Metlink estimated 84,000 people took the train and 80,000 took the bus, making Tuesday the busiest day on record.

Thomas Nash, the Greater Wellington Regional Council's transport committee chairperson, was not surprised. Read more

The proposal, announced today by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, would essentially give victims of sexual offending more say in what happens in court when it comes to name suppression.

It also protects a wider number of victims by extending who is entitled to automatic suppression. Read more

While we wait for the official English version, this is an Artificially Intelligent translation from Italian into English.

26. The celebration of the Eucharist, especially on Sunday, is the primary and foundational form in which the Holy People of God gather and meet. In the Eucharistic celebration, "the unity of the Church is both signified and produced" (UR 2). In the "full, conscious, and active participation" (SC 14) of all the Faithful, in the presence of different ministries, and in the leadership of the Bishop or Priest, the Christian community becomes visible, where a differentiated co-responsibility for the mission is realised by all. For this reason, the Church, the Body of Christ, learns from the Eucharist to balance unity and plurality: the unity of the Church and the multiplicity of Eucharistic assemblies; the unity of the sacramental mystery and the variety of liturgical traditions; the unity of celebration and the diversity of vocations, charisms, and ministries. Nothing demonstrates more clearly than the Eucharist that the harmony created by the Spirit is not uniformity and that every ecclesial gift is intended for communal edification. Every celebration of the Eucharist is also an expression of the desire and call for unity among all the Baptised, which is not yet complete and visible. Where the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is not possible, the community, while desiring it, gathers around the celebration of the Word, where Christ is nonetheless present.

27. There is a close link between *synaxis* and *synodos*, between the Eucharistic assembly and the synodal gathering. Although different in form, both fulfil Jesus' promise to be present where two or three are gathered in His name (cf. Mt 18:20). Synodal assemblies are events that celebrate the union of Christ with His Church through the action of the Spirit. It is He who ensures the unity of Christ's ecclesial Body in both the Eucharistic and synodal assemblies. The liturgy involves listening to the Word of God and responding to His covenant initiative. Similarly, the synodal assembly listens to the same Word, which resounds in both the signs of the times and in the hearts of the Faithful, and responds by discerning and implementing God's will. Deepening the connection between liturgy and synodality will help all Christian communities, in the diversity of their cultures and traditions, to adopt celebratory styles that reflect the image of a synodal Church. To this end, we propose the establishment of a specific Study Group to consider how to make liturgical celebrations more expressive of synodality. This group could also address preaching within liturgical celebrations and the development of a catechesis on synodality from a mystagogical perspective.

Meaning and Dimensions of Synodality

28. The terms "synodality" and "synodal" derive from the ancient and consistent ecclesial practice of gathering in synod. In the traditions of the Churches of the East and the West, the word "synod" refers to institutions and events that have taken various forms over time, involving a plurality of participants. Despite their diversity, these forms are united by the act of coming together to dialogue, discern, and decide. Through the experience of recent years, the meaning of these terms has been better understood and even more deeply lived. They have increasingly been associated with the desire for a Church that is closer to the people, more relational, and a home and family of God. Throughout the synodal process, a convergence on the meaning of synodality, which underpins this Document, has emerged: synodality is the journeying together of Christians with Christ and towards the Kingdom of God, in union with all humanity. Mission-oriented, it entails gathering at various levels of ecclesial life, mutual listening, dialogue, communal discernment, the formation of consensus as an expression of the presence of the living Christ in the Spirit, and making decisions in a differentiated co-responsibility. With this in mind, we better understand what it means that synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church (cf. CTI, n. 1). In simple and concise terms, one could say that synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform to make the Church more participative and mission-oriented, that is, more able to walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ.

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Vatican City, 1 July 2023

Dear Brother,

As the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, I entrust to you a task that I consider very valuable. Its central purpose is to guard the teaching that flows from the faith in order to "to give reasons for our hope, but not as an enemy who critiques and condemns" [1].

The Dicastery over which you will preside in other times came to use immoral methods. Those were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were pursued. What I expect from you is certainly something very different.

You have served as dean of the Faculty of Theology of Buenos Aires, president of the Argentinean Society of Theology and president of the Faith and Culture Commission of the Argentinean Episcopate, in all cases voted by your peers, who have thus valued your theological charisma. As rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina you encouraged a healthy integration of knowledge. On the other hand, you were parish priest of "Santa Teresita" and until now archbishop of La Plata, where you knew how to bring theological knowledge into dialogue with the life of the holy People of God.

Given that for disciplinary matters — especially related to the abuse of minors — a specific Section has recently been created with very competent professionals, I ask you as prefect to dedicate your personal commitment more directly to the main purpose of the Dicastery, which is "keeping the faith" [2].

In order not to limit the significance of this task, it should be added that it is a matter of "increasing the understanding and transmission of the faith in the service of evangelization, so that its light may be a criterion for understanding the meaning of existence, especially in the face of the questions posed by the progress of the sciences and the development of society" [3]. These issues, incorporated in a renewed proclamation of the Gospel message, "become tools of evangelization" [4] because they allow us to enter into conversation with "our present situation, which is in many ways unprecedented in the history of humanity" [5].

Moreover, you know that the Church "grow[s] in her interpretation of the revealed word and in her understanding of truth" [6] without this implying the imposition of a single way of expressing it. For "Differing currents of thought in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to being reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow" [7]. This harmonious growth will preserve Christian doctrine more effectively than any control mechanism.

It is good that your task expresses that the Church "encourages the charism of theologians and their scholarly efforts" as long as they are not "content with a desk-bound theology" [8], with a "a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything" [9]. It will always be true that reality is superior to the idea. In this sense, we need theology to be attentive to a fundamental criterion: to consider that "all theological notions that ultimately call into question the very omnipotence of God, and his mercy in particular, are inadequate" [10]. We need a way of thinking which can convincingly present a God who loves, who forgives, who saves, who liberates, who promotes people and calls them to fraternal service.

This happens if "the message has to concentrate on the essentials, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary" [11]. You are well aware that there is a harmonious order among the truths of our message, and the greatest danger occurs when secondary issues end up overshadowing the central ones.

In the horizon of this richness, your task also implies a special care to verify that the documents of your own Dicastery and of the others have an adequate theological support, are coherent with the rich humus of the perennial teaching of the Church and at the same time take into account the recent Magisterium.

May the Blessed Virgin protect and watch over you in this new mission. Please do not cease to pray for me.

