It’s been while since it happened but I’ve been meaning to post a couple of thoughts in the aftermath of the de-frocking of Judge John Gomery last month. For the not-so-politically inclined readers, here is a brief (and not unbiased) history of the sponsorship scandal:

1. Paul Martin replaces Jean Chretien as leader of the Liberal Party (I was there. I helped make it happen.)
2. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser releases a report showing that there were severe shortcomings in how a federal sponsorship program was run in Quebec during the mid-to-late 90’s.
3. Paul Martin gets “mad as hell”. Blames all the people in his party he doesn’t like very much and runs around the country promising to get to the bottom of what happened.
4. Paul Martin appoints Quebec judge John Gomery to investigate and report on what happened, where the missing money went, who was responsible and what could be done to get to the bottom of it. He also asked the RCMP to look into it because it’s they’re job and they’re the only ones who could press charges.

It’s worth mentioning at this point that in 2001-2002, allegations about the sponsorship program had come to light and Chretien’s government made a number of changes to such programs. According to some people a whole lot smarter than me, if these measures had been in place from the beginning, nothing untoward would have happened in the first place.

5. Two federal elections take place, Paul Martin loses to Stephen Harper’s New Conservative Party, largely as a result of this scandal. Martin resigns as leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Harper moves in to 24 Sussex Drive. Meanwhile, Judge Gomery conducts an expensive, publicly funded inquiry into the matter of the sponsorship scandal which is a legal farce in nearly every respect. In particular, the Judge demonstrates himself to be biased against Mr. Chretien in a number of very public and humiliating incidents (at least they should have been humiliating but it seems that Mr. Gomery was quite enamoured with his 15 minutes of fame).
6. Behind the scenes, the RCMP conduct a criminal investigation into the matter and manage a couple of convictions of people who actually broke the law.
7. Judge Gomery writes two very long reports. His conclusions can be summed up as follows: (1) nearly all of the problems with the program were Mr. Chretien’s fault. If he had been doing his job and wasn’t such a terrible Prime Minister none of this would have happened. (2) Since Mr. Chretien is no longer running the government, everything about how it functions should be changed to be the way Judge Gomery wants it so this can never happen again. (3) Everything was Mr. Chretien’s fault and he totally could have avoided the whole mess. (I’m somewhat hyperbolic for effect).
8. The Federal Court rules that Judge Gomery “prejudged situations, was not impartial and was preoccupied with the media.” Also none of it was Chretien’s fault at all.

I mention all of this because it seems we’re a country plagued by political amnesia. Everything recounted above happened in the last decade. Yet, we’re now living in an even more partisan political climate (if you can believe it) where the Official Opposition has demanded a half dozen “public inquiries” in the last 12 months. The Liberal Party might want to reflect on the problematic nature of public inquiries before inevitably demanding yet another one this fall.

Perhaps even more troubling, the Conservative Party has decided that suing the Opposition in a bid to silence them is a less problematic strategy than answering questions. This situation is disappointing but it is seems to me to be bad politics to the point of idiocy given the consequences of the last 6 years worth of circus antics recounted above.

I read this today at sacredspace.ie:

My friend Karl served God as a Jesuit for fifty years. Instead of celebrating a jubilee, he was just one of the thousands murdered in the strife of East Timor. Deaths like his acutely pose the Psalmist’s question, ‘Why do the wicked prosper?’ They make Christ’s death on the cross more central than any other mystery of our faith. Whatever else we know about the Father of Jesus, it is clear that he does not protect his loved ones from wickedness, but rather gives them the grace to bring good out of evil, provided they do not follow the example of those who do them wrong.

Grace and Peace to you…

Our church is beginning a conversation on how leadership is constituted in the church and how authority is exercised.  On that subject I was struck by this weeks reflection at sacred space:

If Jesus were to appear in our world, he (or she - let us allow scope to possibilities) would be born unnoticed, to a good, struggling family in Ecuador, Uzbekistan or some place out of the news. People would be puzzled, ‘Where is that place?’ He would not be on television, nor would he occupy a centre of power or wealth. He would be pushed around, slandered and criticised. He would speak simple truths, and some would listen to him and recognise the voice of God. The good news would spread slowly, as it did two thousand years ago. It would graft on to whatever was good in the world he found. The brokers of power and wealth would not notice it, nor offer their sponsorship. The happy irony of today is that after the first 2000 years, the good news is so widespread that whether they knew it or not, the whole human race joined in celebrating Jesus’ millennium birthday.

O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples
in the breaking of bread: Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our
faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work;
through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth
and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 43:1-12
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery
hast established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant
that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s
Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their
faith; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth
and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

Please Read This Post.

The point is to force yourself to slow down, and focus on the story of what happened at the end of Holy Week, and what Christ has done for you. Instead of eating, you spend the hour (or however long) praying, or reading the story, or going on a spiritual walk, or the like. When you get hungry, you simply drink water. By Friday night you will go to bed hungry, and by Saturday night you may well need some Advil to go to bed. But this spiritual discipline will remind you of the things that Jesus went through to bring us redemption. It will remind you of his last meal, because you have had your last one for a while. It will remind you that you are called to die to self and live to the Lord. As Paul puts it—“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Are you ready to take up your cross and follow the Master? One of the benefits is that as Paul says in Phil. 4, you learn how to be content, and to live without, as well as to live with. It reminds you of your mortality, but also of your fragility. This body keeps needing air, food, water to prop it up day after day. It reminds us of those who often go without these basic necessities many days of the year. It reminds us to pray “give us this day….”

Almighty and everliving God, who, of thy tender love
towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the
cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his
great humility: Mercifully grant that we may both follow the
example of his patience, and also be make partakers of his
resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Isaiah 45:21-25
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 27:1-54

I’ve been meaning to post this for some time and since we’re coming to the end of lent soon, I figured that I was running out of time. Each year, the pope addresses a lenten message to faithful Catholics around the world. It seems to me that the idea of lent, of preparing ourselves for easter and the cross, is a valuable one. It also seems to me that it has also ceased to be a meaningful part of the christian life for most of my friends in the church. At best, people I know associate lent with “giving something up,” not even fasting in the traditional sense of going without food. However, the tradition of lent goes back a long ways and it used to be about more than just one less self-indulgence for a month. The church used to take this season to dedicate itself to prayer, to fasting and to acts of charity. People new to the faith would prepare for Easter baptism and those who had left the church would be welcomed back in.

This year, the pope encouraged the church to focus on taking up the discipline of almsgiving. In his words:

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent invites us to “train ourselves” spiritually, also through the practice of almsgiving, in order to grow in charity and recognize in the poor Christ Himself. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the Apostle Peter said to the cripple who was begging alms at the Temple gate: “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk” (Acts 3,6). In giving alms, we offer something material, a sign of the greater gift that we can impart to others through the announcement and witness of Christ, in whose name is found true life. Let this time, then, be marked by a personal and community effort of attachment to Christ in order that we may be witnesses of His love.

Youtube Fun for all:

1. How to download a youtube video.
2. When philosophers run for office…
3. When the campaign gets dirty…
4. Another bare knuckle attack ad…
5. John Stackhouse parses humour in the developing world. Come to think of it, I’m sure I wouldn’t be funny in India either. (I know that wasn’t youtube related but 4 out of 5 isn’t bad)

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly
wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to
love what you command and desire what you promise; that,
among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts
may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:8-14
Luke 20:9-19