Ever since Vatican II, and maybe even before that, we have been enjoined to be ecumenical towards all Christians, and indeed to people of other faiths as well.
And quite right too. Respect for other believers, and building bridges of communication and peace are of the essence.
But when do such well-meaning intentions spill over into naivety and even poor judgement which may end up doing more harm than good?
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally – the first woman to head the Anglican church – has just had a roasting for apparently falling into the second category of error.
Honour
Dame Sarah no doubt meant well when she awarded a prominent Pakistani Imam, Dr Muhammed Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi a special honour – the Hubert Award for Reconciliation and Faith – earlier this month. The ceremony was held at Lambeth Palace on that memorable date, September 11.
But worse was to come: it was quickly disclosed that Muhammed Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden”
The Archbishop was photographed with the Imam, alongside Dr Ashrafi’s wife, who was strikingly covered from head to toe; only her eyes were visible over a mask.
Feminists, who cheered on Sarah Mullally’s appointment, criticised the burqa-like appearance of this Muslim wife.
But worse was to come: it was quickly disclosed that Muhammed Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/ll atrocity; he had extolled the October 7 massacre of more than 1000 Israelis, which kicked off the present appalling Gaza war; and he was apparently aligned with Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran.
Criticism
Greatly embarrassed, Canterbury withdrew the award and backtracked on the gesture of peace and reconciliation which the ceremony was said to represent. Cancelling the honour drew more attention to the general embarrassment.
Dame Sarah was excoriated as a naïve ninny for having made such a faux-pas. The background research just hadn’t been carried out. “It is depressing that the Church of England has become so ideologically captured by the progressive lanyard class,” wrote Rev. Giles Fraser, an Anglican vicar who himself comes from a left-of-centre position. (“The lanyard class” refers to those officials who wear ID lanyards around their necks.)
It’s also a reminder that faith and good deeds need to be accompanied by shrewdness and judgement”
Some of the criticism came down to the charge that there is a prevailing anxiety never to offend Muslims, for fear it could arouse racism. Political considerations over the sensitivities in the Middle East are also in the mix.
I feel rather sorry for Dame Sarah, who evidently meant well, and sought to acknowledge the fact that Imam Ashrafi had defended a Christian Pakistani girl against a false claim of blasphemy (which can attract the death penalty in Pakistan). She’s not that long in the Canterbury job, and probably does need some savvier staff.
And, as an example from Jordan illuminates (see accompanying reference) ecumenism can be constructive and supportive.
Yet it’s also a reminder that faith and good deeds need to be accompanied by shrewdness and judgement. In St Matthew’s Gospel we are told: “Be ye gentle as doves, but wise as serpents”.
Race, religion and politics can be minefields today, and the practice of ecumenism may also require the cardinal virtue of prudence.
Rooney goes Jordan
Wayne Rooney, the famous footballer of Irish heritage has said he wants to visit the Baptismal Site of Jesus, on the River Jordan, known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan (in Arabic “Al Maghtas”).
I hope Wayne gets to go there, maybe with his four sons. It is extraordinary to gaze on this modest stream of water where, under a tamarisk tree, Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.
The Jordanian royal family have been consistently supportive of this Christian site of pilgrimage, and recently Crown Prince All Hussein bin Abdullah visited it as part of a project to improve its environs.
Armenian Christians who are also Jordanian citizens are often involved in the maintenance.
But while the Baptismal Site will need to be upkept, I hope it will retain the simple and unpretentious aspect which makes it, paradoxically, so awesome. And such a reminder of the simplicity of Christianity’s roots.
=====
The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” wrote the author William Faulkner, and how ruefully King Charles must sometimes reflect on that thought.
His ex-brother-in-law, Earl Spencer, has very damagingly accused the King of having been “giddily elated” at receiving the news of Princess Diana’s death 29 years ago, and as happy as a lottery-winner at being freed of his ex-wife.
The King’s supporters have described all this as vile and untrue, stressing that Charles was devastated by Diana’s terrible death in that Paris crash.
But the sensational claim, in Spencer’s new book about his sister Diana, “Swan Song”, revives the whole tangle of an unhappy marriage, admitted infidelities, and children involved in parental separation. King Charles is now old, ailing and has done his best to bring the family together, but how painfully correct the American novelist was about the enduring shadows of the past.