Fraternally,
Francis

Footnotes

[1] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 271.

[2] Motu proprio Fidem Servare (11 February 2022), Introduction.

[3] Ibid., 2.

[4] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 132.

Not anyone says it, but someone who, from 2010 until his resignation due to age last January, was the Church's highest authority in appointing bishops - and one of Pope Francis' trusted men -: Cardinal Ouellet.

Now he has just visited the Ecclesiastical University of San Dámaso, in Madrid, to disseminate, in collaboration with the Parisian Center for Research in Anthropology and Vocations, what for some years has been his great personal mission: to reinforce the identity of the priesthood in a time as complex as the present. And Aleteia has spoken to him. -

Loneliness, overwork, discouragement, misunderstanding… Being a priest has never been easy, but it seems that our society makes it particularly difficult. What are the great crosses that priests have to carry today? I believe that today the three great crosses of priests are three: religious indifference, pastoral failure and suspicions about their lives, which sometimes go as far as public insult. - Explain them in more detail… Religious indifference, because many baptized people live as if God did not exist, and that makes it more difficult to find meaning in their lives. Pastoral failure, because pastoral proposals usually receive limited and disappointing responses after many efforts. And the suspicions about his life, even to the point of public insult, because that leads priests to solitude and to have a more tense relationship with the authorities, since they can feel the pain of the measures taken by the bishops and the generalizations of the media. "The pastoral proposals of priests often receive limited and disappointing responses after many efforts" - And do you think that priests today feel accompanied by the laity in these specific needs and wounds? Here is a question that seems interesting to me, and that is not very present in today's Catholic culture: do the laity have anything to do with the priesthood? It may seem not, because it is not about them. But, in reality, the raison d'être of the priesthood of priests is service to the priesthood of the baptized. And this priesthood of the baptized implies that they participate in the spread of the Spirit of the Gospel through the testimony of their faith, their hope and their charity. According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the laity are part of the Church as mediator of salvation in Jesus Christ and participate in the consecration of the world. Therefore, that is a question that should be asked by the laity. - Cardinal Ouellet, you have spoken about the attacks that priests sometimes suffer. One of the causes of these attacks that many innocent priests suffer today is that they are associated with brothers who have committed crimes of abuse. You yourself have suffered a peculiar public accusation in this regard, and you have not only defended your innocence, but have also announced that you would sue your accuser to wash her honor. Without going into the judicial details, how are you living, from faith, this process? At this time it is not possible for me to answer your question. - Let's change third, then. In recent years he has been carrying out an intense activity to talk about the priesthood of the 21st century. What should characterize the priests of our days? It is something that the Pope already defined in February 2022: the priest must be, first of all, close to God, through his prayer; close to his bishop, in a filial relationship; and close to his confreres, in a fraternal relationship. Finally, he must be close to his people through his pastoral charity.

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Given the many years of war and the economic collapse of Syria, the organisation already had projects in place and partners on the ground in cities such as Aleppo and Lattakia, which have considerable Christian communities and were badly affected by the quake.

A number of the relief projects already approved are small-scale and aimed at addressing immediate and short-term needs, according to Xavier Stephen Bisits, head of ACN's Lebanon and Syria section, who travelled to Aleppo immediately after the quake.

The most important project, however, has to do with helping people get back to their homes as quickly as possible. For this, however, it is necessary for the houses to be surveyed by engineers, to make sure there is no risk of collapse.

The sixteenth annual State of the Nation report, titled ‘Costs … of Living / Nga Rourou Whakaiti', pulls together existing data to provide an annual snapshot of our social progress as a nation.

"Despite rising incomes and low unemployment that are lifting incomes for many, the report acknowledges the very real pressures that are increasingly and significantly affecting people's lives as inflation begins to bite and people struggle to feed their whanau, to find work and secure warm, dry affordable accommodation," says Lt-Colonel Ian Hutson, director of The Salvation Army's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit.

"While inflation is a thief from everyone's pocket, the lowest income households are among the hardest hit.

"The report theme also hints at a broader collective set of costs that a society needs to take into account that support people to live fulfilled lives and to avoid the very real social and economic costs of inequality."

The six sections of the report traverse Children and Youth, Work and Incomes, Housing, Crime and Punishment, Social Hazards and Maori Wellbeing.

"In an election year, it is our hope to see political leadership that will take action to address social disparities and support our communities to meet the ‘costs of living'. This includes an emphasis on enabling legislation and effective policy in housing and stronger regulation around gambling-related harm."

Key findings in the report:

• Children and Youth While the decline in levels of child poverty and hardship up to mid-2021 (the latest available data) is a genuine achievement, child poverty rates are still too high. Maori and Pacific children were particularly affected. Almost one in four Pacific children (24 percent) were living in material hardship in 2021. Covid-19 restrictions during the second half of 2021 and ongoing cost of living increases during 2022 added to pressures on lower income families. The number of children under 15 years who were victims of serious assaults resulting in injury is more than 40 percent higher than five years ago, and there has been a sharp increase in the proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 years reporting high levels of psychological distress. Education outcomes have worsened, and school attendance rates have declined.

• Work and Incomes Record high employment and workforce participation, along with increased welfare benefit levels and a higher minimum wage have all helped lift incomes. On the downside, rising inflation has eroded real incomes. Youth unemployment remains too high while Maori and Pacific workers continue to experience much higher unemployment rates than other ethnic groups. The total government spending on hardship grants increased in 2022 and the year ended with signs from foodbanks of increasing need.

• Housing On the upside, the number of people on the social Housing Register declined for at least two quarters of 2022—the first decreases in seven years—consents for new dwellings continue to grow, and active tenancy bonds have gradually increased, indicating that more households have found accommodation. The rental market remains tight however, and rents have steadily increased in much of the country. Worryingly, average household debt—driven by housing debt along with consumer and credit card debt—has increased to its highest level in more than 15 years.

• Crime and Punishment The number of victims and reports of victimisations reported to police has increased in the past year. By contrast, the number of alleged offenders and proceedings against them by police declined significantly in 2022. The backlog in our court system created by Covid-19 restrictions and complex cases coming through the courts has increased jury trials and has severely impacted the courts' ability to administer justice; this has contributed to the highest proportion ever of people on remand at 41 percent.
• Social Hazards Encouraging results include that hazardous drinking behaviours have declined in general; convictions for cannabis and methamphetamine have declined; and fewer people are withdrawing their KiwiSaver savings for hardship reasons. More worrying trends from our perspective include that more RTD spirit-based drinks (marketed to young people) are being drunk; hazardous drinking remains a challenge for Maori; and the detection of methamphetamine in wastewater has increased in the last year. In addition, all forms of gambling we monitor have surged in the last year, with increasing losses on pokie machines.

