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St Mary’s Clergy Letter October 2011
I have just returned from a lovely break – a week staying with my former Vicar of All Souls, Little London in his retirement home
in the Loire Valley in France.
After that I had a wonderful week with my wife in gorgeous North Wales.
I chose the weekend when the riots broke out in London to stay overnight there before catching a very early Eurostar train on the
Monday. I’m sorry my courage failed me, as I stayed in the safety of my hotel room watching with everyone else on the television
as the worrying events unfolded on the news. When I eventually got to France the papers and TV were full of what was going on in
England. My old Vicar Fr Douglas, who sadly has had a series of strokes after a stressful inner city ministry also watched with
anxiety not only for what was going on back home but also for his son who now lives in Brixton.
Both of us shared one preliminary feeling - were we the only ones who, whilst not condoning the violence done to people and property
were not surprised at what was happening- politicians of all descriptions seemed to be amazed and expressed confusion at how this could
be happening. As time progressed though we realized we weren’t on our own in our lack of surprise as to how events unfolded- community
workers and local clergy I think were pretty much united in their analysis of what was happening and whilst like myself and Fr Douglas
not at all condoning what was going on seemed to concur in our understanding of why these events had happened.
Whist horrified to see pictures of young people looting shops – and I was quite queasy when I saw the pictures of the burning car outside
St Aidan’s in Harehills Leeds where I served my curacy, and even more appalled at the injuries to people which in some cases had resulted
in deaths - we were very much in agreement with the priests of the parishes affected worst whose explanation (not justification) of events
we in the main shared.
I was particularly moved by a young articulate shopkeeper in Ealing whose quite up market baby wear shop had been totally trashed along
with several others on her street. She if any one had a right to be aggrieved- but she spoke movingly of how her grievance was with the
overall social malaise which our country is in and the causes of that malaise which were not being addressed by the politicians. She
expressed a really generous understanding of how disaffected young people – intelligent young people largely from the most disadvantaged
sections of our societies - young black people or working class youths – could feel so hopeless about their future prospects that they’d
decided to get the things which the culture has taught them they must have for happiness and well- being- Wide screen TVs and playstations-
in any way they could. They had learned that any method of achieving personal material objectives was acceptable from the cynicism of
politicians who in more recent times have justified theft through corrupt expenses claims and historically have pursued policies of
enhancing the wealth of our own country at the expense of poorer third world countries by all means including for example world-wide
arms trading - to the appalling implementation of public service cuts which not only narrow even further their job opportunities but
also see the very services that disadvantaged groups need most in declin - cuts to youth services; NHS and education. And all this to
ensure that the profits and large salaries of the bankers who in the main have been responsible for the dreadful economic recession we –
and large parts of the world- are in are protected. Do we even need to mention the fact that few working class young people see not only
any hope for an apprenticeship or a job after school but their chances of going on to higher education diminish with the ever growing
student loans necessary to pay the fees.
Now please don’t infer from this that I am making excuses for the destruction and violence - and of course some of the perpetrators have
been held up by sections of the media as not from disadvantaged groups- there are always a few who will jump on any bandwagon. I want to
also to say as loudly as I can that most young people who are disadvantaged heroically were NOT involved in the riots and would not dream
of giving in to the temptation to react in this way to the general despair and hopelessness of their situation. But let’s, whilst not making
excuses for those who did give in to the despair at least try to understand why they did – and also make no excuse for the wider culture of
our country which must take the brunt of the responsibility for what has happened.
I must say that I was very proud to be a member of the church of England when I saw so many letters from Anglican clergy working in the areas
of worst distress calling not for the idiotic short sharp shock rhetoric which so many of the tabloid newspapers called for- our prisons are
bursting at he seams and if you’ve any experience of them at all you’ll not be surprised that they often don’t act as a deterrent and that
there is a good chance that the young people who are being punished in such draconian ways will be embittered and alienated from society even
more after their penal experience. These young people who see no future now will not have their job prospects enhanced by a criminal record-
and they might come out of prison with a few extra criminal skills!!
Where does our Church in Middleton fit into all this? I agree with the clergyman who wrote in the Church Times that the solution to the problem
is of course Jesus. But this is not a simplistic solution - nor can it be an excuse for us churchgoers to disown our personal responsibility for
what is going on. Our churches have often been
obsessed with preaching and teaching that our faith is concerned with sexual morality primarily or with personal salvation. The most moving
letter I read was from the priest who worked with disadvantaged children who surprised him by expressing a real desire for the Churches to offer
them an alternative set of values - values based around social engagement and change not private morality- which only could be authentic to them
if they could see that the churches lived by them themselves.
This is the challenge for our Churches in Middleton- we as Christians could take the easy way out and jump on the bandwagon of the politicians and
tabloids who want to blame everyone else except ourselves (and themselves!). So first we call the nation and our churches and ourselves to repentance
for how we have failed both to pass on the socially relevant values of our faith on to our young people – and failed to make these values credible
by living according to them.
My hope is that projects like our Crossroads youth project will get the wider support of our congregations and that along with this and Kidz Klub
we can begin to capitalize on he great youth work done by the church in the past. I hope that when we start doing a monthly alternative service on
Sundays we can start afresh to make our worship energise us to encounter Our Lord through word and sacrament in ways which challenge us through
broken hearts to come up with new initiatives to support all on the margins of our community by extra commitment to ways both old and new.
“Let my hear break open so the whole world falls in”. Mother Theresa.
Love, peace and sorrow! - Andy
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