Good interfaith intentions can go alarmingly wrong…
Ever since Vatican II, and maybe even before that, we have been enjoined to be ecumenical towards all Christians, and indeed to people of other faiths as well.
And quite right too. Respect for other believers, and building bridges of communication and peace are of the essence.
But when do such well-meaning intentions spill over into naivety and even poor judgement which may end up doing more harm than good?
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally – the first woman to head the Anglican church – has just had a roasting for apparently falling into the second category of error.
Honour
Dame Sarah no doubt meant well when she awarded a prominent Pakistani Imam, Dr Muhammed Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi a special honour – the Hubert Award for Reconciliation and Faith – earlier this month. The ceremony was held at Lambeth Palace on that memorable date, September 11.
The Archbishop was photographed with the Imam, alongside Dr Ashrafi’s wife, who was strikingly covered from head to toe; only her eyes were visible over a mask.
Feminists, who cheered on Sarah Mullally’s appointment, criticised the burqa-like appearance of this Muslim wife.
But worse was to come: it was quickly disclosed that Muhammed Ashrafi had praised Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/ll atrocity; he had extolled the October 7 massacre of more than 1000 Israelis, which kicked off the present appalling Gaza war; and he was apparently aligned with Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran.
Criticism
Greatly embarrassed, Canterbury withdrew the award and backtracked on the gesture of peace and reconciliation which the ceremony was said to represent. Cancelling the honour drew more attention to the general embarrassment.
Dame Sarah was excoriated as a naïve ninny for having made such a faux-pas. The background research just hadn’t been carried out. “It is depressing that the Church of England has become so ideologically captured by the progressive lanyard class,” wrote Rev. Giles Fraser, an Anglican vicar who himself comes from a left-of-centre position. (“The lanyard class” refers to those officials who wear ID lanyards around their necks.)
Some of the criticism came down to the charge that there is a prevailing anxiety never to offend Muslims, for fear it could arouse racism. Political considerations over the sensitivities in the Middle East are also in the mix.
I feel rather sorry for Dame Sarah, who evidently meant well, and sought to acknowledge the fact that Imam Ashrafi had defended a Christian Pakistani girl against a false claim of blasphemy (which can attract the death penalty in Pakistan). She’s not that long in the Canterbury job, and probably does need some savvier staff.
And, as an example from Jordan illuminates (see accompanying reference) ecumenism can be constructive and supportive.
Yet it’s also a reminder that faith and good deeds need to be accompanied by shrewdness and judgement. In St Matthew’s Gospel we are told: “Be ye gentle as doves, but wise as serpents”.
Race, religion and politics can be minefields today, and the practice of ecumenism may also require the cardinal virtue of prudence.
Rooney goes Jordan
Wayne Rooney, the famous footballer of Irish heritage has said he wants to visit the Baptismal Site of Jesus, on the River Jordan, known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan (in Arabic “Al Maghtas”).
I hope Wayne gets to go there, maybe with his four sons. It is extraordinary to gaze on this modest stream of water where, under a tamarisk tree, Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.
The Jordanian royal family have been consistently supportive of this Christian site of pilgrimage, and recently Crown Prince All Hussein bin Abdullah visited it as part of a project to improve its environs.
Armenian Christians who are also Jordanian citizens are often involved in the maintenance.
But while the Baptismal Site will need to be upkept, I hope it will retain the simple and unpretentious aspect which makes it, paradoxically, so awesome. And such a reminder of the simplicity of Christianity’s roots.
=====
The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” wrote the author William Faulkner, and how ruefully King Charles must sometimes reflect on that thought.
His ex-brother-in-law, Earl Spencer, has very damagingly accused the King of having been “giddily elated” at receiving the news of Princess Diana’s death 29 years ago, and as happy as a lottery-winner at being freed of his ex-wife.
The King’s supporters have described all this as vile and untrue, stressing that Charles was devastated by Diana’s terrible death in that Paris crash.
But the sensational claim, in Spencer’s new book about his sister Diana, “Swan Song”, revives the whole tangle of an unhappy marriage, admitted infidelities, and children involved in parental separation. King Charles is now old, ailing and has done his best to bring the family together, but how painfully correct the American novelist was about the enduring shadows of the past.
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