New Leader

It is sad fact of life, especially, here in the UK and more likely to occur in England, that prejudice rears its ugly head. An article appeared in today's Guardian newspaper hinting at this in their article concerning Religion and Culture in the UK.
In the past few decades political leaders have refrained from expressing their Religious position due to fear of loosing votes. It is a known fact, that in this growing secular society that we live in, faith is kept to yourself out of fear of loosing important votes! Unlike the US, there is no "Christian Vote" or "Jewish Vote" to be won. This maybe a good thing, as it prevents leaders advertising their faith to win people over. But the flip side of this, when leaders do express their thoughts, the secular press turn on them, but they also do the same for those who profess no faith at all.The hypocrisy of the media is outstanding: declare yourself a Christian and they question you, declare yourself an Atheist and they do like wise; no wonder, we live in a society when we keep matters of faith a secret!
Once again, those who declare themselves as Christians in any form, are seen as some out-dated wacky individual who is not to be trusted and believed to have such Right-Wing views, that never can you have an opportunity to express what you believe.For those in any form of ministry, this leads to pastoral complications and leaves people vulnerable with the danger of becoming isolated, and in danger of seeking solace in another direction which is not always safe.It is the role of the clergy to reconnect with their community, not just their congregation whom they represent, but where they live, to let them know who they are, where they are and their availability to the general unchurched! Many clergy do not see themselves as missionaries, but, many now, if their existence is important to them, now have to be.Not in some thousands of miles away in a Jungle very few people have heard of, but right there in your own community, for if you do not, the politicians and the media will.It is time to start the rescue mission!!

Pope's Visit to the UK

The media here are so move on from till dropping the odd hint or two about how well the visit went. Many though the media was too much, giving you the opinion, that every time you turn on your telly, there he was! But for me, there was the odd day, that I actually missed the latest adventure of "Benny". The Pope is interesting for most of us as he is a Head of State as well as a Religious Leader, especially as that Church: The Roman Catholic Church is the largest group of Christians in the world. Many in the Religious press as well as the secular stated the idea that the visit has managed the image of the Roman catholic church being seen as the ones responsible a massive cover up of child abuse a generation ago, to now as a saintly group who are holding out their hand to the Lost of the world, especially the poor! The question though sticks in my mind; if there was no a large number of people from East European countries such as Poland who boast a large number of Roman catholics and therefore swelling the pews of most the churches here in the UK, would the Papal visit actually have taken place? I think the answer is no, but those loyal Roman Catholics it was important, but sadly all of it was overshadowed by the £25 tickets charged to attend one of the Masses that took place and even then, it was limited to the dedicated few at parish level.
I am on the other hand very pleased as a Protestant, that the Pope met all the Religious Leaders in this country: Anglican,Methodist,URC/Presbyterian,Baptist,Jewish & Muslim as well as many others. Now we wait to see the final outcome of this visit, but one thing is for sure; no Catholic reformation will occur with an attend to turn back the clocks of history as some have suggested, instead, I believe a true Ecumenical Pope has finally arrived who listens to his own adherents as well as everyone else in the world.