LENT 2022 01

NEWSLETTER OF THE PASSIONIST FAMILYIN ENGLAND, WALES & SWEDEN

ISSUE #9LENT 2022

02 PASSIO

PASSIO

Under the pier at Herne Bay, the seaside town which has had a Passionist presence since 1889.

PHOTO BY MILES DAVIES

MAY THE

of Our Lord Jesus ChristAnd the sorrows of Mary our Mother

Be always in our hearts.Amen.

04 PASSIO

ISSUE NO.9

CONTRIBUTORSLent 2022

passionists.org.uk

The following photographers are featured in this issue, having kindly made their work available under a Creative Commons Attribution license: Peter Lewis, Euan Semple, Malachy Browne, Leslie Seaton, Bernard Dupont, Melinda Young Stuart, Miles Davies, Leonora Ending, Kirill Ignatyev, March Mathieu, Monika Kostera, Maarten Dirkse, Steve Cadman, James Tworow, Jose Nicdao

ALEX HOLMES • Alex is a member of Passionist Partner Organisation ‘Calais Catholic Worker’. He spends much of the year at Maria Skobstova House in Calais, offering safe sanctuary to especially vulnerable exiles.

PASCHAL SOMERS • Paschal is the Passionists Development Worker for St Joseph’s Province.

PAUL FOGARTY • As a young man, Paul lived for a while with the Passionist Community in Liverpool 8. He and his family have long been associated with the Congregation.

MADDY RYLE • Maddy lives in the UK and contributes to work on communications and fundraising at TerraJusta as well as working in collaboration with its UK allies.

JOHN THORNHILL • John is the bursar of St. Joseph’s Province and is a member of the Community of the Passion as well as being a trustee of CAPS, a Passionist Partner.

LYA VOLLERING • Lya is the leader of the Eco-Community that lives in the walled garden at Minsteracres Retreat Centre. She is also a member of the Community of the Passion.

STEVE ATHERTON • Until recently, Steve was the Justice and Peace Officer for Liverpool Archdiocese. He is also a member of the Community of the Passion.

JOHN McCORMACK CP • John is a Passionist priest of St. Joseph’s Province who has lived for many years in Sweden, the Province’s ‘mission’.

ANDY PILSBURY • Andy is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker who has done consultancy work for St. Joseph’s Province.

CHRIS DONALD • Chris is the media and communications officer for St Joseph’s Province. He also works for the arts funding organisation, Sputnik.

CONTACT

Paschal Somers / Passionist Development Worker passionistworker@gmail.com / 07403625292

John Thornhill / Passionist Bursar passionistbursar@gmail.com / 078636305724

Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ St Peter’s Centre, Charles Street, Coventry CV1 5NP Charity No: 234436 Tel: 024 76011620

Passionists / PassionistLife

PASSIO

Editorial Director: Paschal Somers Design & Layout: Chris Donald

Printed sustainably by Jump DP —> jumpdp.com

ased on a true story, the

film, Of Gods and Men tells of

eight French Trappist monks

who live their community life

of liturgy, poverty, humility, and love in a

remote Algerian village in the 1990s. They

tend the garden, keep bees, sell their honey

in the local market, and offer basic medical

care to everyone who needs it.

The Muslim villagers love them and

happily invite them into their own houses.

One woman describes the monks as, ‘the

branch on which we stand’. When Muslim

fundamentalists murder a young girl, and

soon after some Croatian workers, the

government insists upon protecting the

monks with military might. They refuse, on

principle.

Then the jihadists come and want their

medicine, which the monks don’t refuse.

With their lives clearly endangered by both

the government and the jihadists, they must

decide whether to stay or to leave, and why.

It’s the decision that resides at the heart

of Christian discipleship and one that is

especially front and centre during the season

of Lent.

Saint Paul’s words to the Christian

Community at Philippi appear to capture

well the pattern of the Passion of Jesus

Christ:

‘He did not cling to his equality with God

but became as all people are and

He was humbler yet, even to accepting death,

death on a cross’ (Phil 2:6)

Editor

→

Fro

m t

he

OF GODS AND MEN (2010), WHY NOT / ARMADA

B

LENT 2022 05

06 PASSIO

{cont.}

It is part and parcel of that acculturation

process whereby God becomes one with us.

When you are in the form of God, you don’t

get pushed around, no one pulls at your

beard or spits in your face. They wouldn’t

dare!

Yet, just to show us that He can ‘get

inside’ our passion, that He can feel along

with us and suffer as we do, God takes the

form of our humanness and enters into our

culture without conditions. He picks his way

down our streets and listens to the strange

accents of our violence. He shares our scars

and doesn’t lean on His rich and famous

friends back home. He lives with our jarring

standards and lets himself be judged by

them. He even accepts death because in our

culture death is a big thing that we would

rather conceal or from which we prefer to

turn our faces.

He poses to us, however, his own kind

of question: ‘Can you still believe when the

Passion begins?’ Can you stay with me all the

way to the cross? Can you stand at the foot of

the cross of my suffering sisters and brothers

at the world’s uncountable sites of suffering?

Only a realization of the depth of His love for

us that carried Jesus to His cross can enable

us to answer these questions in the positive.

May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

and the Sorrows of Mary our Mother, remain

in our hearts this Lent and always.

