Guest Blog - "Do what they tell you, but do not follow their example" - Fr Kevin O'Shea

Today's Gospel (31st Sunday of Year - 30th October 2011) reminds us of the saying "Do as I say not as I do". Jesus is contrasting what the scribes and Pharisees say about the Law - and how they act. They do not, as He says, practise what they preach. Not only that - but their teaching about the Law and its regulations placed great burdens on people while they themselves did nothing to help.

Their role, as they see it puts them above other people and they demand - and obviously get - plenty of attention and respect from those around them. Jesus is not impressed. He turns to His disciples and the people who have gathered to listen and states quite forcibly that this is not how it is to be among them. Their model of leadership was to be that of service.

Today people are more impressed by witness rather than by talk, and if they listen to leaders, it is because they see their leaders practise what they preach.

Sadly in recent years those in leadership in our Church have failed. Frequently we read about the sex scandals among the clergy & the irresponsible response of some Bishops who sought to preserve the status quo rather than let the truth be known. The harsh words from the prophet Malachi of his day echo through the centuries: "And now, O priests, this command is for you .... I will send the curse on you .... You have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble..."

Let us pray God's mercy on our priests who have failed and be grateful those who have witnessed to true leadership through their faithful service. As a result of these scandals many may be tempted to leave the Church but Jesus is asking us to stand firm. Jesus' message is clear: we are a church of sinners from top to bottom. He warned us that there would be scandals, but we are not to lose heart. The message of the kingdom stands, no matter how corrupt the messenger. "Do what they tell you, but do not follow their example."

Unfortunately the clerical leadership in our church continues despite the call of the Vatican Council to usher in the era of the laity. In my opinion change will begin from the grass roots and not from the top: hence everyone of us must take our call to leadership in this parish seriously and not leave it to others - always remembering that Jesus has called us to servant leadership - those who exalt themselves will be humbled - and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Fr. Kevin O'Shea, C.M.

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Fr Kevin O'Shea is the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Mill Hill. This article was orignally published in the Sunday notes section of the Church website - http://shmi.info/
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Archbishop Vincent Nicholls visits Mill Hill and my moment of personal enlightenment

Yesterday (saturday evening), Archbishop Vincent Nicholls, the Spiritual Leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales, visited the Sacred Heart Parish in Mill Hill. The purpose of his visit was to say mass to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the death of St Vincent De Paul and St Loise de Marilliac, who founded the Vincentian priests who run Mill Hill parish and the Daughters of Charity, who are based on the Ridgeway. As one might expect, the church was packed, with the church hall also packed and a video link for those in the hall to watch mass. For the local RC community, this was an important highlight of the year. After the mass, everyone moved across the road to the Hartley Hall for a reception and buffet. The food and drink was provided by parishioners and was superb and the hall was absolutely packed. The Archbishop was on good form. The parish Priest Fr Kevin O'Shea reminded the Archbishop that he laid the foundation stone when the new church was built and his silver enscribed trowel is on display in by the entrance to the church. The Archbishop responded by saying he must remember to take it with him this time.

The Archbishop also presented a cheque for £25 to the godmother of Hanna Aynalem Abeyneh. Hanna is a twelve year old girl who lives in Ethiopia. She was visiting London in the summer and won a competition run by the parish to write a prayer for the 350th Anniversary of St Vincent. Here's the prayer she wrote :-

St Vincent De Paul and St Louise de Marillac: Through you I ask our heavenly Father to give hope to many people in London and throughout the world, who experience loneliness, hunger, homelessness and rejection. So that they may come to understand the power and love of God. Amen.

I think that most people, whatever their religious persuasion (or lack of it) would agree with her sentiments and agree she was a worthy winner. The archbishop commented on the way the parish has grown since his visit and how great it was to see so many people coming together from such a host of nations. My son commented to me afterwards that he really enjoyed the reception and that the cakes were really tasty. He said that if they had more such events they'd get even more people coming along. It was nice to see him and so many of his schoolmates enjoying the experience.

Anyway I said in the heading that I had a moment of personal enlightenment during mass. I kid you not. As I sat in the moments silent contemplation, where we were asked to contemplate our lives, my thoughts went back to earlier in the day. Regular readers of this blog will know that I went to see the Steve Miller Band on Thursday night at the Albert Hall. Steve Miller was on the Jools Holland Show on Friday night and he was interviewed by Jools. I missed the show on Friday, but watched it at work on Saturday afternoon (I'm the boss, I can do that !). Jools Holland was asking Steve Miller about his new album, which is an album of the Blues. He asked if he was influenced by great bluesmen such as Lighning Hopkins. Steve replied "Yeah, I used to play bass for Lightning Hopkins". Jools was suitable impressed and said "Wow that must have been great, what was he like". Steve Miller replied that it was awful. Jools looked really shocked and Miller explained how he was living in a camper van and Lightning was paying him $10 a night. It was just the two of them on stage. One evening, half way through a song, with hundreds of people in the audience, Lightning stopped and said "Now all you musicians stop playing I want to do this one on my own". As Miller was the only musician on stage he felt humiliated. Jools asked how he felt about it. Steve Miller replied that he'd felt really bad about it for about 15 years, until one day he realised that he'd been lucky to play with Lightning and that it was Lightnings show and it was just part of it.

