more grave, death sentence for apostasy. profound spiritual and human solitude in Church sometimes get it wrong, even in
You are perfectly right. i know what i am the face of absconding state institutions matters of faith: ‘when they be gathered
headed for, but i face my destiny with that do not protect them and the silence together, (forasmuch as they be an assem-
my head held high, standing upright and of the Church itself. bly of men, whereof all be not governed
with the interior solidity of one who has i hope that the Pope’s historic gesture with the Spirit and word of God,) they
the certainty of his faith. and i will be and my testimony will lead to the convic- may err, and sometime have erred, even in
more so after the courageous and histori- tion that the time has come to leave the things pertaining unto God’ (article 21).
cal gesture of the Pope, who, as soon as he darkness of the catacombs and publicly
knew of my desire, immediately agreed to declare their desire to be fully them- Getting it right
personally to impart the Christian sacra- selves. if in italy, in our home, the cradle However, it must equally be admitted
ments of initiation to me. of Catholicism, we are not prepared to that Synods and Councils sometimes get
His Holiness has sent an explicit and guarantee complete religious freedom to it right. indeed, the presumption must
revolutionary message to a Church that everyone, how can we ever be credible be that they generally do, otherwise
until now has been too prudent in the when we denounce the violation of this there would be every reason to disband
conversion of Muslims, abstaining from freedom elsewhere in the world? synodical government entirely.
proselytizing in majority Muslim coun- i pray to God that on this special Easter More than that, however, the act of
tries and keeping quiet about the reality he give the gift of the resurrection of the gathering together with others and,
of converts in Christian countries. out of spirit to all the faithful in Christ who above all, of taking decisions collectively
fear. The fear of not being able to protect have until now been subjugated by fear. (whether by voting or by some other
converts in the face of their being con- Happy Easter to everyone. means) is an important admission that
demned to death for apostasy and fear Dear friends, let us go forward on the i, or even i and people who think like
of reprisals against Christians living in way of truth, of life and of freedom with me, may have got it wrong. That is why
islamic countries. well, today Benedict my best wishes for every success and such gatherings, whether they be General
XVi, with his witness, tells us that we must good thing. Synods or Parochial Church Councils,
overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm Magdi Allam ought to be prayerful, and open to hear
the truth of Jesus even with Muslims. not just the voice of their members but
the voice of God.
Respecting freedom
Wales
and hence, also, when the vote goes
for my part, i say that it is time to put against me, or against my viewpoint, i
an end to the abuse and the violence of
When Synods ‘fail’
must accept it graciously — unless, that
Muslims who do not respect the free- is, i can show that the body concerned is
dom of religious choice. in italy there John Richardson on the Governing not, or at this point at least was not, ‘gov-
are thousands of converts to islam who Body of the Church in Wales erned with the Spirit and word of God.’
live their new faith in peace. But there apparently, though, from reports in the
are also thousands of Muslim converts to press, that is precisely how some in wales
Christianity who are forced to hide their Y
esterday (2 april) the Church in
wales narrowly voted down the con- and elsewhere feel about the Synod’s deci-
faith out of fear of being assassinated by secration of women as bishops. for some, sion. The revd Giles fraser, not himself
islamic extremists who lurk among us. By this will have come as a relief, for others, a welsh resident, declared the decision
one of those ‘fortuitous events’ that evoke it clearly came as a disappointment. an ‘absolute disgrace’. The archbishop of
the discreet hand of the Lord, the first what is hard to understand, however, is wales, the rt revd Barry Morgan, con-
article that i wrote for the Corriere on 3 the attitude of those in the Church, both fined himself to saying he was ‘deeply dis-
September 2003 was entitled ‘The new there and elsewhere, for whom it has appointed’, whilst Canon Mary Stallard,
Catacombs of islamic Converts.’ it was an come as an outrage. chaplain to the bishop of St asaph, said,
investigation of recent Muslim converts The articles of the Church of England ‘The moment will come back.’
to Christianity in italy who decry their accept the fact that the Councils of the
Or getting it wrong
Each of these, and others, however,
ought to ask themselves if they seriously
believe the Synod made a wrong deci-
sion, and if it did, why.
Surely, the point of a Synod is to dis-
cern what is right, and the presumption,
as i have outlined above, must be that
it usually does. in that case, the proper
response to the vote on tuesday by the
proponents of women bishops ought to
be whole-hearted acceptance, even if this
is tinged with personal disappointment.
This should be accompanied with a deter-
mination not simply to bring the issue
back at a later date but to ask whether
the proposed action is right at all. if the
Synod says no, the presumption must be
it has said no to the right thing.
The only alternative is to say that the
Synod got it wrong, but as i have again
May 2008
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newdirections
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