—Paschal Somers, Lent 2022

p.12

p.38

CONTENTS

Province News

CAFOD

St Chrysostom’s

Spotlight on Joanne Crompton

Partner Dispatch

This is Where You Wait

Fighting Extractivism

Seeing Suffering

Reflections

The Crucifixion of Place

The Art of Conversation

71 Years of Passionist Life in Sweden

The Appeal We Make is Be

Reconciled

A Quiet Revolution

The Last Word

08 10

11

12

20 24

30 34 38 40

42

46

p.24

p.42

LENT 2022 07

08 PASSIO

PROVINCE

South Sudan became the newest country in the world in 2011 but has faced many challenges including food insecurity, conflict, climate change, gender inequality, and the coronavirus pandemic. CAFOD reports that “women and girls are particularly affected by conflict, facing challenges of gender-based violence, little decision-making power, and lack of access to resources.” In addition, half of South

Sudan lacks access to safe water and  7.2 million people are expected to face high levels of food insecurity. This is over half the population of South Sudan. We have agreed with CAFOD to support a project in the Greater Tonj area affected by conflict and flooding. This work will target three out of the six states that are projected to face the highest level of food insecurity in South Sudan.

KENYA’S PRESID

ENT UH

URU KENYATTA VISITS

SOUTH

SUDAN. SO

URCE: UN

ITED N

ATION

S

This year the Passionists of St. Joseph’s Province have offered more support for the work of CAFOD internationally. Resources have been targeted at two initiatives based in South Sudan and Afghanistan.

SOUTH SUDAN

NEWS

WOMEN SORT PISTACHIOS BY HAND AT A PRIVATELY-OWNED FACTORY IN HERAT, AFGHANISTAN. SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS

The Passionists have also recently supported CAFOD’s DEC Afghanistan Appeal. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is now devastating. Global media have been reporting recently about the impact of hunger on the lives of ordinary Afghan women, men and children. There are many documented cases now of people being forced

to sell their kidneys to international organ dealers to feed their families. The UK Telegraph has recently reported that “as extreme hunger tightens its grip on Afghanistan, more parents are sacrificing their bodies in order to feed their children.”

The UN World Food Programme has warned that half the country’s population

(around 22.8 million people)are facing acute hunger, and eight million people are on the brink of famine. We are providing resources to support Afghans who have urgent humanitarian needs over the coming months, both within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries, whilst also continuing to provide longer-term support.

AFGHANISTAN

LENT 2022 09

10 PASSIO

We are all familiar with the name Elizabeth Prout, and her unceasing mission to tend to the crucified of the industrial northwest in the mid 1800’s. Her willingness to seek out and live beside the poor, under-privileged and voiceless victims of industrialised Manchester surely led her to new, contemporary experiences of Passionist vision and witness.

Recently, the parish of St Chrysostom’s (Manchester), named Elizabeth co-patron of their ‘Bakhita Project’ along with St Josephine Bakhita. The project is very active in helping the poor in the city and those who have become victims of trafficking by providing food, clothing and support in a variety of different ways.

After hearing of Elizabeth’s apostolate to the poor, the parish saw the correlation of her work with what they are doing presently in the city, and so her patronage made great

sense. The Community of the Passion presented an icon of Elizabeth with heartfelt gratitude to the parish team for furthering the knowledge of one of our great Passionists.

St Chrysostom’s is an inclusive, inner city church community that warmly welcomes people from vast

FROM LEFT: FR ADMOS CHIMHOWU, ANDREW OMOKARO (CHURCH WARDEN), CANON IAN GOMERSALL (RECTOR)

cultural, ethnic and minority backgrounds including the LGBT community. Worship is rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, but the congregation is made up of members from both Reformed, Catholic and Orthodox rites, an example of true ecumenism that Elizabeth would surely have welcomed!

PROVINCE NEWS

ST CHRYSOSTOM’S, MANCHESTER

“THE DIVINE SPARK OF GOD IS WITHIN EVERY PERSON UNTIL

THEIR LAST BREATH.”

Q. What one word would you use to describe yourself?

Passionist.

Q. What one memory do you most treasure?

Holding my children for the

first time.

Q. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t wait for others’

approval; you only need your

own.

Q. Which person (living or dead) would you most like to meet and why?

Jocelyn Bell Burnell is

a British astrophysicist

and astronomer (born

in Northern Ireland). As

a research assistant, she

helped build a large radio

telescope and discovered

pulsars, providing the first

direct evidence for the

existence of rapidly spinning

neutron stars. As a woman,

she is hugely inspirational

to me. Not just because of

her academic achievements,

but because of her spiritual

exploration—and her total

humility in the statements

she made after being

overlooked for the 1974 Peace

Prize, which was, in my

opinion, unjustly awarded

to her two senior male

colleagues.

onJoanne Crompton

SPOTLIGHT

Joanne is a member of the Community of the Passion. She lives in St Helens and works with people who have a dementia-type illness.

LENT 2022 11

SPOTLIGHT12 PASSIO

CLWYDIAN HILLS BY PETER LEWIS & EUAN SEMPLE

Q. What is the most important thing you have learnt in the past year?

Take great care, and love

your immediate community

the best way you can. Those

around you daily are not

always your chosen or

family community, but they

are those with whom we

function and share our lives,

every single day. There are

many hidden blessings here.

We are all struggling; help

spread some love.

Q. Brown or red sauce? Depends on the pie (I am

from the North!)

Q. When did “ God “ become more than a word to you?

As a small child, through the

monastery grounds at Sutton

and the beach at Wales. I

remember feeling the design

of creation in the bluebells

and the sea. This was the

start of my relationship

with our father creator.

I remember vividly the

love I had for him, and the

unspoken silent connection.

It was only later, that relief

came in the realisation that

Jesus is his son and what his

death and crucifixion meant

for humanity. The love he

has for us washed over me.