Anyway, for some reason I thought back to this as I sat there. I've always wondered how bad things can happen and why God lets them. For some reason I thought about Steve Millers comments about how after 15 years he'd suddenly realised that he hadn't really seen the whole picture and how lucky he was to even have played with Lightning Hopkins. We live in a fantastic city in an amazing world. bad things happen but maybe sometimes we need to see the good things and not just the bad things. Sometimes we can only do this after a period of time has passed. I realised that many of the things which happened to me over the years that I felt bad about have actually strengthened and helped me.

Enlightenment comes in strange ways, at odd times and in odd places. Maybe we all need a few moments of quiet contemplation from time to time to see the bigger picture. Enjoy your Sunday - and if you want to check out Steve Miller on Jools, here's the link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v8rs8/Later..._with_Jools_Holland_Series_37_Episode_4/

Mill Hill - The best place in the world to live (on a day like today)

This is the blog I nearly didn't write. I sort of thought about it, then decided that it didn't need saying. Then I read this entry on Rachel Joyce's blog. She's the Tory candidate for West Harrow. I realised that sometimes you HAVE TO say things. Rachel read THIS ARTICLE on the Daily Mail website and for someone who is quite sensible, got her knickers in a real twist.

Now I firmly believe that the Mail writes articles for people who like to draw the curtains, have their tea and biscuits and tut about what a terrible place this is. If they actually got out a bit more, they would realise that, sure there are faults, but we live in a fantastic country and we've never had a better standard of living. This isn't a party political broadcast, this would probably be true, whether Tory, Lib-Dem's or Labour had run the show. There is a recession, some people are struggling, but unlike the 1930's people are not on the breadline. Children do not die because they can't afford medical care. There is a great "5 minute interview" with Tony Benn - he says that the national health service is the biggest positive change that this country ever introduced. I agree.

So what inspired me so much? Well, firstly I had a lie in till 9.30. That is always pleasant. Our local church had arranged an outdoor mass, followed by a picnic, fancy dress parade and football tournament at a local Primary school - St Vincents.

This was really well attended. There were contributions from the Nigerian and Phillipino communities, who have a strong local presence. Whilst researching my blog, I read many nasty things concerning the Nigerian community, often on far right websites. When was the last time you read what a great bunch of people they are? Well as I watched the sea of colourful clothes bopping around as they sang various hymns, I thought to myself "You know what, this is great". One of the most promenant Nigerian members of our parish was the lady who's son died in the 7/7 bombing and who made such a moving and emotional statement on the news. Mrs Marie Fatayi-Williams is an inspiration to everyone with a heart and soul. Read This Guardian report with her words. As we relaxed in the sun, viewing the panoramic vista of London as a backdrop, I thought to myself, "Where else in the world does this happen?" there was no stress, tension or suspicion. Just people who want to be part of a community getting together.

After we had our picnic, we had the football tournament. First up it was the boys. It was played in a great atmosphere. This was followed by the dads, but as there were quite a few boys who wanted to play as well, we stretched the rules to over 12. It was a real fun game, final scoreline 3-3 with yours truly scoring with a fine shot. I spent much of the game marking and extremely skillfull mum! When football is played for fun, as it was, it is the greatest game in the world. My son's best friend won the raffle and we brought home a crate of wine for his folks to collect along with their boy.

In what seems to be an ever more regular occurance a few people approached me to tell me how much they loved their blog. One regular reader told me that a car driven by someone with a very strong resemblence to a certain well known politician, usually spotted in taxi's had nearly run him over on a pelican crossing. Apparently the naughty chap was talking on his mobile at the time. I assured him that as he used to be responsible for Community Safety it simply must have been a case of mistaken identity. We know that he's very into ensuring the safety of pedestrians.

Anyway, I digress. Having finished the game, I realised that I didn't have my wallet. I'd left it unattended on a rug whilst I'd played football for an hour. I scampered back. There it was. We had been sitting next to the main steps, so probably 200 people had walked past it. I've never lost faith in my fellow man and this reaffirmed my trust in the ordinary citizens of Mill Hill.

At this point we came home and settled down to watch the Mens final at Wimbledon. This is surely the greatest of the Tennis tournaments. It was a truly epic battle which Federer battle through to win. Say what you like, but there are some things we still do best and the mens final is one of them. I sat back to enjoy my cup of tea, thought shall I write a blog about what a great day I've had and how I love my home town? I thought "No, what's the point". Then I noticed the Rachel Joyce/Daily Mail story as I had a quick browse.

This litany of gloom and doom enraged me. Why do these people never, ever have a good word to say. Why do they always bang on about what a terrible place we live in? I've been all around the world - USA, USSR, China, all over Europe, Africa, Asia & Australia. I've loved them all, but nowhere beats a hot sunny day in Mill Hill playing football against the United Nations of the Sacred Heart parish.

You may think I bang on about Mike Freer, Brian Coleman, Barnet Council et all because I'm a left wing looney. I do it because I love this town and I care passionately about it. It's the best place in the world, with the green belt and the great transport links. I want it to stay like that.