke of dialogue with the world, and of mercy rather than severity, and the tone was one of exhortation rather than legal condemnations of errors. The bishops stressed the need for lay people to be given a bigger role in the church, including a part in the priesthood of Christ.

Chapter 2 of Lumen Gentium (The Constitution on the Church) was originally headed “especially the Laity”. It speaks of the co-operation of priests and people in building up the Body of Christ. #10 talks of the people, by reason of their baptism, being a “Holy Priesthood”. The strongest statement of all is #12 where “the whole body of the faithful, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, cannot err in matters of belief” (the “ Sensus Fidei”) . See also #34 and #37 of LG.

The Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People has references to the special charisms for the faithful from the Holy Spirit for their work in the church in communion especially with priests.

Towards the end of the council there were tensions between the bishops and Paul VI. Partly this was because there was a need to complete the business after four years, but also because of the Pope’s decision to prevent discussion of priestly celibacy, birth control (though a committee already set up) and the Curia. The Curia was left to sort itself out, with the result that the minority centre retained control and little progress was made on collegiality or the position of lay people.

The reform of canon law was left in the hands of the Curia and much of the work done by Opus Dei. The approach was at times conservative and not fully in keeping with the Council’s wishes. Ladislas Orsy (‘On Receiving the Council’) took exception particularly to canon 129 which clearly excludes lay people from governance in the church. Procedures for dealing with those accused of breaking the laws were of another age: (e.g the trials of Jacques Dupuis (see O’Connell,G ‘Do not Stifle the Spirit’)

How can we improve the way priests and lay people work together?
Share scripture together (e.g Mt 20:24); discuss Pope Francis’s ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ passim, and other writings; Use Newman’s criteria for recognising genuine developments in doctrine in ‘On the Development of Christian Doctrine’; ( Ladislas Orsy has useful summary of this on p.106 of his book cited above.)
The art of accompaniment teaches: remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other.

Book Review by David Jackson

Bombarded by offers of books from various on-line sources for Christmas or New Year reading or giving, try this one. It takes you, with a modern twist, into the world of an English spiritual, contemplative classic of the 14^th century:
The Cloud of Unknowing. Introduction, commentary and translation by Ira Progoff. Delta Books. New York, 1957. ISBN 0-385-28144-7

The ‘Cloud of Unknowing’ sat on my shelf unread for 30 or 40 years. One of those books we know we ought to read but never do. Until recently. I first read my original version (Penguin) and sort of comprehended half of it. Then my resident guru Richard Rohr recommended this version. The introduction is well worth a read, even if you get nowhere with the excellently translated text – however much brought to life by Ira. The author she translates was an anonymous English monk. As the blurb says: ‘precariously heretical in its day, it became a classic of Christian mystical thought’. Considered to be near heretical or at least dangerous is the fate of many of the writings of the mystics down the Christian centuries from John of the Cross to Teilhard de Chardin. Imprisonment fell out of fashion but not the attempts to silence these folk. The institutional hegemony often finds it difficult to have its power as the gatekeepers of grace threatened by those who claim that God is somehow accessible to all with an open heart without benefit of their ministrations. But there are many examples of priests who themselves escaped the clerical stranglehold and were contemplatives. When Merton got to the monastery of Gethsemane he thought that many of the monks were simply introverts and not contemplatives at all. We go with Rahner – who of course said future Christians would be nought but contemplatives.

But we digress. The Cloud can provide a sound guide to the daily or regular practice of some form of contemplative, silent prayer – of which there are as many forms as there are individuals. It grounds contemplative prayer solidly within the practice of the sacraments. The world (and the church) needs the contemplative spirit and its concomitant non-dual mind-set, as so many are saying. Go to it – aided by the genius of the Monk of the Cloud! You can walk, sit, kneel, gaze (even at clouds), listen, even parenting and grandparenting, gardening or walking contemplatively. Just stop thinking and enter the silence of the heart!

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ACTA Leeds
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ACTA Leeds prayer - Seeking is Seeing

Seeking God is as good as seeing God.
Who, but a saint,
Would know so clearly
That the journey is the reality,
The steps are sight,
The effort is reward,
The seeing is the searching,
The dream is the reality?
Seeking God is seeing God.