Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Kairos Palestine: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian Suffering

On December 11, 2009, a group of Palestinian Christian leaders went public with a declaration on behalf of peace in Palestine/Israel, and on behalf of a truly Christian witness. The result was this document. See also the website at http://www.kairospalestine.ps

PATRIARCHS AND HEADS OF CHURCHES JERUSALEM

WE HEAR THE CRY OF OUR CHILDREN

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, hear the cry of hope that our children have launched in these difficult times that we still experience in this Holy Land. We support them and stand by them in their faith, their hope, their love and their vision for the future. We also support the call to all our faithful as well as to the Israeli and Palestinian Leaders, to the International Community and to the World Churches, in order to accelerate the achievement of justice, peace and reconciliation in this Holy Land. We ask God to bless all our children by giving them more power in order to contribute effectively in establishing and developing their community, while making it a community of love, trust, justice and peace.

Military Chaplain Repents by Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy (Must-Read 25 years later)

This interview was given 25 years ago and is reprinted from http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/mccarthy5.html. Those who read it today ask, Why did I never hear about this? Now we must! Its prophetic elements have proven true in the post 9-11 world.

In August of 1945 Rev. George B. Zabelka, a Catholic chaplain with the U.S. Army Air Force, was stationed on Tinian Island in the South Pacific. He was assigned to serve the Catholics of the 509th Composite Group. The 509th Composite Group was the Atomic Bomb Group. He served as a priest for those who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After 22 years as a military chaplain he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. What follows is an interview with him by Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy. Rev. George B. Zabelka went to meet his God on April 11, 1992.

Fr. McCarthy: Father Zabelka, what is your relationship to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945?

Fr. Zabelka: During the summer of 1945, July, August and September, I was assigned as Catholic chaplain to the 509th Composite Group on Tinian Island. The 509th was the Atomic Bomb Group.

An Essay on the Understanding of NOUS by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

NOUS: The Concord of Gnosis, Theoria and Theosis  

 1.  According to the 18th century German Philosopher, Emmanuel Kant, reality is divided between phenomena and noumena, that is, the realm of time, space and matter and its relation, if any, to the unknown realm of the spirit.  All knowledge is rational, the result of the synthesis of a priori concepts of the reason (Erkenntnis) and “the manifold of sense perception” or “experience.”  “In the order of time,” he declared, “we have no knowledge antecedent to experience, and with experience all our knowledge begins” (“De Zeit nach geht also keine Erkenntnis in uns vor der Erfahrung vorher, und mit dieser fangt alle”) (1).

     For Kant, the apex of modern philosophy, the quest for “knowledge” is the quest for theoretical or rational certainty.  Ironically, his enterprise  was initiated  by the very thing he undertook to analyze --- reason (Vernunft). He commenced the examination of this “problem” without a “critique” of the principles of ratiocination inherited from the history of Western philosophy, and without resorting to the Biblical God, the Christ of Faith, and the wisdom of the Church Fathers. 

The Multiple Morphing Faces of Freedom by Brad Jersak

  "THE USES OF FREEDOM--A WORD AND OUR WORLD" 

As I was reading an old essay (1956) by the Canadian philosopher-prophet George Grant on the varied uses of the word freedom in his day, I saw that it was due for a post-9-11 transposition. His unique contribution was in seeing that the modern North American sense of freedom as "the ability to do and get whatever I want" was rooted in surprising ground. He argued that while faith in this type of freedom is often sourced to (1) industrialism, (2) world-centered philosophy, and (3) the resultant crude hedonism, this is to miss the central point of our origins. Grant noted that before America's break with England, before the westward movement, before industrialization, before the rise of American secular humanism, Puritan Protestants arrived on our shores and set forces in motion that would inevitably spawn a pervasive secular, liberal society in a few short steps. 

Clarion Nominated for Canadian Weblog Awards

 

We're surprised and glad to announce that Clarion has been nominated for two Canadian Weblog Awards this year. Many thanks to our contributors and columnists, especially to Ron S. Dart, who provided the original inspiration. Welcome also to Brian Zahnd and Alfred Sergel, two new American writers who contributed some fine work throughout 2009. Gratefully, Brad Jersak and the editorial team.

