Earlier this year Bishop Patrick O’Donaghue,
the Bishop of Lancaster, announced that he intended to give up his
official residence for a more simple lifestyle. Below he explains
to his people why and his vision for the Church. Below we print an
edited version.
A priest was agonising with me about his decision to cut his
Sunday Masses from five to three. He was the only priest in his
parish and most of the Masses were only a quarter full but he
was worried that if he did so, many of the parishoners would
not switch to the remaining Masses but would stop coming
altogether.
Apparently I shook him rigid when I told him, “If that’s
all the
Chuch means to them. If their faith means so little that when
their choice of Mass drops from five to three, they abandon the
sacrament, then let them go!”
Surely you may think we are trying to reverse the decline
in numbers! Surely as a shepherd, the bishop should be
concerned when people drop away from the Church! Well of
course I’m concerned. But you cannot – must not – try
to
pressure people into professing a faith they do not believe. The
fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace etc; resentment and
sullen obedience figure nowhere on the list.
Don’t Pressure People
We are called Christians because we are followers of Christ
and we must follow him in this as in all else. Remember his
instructions to his disciples when he sent them out to preach.
If people listen and respond, that’s wonderful; Stay with them
and share in what they have. But, if they refuse to listen. Leave
that village and go on to find others who do want to hear.
Not only should you not take from the mockers any food or
accommodation, you should not even take from them the dust
from their streets.
There is a threefold process in being a Christian – recognition,
imitation and evangelisation. We recognise who Jesus is,
saying with St Peter: “You are the Holy One of God”, and
coming to accept the consequences of that belief. One of those
consequences is that we want to model our lives in imitation of
Christ, in everything we think, say and do.
What would he do? Let me do the same. As that imitation takes
root in us, so others will be able to see Christ shining through
us. And it is that, before anything else, that disposes them to
listen to what we have to say. Indeed if they do not see Christ
in you and me, there is no reason to take any notice of us.
Having confidence to do it God’s Way and
in God’s time
It was, I think, Mother Teresa who said, “God has not called
me to be successful, but to be faithful”. That does not mean
being complacent about how many are brought to knowledge
and love of Christ, but it does mean having the confidence to
do it in God’s way and in God’s time rather than in our
own.
It is this confidence, above all else, that I believe we must
recapture; not confidence in ourselves, but confidence that
God knows what He is doing; confidence in the power of His
Word; confidence in the action of the Holy Spirit working in
and through us; confidence to follow him even when He leads
us in unfamiliar paths.
I have been a priest for thirty five years and a bishop for nine.
And I believe passionately that our world is crammed with
people who have a desperate longing for God. They may
not be in our pews, they may dislike being preached at (who
doesn’t) but there is a hunger to hear about God and talk
about Him. It is our job – not just the bishop, not just the
priests, not just the religious, but every one of us – to seek
them out and engage in that conversation, if needs be, just one
person at a time.
Our mission is not to pine regretfully for past
glories
The Church has always been an evangelical Church. Our
mission is not to pine regretfully for past glories, but to strip
ourselves of all the dross that weighs us down and set out
joyfully to share with those who want to receive the treasures
entrusted to us.
It would be wrong of me to ask you to put out into the deep
in this way, if I were not prepared to set the example, and I
have been asking myself how I could start. That is why I have
proposed that we sell Bishop’s House; the grandeur is not
appropriate for a shepherd and my needs can be met by a few
rooms in the cathedral.
Bishops always tend to be enfolded by the mighty; even within
the family of the Chruch. They are hedged in by officials and
advisors. I want to break free from that. My job is not that of
Managing Director of The Church Plc, but the Servant of the
Word of God and Shepherd of the Flock. It is ridiculous in
an age when a man at the summit of Everest can chat on the
phone with someone in Carlisle, that the bishop can’t leave
his office for more than a couple of hours. I want to become
a bishop on the move, living for maybe a month at a time in
the different deaneries of the diocese. I want to get to know
my people.
I want to hear what is troubling you. I want you to feel that
you have access to me when you need it and that when we
meet, you are not talking to a stranger. It is not going to be
easy to achieve this. The customs, traditions and working
practices that chain me to a desk in Lancaster, exert a powerful
influence. But I believe we are making a start with some twoweek
visitations.
I believe we are poised on the threshold of
a new Spring
Before harvest must come the Spring. I believe we are poised
on the threshold of a new Spring, if we but have the faith to
move forward in the Spirit. Where is the Lord taking us? To
a return to traditional parishes with packed churches? Perhaps
in totally different directions including such things as on-line
chat rooms devoted to prayer or problems of faith? I do not
know. But what I do know is that I am content to place myself
in the hands of Christ and go where He leads me – and I want
you to come too!
May God bless you always.
Following
Christ 