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPO

TLIG

HT

SPOTLIG

HT SPO

TLIGH

T SPOTLIG

HT SPO

TLIGH

T SPOTLIG

HT SPO

TLIGH

T

Joanne Crompton was talking to Paschal Somers

I have to stay positive with

a sense of humour, and stay

ahead of current approaches

including person-centred

care, or using validation

and emotional intelligence

to care for people. Doing

all of this with an open

listening heart, and in

an environment where

people aren’t afraid of

truthful conversations, is

not something I could do

without the support of my

relationship with God, my

community, and the creative

team I work with.

JOANNE CROMPTON LENT 2022 13

Q. How does your faith shape your work?

Every aspect of my life is

shaped by my relationship

with God and Gospel

values. My entire working

life, I have worked with

people with a dementia-

type illness: supporting

families through the pain of

diagnosis and the loss that

that brings, not only to the

person but to their loved

ones especially. Continuing

to provide people with a

safe place to participate in a

community (one that finds

their presence valuable

and meaningful) ensures

the person continues to

Q. If you could go anywhere in the world right now where would it be and why?

I would go to Wales;I spent

every summer there as a

child, and still have family

there. I continue to divide

my time between Wales

and Sutton. When I drive

over the Clwydian hills

and see the mountains

and the sea, I feel like I’m

home. Sometimes, in the

depths of Winter, I feel a

strange longing to be in

Wales and to look out at the

sea. The strange feeling of

somewhere beyond, with

a tinge of sadness that my

childhood days, lived in a

find relationship in their

life—even when verbal

communication is no longer

possible.

The divine spark of God

within is in every person

until their last breath.

Many people question God’s

presence throughout their

journey with dementia, and

have many fundamental

questions about what

happens to the spirit of the

person with dementia after

they pass away. Dealing with

anger, guilt and unanswered

questions can lead to many

difficult situations.

wild simplicity of hills and

sea, has gone. I sometimes

think this must be the

Hiraeth. [A Welsh term meaning

something like homesickness]

Q. If you were about to be castaway on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?

Do I need to be practical? If

so, a big knife, a fishing net

and a big box of matches.

Or, if not practical – my

Passionist sign, photos of

my family and a crate of

Crunchies.

T H I S I S W H E R E

14 PASSIO

WORDS: ALEX HOLMESPHOPTOGRAPHY: MALACHY BROWNE

PARTNER DISPATCH

The mother of expectation is patience.

The French author Simone Weil writes

in her notebooks: “Expectant waiting is

the foundation of the spiritual life.” Without

patience, our expectation degenerates into

wishful thinking.

Patience comes from the word patior,

which means “to suffer.” The first thing that

Jesus promises is suffering: “I tell you . . . you

will be weeping and wailing . . . and you will be

sorrowful.” But he calls these birth pains.

Y O U W A I T

— Out of Solitude, Henri Nouwen

“

LENT 2022 15

And so, what seems a hindrance becomes a

way; what seems an obstacle becomes a door;

what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone.

Jesus changes our history from a random

series of sad incidents and accidents into a

constant opportunity for a change of heart.

To wait patiently, therefore, means to allow

our weeping and wailing to become the

purifying preparation by which we are made

ready to receive the joy that is promised to

us.”

For vulnerable refugees in Calais, there is an abundance of waiting to be done. Yet despite the frustrations and the suffering involved, the refugee communities abound with youth, elegance and laughter.

16 PASSIO

arly october. i had just bought spices from the Red Sea café—an Eritrean café in Finsbury Park London—to take to the Eritrean refugee community in Calais, when I passed this little boy, all alone, sitting on a chair on the pavement. Why was he there all alone? Was he waiting for something? I have no idea.

DISPATCH

Community is the cornerstone of existence for the Eritrean community I visit every day. Every aspect of this precarious existence is shared. Unlike the boy on the Finsbury Park pavement, no one is alone. It is unthinkable to eat alone. Unthinkable to sleep alone in your tent. Unthinkable not to invite any passerby to drink a coffee at the fireside. And there is laughter… youth, elegance and laughter!

In St Pierre Park, Calais, the willow trees are gold in the early January sun. Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia, the ‘Three Graces’, daughters of Zeus, are the central feature of the park’s fountain, and an immutable reminder of the gifts they were said to bestow: youth and laughter and elegance.

Calais is where, as a refugee, you wait. Expectant, possibly, but patiently? It takes a great deal of spiritual maturity to embrace suffering as a ‘birth pain’. And there is a great deal of suffering here; suffering that has happened, suffering that is expected, suffering that is rarely expressed. It is suffering born from collective experience, a shared burden. The refugees wait in Calais ‘because we have no choice’. Here, I often hear the words: ‘God will decide when we will cross to the UK’. Sami, a young Eritrean Orthodox Deacon whom I first met in July 2019, is still waiting. ‘Without God, there is no life’, he says.

LENT 2022 17CATHOLIC WORKER CALAIS

18 PASSIO

Fireside, in the Eritrean camp. The laughter is infectious. “Fessehaye’s Tigrinya is no good. Remember he didn’t know what alam dirho* means?” Yusef’s smile lights up his whole face. “Now I have the egg, and he has the poop.” He’s video calling from his bed in a UK hotel, having rowed across the Channel in November.

“Hotel like prison,” retaliates Fessehaye with a prolonged chuckle. “here we are free, with fresh air and a fire; with good Eritrean friends, and we can cook our own delicious food. Come back to Calais!”

* The world is like a chicken (to some it gives eggs, to others, poop!)

“Calais is dog’s life,” retorts the ever-grinning Fili, his hand freshly bandaged from a burn. I ask him how his hand is. “Fine,” he grins, “but in our tradition, if you burn yourself, you must use shinti.”

