Kendall, thank you for all the links you have put up about this visit. May I put one or two reflections from my vantage point here in London?
The visit has succeeded in the face of scepticism from the media and even some doubts in Catholic quarters. It seems that the Pope has tapped into something that was waiting there all along. It is as if there was a force in our national psyche longing to surface, longing to assert that Christianity is part and parcel of who we are. So the response to the visit has gone beyond the Catholic Church itself and expressed something that most people thought might no longer be there, a basically Christian sense of identity. I am not so foolish as to believe that the great bulk of the people will move out of their studied indifference, but it is clear nonetheless that they are not ready to cut their Christian roots either.
At the same time I do not dismiss the protests, even although they were mostly from a metropolitan constituency whose impact is overrrated because of their connections and high visibility. There is an alienation from Christianity among many young adults, an alienation married often to an almost complete lack of knowledge about it. And the dressing up, the mockery of the protesters … is it good fun, or is it a sneering contempt that would shock the public if it was directed towards any other group?
Finally, it struck me that to be a Catholic (or more generally a Christian) in Britain today you have to be robust. You have to resist the cynicism of so many of our cultural elite, not least in the media. There was some positive reporting, and even a kind of reluctant admiration among the reporters, but there was also outright hostility. An example: on the main BBC news last night the Pope’s visit was the lead item, but the reporter said among other things that the Pope had been ‘railing’ against the modern world. ‘Railing’ was the actual word used. Another example: on BBC News 24, at around 9.30 pm I was watching the reporting and it was still running a headline beneath the pictures about the Pope meeting child abuse victims and apologising for the abuse that had taken place. It was calling this ‘breaking news’ but the news had broken eight hours earlier. So you had the wonderful pictures from Hyde Park qualified all the time by this darker news in the headline strap running across the picture. That said, the media put enormous resources into covering the visit, and I feel a great sense of gratitude to them.
Overall, we have been encouraged, and the faith has been lifted up. Just about the most remarkable thing about the Hyde Park liturgy was the time of silent adoration. 80,000 people all on live TV praying silently in the eucharistic presence. It was a great testimony and a witness to our faith in Christ.
Kendall, thank you for all the links you have put up about this visit. May I put one or two reflections from my vantage point here in London?
The visit has succeeded in the face of scepticism from the media and even some doubts in Catholic quarters. It seems that the Pope has tapped into something that was waiting there all along. It is as if there was a force in our national psyche longing to surface, longing to assert that Christianity is part and parcel of who we are. So the response to the visit has gone beyond the Catholic Church itself and expressed something that most people thought might no longer be there, a basically Christian sense of identity. I am not so foolish as to believe that the great bulk of the people will move out of their studied indifference, but it is clear nonetheless that they are not ready to cut their Christian roots either.
At the same time I do not dismiss the protests, even although they were mostly from a metropolitan constituency whose impact is overrrated because of their connections and high visibility. There is an alienation from Christianity among many young adults, an alienation married often to an almost complete lack of knowledge about it. And the dressing up, the mockery of the protesters … is it good fun, or is it a sneering contempt that would shock the public if it was directed towards any other group?
Finally, it struck me that to be a Catholic (or more generally a Christian) in Britain today you have to be robust. You have to resist the cynicism of so many of our cultural elite, not least in the media. There was some positive reporting, and even a kind of reluctant admiration among the reporters, but there was also outright hostility. An example: on the main BBC news last night the Pope’s visit was the lead item, but the reporter said among other things that the Pope had been ‘railing’ against the modern world. ‘Railing’ was the actual word used. Another example: on BBC News 24, at around 9.30 pm I was watching the reporting and it was still running a headline beneath the pictures about the Pope meeting child abuse victims and apologising for the abuse that had taken place. It was calling this ‘breaking news’ but the news had broken eight hours earlier. So you had the wonderful pictures from Hyde Park qualified all the time by this darker news in the headline strap running across the picture. That said, the media put enormous resources into covering the visit, and I feel a great sense of gratitude to them.
Overall, we have been encouraged, and the faith has been lifted up. Just about the most remarkable thing about the Hyde Park liturgy was the time of silent adoration. 80,000 people all on live TV praying silently in the eucharistic presence. It was a great testimony and a witness to our faith in Christ.
This is a lovely comment Terry in #1; thank you ever so much.