'Who is my neighbour?' Sunday Reflections, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

The Good Samaritan (after Delacroix), Vincent Van Gogh, 1890 

[Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                  

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Luke 10:25-37 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?"  And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered right; do this, and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii  and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"  He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." 

After lunch today I was talking to a parishioner from St Columba's Cathedral, Oban, here in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles in western Scotland, surely one of the most scenic dioceses in the world. He told me about some of his Irish ancestors. About four generations back one of them was widowed and married a second wife who bore him four children. Sadly, her husband died when the children were still young. The family of her husband's first wife managed to throw her and her children out so that they could keep the house.

The young widow and children took to the road and headed north. In a village not too far away they met a family who saw their plight and took them in, giving them a new home. Some years passed and one of the widow's children married one of the children in their host family. The man who told me this is descended from that couple.

His story shows two extremes, rejection based on greed and welcome based on generosity, a willingness to get involved in the sufferings of others and to offer them a way out of their situation.

In his homily last Monday at Mass in Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island where so many refugees from north Africa have landed while others died in trying to reach it, Pope Francis referred to this Sunday's gospel: 'Where is your brother?' Who is responsible for this blood? . . . Today no one in the world feels responsible for this; we have lost the sense of fraternal responsibility; we have fallen into the hypocritical attitude of the priest and of the servant of the altar that Jesus speaks about in the parable of the Good Samaritan: We look upon the brother half dead by the roadside, perhaps we think 'poor guy,' and we continue on our way, it’s none of our business; and we feel fine with this. We feel at peace with this, we feel fine! The culture of well-being, that makes us think of ourselves, that makes us insensitive to the cries of others, that makes us live in soap bubbles, that are beautiful but are nothing, are illusions of futility, of the transient, that brings indifference to others, that brings even the globalization of indifference. In this world of globalization we have fallen into a globalization of indifference. We are accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it’s none of our business.

Further on Pope Francis asks,  'Who among us has wept for these things, and things like this?' Who has wept for the deaths of these brothers and sisters? Who has wept for the people who were on the boat? For the young mothers carrying their babies? For these men who wanted something to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten the experience of weeping, of 'suffering with': the globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep!

Boat people arriving at Lampedusa

The Good Samaritan, like the Prodigal Son, is as real to us as are the members of our our own family. Yet he exists only in a story, but one that touches our hearts and challenges our values, if we allow it to do so. It's not a story about 'them' doing something helpful to others 'out there' but about one individual, a member of a group that Jews generally looked down on, taking personal responsibility in helping another individual suffering right in front of him.

Fr Patrick McCaffrey, 1944-2010. Photo by Fr Gary Walker, April 2010

Fr Pat McCaffrey was a classmate of mine who died suddenly in Pakistan on 18 May 2010. His first mission was Fiji, where he worked especially with Indian-Fijians and becoming fluent in Hindi. He was then part of the pioneering Columban group that went to Pakistan in 1979. Later he worked with people of Pakistani origin in northern England, living in Bradford. He celebrated Mass once a month with Pakistani Catholics in Nelson. Much of his work in Bradford was with refugees from the troubled Middle East. He was then reassigned to Fiji. But his final posting was back to Pakistan.

Father Pat's niece Siobhan McCaffrey describes his death in Following in Father Pat's Footseps, an article she wrote after visiting Pakistan: On our last day, we travelled to the town of Murree, a seven hour drive from Lahore, situated on the side of a steep hill, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Murree was where Father Pat died. He had been visiting lay missionaries there. He had left the convent [of the Presentation Sisters where he had just celebrated Mass] around 6:00am to catch a bus to Rawalpindi. He was rushing to catch the bus when he died. The only person around was a street-sweeper, considered the lowest of the low in Pakistan’s caste system.

This man had seen Father Pat holding on to the rails outside the compound and then fall back onto the road. He went to his aid but was unable to help. He raised the alarm at the convent and the Sisters came.

We thanked the street-sweeper for trying to help our uncle. He apologized for not being able to save him and explained that it was his moral duty to try, but that God had decided to take him and there was nothing he could do.

Father Pat's whole life was that of a follower of Jesus who had never forgotten the experience of weeping, of 'suffering with' the poor. And God surely blessed him in allowing him to celebrate Mass just before he died and in sending a man from the poorest of the poor to be the first to come to his aid, a Muslim who, like Father Pat himself, had never forgotten the experience of weeping, of 'suffering with' others.

Siobhan McCaffrey (left) at her Uncle's grave

'Heart to Heart": a reflection on Blessed John Henry Newman

Yesterday, Sunday 19 September, in Birmingham, England, (Photo above) Pope Benedict beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman. Here is a reflection that Columban Sister Redempta Twomey wrote for Far East, the magazine of the Columbans in Britain and Ireland.