“What is shinti?”

“Pee-pee.” Laughter ripples around the fire. “And if you cut yourself, you must rub bun (coffee) into the cut and then cover it. Our village medicine is history, not science. It is good.” He turns his attention to his shoes. “I need softy.” He’s passed a packet of tissues and begins to meticulously wipe every trace of mud from his shoes.

DISPATCH

The talk moves to the UK and the increasing difficulties of crossing the Channel to claim asylum. Hamed, the artist, smiles, but it is a wistful smile. “Life for the rich is good, but not good if you are poor. If you have money, you can pay a smuggler to help you cross the sea and there are no CRS (the French riot police). If no money, you try in a truck—and there is always CRS.”

Today he spoke to his girlfriend in Eritrea. He’s 21, and it’s been 4 years since he saw her. “She said ‘how is school?’ I tell her it is good. I cannot tell her about life here, the cold and the mud.” The stress of Calais has pushed Hamed to take up smoking.

A figure skips out of the dusk. It’s Hayat. “I skip like bambino.” He laughs. “In Libya, people were kind. They say I am bambino.” He tells me about life back home, the farm he grew up on. “It was a big farm; we had a large house, more than 450 cattle, many donkeys and camels, 36 dogs.” But like everyone held in a smuggler’s detention centre in Libya, he was a commodity with a value. “My father had to sell 400 cattle to raise the money or smugglers kill me.”

Hayat moves away from the fire to a secluded spot to dye his hair black. The diet and stress have partially turned his hair brown; it is undignified, and he is concerned about his appearance.

Negassi is taking photos of his new acquisitions: hair oil, and a bar of ‘Beauty Cream’ soap. There’s a burst of laughter from the other side of the fire. It’s Aaron; Aaron, whose broad smile lightens my every visit to the fireside. “Too late for you, Negassi, you are too old to become beautiful.” Negassi’s hair is very black, soft and straight. “My grandfather was British. He came to Eritrea in colonial days. I am going to UK to find him.”

Night has fallen. Passing the line of tents that are pitched at the foot of the four-metre-high security wall, I notice one that is flattened. A figure is moving under the canvas. “Bruq leyti, goodnight,” I call. A face pops out. It’s Sami. “What happened to your tent, Sami?”

“No problem,” he laughs, “I fix it tomorrow.” ·

LENT 2022 19CATHOLIC WORKER CALAIS

“ C o m m u n i t y i s t h e c o r n e r st o n e of e x i st e n c e f o r t h e E r i t r e a n c o m m u n i t y I v i s i t e v e r y d a y. Ev e r y a s p e c t of

t h i s p r e c a r i o u s e x i st e n c e i s s h a r e d . ”

DISPATCH20 PASSIO

FightingExtractivismWORDS: MADDIE RYLE

FightingExtractivism

have been involved with

TerraJusta (formerly as part of

The Democracy Center)

since I was in Bolivia in 2011.

I’m now in the UK. The Democracy Center

had been reporting on politics and resource

issues in the country since the ‘Water War’ in

Cochabamba, which became a key chapter

in the anti-globalisation struggles of the

early 2000s.

Bolivian politics has seen some major

evolutions since then, and so has our work.

When I arrived, the focus was on reporting

climate impacts and analysing modes of

corporate power (for example, the way

corporations use the Investor-State Dispute

Settlement system to extort compensation

from countries which try to limit socially

The Passionists have recently started supporting TerraJusta, who work alongside communities fighting for social, economic and environmental justice. Maddie Ryle, their communications and fundraising officer, explains how they got here...

TERRAJUSTA LENT 2022 21

or environmentally damaging projects).

The analysis of corporate power remains,

but over time we wanted to focus less on

the impacts of the climate crisis in Latin

America – and more on how some of its root

causes play out in the region.

Our work is focused on extractivism:

the mass, unsustainable extraction of

resources, generally taken from areas of the

global South to feed consumer markets in

the global North. In particular we focus on

mining: how it impacts and alters the lives

of communities nearby; how it destroys

land, water sources and biodiversity, and

leaves other ecological legacies; and how

communities are resisting these impacts –

and in turn facing repression and violence

for doing so.

(cont.)

Even before launching

TerraJusta in early 2020, we’ve

had ongoing discussions about

the role we should play. We see

ourselves as a campaigning

organisation at heart, acting

as a bridge between affected

communities resisting mining

projects in Latin America and

the networks of solidarity

and resources in the global

North which can strengthen

their struggles. As such, we

became a member of London

Mining Network in 2019. Core

principles now include long-

term relationship building

with key allies and responding

as directly as possible to the

expressed needs of affected

communities.

The work funded by

Passionists over the last year

very much reflects these

principles. Albeit under

pandemic circumstances, we

have engaged in a process of

capacity-building with people

in Southern Peru who are

involved in these struggles,

and who are using grassroots

media – community radio in

particular – to support their

efforts.

The impetus for this

work grew out of a previous

experience doing training

with similar groups from

across Latin America in 2019,

from which we were able

to understand the value of

bringing affected groups

together to share and pool

knowledge and experience.

We also identified some of the

learning gaps - around the

global economic context of

extractivism, and the powers

used by corporations to

proceed with projects in the

face of public rejection and

resistance – which could be

useful for communities to fill

in. We are just concluding a

series of virtual training spaces

along these lines with nearly 50

community activists in Peru,

and plan to look for further

resources to continue this work.

Many thanks to the Passionists

for their support! ·TERRAJUSTA22 PASSIO

LENT 2022 23

—Austin Smith CP Passion for the Inner City

“IF HUMAN BEINGS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM EACH OTHER, THEN THEY ESCAPE FROM GOD.