• Maori Wellbeing Maori are seeing improvements in some areas, with positives including a sharp reduction in the infant mortality rate for Maori, which is now close to parity with the non-Maori rate; a reduction in the large gap between offending rates for rangatahi Maori and non-Maori; and an increase in the proportion of Maori who report being able to speak more than a few words and phrases in te reo. On the downside, nearly one in five rangatahi Maori aged 15 to 24 years were not in employment, education or training, more than twice the non-Maori rate. Alcohol consumption is at hazardous levels for one third of Maori.

The Justice & Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland is established to promote justice, peace, integral human development and the care of creation especially for the poor and marginalised in New Zealand society.

Housing affordability

We are encouraged that BPS 2023 states "The Government remains committed to providing a safety net for people who need public housing.' (p.12).

While ‘10,688 homes have been added to the public housing stock since 2017' it is not clear how many state houses have been removed or demolished in that time. It would be helpful to know the net gain in public housing and how this could be increased given the large number of families waiting for housing.

Jan Rutledge General Manager of De Paul House says:

‘The importance of affordable and sustainable housing is the key to addressing social and economic inequalities, and ensuring that children have a secure start in life. Government cannot do this alone and should focus on working with community housing providers, and resetting their funding parameters, so that housing stock reflects the aspirations of Maori and Pasifika. Not everyone wants to live in 2 or 1 bedroom housing which is what is being built by Kainga Ora.'

Vicki Sykes CEO of Monte Cecilia Housing Trust urges the Government to encourage more community partnerships especially CHPs and a reversal of the ‘re-directs' policy which is clogging up the housing pipeline for so many families.

The number of households on the Register for public housing continues to rise in spite of apparent efforts to reduce eligibility.

It is abundantly clear that there is a huge lack of public housing units to accommodate those who need them and this has been the situation for far too long.

We urge the Government to be prepared to put large resources of land and money towards tackling this pressing societal problem.

A specific major allocation of funding to provide more public housing should be a priority in the Budget.

We acknowledge the Government's serious attempts to reign in the private housing market and support the topping up in this Budget of the July 2020 Progressive Home Ownership Fund which anticipated to help between 1500 and 4000 NZ families purchase homes through shared ownership, rent to buy and leasehold schemes. The demands are too great for this to be a one-off allocation of funding. Further funds should be allocated to continue and extend the schemes.

Child poverty

We commend the first steps taken in the May 2021 and 2022 Budgets to redress the injustice of the 1991 slashing of base rates of Social Welfare payments to some of our most vulnerable families that has led to decades of intergeneration poverty as identified by the Social Welfare Expert Advisory Report.

Implementing recommendation 20 of this report would enable so many families to support themselves with dignity and start New Zealand on the road to reverse the march of child poverty that is so unnecessarily blighting so many lives.

We ask that child poverty be addressed by including in the 2023 Budget sufficient funds to lift the wellbeing of families in need by enabling them to have a decent income to support themselves by

· Substantially increasing the base benefit for families in line with accumulated inflation ,
· continuing to increase the minimum wage, and
· establishing a Social Welfare Commission to ensure all families access the assistance they are entitled to in times of need.

What is needed now is substantive action to address this massive injustice that prevents the poorest and most vulnerable in society being able to genuinely participate in building a decent society for all.

The Wellbeing of Maori and Pacific families are among those most affected. Their children's wellbeing would be immediately improved if the key recommendation of the Social Welfare Expert Advisory Group to increase the base benefit for families by between 12 and 47 percent was implemented. Such a move would have a significant effect on lifting Maori and Pacific incomes, skills and opportunities.

The Government has made some minor moves in this area but this is way short of what is needed. The more substantive change is delayed the more children are suffering damaging their development for life and making it more difficult to attend school on a regular basis.

Luke, moreover, in telling his story to ‘a church'—a gathering of Christians—is imagining his story as being performed, in what is a liturgical, if not a sacral, situation: their community meal at which they are eucharistic. This audience is expected to pick up from its experience of religion within its urban culture the whole range of liturgical cues in his story. Therefore, Paul on arriving in Athens is not presented as recalling that this was the city of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, nor that it is the home of the Academy, but is confronted by actual worship: Paul was ‘deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols' (17:16). ‘Full of idols' is not just a reference to many statues, but statues in temples, which are the focus of the ritual life of the inhabitants, and altars to a numerous pantheon located here and there along the streets. One would not have gone many meters along any street without meeting an altar, each a place where the ordinary people could engage in the cultus that was held to be an essential part of the city's life. We should not think of these altars as elaborate or splendid affairs, but more like the street shrines, each maintained by a devoted person, such as one can still find in many small Greek towns today. Just as in these street shrines today with their flowers and oil lamps indicating the cultic activity of those living nearby, so the offerings (often libations) and the sooty remains of a burnt sacrifices on these altars, along with lights before images in niches, testified to the piety, the religious awareness, of the Athenians (Marcus 1988).

Paul is then brought to the Areopagus and questioned (17:19). This is the place of the city's governing council, but it is also venerated as a place chosen by the gods because the city's duties (leitourgia) and its sense of its religious duties are indistinguishable. Consequently, Luke sees it as perfectly fitting that Paul utter there his praise of Athenian piety: ‘"Athenians, I see how extremely pious (deisidaimonesteros) you are in every way"' (17:22). The word I have translated as ‘extremely pious' is usually rendered as ‘very religious' but that fails to note that it could also mean ‘extremely superstitious.' The key point is that with this word Luke is not thinking of an intellectual position or a cultural attitude, but an actual set of cultic engagements, prayers, sacrifices, and shared observances. Here we are in the world of ritual. Thus in the next sentence Luke does not say that he knows that many great books have been written by Athenians about the divine, but that he sees ‘the objects of your worship' and indeed it is an altar—a place where people come to establish an active relationship through the quintessential Greek religious action of a sacrifice (probably a libation of wine)—that is inscribed ‘to an unknown god.' When we note that it is a liturgical locus, an altar, that is the basis of Paul's speech there, we can see immediately that Luke is interested in a continuum of liturgical action between the local religious culture and Christianity rather than a succession of theological ideas. It is what is worshipped as unknown that is now proclaimed (17:23). What Paul then gives is not a list of doctrinal statements about God, but guidance on how God is to be given genuine, worthy, and pious service:

The God who made the universe and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not have his dwelling in handmade temples. He is not ministered to (therapeuetai) by human hands as if he needed anything because it is he, himself, who gives all of us life, and breath, and everything (17:24-5).

