Hail Mighty Durian, King of Fruits!

One of the joys of coming to Hong Kong is that you are closer to the durian fruit, unique to South East Asia (and grown in several countries, particularly Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore).

The fruit from the nearby Malaysian peninsula only comes into season from June to August. The main exporting country is Thailand and its durian is available from mid-April to September. Unfortunately, we arrived in Hong Kong in March, too early in the year for fresh durian… however the ever-redoubtable missus performed a miracle and managed to obtain durian for tonight’s dessert!

It’s hard to describe the smell of durian…think blocked drains, smelly socks, over-ripe cheese, paint stripper, dead animals, onions…nothing can prepare you for it. No wonder it is barred from hotels, airlines, public transport and taxis when it is in season.

But discard the prickly husk and inside is a tender yellow ambrosia. Neither sweet nor sour, creamy, custardy, fibrous but silky smooth, almondy…again, mere words are insufficient. You must try it. It’s like discovering chocolate for the first time – but much better for you.  

A Measure of Hong Kong’s Independence?

Many tourists to Hong Kong, especially those that visit the HK Tourist Board office on Kowloon pier, will have noticed the demonstrations by a group called Falun Dafa. Often there are members of the group demonstrating meditation techniques, usually there are graphic posters of alleged mainland Chinese brutality against its adherents, always there is loudspeaker propaganda and free leaflets.

  

Falun Dafa, originally called Falun Gong, was created in 1992 by a Chinese national called Li Hongzhi. It is a blend of meditation, slow-moving qigong movements and the cultivation of moral precepts, particularly truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. It quickly caught on and attracted tens of millions of followers in China (the group claims 100 million members by the late 1990s).

However, things changed dramatically when over 10,000 members held a peaceful demonstration outside the central government compound in Beijing in April 1999 requesting legal recognition and freedom from state interference. Perhaps feeling threatened by the size and independent objectives of the movement, the Communist Party leadership cracked down – hard. It outlawed the movement calling it heretical and a threat to stability and – according to human rights groups – subjected its members to a variety of abuses, including mass imprisonment, forced labour and torture. The founder, Li Hongzhi, moved to the USA in 1996 and Falun Dafa is still active worldwide with (it is claimed) hundreds of thousands of practitioners in 70 countries.

…So, the fact that Hong Kong allows the Falun Dafa group to exercise its democratic right to demonstrate in public and share its views is a huge measure of Hong Kong’s own independence and China’s forbearance towards Hong Kong. Long may it continue.  

Causeway Bay

I was reminded of this the other evening when I was strolling around Causeway Bay, one of the busiest shopping areas on Hong Kong Island.

Falun Dafa meditators

The Falun Dafa people had set up their stalls on one of the main pedestrianized streets. There were meditators, several placards and a display apparently alleging that the authorities were harvesting organs from members held prisoner in mainland China – and there were plenty of posters with graphic photos of torture to back it up.

They did not have it all their own way however, a dispute broke out when I was there and some ladies began pushing and shoving each other (all the while trying to capture the dispute on their mobile phones!) The police swiftly moved in to separate the parties and peace was eventually restored.

Because this is Hong Kong, which is a major temple of consumerism, there was a more traditional demonstration going on just 20 yards away from the Falun Dafa folk. Poor girls, I’m sure they were frozen, the temperature was about 15 degrees Celsius with a bitter wind. 

cold ladies...

(UPDATE: FOUR DAYS LATER)

This afternoon there was an organised counter-demonstration, about 18 people dressed in uniform green jackets with yellow sashes who formed a line and shouted slogans in unison, led by a chap with a megaphone standing at the front.

And in case their message needed reinforcing, there was another gentleman with another megaphone at the back, adding to the din...

Of course, the Falun Dafa people weren't going to be deafened without retaliating and a couple of them approached the demonstrators with their own megaphone. The police- who I hope were wearing earplugs - kept the peace as usual.

As I stood there photographing a young man sidled up to me and began talking:

"You shouldn't think these demonstrators in the green jackets are Hong Kong people. They are from the mainland, Communists. They're poorly educated, recent immigrants to Hong Kong who can't find jobs, so the Chinese authorities pay them to demonstrate against the Falun Dafa people. Sometimes they start violence, hitting them, not just shouting at them."

