Funny thing, charity...

"As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others."

(Sam Levenson)

There is a Hebrew word for "charity" which is "tzedakah"; it literally translates as JUSTICE. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of "Red Nose Day" (RND), the highlight and major appeal day of British charity "Comic Relief". The charity was founded in 1985 by comedian Lenny Henry and scriptwriter Richard Curtis, in response to the famine in Ethiopia. It was launched on Christmas Day, from a refugee camp in Sudan. The charity's maintained aim is to bring about positive, lasting change in the lives of disadvantaged people, investing in work that addresses immediate needs and tackles the root causes of poverty and injustice. It's maintained principle is that every pound donated is spent on charitable projects; all operating costs and salaries are covered by corporate sponsors or any interest earned on collected funds before they're distributed.

RND was launched on 5th February 1988 as a national day of comedy and corporate and personal fundraising. The day traditionally culminates in a BBC telethon. It appears that we need comic, light relief to stem the deluge of heart-breaking films showing life and death in what we too readily refer to as the Third World. More than a quarter of a century after the images of famine on an apocalyptic scale flickered on our screens, accompanied by appropriately emotive pop music, we are still being asked to give. 
Personally, I wish I had a pound for every time I've heard someone moan: "the famine's still there, so giving five, ten, twenty years ago didn't do any good". Today, there other children starving; so many of those featured in previous RND films and documentaries will have died. Hunger is as naturally occurring as greed and lust. You and I will probably "feel" hungry at some point during every day throughout our lives,  yet will have no comprehension of what hunger actually is.
People don't volunteer to be born poor or in disadvantaged, stricken or war-torn regions. Good fortune places us this side of the TV screen. For years, I watched the RND telethon with my Mum. Invariable at some point during the evening we would both be in tears and she would say "Phone now", asking me to also donate on her behalf, from a basic, unsupplemented state pension. It always moved me that Mum, by no means a saint, would give to people in parts of the world she had never learned about in school and couldn't name, even as someone whose own income and expectations seemed so restricted. 

I've made a bit of a song and dance about not being able to have a glass of wine or slice of sticky-toffee cake for my birthday, falling part way through Lent. The blatant truth is that I chose to give up those things, and for a very limited time. With two hands and fresh vegetables to cook with, the want of cake and Pinot Grigio will never kill me. I'm ashamed that I frequently say I'm too broke to go for a meal out, to get the bathroom sorted, to go on holiday; I have no real concept of what it means to be broken.
Of course Comic Relief funds projects "locally" too; with a growing reputation for initiatives responding to and educating against domestic abuse. But as I grow older, the world somehow seems a much smaller place. I find the whole "Charity begins at home" plea tedious and quite despicable. This earth houses us all, but supports some much more comfortably than others. There is only one world, however much we spout about the first, second or third. You don't need to be a God-botherer or a tree-hugger to appreciate the obscenity of any child wasting away for the want of water, rice, mosquito nets or basic medicines; it's irrelevantl where that child was born or who to.
Over the years, Comic Relief has raised well over £750 million; last night's telethon total will add another record breaking £75 million. Obviously we can continue to donate throughout the rest of the year.
I'm not a fan of the "Reality TV" phenomenon: I think it panders to and then feeds off the worst excesses and inadequacies of human nature, turning it as entertainment. Generally, it's cheaply made television which makes celebrities of those who shout the most. Last night, I watched the most raw, damning reality TV of all. A tiny African boy, ironically called Victor, expired on camera. His parents couldn't afford to pay for the morgue, so the local hospital allowed them to lay him in their laundry over-night. Wrapped up on the shelf, he could have been just another bundle of soiled rags. A fiver could have kept him alive: half a pizza, less than a pint of Guinness, a couple of goes on the lottery.

"You will find out that Charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the full basket. But you will keep your gentleness and your smile. It is not enough to give soup and bread. This the rich can do. 

It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give to them." 

(St Vincent de Paul)

www.rednoseday.com

"People Help The People"  Birdy

"While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary." 

