So what Ray has done over 50 years in his ministry of word and sacrament and what Mark has begun to do is rooted in the ministry of Jesus and the practice of the early church. For their generosity in continuing this great tradition of service I am truly grateful.
The problem is that our Western approach to development aid is flawed. A former World Bank economist, William Easterly, says it is more about devising solutions than listening to problems, despite the fact that poorer countries are all too aware of the specific needs of their people.
But clericalism dies hard. It is still seen in the writings of those who imagine that priesthood needs to be somehow diminished in order to establish ‘equality’. A correct understanding of priesthood and indeed of sacramentality in general, does not lead to this conclusion.
I thought of the mini-reunions that had taken place everywhere I looked. There were some quite recent old boys right through to men in their 60s. They had gained so much from their peers and it was great renewing their acquaintance’some hadn’t seen each other since they left school all those years ago.
What happened historically was that the first function of priesthood’speaking the will of God’shifted to the prophet; the second function’teaching’shifted to the scribe, and, by the end of the Old Testament, the priest was left with the third function’sacrifice.
New Zealand used to be known as a great place to bring up kids. This along with our clean, green image sold the country as a utopia, one of the last bits of untouched Paradise. So how is it that we have gained another notoriety with the third to highest rate of child deaths through domestic violence in the developed world?
While we all like to enjoy a comfortable standard of living, eg, with adequate heating through these winter months, we also have a duty in Christian charity and solidarity to ensure that all enjoy these same benefits.