Luke imagines Paul offering a new way to seek the God who is ‘not far from anyone' and in whom ‘we live and move and have our being' (17:27-8).

When we consider the location in which this memory was performed, it takes on an explicitly eucharistic dimension. To imagine the communities in which Luke's text was being performed and heard we need to locate it somewhere on a line of development for which we have an earlier glimpse in the Didache and a later glimpse in Justin's First Apology. A weekly gathering in the home of one of the wealthier members of a community where at a community meal they engaged in eucharistic activity towards the Father using texts we would think of as typically Jewish but actions—sharing a loaf and drinking from one common cup—that were specifically recalled as deriving from Jesus. This meal was in many respects this groups' equivalent to the feasts that took place in temples, and as in those religious meals it was probably the only time that many of the poorer members would have been able to have an elaborate meal and to eat meat. It was not an unproblematic gathering - such social mixing was both awkward and suspect (cf. 1 Cor 10-11) and specific elements of the meal such as the origin of the meat were contentious (cf. 1 Cor 8)—but it was the occasion when in their gathering and speech they experienced anew (anamnesis) the sense of the risen Jesus among them and themselves as his disciples. Just as their fellow citizens imagined themselves sharing in the gods' bounty in the feasts in the local temples, just so, Luke's audience imagined themselves sharing in God's bounty in the feasts in their fellows' houses (O'Loughlin 2018).

The value of this reading of Acts is that it illustrates that in Luke's mind there is a continuity between the religious activity of the city and the distinctive activity—the Christians' domestically located meal would not have been seen in sacral terms by the larger society—of the communities he visits. Indeed, just as Hellenization brought a cultural unity which Luke knew from experience, so too he believed there existed a deep human unity: God gives live and breath to every human, and ‘has made from one every nation of men' (17:25-6). It is from this common stock that religion wells up—‘we are all his offspring'—such that there is a continuum from deep within each culture to that which Paul is now to proclaim. This view of the relationship of Christian faith to the local culture / religion is the very opposite of the colonial vision that has been dominant far too often in our mission strategies and, virtually always, in our attitudes to Christian liturgy. Luke does not imagine a simple substitution of the religious culture of Athenian society by Christian rituals, but a transforming addition to rituals already present in the society. At every Athenian symposium there would have been a sacrifice to the gods upon the house's altar, so now at the Christian symposium there is the sacrifice of thanksgiving praise from those at table as they ate in the Jesus manner. Just as we have moved away from the notion that the missionary ‘brings God' into a god-less sphere, so too this story reminds us that we do not bring liturgy into a worship-free zone but allow that culture's rituals to have a new finality.

Luke's was not simply a notional adherence to liturgical inculturation, rather he lived with this practice week by week: for it was into the club meals (the normal gathering event of thiasoi) and banquets (symposia) of that Hellenistic culture that was introduced the eucharistic dimension of Jewish meals and the specific actions of Jesus, and the whole then given a new mythic shape within the larger Christian story (Smith/Taussig 1990). This became the characteristic Christian gathering, yet we are as indebted to what Plutarch tells us of second-century Hellenistic meals as we are to material in Christian sources for our understanding of eucharistic practice at the time (Smyth 2003). This inculturated dimension is obscured in our recollection because we are all too absorbed with the theological interpretation of the later ritual forms when, again for reasons of avoiding social disruption, the meal had contracted to a token breakfast and was revalidated as a purely sacral affair (Leonhard 2014).

Where Does the Process Begin?

Most discussions of inculturation begin with a very well defined, highly structured ritual which is taken as not only normative, but one regarded as sacred in form as an expression of the divine will. Not only is the sacrament a iure divino (in the language of the Council of Trent), but one so fixed in its form that imagining serious alterations is often felt to be akin to blasphemy. The result is that despite what is said in Vatican II on the subject, actual engagement with inculturation fizzles out in liturgical minutiae (O'Loughlin 2019). This may give a superficial appearance of taking seriously a local culture as having worth before God, but the ‘inculturated' liturgy is not rooted in the culture. So we translate a Latin liturgy into a local language, we might have ‘additions—such as hymns—written in that language, and there might be peripheral actions—such as how incense is used—that nod towards the locality, but it is worship by those who have in all that is considered essential to the Eucharist adopted the culture Roman Rite. At best the result is a colonially imposed form with a few exotic items of external dress. Not surprisingly, many disdain even the notion of inculturation as just a game played by liturgists seeing its results mainly in external features open to aesthetic judgements. However, if people have been worshipping God within their culture before the advent of Christian liturgy, then it is that activity that should form the basis of their ritual / engaged awareness of the kerugma.

Taking the Spirit's activity as a given whenever human beings worship, then we must start not with the Christian ritual—or any specific Christian rite such as the Eucharist as it is known in our liturgical books—but with an exploration of actual culture of the human group: this forms not only the background to their worship, but must be that which is transformed in their Christian worship. So the process must start with a group's own known and own experience and upon this is grafted the Christian liturgical experience. The result of the exploration is not the Roman Rite wearing foreign robes, but an expression rooted in the local soil which now carries, in union with all those other worshippers who call on God in union with Jesus the Christ, praise and supplication to ‘the God who made the world and everything in it' (Acts 17:24).

Once we acknowledge that we start within the culture, as we see Luke doing, we ask what within the culture might be, from the perspective of Christian faith, instances of the Spirit at work. The first exercise is to note those rituals which perform for that community an understanding of human solidarity however inchoate. This has to be discerned from merely celebrations of the group's identity and/or its internal power structures. It is to identify those ritual elements in the culture that acknowledge the need to seek harmony with others—individuals and groups—and the creation, that Christians can acknowledge as congruent with the gospel.

The second exercise is identifying those conventions within the culture that express care for the marginalized and the oppressed. If such exist, then this is a performed value that not only lies alongside the gospel, but any activity by the Christians which does not value it runs the risk of downplaying it, and the result would not be evangelisation but an act of intrusive destruction. That the introduction of ‘the gospel'—or at least the activity of Christian missionaries—can be detrimental to a society is too well known to need comment, but what is rarely noted is that by replacing rituals that had an important place in sustaining a caring society missionaries' unthinking zeal may have been damaging those they sought to help.