( Chinua Achebe)

Papa renuntiante! The Pope's resignation

"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God."

(Pope Benedict XVI)

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope in 2005 , he was already seventy eight years of age. Ordained at twenty four, he's now devoted more than sixty years of his life to the disciplines of Holy Orders, the service of the Catholic Church and his fellow men. As Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th Pope has held the helm of the Catholic Church through some very murky waters and challenging navigations over the past eight years. 

It's fair to say that he has been a maintainer and caretaker rather than a reformer. Something of a thinking man's Pope, he's an academic and prolific writer. Although he could be described as a conservative theologian (with a small "c"), the Pontiff has initiated many ecumenical dialogues and openly defended the right to freedom of religion. By the end of 2012, he became the first Pope to engage with Twitter! Another first yesterday: it was announced that he would resign the papacy on 28th February this year. He will be the first Pope to resign voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294: Gregory XII was forced to resign in the fifteenth century.

"I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. 

However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to steer the boat of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me." 

(Pope Benedict XVI, 11th February 2013)

Cardinal Ratzinger had hoped to retire to write after he turned seventy five, the retirement age for bishops. He'd previously submitted his resignation to Pope John Paul II three times but had been refused. In 1991, Cardinal Ratzinger had suffered a hemorrhage and stroke: his eyesight was temporarily affected but he made a full recovery. Never really made public,  this was known by the Vatican Conclave who elected him as Pope. Since his election in 2005, various rumours have circulated about his health: it's known that he suffers from an age-related heart condition and has been prescribed medication for this. He is the oldest person to have been elected Pope since the early eighteenth century, having also been the longest serving cardinal since his namesake Benedict XIII.
Whatever personal issues I may have about developments or perceived responses to them on Pope Benedict's watch, I do feel he's displayed eloquence and fervour whilst conducting himself with an amiable dignity. He's also been uncommonly vocal in expressing the importance of love in our lives, for each other as well as for God. My initial reaction to his resignation was one of shock and then concern that only a serious health worry would cause the Pope to resign before Easter, only days from the beginning of Lent. I pray this isn't the reason and that he simply wants to rest as much as any dedicated gentleman in his eighties deserves to. Certainly the Vatican statement emphasises that the timing of the resignation was intended to avoid the rush of Easter arrangements.

Catholics expect so much from our men of the cloth. I would never dispute that they are indeed devoted and exceptional men, but they are essentially flesh and blood; mortal. The sacred cloth will, I hope, always be renewed, re-embroidered or invisibly mended: hearts, bodies and minds, not so easily. Yet it's become generally accepted and even expected that our Popes will stay in office until they die. In retirement, Pope Benedict will remain a man of God and of conscience; visible, accountable and approachable.
After some adaptations, he'll reside at the monastery "Mater Ecclesiae" in the Vatican Gardens. He'll once again revert to being Cardinal Ratzinger, although his official clerical title may be "Bishop Emeritus of Rome". Shortly after his election to the papacy, he admitted: "At a certain point, I prayed to God 'please don't do this to me'. Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me." Yesterday's resignation sets a somewhat brave precedent; this time, we all listened.
The Catholic Church assures us that the one billion strong global congregation will know the name of their new Pontiff by Easter. I feel it could be immensely healing if the next Pope hailed from Africa; the church has been vociferously accused of ignoring the continuing AIDS epidemic on that continent by refusing to advocate contraception there. I also feel the retiring Pope could be uniquely placed to offer guidance and support to any successor: surely this could only engender continuity and reassurance within and beyond the Vatican for the future?
Amid the shock and apprehension, there's a sense of general sadness among Catholics. As U.S. Archbishop Timothy Dolan admitted: "It's like watching your own Dad get old and admit he's not up to all the duties that being the head of a family involves." But how cool that, aside from tendering less than a month's notice, the Pope also gets to resign in ecclesiastical Latin?  I wish him a peaceful retirement, finally; and I hope he gets to keep the red shoes.

"Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and civilizations." 

(Pope Benedict XVI)