"Are you a member of Falun Dafa?" I asked.

He hesitated for a moment, then said "I support them but I am not a member."

Hmmmmm. 

Japanese Bishops’ Extraordinary View on the Use of Natural Law

In 2013 the Roman Curia published a questionnaire in preparation for the October 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family. I took a look at it early on with a view to responding and soon gave up; I’ve rarely seen a more tortuous and convoluted example of Geek-speak. Thankfully, some enlightened dioceses – including our own A&B - produced simplified versions, but I suspect that much goodwill and momentum had already been squandered.  

Few countries have made public the full results of their own national questionnaire (although Germany, which has a few axes of its own to grind, was an early exception).

Now Japan is the first Asian country to publish the results of its survey, according to today’s ‘Sunday Examiner’ newspaper, which is published by the Bishop of Hong Kong.

The Japanese bishops, in a report on the survey, complain that when Church leaders cannot justify things, they ‘call it natural law and demand obedience on their say-so.’ The bishops further question why natural law needs to be taught if it is indeed natural, and add that, in Japan, ’it is perceived as abstract and out-of-touch.’  

Not surprisingly, the questionnaire found that Japanese Catholics absorb many of their post-modern society’s views on divorce, remarriage, contraception and abortion

However, there was one aspect of the Church’s activity in Japan that was new and surprising to me. Apparently, as a way of introducing people to the Church, Japanese priests (with Rome’s permission) have been conducting marriages according to the Church’s rites between two non-baptised and non-believing persons…in other words between a male non-Christian and a female non-Christian. There is some pre-marital instruction on the Church’s vision of marriage, and there can be no canonical impediments to it ‘though individual pastors generally tend towards leniency.’

Well…

I was concerned that the Synod of Bishops on the family might be a non-event. Maybe not, for it seems that we have bishops looking for …forms of communications that persuade rather than instruct, that rely on informed consent rather than obedience, and that lead to an infectious joy in living and sharing Christ’s message - rather than the undertaking of a half-hearted duty...as a recent posting put it.Springtime for Adult Formation in A&B?

Chilly Times in Hong Kong

Yesterday we returned to Hong Kong for an early holiday. It was quite a contrast to the sweltering and humid weather that we usually experience each summer. Now there were grey skies, a chilly wind that whipped up small waves in the harbour, smog that reduced visibility to a few hundred yards, and everywhere people were bundled up in overcoats and heavy jackets.

Most Hong Kongers are a hardy lot. Although they love air conditioning in the summer, they don’t believe in central heating or electric fires in winter; rather, they add layers of clothing to keep out the chill. Today’s maximum temperature of fifteen degrees Celsius (60 degrees Farenheit) is hardly Arctic but everyone on the streets is bundled up like it was ten degrees lower (but there is a cold wind blowing in from the harbour that cuts through the warmest clothing - brrrr!)

The political temperature has fallen too. The honeymoon with Beijing that followed 1997 is long past and the mainland authorities are increasingly irritated at the way Hong Kong underlines its independence while agitating for increased democracy. Not only have the Hong Kong people demonstrated each year in memory of the Tiananmen Square protests; they have also declined to introduce the national education system; they have protested during visits of the Chinese leadership; a protest group plans to close down the main financial district this summer in protest against the lack of suffrage – and last week some ill-tempered Hong Kongers were ungrateful enough to demonstrate against the hordes of mainland visitors that have invaded the city in recent years, referring to them as 'locusts'. In response, the Beijing authorities have vented their frustration by moving a planned key regional finance meeting from Hong Kong to Beijing, muttering darkly about the ‘spoilt’ inhabitants of this city.

There was an interesting article in the South China Morning Post today. Apparently elderly bachelors of this fair city are being duped by heartless young gold-diggers from the mainland. Mr. Law, 83 married a young woman in her 30s but has now been divorced, has lost custody of his son and has been evicted from his 150sq ft public flat. The paper quotes the assistant executive director of the welfare agency Against Elderly Abuse as believing ‘the main reason mainland women married elderly men in Hong Kong was to get residency in the city and seize their flats.’

