Orderrrrr!

As Mr Speaker Bercow's bawls of Orderrr echo round the world, there is much hand-ringing in England and general lamenting about the state of British democracy - 'democracy at its worst' commented a young German to me sniffily. I beg to differ. I see stirrings of democracy actually coming to life. Admittedly this is rather a drastic way for it to happen, but perhaps it's the only way it could do so. For too long we have accepted politicians who merely exercise their votes according to the party line. Neither their consciences nor even their voices were truly engaged. What hope for the rest of us?

     I have argued in the past that the only kind of democracy that works is like a fishing boat or a monastery, where you may elect the skipper or the abbot, but then you must do what he says. However, this only works properly where the crew, or the community, can find some kind of consensus, and then when authority is exercised in a consultative and collaborative manner. Mrs May's big mistake was to convince herself that her way, spuriously represented as the Will of the People, was the only way, and then to proceed to try to ram it through regardless.

     I am delighted to see the House of Commons asserting itself. It's a great pity that it wasn't done a couple of years ago, with a sensible and practicable course of action thrashed out then which the Government could get on with implementing; but life's not tidy, and better late than never. At least it should now be clear that the only real choice is between a 'common market 2' with a customs union, though I do not think this would be stable and sustainable in the long term, but rather an unsatisfactory way of buying time, or that of getting stuck into making a success of the EU. The rest is 'stop the world, I want to get off' sort of stuff.

     Of course, there are any amount of reasons why one might want to do precisely that, but they are vacuous in the end. Brexit represents to me a last ditch attempt to stay in the 20th century. The 21st is confronted by a host of challenges, both threats and opportunities, that absolutely require greatly enhanced cooperation and integration between the nations.

     I wish I could share what I regard as one of the greatest gifts of the Catholic faith, besides that of being catholic, namely that it enables the likes of me to be fully committed to this dark and troubled world, where everything seems destined to end in sorrow and death, and yet to hope and believe that we have both a future worth struggling for and an eternal destiny. They are but two sides of the same coin. The sting is removed from death and negativity - they are changed into a necessary right of passage to a fulfillment that puts the whole shebang into glorious light.

     To many, this will appear to be mere fantasy. Well good luck with that, I cannot see how you will avoid a life of disappointment and frustration; but I can assure you this particular 'fantasy' is reasonable, believable and efficacious. I have just been to Mass in the Monasteiro here in Alcobaça. The huge, gaunt old Abbey church has little decoration; on the sanctuary, besides the altar, the chair, the lectern and a great big crucifix that is undergoing renovation, there is only an unusual statue of the Virgin Mary, in wood, from the eighteenth century. She looks as if the Angel Gabriel has just left her; dumfounded and flabberghasted, she seems to be saying 'Yer wha, me?' as we might put it in Ireland. She was richly robed, as was the Church at that time, but she nonetheless is mainly facing empty space. No comforting infant, only the Crucified One....

     Not for the first or last time, it was hard to see where the Church was going, to the man who carved that statue. Fortunately, this does not depend on flawed humanity. For 'the Church', you may have to fall back on (to my mind) second-rate versions of Truth, Reality, the Great Tradition; call the opposite of delusion what you will. Let's say there are tell-tale signs of such fantasies as deny reality; all sorts of had things happen as a result of them. If we insist on following them to the bitter end, God will not prevent it. Yet there is always a price to be paid. 

     More power and all good wishes to those MPs who are trying to bring about a new kind of politics, fit to face the challenges of this 21st century!