ONE CANNOT DISCOVER GOD IN A

TOTAL WILDERNESS OF OUR OWN

MAKING.”

24 PASSIO

Lya

Voll

erin

g —

—

St

atio

ns

of th

e C

ross

Lya Vollering, from the Minsteracres Eco-Community, recently created a series of sculptures to accompany psychotherapist Tony Wright’s book comPASSION: Stations of the Cross for Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse.

SEEI

NGSU

FFER

ING

LENT 2022 25

SEEINGSUFFERING

SEEINGSUFFERING

SEEI

NGSU

FFER

ING SEEING

SUFFER

ING

STATIONS OF THE CROSS • STATIONS OF THE CROSS • STATION

S OF TH

E CROSS • STATIONS OF THE CROSS • STATIONS OF THE CROSS • S

TATIONS O

F TH

E C

ROSS

• ST

ATIO

NS

OF

THE C

ROSS •

WORDS & SCULPTURE: LYA VOLLERING PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMONE RUDOLPHI

26 PASSIO

hen i was a child, I would go with my mum to the Good Friday service in the Gothic church. As I recall it now, I found the service quite boring. The priest would go round the 14 stations of the cross, accompanied by a few altar servers. We would stay in the pews and do the responses. After we (or rather the priest) had finished the stations, we could venerate the cross by putting flowers at the foot of it. I always liked that bit; such a variety and richness of colour. The flowers would then be used for the Easter decorations. The biggest treat for me was that I was allowed to help my big sister and other volunteers to do the flower arrangements. I have never got used to venerating the cross by kissing the feet of a wooden figure, as is the custom here in the UK.

Did I, as a child, understand the suffering Jesus went through? Probably not. Do we now, as adults?

DISPATCH

Probably not either. It is really difficult to look suffering in the eye, particularly if we can’t do anything to alleviate it. Mary was incredibly courageous for standing there at the foot of the cross with her suffering son.

When writing the book ComPASSION, psychotherapist Tony Wright asked me to make illustrations for his stations of the cross. Tony’s description of what happened to Jesus is very powerful. It is not something you can read in one go; it’s too painful. It takes time and courage to really allow the suffering that Jesus went through to enter into our understanding of head and heart.

It is not only the suffering that was inflicted on him by an occupying force; it’s also the suffering inflicted by his own people, his own ‘church’, when he was abandoned and betrayed by those who were nearest to him. To get a better understanding of what happened to him is very powerful.

Lya Vollering, from the Minsteracres Eco-Community, recently created a series of sculptures to accompany psychotherapist Tony Wright’s book comPASSION: Stations of the Cross for Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse.

LENT 2022 27

LYA VOLLERING

SEEING SUFFERING

“IT TAKES TIME AND COURAGE

TO REALLY ALLOW THE SUFFERING

THAT JESUS WENT THROUGH TO

ENTER INTO OUR UNDERSTANDING

OF HEAD AND HEART.”

MINSTERACRES

28 PASSIO

Lya

Voll

erin

g —

—

St

atio

ns

of th

e C

ross

LENT 2022 29

The sculptures have been exhibited in the poly tunnel of the walled garden of Minsteracres Retreat Centre. Nature has added to it. Behind the third fall is a decaying plant. Little spiders have woven webs on the figures. Birds sat on them, and have left deposits. The second fall particularly is covered in bird poo. She literally is in the ‘shit’.

The sculptures have touched people in different ways. It has spoken about suffering in a wider context—not just childhood abuse, but also the isolation during the pandemic, the burden of the environmental crisis we are in, the poverty and widening gap between rich and poor.

The sculptures are going to be exhibited in Hexham Abbey and in Coventry Cathedral during Lent. My hope is that these stations of the cross will help people to put their suffering (or the suffering of their loved ones and of the crucified earth) alongside Jesus’ and know that He is with us. May we draw strength from His presence. May it help us to see the suffering of the earth and others and reach out. ·

MINSTERACRES

By connecting Jesus’ suffering with the suffering of adult survivors of childhood abuse, Tony brings out even more powerful depths of understanding.

His book is a very difficult read; but if we, as church people, want to come to grips with abuse that has happened in the church —and is still happening, because of the lack of accountability of the church authorities—we need to read it, to understand it and to acknowledge it.

In the winter of lockdown I made 15 sculptures based on Tony’s text about the survivors of abuse. They are female figures, naked and made out of toilet paper and PVA glue. Everything about them is vulnerable and broken.

The station where Jesus meets Mary is a figure curled up, alone. For survivors often there was nobody there. People close to them were often involved in the abuse, or at least turned a blind eye. The women of Jerusalem are in front of a mirror; they only see themselves, caught up as they are in their own problems.

Tony Wright said that we have sanitized the cross. I think that is true. Father Tom Cullinan used to say that the crucifix was domesticated; he objected to having the crucifix in every room.

30 PASSIO

THE CRUCIFIXIONOF PL ACE

s i went into the ruined cathedral on the morning after the destruction, there flashed into the mind the deep certainty that as the Cathedral had been crucified with Christ, so it would rise again with Him. How or when we could not tell; nor did it matter. The Cathedral would rise again.” These are the words of Provost R.T. Howard on the morning of the 15th November 1940. Only the tower, spire and outer walls of the 14th century Cathedral in Coventry had survived the Luftwaffe bombing raid which had also claimed the lives of nearly six hundred citizens.

