Issue 15 - The Pilgrim - April 2013 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Editorial The Pilgrim April 2013
the
2012Pilgrim
50p
December 2011/ January The newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, covering s
The Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop Peter Smith
020 7928-2495
archbishop@rcsouthwark.co.uk
www.rcsouthwark.co.uk
Area bishops
Kent
Bishop John Hine
01732 845486
jhine@absouthwark.org
South-West London
Bishop Paul Hendricks
020 8643 8007
bishop.hendricks@gmail.com
South-East London
Bishop Patrick Lynch
020 8297 9219
bishoplynch7@btinternet.com
The Pilgrim,
Archbishop’s House
150 St George’s Road
London SE1 6HX
Editor: Greg Watts
pilgrim@rcsouthwark.co.uk
Advertising: Carol Malpass
0161 214 1222
Carol.Malpass@totalcatholic.net
Distribution: Andrea Black
0161 214 1216
andrea.black@totalcatholic.net
Print management, design and
distribution by The Universe Media
Group Ltd
Archbishop Peter Smith
“Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;
habemus Papam.” Like many people round
the world I was watching the television
waiting for these words on the evening of
Wednesday 13th March, having seen the
pictures of white smoke billowing out of
the Sistine Chapel chimney.
When the words came, I, like many
others, then spent some moments working
out who had been chosen. The speculation
of the TV pundits had missed the mark:
Pray for Pope Francis
the new Pope was Francis, who was until
only shortly before the Archbishop of
Buenos Aires in Argentina.
I am delighted that the conclave has
chosen Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to be the
266th successor of Saint Peter. His
election opens a new chapter in the life of
the church, and brings us new hope for
the future of the Church and her mission
throughout the world.
It also brings about some historic
“firsts”: the first Pope from the Americas,
the first non-European Pope in over 1000
years, the first Jesuit to be Pope and the
first Pope to take the name Francis.
Among his first public requests as Pope
was: “I ask you to pray to the Lord that he
will bless me”. So as your Archbishop I
encourage you to honour this request so
that we keep him in the forefront of our
prayers in the days and weeks ahead. He
will be prayed for at every Mass, but I
would also encourage you to remember
him in your own prayers every day.
May God bless him in his task and keep
him always in his love and care.
Endings can be beginnings
Bishop Paul Hendricks
In the few weeks since Pope
Benedict announced his
retirement, we have all been on a
sort of a journey, as we adjust to
this new situation and reflect
upon what this will mean to him
and to us. I found my thoughts
turning naturally to the different
ways in which stories come to an
end, whether in books or films.
Page 2
I remember very clearly coming
to the end of the six books by
Anthony Trollope. The author
looks back over the series and
sadly says goodbye to the
characters, who have become like
old friends to him.
I found the books totally
absorbing, conjuring up a world
now long departed, which still
somehow felt very real. The
people in the story had begun to
feel like old friends to me as well –
and, though I re-read the books in
later years, that first experience
could never be repeated.
There is a similar feeling of
sadness at saying goodbye to Pope
Benedict. He has been very much
a part of our lives – close to us in
one sense, even though
geographically at a distance. In
future he will still be around, but
no longer in the same, very public
role. It certainly does feel like
saying goodbye.
Many novels are in the form of
a love story, ending in a wedding.
In one way or another, the
message is, ‘They all lived happily
ever after’.
The novel ends, but we are left
to imagine the lives of the
characters continuing into the
future – and often this is sketched
out in the final pages.
In the life of the Church, the
story certainly still goes on. Not
only is a new Pope elected, but
there has also been a lot of
interest in how our Emeritus Pope
will live in his retirement.
Ghost stories are an interesting
contrast. They often end with a
twist, which takes you by surprise
and makes you look at the whole
story in a new way. For example,
in the film, there is a scene at
the end, where we suddenly
realise that the characters in the
story, whom we thought were
being haunted, are actually
ghosts themselves.
Well, Pope Benedict certainly
took us by surprise. When he
announced his retirement, it
didn’t make us look at his
pontificate in a totally new way,
but perhaps it did highlight his
humility and his spirituality in a
very particular way. ends
triumphantly, but there is also a
feeling of sadness.
The victory has been won,
Frodo has completed his quest,
but at great cost to himself. He
has come very near to death and
suffered a wound that cannot be
healed. In the end he joins the
elves, sailing into a sort of
afterlife, beyond the boundaries
of this world.
It would be too dramatic to say
that our Emeritus Pope has suffered
an incurable wound – and yet it
seems to me that we are becoming
more aware that his ministry as
successor of St Peter has been at a
considerable cost to himself.
So endings are often sad,
occasionally surprising and
sometimes hinting at the future
that lies before the people in the
story. The mystery of Holy Week
and Easter reminds us that there
is something very similar at the
heart of our faith. The Cross leads
to the Resurrection. What looked
like the end of the story turns out
to be just the beginning.