Blessed John Henry Newman

At the funeral, in 1890, of Cardinal John Henry Newman who is to be declared 'Blessed' on September 19th by Pope Benedict XV1, a wreath of flowers was sent by a woman with a card that read: 'A tribute of respect to a great Englishman, whose beauty of life shed its light and purity on his own century, but belongs to all ages.' Her insightful and prophetic words resonated down the years as Newman's spiritual influence continued to spread, even to our own time. His beatification confirms what many have felt – here is a genuinely holy man.

Something of that holiness seems to emanate from the portraits – the lean ascetic face, the quiet dignity, that quality of otherworldliness that so impressed his contemporaries. As one who heard him preach said, "No one has ever made us feel as he has done the detachment of the pilgrim from all earth's closest ties." Not that he was indifferent to the affairs of the world; on the contrary he kept abreast of what was going on and, in many ways was far ahead of his time. His search for truth cost him dearly, cost him friends and companions and a loved way of life. But with that honesty and humility so characteristic of him, he steadfastly walked the narrow road. "God," he wrote, "has created me to do Him some definite service, He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission: I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next."

The crest containing Cardinal Newman's motto 'Cor ad cor loquitor', 'Heart speaks to heart'.

A great thinker, a writer and a man of prayer, Newman had the gift of being able to engage with his academic colleagues, 'nor lose the common touch.' Apologia Pro Vita Sua, one of the most profound biographies ever written, has both awed and guided the hearts of many. His sermons, his reflections on Scripture, his prayers still have power to move us today. And who has not been stirred by his poetry, not least the haunting verses of "Lead, kindly Light". Catholics and non-Catholics feel spiritually indebted to Newman; he attracts people of many faiths and cultures. For his motto, when, late in his life he was made a Cardinal, Newman chose the words: 'Cor ad cor loquitor', 'Heart speaks to heart.' At the end of his life this was what mattered, not his genius, not the brilliance of his work, not his great preaching or his marvellous writings, but that his heart would be in the right place. He knew, as St John of the Cross so pithily said, "In the evening of your life, you will be examined on love." As we rejoice in the beatification of this great Englishman, let us pray that our hearts too will be true and loving as we walk in the 'kindly Light' that guides us every day of our lives.

A 'Pilgrim for Christ' in Fiji, England and Pakistan

Fr Patrick McCaffrey (3rd from right) 18 March 1944 - 18 May 2010

Yesterday afternoon the Columban superior in Manila, Fr Patrick O’Donoghue, very thoughtfully phoned me to tell me of the sudden death of a classmate in Pakistan, Fr Patrick McCaffrey, before he sent the news by email to all of us. Fr McCaffrey, who was from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, was only 66.

We Columbans have as our patron a man driven by the Latin motto 'Peregrinari pro Christo', 'To be a pilgrim for Christ', St Columban (also known as 'Columbanus'). Father Pat McCaffrey pilgrimage took him from the lakes of County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, to Fiji, Pakistan, England, back to Fiji and, finally, to Pakistan.

River Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Father Pat’s first assignment was to Fiji and he spent all of his ten years there in Labasa, which has many Indian-Fijians. In 1978 he was assigned to Pakistan as one of our pioneering group there. From 1998 till 2005 he worked in Britain, based in Bradford which has a very large population of people with their origins in Pakistan. He was involved in inter-faith work and also celebrated Mass regularly with Pakistani Catholics in the area. Between 2000 and 2002 I sometimes celebrated Mass in the parish where he lived with the Filipinos in the Bradford.

In 2008 Father Pat returned to Fiji but was moved once again back to Pakistan early last year. He had just been visiting two newly-arrived Fijian Columban lay missionaries when he had what seems to have been a heart attack. He always felt close to those who were poor and the first person to go to his aid was a streetsweeper.

Catholic church, Hyderabad, Pakistan

Here is something he wrote in 2006 after his return to Fiji telling the extraordinary story of the baptism of five siblings at the request of their parents, both of them Hindus. One of those children is based now in General Santos City, Mindanao, Sr Sr Pushpa Wati Arjun SMSM.

Return to Fiji after 26 Years


Fr Pat McCaffrey ('67). Fiji


When I left Fiji in 1978 to go to Pakistan I did not think that I would ever be reassigned back to Fiji. I had the unique record of having had only one assignment during my 10 years in Fiji, viz. Holy Family Parish, Labasa. That was my first and only love in Fiji. It is where I cut my teeth in the pastoral field. While in Pakistan and later in Britain I used to look back in nostalgia to the good old days in the seventies in Labasa.