The third exercise is, bearing in mind that we all try to engage with the divine by way of trade (praise for favor; do ut des), to seek out any ritual which expresses dependence on the divine in a more total way and which might thereby emphasize thankfulness. Any such ritual needs to be seen as reflecting the basic attitudes of Christian worship. This intimation of the graciousness of God and the response of thankfulness from humankind is in continuity with the aspect of human nature that Luke identifies as basic in his continuity of worship. In Luke's theology God has created human beings ‘that they should seek him, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him' (Acts 17:27).

If rituals with these qualities can be found in a culture—and this is an act of spiritual discernment combined with sensitive and attentive cultural reading—then these should form the footings upon which the edifice of Christian ritual can be erected.

And of the Eucharist?

Seeking the anonymous work of the Spirit within human cultural structures seems an obvious step unless one is to proceed on the basis that there is a complete disjunction between ordinary and Christian existence, between ‘nature' and ‘grace.' Indeed, noting solidarity between human beings, care for others and the creation, and any expression of dependence on the divine is the very basis of all evangelisation. But somehow when we come to the actual celebration of eucharist, this approach deserts us in favor of imagining inculturation as ritual window dressing—perhaps traditional instruments for music, perhaps some ritual items like adapted vestments perhaps with local designs, and, of course since Vatican II, the local language —but what is uttered is a translation of a text in Latin treated as a datum.

A serious interest in an inculturated eucharistic liturgy would, however, begin by considering these five steps. First, all human beings need to eat and to drink regularly. Moreover, virtually all food production (hunting, gathering, agriculture, animal husbandry) is a collective endeavour. Virtually all food preparation (milling, butchering, refining, brewing, storing, transporting) is a collective endeavour. And virtually all cooking is a collective endeavour (even someone today cooking alone in an apartment relies on an energy supply network). Our need for sustenance is a fundamental community activity and solidarity builder. These needs form the basic cultural web within which we spend our lives; and if incarnation means anything then it must occur within this web.

Second, every known society has structures that facilitate and promote eating together. Humans do not simply consume food, but they have meals—which provide key significant moments in each day—and they very often share meals. Indeed, the shared meal is not only a constant in every society in one way or other, but seems to be a basic building block of every culture. The fact that there is an anthropology of food and meal-sharing points to this part of our common humanity (Jones 2007).

Third, virtually every society links it key moments—whether these are derived from the earth cycle such as the coming of spring or the harvest, relate to the life cycle such as birth or coupling or death, or link with historical memory such as the recollections of specific ‘great' events—to festivity and special meals. The festival-cum-food—the meal as a bearer of significance as a celebration, a liturgy, and as marking the boundary between the past and the future—seems to be so common within human societies as to merit it being seen as ‘part of our human nature.'

Fourth, human societies seem invariably to view food shared as related to the bonds between people: the meal not only marks the bonds but establishes them. Notions of sharing a particular foodstuff or eating at a single meal event or eating off the same table (or its equivalent such as using common vessels or implements) recur with a surprising frequency. Somewhere deep within us we make the link between sustenance, food, the group in which we exist, and eating together; and to bring to someone within that sphere of being considered as part of ‘us and our survival' is an act of identification between the ‘us' and the individuals eating.

Fifth, because of these other common links of meal sharing and our humanity, we find a constant link between the food memory and the religious memory of societies across the globe. Whether it is food regulations forming part of a group's expression of identity—can one be a good Jew or a good Muslim and eat pork?—or having a specific role of communal eating at the heart of a culture—the Whare Kai (building for communal eating) in a marae among the Maori—one can study food and religion more easily than one can study whether or not a religion has a notion of a personal divinity (Feeley-Harnik 1995).

Since the eucharist is a meal shared among the followers of Jesus—whatever more profound other meanings are found within this activity —these are the cultural locations that missionaries need to seek out if the eucharistic expression of the group is to be solidly rooted in its culture. It is there that the Jewish tradition of being eucharistic in the context of food for all God's gifts and goodness—see 1 Chr 29—should find expression. It is there that the characteristic actions of Jesus among his followers, sharing a common loaf and drinking from a common cup, should accompany this song of thanksgiving that expresses our dependence on God. It is there within the culture that all the goodness of God in the Christ can be recalled and the song of praise sung. Just as the inheritance from Jesus could find expression in the Hellenistic symposium in the second century, so it can find new expression within the significant meal-sharing events of other cultures. It is, lest we forget, one of the strengths of Christianity that its central ritual is a sharing of a meal of memories and so it can encounter and embrace analogues in every society. It does not need to impose itself as a new ritual transported from another culture, but it can be grafted upon a deep-rooted human stock and whereby that host culture is given a new fulfilment in the Christ. If eucharist does not well up there, and if it is not there also that takes place the renewal of the experience of encounter with the Christ, then the eucharist risks been an imposed ritual which is merely rationally apprehended rather than being the center and summit of life.

The Ubiquity of inculturation

Any talk of inculturation seems to conjure for most theologians a set of exotic images that belong to coffee-table books on anthropology. This is understandable in that it is among those who are working within cultures that are experiencing the tensions of the interface with western European culture that most often raise the issue. However, the meal culture of every society changes over time and there are subtle differences regarding meal sharing between groups within societies. So attention to the local meal culture is a challenge for every pastor: in western Europe or North America as much as for one in India, Africa, or in the Pacific.

This is complicated for us by the historical accident that for much of its history the form of the eucharist in western Europe has been divorced from its surrounding meal culture and its importance was established within religious practice by a system of doctrinally derived positions extrinsic to the liturgy's actual content. Furthermore, for most of that history any eating was a rare event, and common drinking (at least among Catholics) ceased. So still today, several generations after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, few pastors recognise the need to reconnect eucharistic activity with the food culture around them. Even the modern flight from liturgy—‘what is the use of going to church?'—among those who nonetheless profess to be Christians has not prompted any widespread examination of the need to inculturate this central communal expression of identity and of prayer to the Father in the Christ.

However, the inculturation of our eucharistic activity, in whatever culture Christians gather, within every contemporary meal culture is not only needed for a renewal of communal celebration, but for a renewed understanding of why eucharist is so significant within Christian memory. Pastors and missionaries do not bring ‘the eucharist' to people, rather they encourage human celebrations to become places of eucharistic activity. Christians need to re-discover that when they gather, they eat together as befits a real human community. There they thank the Father in the way that Jesus taught us, and so celebrate communion, with God and one another.

