FR JULIAN'S WEEKLY BLOG
28/04/24
This week saw the passing of the contentious Rwanda bill, in spite of the House of Lords’ – including bishops’ – concerns. We also heard that another 5 people, including a 7 year-old girl, drowned attempting to cross the Channel just a few hours after following the Commons’ vote. There are many views about pros and cons, but chief amongst them must be the need for compassion. There is also the need to address those who make money out of the vulnerable, and the reasons why people become migrants. These are issues which are not going to be solved ‘simply’ by deporting those who make it to this country. Nor can we escape the moral and financial implications of the new law.
The response of the Christian is clear in Scripture. The ‘seven corporal acts of mercy’ include feeding the hungry, visiting the imprisoned, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, giving drink to the thirsty, and giving shelter to the homeless. Jesus tells us that when we do these things to the least of his brothers and sisters, we do it to him (Matthew 25. 40-45) – and warns us of the consequences of inaction.
21/04/24
Jane and I will be having a few days off this weekend, our Easter break. It’ll be the first time we’ve really had off and gone away in 6 months, so we’re looking forward to it! We’re going to Hereford. We’ve stayed there before and it’s a county with which we both have connections. My mother’s family lived in Leominster and my parents were married there – over 80 years ago! Jane’s
grandmother also lived in the county and is buried in a little village churchyard there. In some ways, it means that we have a connection with the county, although neither of us has ever lived there. It’s like a tradition.
‘Tradition’ often gets a bad press. It’s often confused with being of the past, old-fashioned. In this immediate and transitory world in which we live, tradition is very much an anachronism. I am proud to be a ‘traditionalist’ priest. As you know, that doesn’t mean I am constantly harking back to the past, trying to recreate it, but bring the past into the present, to guide, inform and to direct. It is good to have a connection – a strong connection – by tradition to 2000 years of Christian witness.