The destruction of old St. Michael’s was deplored universally as an act of “cultural vandalism”, because the destruction of this rare artefact, in effect and in time, was understood to be more than just the loss of bricks and stones. The anthropologist Clifford Geertz described the explicated qualities of culture as: “a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which people communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.”

A View from the ‘City of Culture’

30 PASSIO

PHOTOGRAPHY: J THORNHILL & JAMES TWOROWWORDS: JOHN THORNHILL

REFLECTION

LENT 2022 31

32 PASSIO REFLECTION

Artefacts and places bear the mark and memory and meaning of a people. In secular terms cultural vandalism can be understood as an offense against humanity because it results in the erasure of the memory of cultural assets and the effacing of the identity of their creators. Indeed, the destruction of cultural heritage is sanctioned as a crime by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of May 14,1954.

This idea of ‘crucifixion of place’ is a recognition that an injustice has been committed against both the living and the dead, and those yet to come.

For Provost R.T. Howard, to say that the Cathedral had been “crucified with Christ” was an explicit and perhaps perplexing “confession of faith”. This framing of an experience of destruction in the language of faith was echoed on the other side of the city, on that same day, as Dom. Sebastian Simpson OSB was clawing through the charred ruins of St. Osburg’s Church to retrieve the Tabernacle. He wrote: “Our Lord must leave his Temple in which for

nearly 100 years He had been adored and where He had fed with His own Body the souls of countless (people). Did the thousands of Faithful Departed who once worshipped here…witness this departure of His? One imagined all of them uttering the lamentation of the Magdelen of old – ‘They have taken away my Lord’, and hoped their prayers would help to bring Him back again.” For Simpson, the destruction of his Church was a “Mary Magdalene moment”.

This idea of the “crucifixion of place” is more than just a metaphor. It is a recognition that an injustice has been committed against both the living and the dead and those yet to come. The identification of destruction as a “crucifixion” is a paradoxical, faith-filled statement of solidarity with the “scandal” that is the Cross of Jesus.

LENT 2022 33

Passionist scripture scholar Donald Senior comments: “Because Jesus was innocent and just, his death on the cross was an act of supreme injustice, an act of violence and oppression whose roots are radically evil. Because his mission of justice led to his death, the cross also stands, therefore, as a sign of condemnation of all injustice and oppression, of all infliction of violence and suffering of the innocent.”

So in the January of 1941, Provost Howard asked the Cathedral’s stone mason to make an altar from the rubble and place behind it a cross made from two charred oak beams that had fallen from the roof. This burnt cross has become the focal point of the ruins ever since and stands “as a sign of condemnation of all injustice and oppression.” This cross also stands alongside the new Cathedral which arose out of the ashes, as Provost Howard prophesied, but this new Cathedral still bears the marks of that “crucifixion”. The charred cross witnesses to an act of injustice but it is also a sign of hope and Resurrection. For Donald Senior to encounter in faith “crucifixion” in the violence and injustice of human experience is to be “a community that is, in fact, the body of the Crucified Christ who is triumphant but still bears the wounds of his cross, a community able to give a witness of hope and meaning to the world.” This witness happens in time and culture and place. ·

THE CRUCIFIXION OF PLACE

BEARING THE MARKS

The

The Community of the Passion’s Steve Atherton shares his experience of the Liverpool synod, and asks what we are all doing to ensure valuable conversations are taking place, and taking effect.

Art of Conversation

34 PASSIO

LENT 2022 35

The

Art of Conversation

istorically, synods were gatherings of

important clerical

decision-makers. The Synod

of Whitby decided on the

dates of Easter; in the 60s,

Bishops gathered in Rome to

unpack the Second Vatican

Council. In recent years

Pope Francis has given new

prominence and life to the

concept of Synodality in the

Roman church, emphasising

the idea of walking together

in conversation, with no one

left behind.

Synodality takes time. I was

fortunate to be involved

in the preparation for the

Liverpool synod that has

recently finished; it was

intended to last three years

but, because of Covid-19,

ended up lasting four.

The key issues were: how

to listen; who to listen to;

what questions to ask; how

to record and synthesise

what was said; how to devise

and communicate a plan in

response; how to put a plan

into action.

The initial preparation was

all about how to listen. We

opted for a method that

allowed everyone present at

a meeting to speak without

interruption. People were

divided into small groups

and everyone in the group

was given the chance to

speak before anyone was

allowed to respond. This

formulaic method worked

well. Many participants

said that the opportunity

to be listened to without

interruption was a new and

life-enhancing experience.

The next key question was

to give as many people as

possible an opportunity to

speak, so that voices not

usually heard were made

welcome. It wouldn’t be

enough to only consult

weekly Mass-goers. The

surprising result of casting

the net wide was gathering

over 200,000 responses.

The combination of parish

reps, deanery delegates,

weekends away, diocesan

resources (including paid

staff) and generous amounts

of time led to a productive

four years of talking,

listening, discerning and

the preparation of a pastoral

plan. It’s hard to imagine

it being condensed into a

much shorter period.

→

PHO

TOS:

CAT

HO

LIC

CH

URC

H E

NG

LAN

D &

WAL

ES

We are some way into the two-year global synod that the

Pope has initiated; I wonder how many people have heard

what’s under discussion, or been actively encouraged to give

an opinion about any of them?

There have been letters to the Tablet describing good

practice, but how widespread is it? Who has asked you

anything? Who’s stood up in your church and started a

conversation about repurposing empty church buildings, or

led a prayer meeting about the diocesan investment policy,

or organised fasting for guidance on same sex marriages,

and so on? Has there at least been time set aside during

the weekly Mass, even if no one has come knocking on your

door to ask your opinion?

