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Ministry and the Inner City
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
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It was late summer or, perhaps better, early autumn. I remember there were flowers growing. In those days the station master grew flowers to brighten up the Junction platform. I have been on the same Junction since; there are no flowers now. There is, however, a great deal of graffiti. But when I set out on my journey to ‘become a priest’ the walls were clean.
It is vital, nevertheless, to point out that the absence of graffiti should not be understood, or interpreted, as an indication that there was nothing to protest against or nobody to hate or love. In fact I think there were vague efforts, even frightened attempts, to inform the world in pencil about life’s hopes and problems. And, of course, the more adventurous had attacked various wooden surfaces with pen-knives. The comparative cleanliness should be attributed more to the absence of aerosol sprays and felt pens than to the lack of desire, in various sectors of the public, to address their fellow citizens about their bitterness or enchantment with life. In fact there was a lot to be bitter about in that late summer or early autumn. We had, more or less, just come to the end of one of our periods of global killing. The time had come to number such periods. The one just finished would be known historically as World War II. And it had come to an end with an event, or an act, which had not totally sunk into our world consciousness—we had dropped an Atomic bomb on Japan. The world would never be the same again.
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- Copyright © 1987 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers
References
1 Russell, B.: Power (London: Unwin New Paperbacks 1938 reissued 1983) pp. 25–26Google Scholar.
2 Dorr, D.: Spirituality and Justice (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan 1984) pp. 55–56.Google Scholar
3 Ibid;
4 Policy for the Inner Cities: June 1977 (London: HMSO)Google Scholar nn. 5 & 6, p. 2)
5 Harrison, P.: Inside the Inner City (Penguin Books 1983) p. 25Google Scholar.)
6 Faith in the City: The Report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Urban Priority Areas. (London: Church House Publishing 1985) p. 76.
7 Pacem in Terris (London: CTS)Google Scholar especially nn. 40–45.
8 There is, I believe, justification to reduce the ‘Signs’ to such terms. It is true that the Pope in n. 86 refers specifically to racial descrimination, (discrimen ratione stirpis). I have used the term race conscious of our own English Inner City situation. For more than any other factor it is the Inner City which has ‘existentially’ led us to an examination of conscience in this regard.
9 On a negative side, the woman of the Inner City has so often suffered and continues to suffer from very distinctive oppression. Many health studies of the Woman in the Inner City have shown this. But on the positive side, especially in recent days, one identifies a great deal of organisation for change in the Inner City amongst women. Sr Mary McAleese in as yet unpublished research has demonstrated both these factors via the actual verbal witness of women in the Inner City.
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11 I would have liked to analyse in a much more extended way the necessity for physically existing with the powerless for effective ministry. In my own book Passion for the Inner City (London: Sheed & Ward 1983)Google Scholar, I made it clear that I did not believe effective ministry could take place unless there was a break from acceptable ecclesiastical structures. And I draw here a distinction between ‘being’ and ‘perception’, (cf. Gertrude Himmelfarb's historical study, The Idea of Poverty). Each generation does perceive the poor differently. The problem is we seem to live in a world which believes we can achieve the betterment of the poor without really demanding any change of life style in the rich or less poor.
12 Peguy, Charles: Basic Verities (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1943) p. 109Google Scholar.
13 This has been a major theme for what is now classified as Liberation Theology. It should be obvious that I am influenced by their work. But I do believe the theological task for Europe is a very distinctive one face to face with our social, economic and political background. I more and more find myself concerned, however, with the philosophical ideas, thought patterns and language used in our theological pursuit. If there is to be a distinctive Liberation Theology European style there will be a radical need to examine our philosophical roots.
14 I have in recent days been struck by certain aspects of the debate about Modernism at the beginning of this century when put aside the contemporary debate about Liberation Theology. I have been led to this by reading once again the work of Blondel. This is the reason for my use of the term, ‘New Apologetics).
15 As one ministering and reflecting in the Inner City I have found myself spiritually and theologically supported by a rediscovery of the debate focusing upon the Historical Jesus.
16 Austin Smith, CP: ‘Dark Night of Sense and Spirit’, The Modern Churchman vol. xxviii, no.2, pp.7–10.Google Scholar
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