• Thomas O'Loughlin is Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Nottingham.

References

Feeley-Harnik, Gillian (1995). ‘Religion and Food: An Anthropological Perspective.' Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63:565-82.

Jones, Martin (2008). Feast: Why Humans Share Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Leonhard, Clemens (2014). ‘Morning salutationes and the Decline of Sympotic Eucharists in the Third Century.' Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum 18:420-42.

Marcus, Joel (1988). ‘Paul at the Areopagus: Window on the Hellenistic World.' Biblical Theology Bulletin 18:143-8.

O'Loughlin, Thomas (2018). ‘One or two cups? The Text of Luke 22:17-20 Again' in H.A.G. Houghton ed., The Liturgy and the Living Text of the New Testament: Papers from the Tenth Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament [Studies in Honour of D.C. Parker]. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 51-69.

O'Loughlin, Thomas (2019). ‘Liturgy and Inculturation: The Reception of Sacrosanctum Concilium 37-40.' Japan Mission Journal 73:114-24.

Smith, Dennis E. (2003). From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.

Smith, Dennis E., and Taussig, Hal E. (1990). Many Tables: The Eucharist in the New Testament and Liturgy Today. London: SCM Press.

Dear brothers in Christ,

Greetings to you all in this time of what may be the last days of Lockdown Level Three. We continue to be inspired by the creative ways in which you have been providing pastoral and spiritual care of your parishioners.

With the Prime Minister today announcing many details of what will be allowed under Level Two, we can at last look forward to our churches reopening and public Mass resuming. The date Level Two could begin is likely to be announced on Monday.

We cannot assume today that it will begin as quickly as we all hope, but we can start to pray and prepare for it.

Level Two restrictions will allow churches to be open and Mass to be celebrated, but with no more than 100 people present.

They will generally need to be seated a metre apart (families from the same "bubble" will likely be an exception).

Records will be needed of each person attending, for possible future contact tracing. Strict hygiene measures will be needed.

Weddings and funerals will be allowed in churches, again with a limit of 100 people present. You will be again able to visit parishioners in their homes to administer the Sacraments and for such other spiritual purposes as sought.

Your Bishops and the National Liturgy Office are giving urgent consideration as to how Holy Communion should be distributed.

The provisions of our 13 March advice remain in place: they included no holy water in fonts; no physical contact during the sign of peace; and communion under one kind and only on the hand.

We are looking at these and other issues urgently and with diligence, and we intend to provide substantial further guidance early next week.

Relevant parts of the Ministry of Health Alert Level Two restrictions and rules are attached for your immediate information.

Between now and early next week, we suggest that you consult with each other and your parish councils on how you might be able to meet the announced restrictions and hold Mass, looking at and considering how the Level Two rules apply to your individual churches.

We believe that each parish will need its own approach to ensure continued safety for you and your parishioners.

Last month, as Pope Francis reflected on Jesus's Resurrection and the current crisis, he described how the time is ripe for "new imagination" allowing the "breath of the Spirit" to open new horizons.

We know you will apply your wonderful dedication and creativity to how we operate under Alert Level Two, as you have during this crisis to date and do in all matters of your parish.

Yours sincerely in Christ
✠ Patrick Dunn, Bishop of Auckland and NZCBC President
✠ John Dew, Cardinal Archbishop of Wellington, NZCBC Vice President
✠ Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hamilton and NZCBC Secretary
✠ Paul Martin SM, Bishop of Christchurch
✠ Michael Dooley, Bishop of Dunedin
✠ Michael Gielen, Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland

All gatherings outside of the home (indoors and outdoors) can have no more than 100 attendees, excluding staff like waiters. Indoor gatherings should be seated if possible, and should be approximately two hours long.

Food and drink consumption is fine at gatherings, so you can have food at wedding receptions or after a funeral or tangihanga. It should be prepared carefully and served individually, for example, not from a buffet.

Additional conditions on gatherings:

• Physical distancing and infection prevention and control requirements must be met.
• All gatherings should record attendees to ensure contact tracing can be conducted if necessary.
• Hospitality guidelines regarding alcohol consumption need to be strictly adhered to.
• You can't participate in any gatherings or events if you have COVID-19 symptoms or if you need to be in isolation/quarantine for any reason.

Public venues:
Many public venues, such as museums, food courts and markets, will be open again at Alert Level 2. However, there will be restrictions in place including the requirement to keep groups of attendees 1 metre apart. This might require limiting the number of people inside at once. Some venues may stay shut if they can't open safely.

At private homes:
You can have friends and family over to your home, but play it safe — keep surfaces clean, wash your hands, and keep the numbers low so you can practice safe distancing.

Give thanks for this new day:

God of life and light, I thank you for another new beginning.

For the light shining through my window

For the trees and their colours

The birds and their songs

Though I am, for some days, alone

The beauty I see speaks your presence

And gives me confidence to live this new day.

Frequent handwashing plays a significant role in preventing the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The virus can survive on hands for up to ten minutes and in that short time can be transferred to anything touched.

Cleanliness is vital in the fight against this new virus.

It is appropriate, therefore, to open our special 14 prayer days with a focus on water, the first element in creation.

Water: so essential for life, but with the potential to be extremely destructive.

Water sustains all forms of life, including the life of our planet.

Droughts - the absence of water, prevent life and growth. Floods - the excess of water, destroy life.

Baptism is the gateway to faith for Christians.

By "water and the Spirit" we are gifted new life, becoming "a new creation", washed free of the virus of selfishness and made one with the People of God, the Church.

In Baptism there is both a washing away and a washing into life.

Reflect today on your own baptism

How has your faith developed since that momentous occasion?

It's what happens after baptism that shapes the way you will experience its effects. How are you living your new life?

Consider

Baptism is the sign instituted by Jesus to unite us with his own baptism.

He asked his disciples when they were seeking his favour, "Are you willing to be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?" St Paul made this perfectly clear:

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too might live a new life. [Romans 6:3-4]

• Give yourself 5-10 minutes meditating on the above. If you no longer have your baptism candle, or have no other candle, light a table lamp or torch. Let its glow accompany you in this quiet time.
• After your mediation write about what you have experienced, what you heard in the scripture, what dying and rising with Jesus might mean for you today and in the future.
• If you have access to the song, Christ Be Our Light [Bernadette Farrell], play it, listening carefully to the words. What do they say to you about the consequences of your baptism? This song will also help you know that, though you are now alone, you remain linked to all the baptised. Here is the chorus:

Christ be our light

Shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness

Christ be our light

Shine in your Church gathered today.