Of course the other side of the coin is to ask: what initiative

have you shown? How many conversations have you had?

What are the ten headings that have come from the Vatican?

Who will you send your thoughts to so that they are not lost?“The

soo

ner

we

get

star

ted

the

bett

er: s

ynod

ality

is a

pro

cess

, ra

ther

tha

n an

eve

nt.”

36 PASSIO REFLECTION

LENT 2022 37

If church is to survive, it

will not be enough to have

synodality as just the latest

buzz word to reassures us

that all is well. We can’t

survive if we don’t worry

about irrelevance or empty

churches. We must become a

church that walks together;

that consults; that is full of

conversation; that listens;

that discerns; that acts in the

world.

The sooner we get started

the better because synodality

is a process rather than

an event. It wouldn’t be

properly synodal to ask the

questions once only, before

slipping back to business as

usual. The process commits

to repeated conversations,

repeated discussions,

repeated discernments,

repeated demonstrations

that we are all in it together.

In some ways, this is

Catholic Social Teaching in

action. It’s everyone being

treated with dignity, looking

for the common good,

ensuring that subsidiarity is

actively linking the bottom

with the top, that the needs

and concern of the least are

central to the decisions and

action of the powerful. ·THE ART OF CONVERSATION

38 PASSIO

71 Y

EARS

OF

PASS

IONI

ST

LIFE

IN

SWED

EN

12

3

WO

RDS:

JOH

N M

cCO

RMAC

K C

P PH

OTO

GRA

PHY:

M

ON

IKA

KO

STER

A

last

yea

r w

e ce

lebr

ated

30

0 ye

ars

of P

assi

onis

t lif

e an

d 71

yea

rs o

f our

pr

esen

ce in

Sw

eden

with

fu

nctio

ns in

Hel

sing

borg

, Vä

xjö

and

Got

henb

urg.

Igna

tius

McG

ellig

ott

visi

ted

Hel

sing

borg

in A

pril

1950

. Ex

amin

ing

the

Chur

ch’s

situ

atio

n he

re, h

e w

rote

to th

e pr

ovin

ce

in E

ngla

nd. W

ithin

the

year

, th

ere

wer

e fo

ur P

assi

onis

ts in

Vä

xjö

with

resp

onsi

bilit

y fo

r Sm

ålan

d—an

are

a as

big

as

Wal

es.

1954

— T

he P

rovi

nce

com

mits

to

wor

k in

the

area

for 4

0 ye

ars.

Th

e pa

rish

of S

t Mic

hael

’s is

es

tabl

ishe

d.

1960

— T

wo

Pass

ioni

sts

mov

e in

to a

hou

se in

Kal

mar

, in

the

East

of t

he p

aris

h.

1968

— S

t Mic

hael

’s ch

urch

is

built

.

In 19

75, P

assi

onis

ts s

iste

rs

cam

e to

Väx

jö to

wor

k in

the

paris

hes.

The

y bu

ilt u

p ac

tiviti

es

for c

hild

ren

and

youn

g pe

ople

, m

ade

hom

e vi

sits

; the

ir ev

enin

g cl

asse

s in

diff

eren

t lan

guag

es

crea

ted

posi

tive

cont

acts

with

no

n-Ca

thol

ics,

whi

ch p

rove

d to

be

ver

y im

port

ant i

n br

eaki

ng

St F

ranc

is’ c

hurc

h, in

Jön

köpi

ng,

open

ed in

1973

; St K

risto

ffer’s

pa

rish

beca

me

inde

pend

ent i

n 19

82. A

fter t

hat,

the

Pass

ioni

sts

mov

ed to

the

Wes

t Coa

st

to e

stab

lish

the

next

thre

e pa

rishe

s: tw

o in

Got

henb

urg

itsel

f (Sa

int P

aul o

f the

Cro

ss

and

St M

ary

Mag

dale

n) a

nd o

ne

Nor

th o

f Got

henb

urg

(St P

etri

paris

h) —

whi

ch c

over

ed 3

di

ffere

nt to

wns

.

A to

tal o

f 36

Pass

ioni

sts

from

th

e En

glis

h pr

ovin

ces—

men

an

d w

omen

—w

orke

d in

Sw

eden

du

ring

thes

e 72

yea

rs. T

wo

of

them

, Fr H

arol

d D

omm

erse

n an

d Fr

Vic

tor D

oran

, are

bur

ied

here

.

FIRS

T VS

IIT

FIRS

T PA

RISH

PASS

ION

IST

SIST

ERS

PARI

SHES

IN T

HRE

ES

dow

n pr

ejud

ice.

Lat

er th

ey

wor

ked

in S

t Pau

l of t

he C

ross

pa

rish

and

in G

othe

nbur

g’s

Cath

olic

sch

ool,

and

in th

e Sp

anis

h-sp

eaki

ng a

post

olat

e.

3

9

THE APPEAL BE WORDS: PAUL FOGARTY PHOTO: MAARTEN DIRKSE

wrote in a piece for the last edition of Passio of my admiration for the Passionist men and women who have served England and Wales so well since the 1840s. One aspect of their ministry has been the focus of my prayer and reflection for some time, and that is the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is in the intimacy and privacy of the confessional that a priest is called to communicate to his brothers and sisters Christ’s overwhelming love for them, a love demonstrated most vividly in His passion and death. It is no coincidence that the confessionals in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool are placed in the chapel dedicated to St Paul of the Cross. It is here we find words from St Pope John Paul II: “No evil is more powerful than the infinite mercy of God.”