I’m sure the relationship with Beijing has also produced many positive benefits for the city (I seem to remember Beijing supported the Hong Kong economy by liberalising permits for mainland tourists following the SARS outbreak) but I’m not reading much about that aspect at the moment.

Finally, there was a protest in central Hong Kong today, a small and rather sweet one (they handed me a small bunch of flowers as I passed) - but it had nothing to do with relations with mainland China.

The Ukranian minority in the city were demonstrating against President Putin’s apparent attempt to seize Crimea by force. It is a very healthy sign that they were allowed to make their views known. I wonder if there were similar demonstrations in Beijing? Perhaps not… 

             

Springtime for Adult Formation in A&B?

Spring was delayed this year and, like a forgetful aunt, arrived gushing, arms full of gifts; the bright blue skies, daffodils and crocuses everywhere, lambs gambolling, nascent green shoots poking their heads up from the soil, baby buds on the trees.

A great time for new beginnings I thought yesterday as I drove to DABCEC, which sounds vaguely military - but really is just the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton Christian Education Centre in Crawley, Sussex.

The invitation was brief...’Calling all who have studied theology, catechesis or RE at Certificate, Diploma or Degree level...join Bishop Kieran, Professor Kate Williamson and your fellow students/graduates...in prayer, conversation and celebration.’

Debating at the tables

About 75 of us assembled, wondering what we had let ourselves in for. Surely this had to be more than just a celebration. And so it proved. We were herded into a (former school) gymnasium/assembly hall, directed to sit around a dozen tables and asked to discuss with our fellow guests a couple of general questions about formation...Ho hum.

Then Dr. Kate Williamson took the floor. Dr. Kate is the much beloved and greatly respected doyenne of theology and religious education in the A&B diocese. She spoke of the need to share our heritage, the historical understanding and development of the faith. Focusing on adult formation, she mentioned the renaissance provided by Vatican II, the yeoman spadework of the Bishops’ Commission of England & Wales, and the fruit of initiatives like RENEW, launched in A&B diocese a few years back.

This success has bred a new generation of catechists – with a higher proportion of men then heretofore - who contribute much to parish life. However, the parish community model can also be limiting and inward-looking. Also, the impetus may be faltering and it is time for new beginnings, for another springtime in the diocese.

Kate’s prescription was to establish ‘ring-fenced’ spaces in which people can reflect on their faith, together with a structure to pass on the knowledge and understanding of that faith. This structure should use forms of communications that persuade rather than instruct, that rely on informed consent rather than obedience, and that lead to an infectious joy in living and sharing Christ’s message - rather than the undertaking of a half-hearted duty.

Feedback(Dr. Kate seated, Bishop Kieran standing)

The audience then discussed the proposal and reported back to Dr. Kate and Bishop Kieran on their conclusions. There were a number of interesting ideas but, again and again, the presenters emphasised the two key themes that they had just heard: open discussion of the faith, what works and what does not, what is clear and accepted, as well as what is neither clear nor accepted; and a neutral, non-technical language for debate and sharing.

Bishop Kieran, who has an innate knack of capturing the mood and essence of meetings, used the simile of the Rugby Sevens to explain his perspective. He even carried the example through to what he forewarned us would be a thirty-second homily in the Mass that followed.

The meeting potentially foreshadows some exciting times if we are bold enough to meet the challenge. The faith, grounded in truth and tradition, has no fear of debate. As Jesus said (John 8:32) ‘...know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ Roll on the springtime of adult formation.   

Now that I have seen....I am responsible

Over a month ago Michaela, our former Parish Secretary at Sacred Heart Church in Hove, began a very challenging, lonely, potentially dangerous - but very important and worthwhile – role in Palestine.

She is serving a three months’ assignment for the World Council of Churches as a Human Rights Observer with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme, based in Bethlehem; the Observers ‘provide a protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitor and report human rights abuses  and support Palestinians and Israelis working together for a just peace.’     

(The rhetoric may perhaps be a little disingenuous and even-handed for I suspect there are few Israeli communities needing Michaela’s protective presence - but that does not in any way diminish the need to help the Palestinian ones that are suffering).

