Issue 38 - The Pilgrim - May 2015 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Editorial
A fisherman’s story:
BBC TV at its best
By Greg Watts
Maybe it’s a sign of age, but I
often find myself dismayed at
the lack of quality programmes
on BBC TV. But over Easter the
Beeb showed just how good it
can be when it screened In the
Footsteps of St Peter.
Presented by David Suchet,
best known as the detective in
the acclaimed TV series Agatha
Christie’s Poirot, the two-part
programme revealed a far
more rounded and fascinating
picture of the fisherman who
became the first pope than I’ve
ever been given at Mass.
The engaging and thoughtful
Suchet began and ended his
journey in Rome, where Peter
is said to have been martyred
in 64 AD. In between, he traced
the life of Peter from the hills
of Galilee to Jerusalem.
Along the way, Suchet talked
to biblical scholars, historians
and archaeologists, who all
provided intriguing glimpses
into the kind of life Peter –
“Rocky”, as Suchet called him -
might have lived in the first
century.
Suchet’s questions were intelligent
and his reflections
thought provoking. He suggested
that far from being a
poor fisherman Peter was more
likely to have been an entrepeneur
with his own fishing
business. This was because
Peter would have had to be financially
secure to leave his
The Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop Peter Smith
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wife and dependents to follow
Jesus for three years.
Walking along the shore of
the Sea of Galilee, Suchet
mused, “Down the centuries,
water levels rise and fall but
walking along this shore, I feel
I’m following in Peter’s footsteps
and the gospels tell us
that somewhere here, Jesus recruited
Peter, his brother Andrew
and some of the other
fishermen to his cause. Come
follow me and I will send you
out to fish for people.”
Suchet also saw a fishing
boat which had been uncovered
after being preserved in
the mud for 2,000 years. The
curator said St Peter would
have probably fished in a similar
one. “That gave me such a
feeling of closeness to him and
his world,” said Suchet.
Suchet concluded that behind
Peter’s celebrity status
was “a strong-willed, devoted
but often flawed disciple”,
struggling to make sense of his
encounter with Jesus.
This was terrific TV, fulfilling
the BBC remit set out by Lord
Reith at its launch in 1922 to
inform, educate and entertain.
I just wish there were more
programmes like it.
bishop.hendricks@gmail.com
South-East London
Bishop Patrick Lynch
020 8297 9219
bishoplynch7@btinternet.com
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The Pilgrim May 2015
Seeing life
in a new way
By Bishop Paul Hendricks
There’s something very special about the Easter season.
At first, our thoughts are on the appearances of
Jesus after his resurrection from the dead, with their
sense of awe and mystery.
Approaching Pentecost we get a sense of his abiding
presence amongst his disciples for all time. In
Lent we were particularly aware of our need of God.
Knowing how often we fail, we saw what is lacking in
our Christian life. During Eastertide we celebrate
what Jesus has already achieved in us, despite our
limitations.
I’ve been wondering whether this change of perspective
from Lent to Easter is reflected in any way
in our stories, written or dramatised. There are
plenty of stories with a sense of struggle that is in
some ways appropriate to Lent.
The great adventures, such as Lord of the Rings,
are a quest or a journey - with a striving to achieve
and to win. Sacrifices may well be demanded, with
victory being gained, but only at a price - and this
too fits in with our experience of Lent.
I suppose in order to reflect the feeling of Eastertide,
a story would have to have a change in perspective,
where the characters arrive at a point where
they can look back on where they have come from,
and see it in a new way.
Perhaps they were dissatisfied with their life and
were looking for something more, but eventually
they realise that there was something already there
which they hadn’t seen before.
Such a story might in some way reflect the famous
words of T S Eliot in his poem Little Gidding: “We
shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all
our exploring will be to arrive where we started and
know the place for the first time.”
Or perhaps on a more spiritual note, the beautiful
words of St Augustine in his Confessions: “Late have I
loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late
have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside,
and it was there that I searched for you. In my
unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which
you created. You were with me, but I was not with
you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they
had not been in you they would not have been at all.”
There are plenty of stories which have a happy
ending after a struggle, but I find it difficult to think
of any which quite reflect the change in perspective
that I’ve been trying to describe.
Very often in stories, the main character grows in
insight and self-knowledge, but this usually involves
disillusionment in one way or another - as it did for
Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, with regard
to both her friend Charlotte and her erstwhile
admirer Wickham.
Perhaps The Shop Around the Corner or its sort-ofremake
You’ve Got Mail have something like it. Here
the two main characters dislike each other intensely
(in the flesh), but eventually realise that they’re the
same people who (via letters or emails) have discovered
depths in each other which they have come to
love.
Probably the nearest I can think of would be It’s a
Wonderful Life, where George Bailey comes to see
how much he already had, without realising it - as
Clarence the angel shows him how different things
would have been if he had never lived.
As we continue our journey through Eastertide and
beyond, you may like to consider whether you can
think of any better examples.
South-West London
Bishop Paul Hendricks
020 8643 8007
Editor: Greg Watts
pilgrim@rcsouthwark.co.uk
0208 776 9250
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distribution by The Universe
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Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy
You’ve Got Mail.
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