For much of the last 170 years, the hearing of confessions must have been a daily activity for Passionist priests, perhaps the principal way they preached Christ Crucified. I remember as a child being struck by the bell-push beside the confessionals at St Anne’s, Sutton. You could press for a

bell to ring in the monastery, summoning a priest at any hour of the day to hear your confession. This is how important it was considered to those priests, central to their very identity as Passionists. As times have changed, many of the faithful have moved away from frequent confession, and the Passionist Congregation in our region has handed its parish ministry to diocesan care. I find this saddening, because I think there is something particularly Passionist about this beautiful sacrament.

Obviously, many readers will have had very difficult experiences in confession in the past. Priests have asked what they should not, spoken in ways that were harmful, withheld healing words that should have been said. Parents and teachers, too, have presented the sacrament in unhelpful ways. In my fifties, I am learning to pray for the men who have hurt and angered me in the past. I pray, too, for the wise men who have spoken as if with the voice of my dying Saviour: “lay that burden down, Paul… don’t give the devil room by dwelling on your sins… let’s not be afraid of mere words…

40 PASSIO

WE MAKE ISRECONCILED

WE MAKE ISRECONCILED

God delights in you being here, even if you cant’ bring yourself to speak…” Sometimes, when we are burdened with shame or fear, the anonymity of a traditional confessional helps us to speak more openly. Sometimes, a face-to-face experience of the sacrament expresses our honesty and vulnerability. We often cannot bring ourself to believe in our forgiven-ness until we hear another person,

who has witnessed our shame, speak aloud the words of reassurance we long for.

Allow me to make an appeal to the lay members of the Passionist family. Seek out individual Reconciliation this Lent, if you can. If you should be asked why, remember that our answer is our share in the Passionist call to preach Christ crucified. ·

LENT 2022 41

A Quiet

Revolution

44 PASSIO

In November 2021 I had the pleasure to work on a short film and series of images for The Gaia Foundation, an NGO advocating for bio-cultural diversity, regeneration of healthy ecosystems whist working to strengthen community self-governance for climate change resilience. The short film we produced, A Quiet Revolution, was launched late January. It profiles London’s urban seed-savers and the London Freedom Seed Bank, a network of more than 72 growers caring for over 150 seed varieties. It highlights the many benefits of seed-saving in urban environments and the importance of seed diversity and community. 

nce a guesthouse for the destitute and vulnerable, Austin Smith House helped many people at various stages throughout their journey of migration and asylum; and it was here that I met some wonderful people, many of whom I am still involved with today. Even though the Passionist operations of ASH in Sparkhill, Birmingham have ended, an authentic legacy of positivity and hope remains. 

LENT 2022 45

Many of the seed varieties in the London Freedom Seed Bank’s collection are rapidly adapting to London’s unique growing conditions, creating meaningful resilience in unpredictable and challenging times.  

Not surprisingly, I witnessed warmth and strength from within the community that offered such optimism in the face of these enormous global challenges. Along with the seed custodians I was equally impressed with the production team assisting on the shoot. 

 I met Hal and Paul at ASH many years ago, and we have since developed fruitful relationships with one another. Hal is the head of communications at the Gaia Foundation and subsequently secured me the work on A Quiet Revolution. We were introduced via Martin Newell one evening over dinner at ASH, and we remain good friends today.

Paul was a guest at ASH, and over the years has developed a strong interest in film, photography and media. There’s a genuine opportunity for Paul to move into the creative industry when his application for leave to remain is resolved. It was Paul’s first time assisting me on the production of the film, and needless to say he did an incredible job. Without the help and collaboration of both Paul and Hal, along with the wonderful people from the London Seed Network, A Quiet Revolution would not have been possible. I see these connections as deeply meaningful and that’s why I will always think fondly of the friendships made at ASH. ·

A QUIET REVOLUTION

IMAGES FROM A QUIET REVOLUTION RIGHT—DEE WOODS AT LONDON FREEDOM SEED BANK COVER—OLCAY COLAK TENDING FLOWERS

WORDS: ANDY PILSBURY

withJoachim Rego CP

THE L AST WORD

Dear Brothers, Sisters and Friends in the Passionist Family, May the Spirit of Peace enlighten us!

The serious situation of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia today creates great anxiety and concern for our brothers in the ASSUM Province of Poland who have responsibility for the Passionist presence and mission in Ukraine. We express our fraternal solidarity with the four Passionist religious: 3 Ukrainian nationals and 1 Polish national, who minister in the town of Smotrych and surrounding areas in Western Ukraine and are most immediately affected by this crisis.

“May the Passion of Jesus be always in our hearts.”

God, our refuge and strength in trouble Today we pray for the people of Ukraine, And for those of Russia too. For those who awoke to great fear, For those fleeing their homes, For all facing danger. Help them to feel the comfort of your presence, Change angry hearts and minds, Drive out hatred with your love, And war with your perfect peace, For we ask it in the name of the One who is our Peace Jesus our Lord.

Amen

46 PASSIO

A PRAYER FOR UKRAINE

Passion for the Inner City has recently been re-edited and re-

published by our new publishing project, Lab/ora Press. It’s

now available to pre-order ahead of its April 14 release.

Find out more at www.labora.press

in our Common Era podcast,

we bring two guests around

our table to delve into

questions about spirituality in

an age of change.

commonerapodcast.com

In our second season, we’re

hosting a conversation

between Annmarie Lewis,

a leading business, youth

and justice consultant, and

Matshidiso, a composer,

songwriter and podcaster

with a background in human

rights law.

They’ll be sharing their

journeys in the justice

space, discussing what

justice really means,

whether ‘crime and

punishment’ works, and

what the future might look

like for faith movements

and society alike.