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Who will benefit from this book?
I offer mind-feeding reflections on Church reform. I wrote it especially for all the many men and women who minister in the Catholic Church. The ponderings will also benefit others who promote the welfare of the faithful: lecturers, teachers, journalists, doctors, nurses, members of pastoral councils and whoever else.
Because I value ministry in the Church, I am dismayed by the ugly accretions that have attached themselves to it in the course of the centuries. Like weeds, scallops and rubbish clinging to the bottom of a ship. I am thinking of unchristian cultural views, customs and practices from the Roman Empire, the barbarian tribes in Europe and the feudalistic Middle Ages that nailed themselves to the ministries. These cancerous growths were even enshrined in church laws . . .
That is why I wrote this booklet. The authority in the Church which Jesus gave can, in many amazing forms, bring life to every believer. I want us all to reflect on how that authority is exercised in the Church today – to unmask the accretions and rediscover what Jesus had in mind.
My credentials
Who am I to present tales of my experiences and offer my thoughts? My Masters Degree at the Biblical Institute and Doctorate at the Gregorian University both in Rome equipped me for my task as a theologian. It set me off on further research resulting in my publishing a menu of 34 books mainly on biblical spirituality. And my ministry made me serve on a truly international level. I taught future priests in St John’s Major Seminary in Hyderabad, India, for 14 years and African students at the Missionary Institute London for 20 years. As Vicar General of the Mill Hill Missionaries for 6 years I regularly visited 9 countries in Europe and North America. Journeys as a part-time lecturer and as producer of videos for adult catechesis made me familiar with countries in Asia (Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines), Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria) and South America (Brazil, Colombia, Chile).
I have great admiration for the marvellous work achieved by bishops, priests, deacons and all other men and women in Church ministries. I have seen how their great personal sacrifices help hundreds of millions of people throughout in the world: through parish services, education, health care, and development projects. I am proud of the many individuals whom I may have helped to perform their service – and some of whom have excelled.
Eight of the seminarians I instructed in Hyderabad, India, became bishops. Two religious Sisters whom I taught and for whom I mediated studies at a university in Rome became General Superiors of their Congregations. My Mill Hill classmate Piet Vos gave his life for the parishioners of Lingomo in Zaire. This happened on the 27th of November 1964 when he tried to protect his people against communist rebels who overran the region. Father Christian Chessel, a ‘Missionary of Africa’ student whom I taught at the Missionary Institute London, was executed by Muslims on the 27th of December 1994 in Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria. To obtain his masters degree in theology he had written a dissertation for me on ‘Consolation at death as portrayed in the Pauline Letters’. He ise one of twenty missionary martyrs beatified by Pope Francis. I have truly tried to support ministers throughout my life
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