Pray

Pray one (or more) of these three Rosary decades, while giving thanks for those who have shared faith with you and helped it to develop.

• The Baptism of Jesus - 2nd Mystery of Light
• The Crucifixion of Jesus - 5th Sorrowful Mystery
• The Resurrection of Jesus - 1st Glorious Mystery

Closing Prayer

Awaken Me
Risen One,
come to meet me
in the garden of my life.

Lure me into elation.
Revive my silent hope.
Coax my dormant dreams.
Raise up my neglected gratitude.
Entice my tired enthusiasm.
Give life to my faltering relationships.
Roll back the stone of my indifference.
Unwrap the deadness of my spiritual life
Impart heartiness in my work.

Risen One,
send me forth as a disciple of your unwavering love,
a messenger of your unlimited joy.

Resurrected One,
may I become ever more convinced
that your presence lives on,
and on, and on,
and on.

Awaken me!
Awaken me!

• Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary, 2002. Used with permission, Ave Maria Press

Following the Bishop, Paul Martin's 9 June on-screen Proposal to close 13 of our 20 remaining churches, we were engaged with a single 2-hour question and answer session in 5 areas of the diocese and then a closed-form submission process.

The Gatherings Group proposed an alternative - the Good Plan. We held 3 Gatherings. Over 100 people from throughout the diocese attended, with over 300 on our e-mail list. Then folk from the Gatherings Group had 2 meetings at Sacred Heart Addington, with members of the Bishop's team and the College of Consulters.

We agreed on a dedication to and expansion of adult education, full laity involvement in ministry and administration including lay-led liturgies, in the absence of a priest, with trained lay ministers. We also agreed regarding priests living in community near church and community buildings, supporting, with lay ministers, a hub of smaller churches.

The 9 June Proposal was originally developed inside the old clerical priest based model of church. This resulted in suggestions to amalgamate parishes and close churches.

Our areas of disagreement arise in the notions implicit in the 9 June Proposal - that our 17 precious Primary School - Church relationships are dispensable, and that our current fully-functioning diverse Catholic Church Communities are disposable. We also feel insufficient weight has been given to a properly facilitated process with all parishioners, which would discern the spiritual, social and financial robustness or otherwise of the 9 June proposal and/or the Good Plan or a third alternative.

We see the relationship between our 17 primary schools and their community churches, as precious, fragile and the first steps for many young people and their children into our adult Church communities. We do understand there is a need to address low attendance and "churches vacant from Mon-Sat". This then becomes the Mission - to train skilled, community including, religious and lay ministers in every parish in the diocese. This precious relationship needs to be tended and expanded, not derailed and made difficult.

Diversity of peoples, buildings and liturgies are a hallmark of NZ Catholicism. Only 20 of our 30 churches survived the Christchurch earthquakes. Diverse buildings, small and large, are essential to sustainability and survivability. We need to retain and engage with our diversity rather than to contract into 5 expensive, identikit 600 seat church community buildings, (similar to the local Baptist model) where the dangers of a single "leader" and a "one size fits all" theology, emerging, are inherent.

Vatican II documents that, the baptised, the people of God, both laity and religious, be fully involved in initiation of, creation of, and decision-making concerning spiritual well-being, liturgy, finance and church buildings.

We request that the Bishop's team consider and explore The Good Plan in-depth as a real alternative to the 9 June proposal and that the current process be re-examined with a listening ear and an openness to change on everyone's part, in two 3 hour, or three 2 hour long professionally facilitated hui open to all, lay and religious, with Bishop Paul Martin, the Bishop's team and the Council of Consulters, on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 November.

27-year-old, Manuele Teofilo of Christian Fellowship For Disabled, Auckland has been involved in many National camps and was a volunteer a the Centre last year. He has cerebral palsy, is in an electric wheelchair, and has joined the Christian Disability Trust.
He was recently awarded the Chairperson Award at the Oceania Young Writers Conference in Melbourne.
Even writing this article excites me as an able bodied adult writer; since 1996 in the disability sector where Society's historical attitude was to assume we and they can all see signs, read directions; hear announcements; respond to speech matters; reach buttons; have the strength to open heavy doors and have stable moods and perceptions.

Before he was a teenager he started saying that John chapter 10, Verse 10 was his favourite bible verse. It still is today. The words "live life to the fullest" or "abundantly"gripped his attention as a child. He read that as he got to give things a go ; do exciting things and not live an ordinary "disabled" life.
His twelvish mind saw this verse as an inspiration to push through barriers. Thankfully, he never said that he could do anything at all as that would be foolish. Yet, it's always been a motivation to not let his disability limit or prevent him from enjoying the best life possible. This verse instilled in him a "can do" attitude. For one thing, because he believes that Jesus will give him the strength to do the things He has in store for him. For another, he interpreted the verse as a command to live extraordinarily and to strive for the best.

As he got older and read the Bible more, the motivation to live life to the fullest that John 10:10 triggered in him did not diminish. However, his understanding of the verse & passage developed.
He studied and understood what Jesus was talking about in this passage more.

Firstly, he read the whole verse and paid attention to the first bit of verse 10. The thief, the enemy, the evil one wants to "steal, kill and destroy" him? Well, humanity and all creation, but this is his reflection piece, so yes he felt one of his targets. Steal his possessions and resources through his agents. His joy, lively spirit and allegiance to Christ he continually tries to kill. Ultimately, he longs for his soul to be captured and destroyed.

He read further up the page and discovered that verse 10 is part of Jesus' explanation for His illustration in verses 1-5. Jesus repeated the phrases "I am the gate" and "I am the good shepherd" in His explanation. It's about Him! It's about Jesus!

He tried to calm his excitement about his light bulb moment, and tried to articulate like that moment the only way we can live a great life and live eternally is if we trust and rely in Him.
He wants the best for all of us and frankly Manuele's idea of the best life is probably not the best. So, not only must we rely on the strength of Jesus we must also follow His guidance to stroll in the greatness that God has set out for us.

It is a continuous decision we must make. Either to look at what the thief is doing all around him illustrated above to bring him down, or to keep choosing to trust Jesus who came so we "may have life and have it abundantly".
2/
Therefore, he believes that he can make the most of life no matter what the circumstances he
finds himself in. Driving around in a wheelchair doesn't allow him to access some places.
Having a speech impediment frustrates him when he can't talk to someone because they don't understand him. However, he can choose to not let his troubles bog him down, but to let go and allow Jesus to bring out the best in every situation.