Flooded street, Labasa, Fiji

I vividly recall the day in 1971 when Aijun said to me in Naleba, ‘I want you to baptise all my children.’ ‘And what about you and your wife’ I asked him. They were both Hindus. ‘No’ he said, ‘we will not be baptised. We were born Hindus and we will die Hindus. But I want my children to become Christian and I am asking you now to baptise them and teach them how to be good people’.
I was reluctant to baptise the children when the parents were not willing to be baptised. However, the children, Victor William (12), Lingam (10), Sog Lingam (8), Pushpa (6) and Sakuntula (5) were coming to church every week and were the brightest in our CCD class. I finally baptised all five of them in 1972 and hoped for the best for them.

Fifteen years later I was delighted to hear that both Pushpa and Sakuntula had joined the SMSM Sisters. Pushpa has now completed ten years as a missionary in the Phillipines. Sakuntula is now a missionary in Bangladesh. At present Pushpa is back in Fiji. Next month she will go to C.T.U. for studies.

Rural scene in Vanua Levu, the island where Labasa is situated

After twenty eight years I am back in Fiji. My present assignment is working among the Hindi-speaking community in the eight parishes in Suva. This assignment has two aspects; pastoral work among the 150 Catholic Indian families scattered over these eight parishes and interfaith work among the large Hindu and Muslim population.

Names of first Indian Catholic families in the area where the parish of Labasa was formed in 1965

Both these aspects are of course intertwined. Both also demand that I keep in close contact with the parish communities in all of these parishes to ensure that work among the Hindi-speaking community be not seen as being in any way separate from the work of each parish community. Over the past three months Sister Pushpa and I have been working together as she awaits her visa to travel to the USA.


The main programme that we use for instructing people who want to become Christians is the RCIA course. This course was pioneered in the eighties by Fr Frank Hoare and Sr Frances Hardiman SMSM. Later Miss Rosema Dass and Miss Elizabeth Krishna built on these solid foundations. It is an excellent course. During the eighties and nineties over 300 people participated in these courses and were baptised. Those taking part were mostly Indians from a Hindu background who wished to become disciples of Jesus.


The courses were conducted for the most part in Hindi. The ongoing challenge was how to involve the indigenous Fijian community in this work and how to ensure that the parish communities were involved in this work.


This year Mika, Lusi, Sisi and James have undertaken to conduct the course in the parish of Nadera. Sister Pushpa and I have been assisting them. Mika, Lusi and Sisi are ethnic Fijians. They do not speak or understand Hindi. James is Indian. He does. not understand or speak Fijian. We all speak and understand English. We are now conducting the course in English, Fijian and Hindi, trying to cross boundaries of language, culture and faith. It is a challenging task.


We meet every Friday evening to prepare the class for the following Sunday. We were a little late in getting the course started this year and we wondered if the candidates would be ready for baptism next Easter. When we asked them last Sunday whether they wished to be baptised at Easter 2006 or Easter 2007, there was a unanimous request for Easter 2006. We acceded to their request and hopefully they will be baptised next Easter.


A similar RCIA programme is underway in the parish of Raiwaqa where Columban, Frs Gerry McNicholas, and Kieran Moloney and Lay Missionary Rowena Cuanico (from the Philippines) are working. At present Rowena is working with her parish team of two Fijians in conducting the course for six Indian catechumens. They too will be baptised next Easter.


That is a snapshot of missionary life in Fiji. The missionary task continues. It is good to be back here in Fiji to see the progress of the past thirty years. It is inspiring to see people like Sister Pushpa who have answered the missionary call to leave Fiji. It is inspiring to see people like Lusi, Mika and Sisi now taking up the challenge of sharing their faith with people of a different language and culture here in Fiji. It is inspiring to see Rowena, a Filipina lay missionary at work here in Fiji - all crossing boundaries of language, culture and faith.


We journey in faith, knowing that it is one who sows, another waters, but it is God who gives the increase.

+++

The Fermanagh Herald carried a story on 20 January 2009 about Father Pat, A Missionary with a fresh appeal.

St Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr

St Thomas Becket – ‘à Becket’ it seems is a mistake - was murdered on this date in 1170, aged 58, in Canterbury Cathedral, where he was archbishop, by followers of King Henry II of England. He is the patron saint of the pastoral clergy of England.

The office of readings for his feast has an extract from one of his letters. It is clear that he was a faithful and orthodox bishop, his martyrdom being the ultimate witness to that. He writes:
At our consecration we promised to be continuously and increasingly zealous as teachers and pastors. We repeat the promise every day. Would to God our lives made our promises more credible!

Further on we read: Still, who can doubt that the Church of Rome is the head of all the churches, the source of Catholic teaching? Who does not know that the keys of the kingdom of heavern were given to Peter? Is not the whole structure of the Church built up on Peter’s faith and teaching, so to grow until we meet Christ as one perfect man, united in faith and in our recognition of him as Son of God?

I found the picture above in Canterbury Tales , the blog of Taylor Marshall, a convert to the Catholic Church and a former Episcopal priest in Texas. He tells why he is a Catholic Christian here.