Mission UK

Can pagan Britain recover its Christian identity?

Contents - Feb 2012 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Climate change alarmism in the classroom - Michael Gilchrist Curia: Benedict XVI names 22 new cardinals for his fourth consistory - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Religious Freedom: Freedom of religion American style - Babette Francis Law: Catholic politicians and same-sex 'marriage' - Michael Gilchrist Culture Wars: Catholic universities and secularism - Achbishop Charles Chaput Domus Australia: 'Roots and wings': a little corner of Australia in Rome - Fr Anthony Denton Census: Growth and decline in the churches: research findings - Frank Mobbs Youth: iWitness 2011: a celebration of young adult Catholic life - Br Barry Coldrey Missionary outreach: Melbourne parish's gifts for a growing Fijian parish - Christopher Akehurst Mission UK: Can pagan Britain recover its Christian identity? Letters: Same-sex 'marriage' - Robert Bom Letters: Unwelcome truth - Brian Coman Letters: Abortion laws - Terry and Rosemary McDonnell Letters: Human right? - Arnold Jago Letters: SSPX schools - Ken Bayliss Letters: Moral relativism - Fr Bernard McGrath Letters: Interest invited - David Forster Letters: Catholic reading - Gerard Wilson Books: HOW TO GET EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL, by Ian Plimer - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: THE RETURN OF MODERNISM:The Second Wave Revisited, by Dr J.N. Santamaria - David Perrin (reviewer) Books: SLO-MO TSUNAMI And Other Poems, by Bruce Dawe - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Pope's New Year Message for 2012 underlines the right use of freedom - Pope Benedict XVI

Franciscan Sister Jacinta Pollard, one of the women profiled in the BBC's recent documentary Young Nuns, hopes her community's prayers and sacrifices can help bring Britain back to the Catholic faith.

"It's like living in pagan Rome, actually! It must have been very similar, for the early Christians," said Sister Jacinta, head of St Clare's Convent in Leeds.

Her growing community consists of five women with an average age of 30. They are a missionary project of the New York-based Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, who evangelise through service to the poor under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Filmmaker Vicky Mitchell highlighted Sr Jacinta and her community, along with other young women of the Benedictine and Dominican orders, in a documentary that premiered on 25 October 2011 on the BBC.

Sr Jacinta spoke highly of Mitchell's work in an interview with Catholic News Agency. She said the producer and director of Young Nuns was "extremely sympathetic and understanding of our life" and "did not try to 'tabloid' it."

Anti-Christian bias

The friendly coverage may come as a welcome surprise in England, where both the government and the press have been accused of an anti-Christian bias.

Sr Jacinta says England now has only "a very small population of Christians." And some young people there have not taken well to the sight of religious sisters in full habits.

"It's not that unusual to be laughed at, out loud. It's mostly the teenagers and young adults that would be most openly aggressive. It feels like they're just very insecure.

"We just smile at them, love them, and pray for them. And we hope that we can enter into some kind of dialogue with them, to show them that actually we're really concerned about them and can offer them something."

Despite these outbursts of hostility, Sr Jacinta has found that monks and nuns still have a hold on the British imagination. "We find there's definitely an attraction, even among non-believers. There's a certain something there, that no one quite understands."

A lifelong Catholic, she worked as an occupational therapist before joining the Franciscan Sisters in her late 20s. The first hints of her vocation came on a pilgrimage to Rome for World Youth Day in 2000.

"I heard the Holy Father speak, at the closing Mass," the Franciscan sister remembered. "I very much sensed that I wasn't doing a great job with my life, making myself happy. It was very clear to me, at that moment.

"At the last Mass, with the Holy Father, I simply said in my heart as a prayer: 'Lord, you take over. Take my life, and I'll follow you. I won't follow me'."

She later left her job and worked as a full-time youth minister. "In that time, I really felt the Lord asking me to be his alone," she said. "But I also realised that I was being called to community."

As a child, the future Franciscan sister had listened to bedtime stories about the saints. She had trouble imagining herself in a lifestyle radically geared toward holiness. "I felt so far from the nuns I'd heard of, or even met. I thought they were kind of perfect, and beautiful, and amazing, and great evangelists. I thought, 'That doesn't seem right for me - I'm not there yet, I'm very imperfect.'

"But the Lord broke through that rubbish! If he calls, you answer, and you go and listen."

Sr Jacinta said the biggest sacrifice for her was not the loss of her possessions or the prospect of marriage. "It has to be the separation from family. For most of us, that's the biggest sacrifice. And it is a daily sacrifice."

Sr Jacinta's parents accepted her decision. But other young women have faced opposition from family. "There have been some really hard situations, with some parents not accepting a vocation, getting really angry and thinking: 'Where are my grandchildren coming from?'"

"I'm sure it's a lot of hopes and dreams smashed for parents, if they never envisioned their children taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. It seems so absurd to them - and to most people!"

But Sr Jacinta's own father sees a growing need for the sisters' service to the poor. "My dad keeps telling me that England's going bankrupt soon. He keeps telling me: 'You're gonna have your work cut out for you!'

"Maybe the need for religious life will increase, because the needs will increase. That's what we've seen in past centuries. Religious communities spring up, where there is great poverty and great need."

Historic faith

Sr Jacinta longs to see her country return to its historic faith. She thinks the Young Nuns documentary could help the cause, despite its origins as a "totally secular project."

"Many, many people have seen it. Who knows the effects it's having?"

Meanwhile, the Franciscan Sisters will continue to preach the Gospel to a troubled country through their words and deeds. "I see a lot of awful things around me. I see my own country torn apart by a culture that is devastating to it, that is one big lie.

"What does that mean for me? All I know is that God has asked me to live this life, and I have said yes. He's asking me now to go back to England and say yes to the little things that I'm asked to do there, even if it is simply to live a life of sacrifice and prayer."

God's grace, she said, can bring unforeseen results out of humble work.

"We can see someone like Mother Teresa and say, 'Well, she changed the world!' And yet, what did she do? She just did the next thing that God asked. God can do the same with us. He can make us great saints, if we allow him to do that."

With acknowledgement to Catholic News Agency.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 25 No 1 (February 2012), p. 13