Our passions in life include encouraging people to spend time with God every day, and helping people discover their potential in God.

Blessings
Paul Mulvaney.
4/9/2019

RELEASE OF NEW PRISON CHAPLAINCY VIDEO PROVIDES AN INSIGHTFUL LOOK INTO CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS WORKING IN OUR PRISONS

This week, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference released a video on Catholic Prison Chaplaincy in New Zealand, to raise awareness around the work of the Church in our prisons.

On the video's release, Senior Catholic Prison Chaplain, Sr Veronica Casey pbvm, says, "This video goes some way to give a sense of what it's like going behind the bars and meeting with those in our prison system. A Prison Chaplain's role is to journey with inmates, as they encounter the challenges of incarceration and separation from loved ones and Whanau and come to terms with the harm they have done. The Chaplains do this through being the face of Christ in the prison.

The interviews with four Catholic prison chaplains provide some very real insights into their experiences working with communities within our prisons. As well as the day-to- day chaplaincy role of providing pastoral care, providing access to the Sacraments, communion services and other church services, Prison Chaplains also ensure that the prisoners have access to bibles and other religious references, materials and spiritual literature.

Parishes and community groups are encouraged to help in prison ministry in a variety of ways, which can be anything from being part of a support group for the chaplains, visiting the prison, assisting with the leading of Sunday services, Companioning the Seasons for Growth programme or through prayer, individual or as a group. We encourage Parishioners to welcome those released from prison into their church and community and support them through their integration.

"In doing so, parishes and communities can actively support those in and recently out of prison, together with their families."

Since 1987, the number of people in New Zealand prisons has tripled, including around a third of inmates awaiting trials. The rate of imprisonment in NZ is still far above all other OECD countries apart from USA. The video for Prison Chaplaincy can be found at: https://youtu.be/3k2TG4MPxU0.

For more information on becoming a prison chaplain or volunteer or providing support through your parish or community group please contact Sister Veronica Casey on 027 523 3983 or vcasey@nzcbc.org.nz.

Why Jean valued it so much:
Why did Jean value it so much? Jean loved how Jesus often turned things upside down…the last will be first and the first will be last…He upended social norms and did many socially embarrassing and awkward things, like hanging out and eating with those on the margins of society, and even going so far as to say that the weak ones…the ones despised, the cast-offs, the sinners, would be entering the kingdom of heaven before the religious elite. And that made people hopping mad! And foot-washing was no different. Jesus turned it all upside down when he took off the outer robe, knelt down and washed his disciples' feet. It was the way of service…the way of humility…of lifting up another instead of oneself. By all accounts, Jesus, as the master rabbi—the famous itinerant preacher—should have been having his feet washed, but he wanted to model that in the kingdom of heaven, the greatest among you, is the servant of all. A new order prevails in that realm, and Jesus pointed to it not only through his words but through his actions. Jean Vanier valued foot-washing so much because Jesus did, and he always sought to be a humble follower of Jesus in his life. He also knew that foot-washing can unite in ways that even the Eucharist cannot. In diverse groups where some may feel excluded from the communion table, in foot-washing, all are welcome and can come as they are.

In the stirrings of his heart to get closer to Jesus, Jean left a prestigious life, a life of esteem and full of accolades ….He was a professor of philosophy at St. Michael's College (University of Toronto). He was a former naval officer. By all accounts, he had "made it" in the eyes of the world. Yet, again and again, he was called back by the still, small voice of Jesus… He knew that real strength and spiritual growth was in going down the ladder, not up it. And that real wisdom was in letting those society sees as different, as cast-offs, as "other"…..be our teachers and guides. Jean chose to pitch his tent with those with intellectual disability and never looked back. Many may have such stirrings in their heart as Jean had, but I think very few act on them. Why is that? Because it's hard perhaps to go against the grain of expectations and social norms, to seek out "the other" in our midst, and realize that God is with them and in them as well. It takes courage. To paraphrase the Robert Frost poem, Jean took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

The importance of touch:
In 1998, Jean was giving a retreat in London, to a group of Anglican bishops, and during that retreat, he spoke of the importance of touch in foot-washing. He described a young man that he lived with for a time, a 16 year old named Eric. Eric, who was deaf, blind, couldn't walk or feed himself, had been in a psychiatric hospital for 12 years. Vanier said that for this young man, full of anguish and pain, a man who seemingly wanted to die, daily touch became a lifesaver, especially with few other senses to take in his world. The washing of the feet in particular, was a way for Eric to feel human connectedness, to be shown his worth and value. To have his feet washed gently, tenderly and carefully was to say: "I see you. You're not alone. You matter…every part of you matters and is deserving of care and attention." Vanier said he wanted his hands to be Jesus' hands for Eric. And how much more is simple human touch needed today, for everyone! With us all plugged in and tuned into our devices and screens, how much more important is the practice of human touch!

One who rarely had been touched at all in his life was Joseph Merrick, one many of you will know of as "The Elephant Man." Anthropologist Ashley Montagu chronicles what is known about the life of Joseph Carey Merrick—in his book, A Study in Human Dignity (1971). Merrick lived from 1862 until 1890 and suffered from a rare disorder that assaulted his skin and disfigured his bones to such an extent that he became the unfortunate show stopper of various traveling circuses. It was Frederick Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital, who saved Merrick from this existence and found him a home in a quiet, secluded apartment adjacent to the London Hospital where he could be left in peace yet receive adequate medical treatment. The following is an excerpt from Treve's account of Merrick's life in the apartment; it emphasizes the importance of genuine humane interactions and touch.

He was looked after by volunteer nurses whose ministrations where somewhat formal and constrained. Merrick, no doubt, was conscious that their service was purely official, that they were merely doing what they were told to do…They did not help him to feel that he was of their kind. On the contrary, they, without knowing it, made him aware that the gulf of separation was immeasurable. Feeling this, I asked a friend of mine, a young and pretty widow, if she thought she could enter Merrick's room with a smile, wish him good morning and shake him by the hand. She said she could, and she did.

The effect upon poor Merrick was not quite what I had expected. As he let go
of her hand, he bent his head on his knees and sobbed until I thought he would never cease. He told me afterwards that this was the first woman who had ever smiled at him, and the first woman, in the whole of his life, who had shaken hands with him.

That is the power and healing nature of touch.