12 Words -- by Al Sergel

words...

when God uses words, when God speaks, things come to life.

words..

...they convert.

...they transform.

thomas merton once wrote that "to work out our own identity in God, which the Bible calls 'working out our salvation', is a labor that requires sacrifice and anguish, risk and many tears."

being one who is and will continually be seeking salvation - that is to say my 'own identity in God' - it is striking how 12 words, 12 words, when received in the heart of humanity converts and transforms not only our lives, but the lives of others.

12 words.  

"You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."

The Northern Red Oak by Ron Dart

Milton Acorn died in 1986, and a year after his death, some of the finest poets in Canada contributed to a collection to honour the hard life and vivid

personal and political poetry of Acorn; the collection was called The Northern Red Oak. Fred Cogswell contributed a poem to the missive called ‘When I Think of Christ’. The poem is worth the pondering. 

          When I think of Christ

          I think not of heaven’s king

          but of a neighbour 

          who died in the fire

          of his burning barn to save

          a too stubborn horse. 

Ron Dart 

Milton Acorn: Christian Poet of the People by Ron Dart

                

        The Acorn picture I want to convey is of a maverick and

        outsider, a man who speaks out at the wrong time, asks

        embarrassing questions of human society, and will not be

        satisfied by evasions.                 Al Purdy

 

Milton Acorn (1923-1986) was, when alive, one of the most controversial Canadian poets, and since his death, there has been a growing interest in his life and poetic vision.

 

Acorn won the People’s Poetry Award forty years ago (1970) for his incisive and evocative missive, I’ve Tasted My Blood, and he was awarded the Governor General’s Award thirty-five years ago (1975) for The Island Means Minago. Both books of poetry walk the attentive reader into the white heat political vision of Acorn.

 

The fact that Acorn is one of Canada’s finest poets has meant that biographers have been keen to track and trace his unusual life and poetic journey. Out of This World: The Natural History of Milton Acorn (1996) and Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger (1999) tell the tale well of Acorn’s hard and demanding journey, but both tomes fail to properly deal with Acorn’s deeper Christian commitment.

 

Acorn was both a political and prophetic poet, and, as such, he could not be fitted into the partisan politics of the political left, right or centre. He was fond of George Grant and C.S. Lewis, and Acorn’s High Church Anglicanism was at the core and centre of his being. Acorn sought to live and write in such a way that his poetry embodied and reflected the voices and concerns of those on the margins. In short, his faith and his sense of  ecology, justice and peace were integrated at a demanding and profound level.

 

The fact that there is growing interest in Acorn yet once again means that three books are in the womb on Acorn that should be published in 2010-2011. These books will cover some of his finest poetry and critical essays on his poetry, science fiction, plays and prose. Acorn can be, for those that are interested in the artistic journey, a guide into the troubled waters of faith, poetry and prophetic politics. There have been few Christian poets in Canada of Acorn’s stature, and we still have much to learn from this acorn turned oak.

 

Ron Dart

Obama -- Nobel Peace by Wayne Northey

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their [Martin Luther King’s and Gandhi's non-violence] examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.” – President Obama, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech 

How can one deny that President Obama is a militarist and a mass murderer?  Theologian John McKenzie observed that no American President since the nuclear age has been unwilling to push the button.  Obama is likewise not unwilling, “sworn to protect and defend [his] nation”, at the risk of thousands more civilian deaths.  “The world as it is” at the state level has always called forth a violent solution to violence.  “Evil does exist in the world”, and what Martin Luther King Jr. said of the United States of America exactly a year before his assassination still obtains: “[T]he greatest purveyor of violence in the world today [is] my own government.”  America is prime candidate for “Evil Empire”. 

The “recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason” call forth a transcendence of same towards a new history of the state without violence.  It is thinkable and doable, and the only measure of human greatness.  There is one implicit truth in the above excerpt: To have a hope of being a bona fide peacemaker, Obama chose the wrong job.