Read Michaela’s blog and make your own minds up. In ‘Emptying the Breadbasket’ she quotes a (presumably) Israeli resident of (the illegal) Quedar settlement as saying “The Arabs have 22 states that they can live in and there is only one Jewish State. They want to kill us.’ If ever a situation called for communication, negotiation, compromise, goodwill and trust...this is it.

It’s not just the Moslem Palestinians who feel subjugated; when I spent a week in Israel a few months ago those Christian Palestinians that I spoke to shared that feeling. Knowing Michaela, she is going to do what she can to aid all the descendants of Abraham, even if it is just by shining a light on some shameful activities that hide in the darkness of prejudice and oppression.

Pray for her... and check out her blog.

http://beyondthebarrrier.blogspot.com/

Bible Sat Nav

The Bible can be a daunting read with its 73 books; the New Testament alone has 27 books containing 7,956 verses or 138,020 words – and the Old Testament is about three times as large. One internet site gives the median word length of Amazon’s average book as 64,000 words, so the Bible is equivalent to nine regular books - quite a read!

But the challenge is not so much the length of the Bible; it’s the variety and complexity of its content. We’re talking about history, poetry, prophecy, genealogy, stories, songs, letters, parables, miracles, laws etc written over a period of 1,500 years. How on earth do we make sense of it all, particularly the Old Testament? Is the sometimes vengeful God of the Old Testament the same divine person as the God of fatherly love of the New Testament?

The Bible was central to the Second Vatican Council and the most fundamental of the four Constitutions is Dei Verbum, The Word of God.  As St Jerome held, ‘ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ’ and, in the Church, understanding of divine revelations rests on the triple foundations of sacred scripture, sacred tradition and the teaching of the Church.

Perhaps, like me, you have waded through the Bible, from end to end, and discovered the experience was more of a marathon ordeal than a devout learning experience...I once read the One Year Chronological Bible (NLT translation) end to end, and, after one year and 1,668 pages I simply gave up trying to fit everything together. Then I read the 1,640 page One Year Chronological Bible (NIV translation)...and still felt I was missing the overall theme, the message, and the guts of it. Thereafter, for quite a while, my Bible reading was spasmodic, unstructured (and not very fruitful). 

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple guide to the Bible that explained how the books fit together...that explained the overall message that runs through the Old and the New Testaments...a brief overview that took us from Creation to Salvation...a sort of biblical SatNav?

There is.

Last Saturday about 40 of us met in the parish hall of St John the Evangelist Church in Crawley for a one-day session called ‘A Quick Journey Through the Bible.’ It was created by an American, Jeff Cavins, a Bible teacher and evangelist. For £15 we received a workbook, timeline chart...and a bracelet with coloured beads that represent the 12 chronological time periods of the salvation history of Scripture (as identified by Mr. Cavins).

I must admit that, fingering the beads, my heart sank and my initial thought was ‘Back to kindergarten, another well-meaning but infantile device that trivialises the content ...coloured beads!..perhaps I can quietly slip away...’

Then the first of eight 30-minute video sessions began to play and any thoughts of escape vanished. Jeff Cavins was succinct, precise, clear and humorous. His analysis of the 14 ‘narrative books’ that tell the story of Salvation was both fascinating and credible. I began to appreciate what he called his ‘helicopter view’ of the Bible and felt that the high-level explanation of salvation history made sense. It obviously helped that he was an entertaining speaker, totally familiar with his material, full of new insights and linkages, clearly sharing only a fraction of his knowledge of this subject.

It wasn’t just me. The six other participants at my table were equally rapt and felt they had gained a valuable appreciation of the subject.

Apart from the illuminating view of the connection between the 14 Bible books that we looked at, the course succeeded for me because it made me want to read more, study more, to look in depth at the linkages between these 14 books and then flesh out the story by reading the other 59 ‘supplemental’ books, placing them in the newly-found context.  

Of course, this is just one man’s interpretation of salvation history, one way of looking at divine love through the eons. It is fascinating and credible but it is still just one interpretation of Holy Writ. I know there are other competing biblical education programmes. But it’s like the old question: ‘There are so many Bible translations, which is the best one?- the one that you actually read.’ If Jeff Cavins’ attractive analysis draws people to an intelligent re-reading of Holy Scripture, then God bless him!