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Interview with Fr. Albert Nolan, O.P.
Since meeting Dion, it seems I’m constantly and delightfully led to theologians from South Africa. Please allow me to lift up some gems .
Q. Do you distinguish between social involvement and political involvement?
Yes, I do, in the sense that it was not important for us to be part of a political party. We were not-people like myself, Dominicans, Christians, etc.-trying to gain power. We were working for justice. That’s a social issue. We did work with political parties-in fact very much so-because it was necessary to do that in order to ensure that there was going to be social justice. So, while we worked with politicians, when the time came to have a democratic election, it was the politicians who became members of parliament and of government, but those of us who had worked on behalf of Christianity and because of our Christian faith, we continued working in the Church; we were not interested in political power. But there were a few people from the Churches who did go into politics, partly because there were not many people to take all the political posts of government that was necessary at the time.
Q. Did you ever see any conflict between your social activism and your vocation as a Dominican and religious?
The conflict was not so much with being a Dominican, but there was conflict with the Church and with other members of the Church, because there were many people who said that one should not be involved in politics, and that even issues of justice were not the kind of thing that a priest should be involved in. I was often accused of being a "political priest."
I was also accused of being a communist. If you were against the government-which was regarded as a Christian government, even if it did wrong-and if you wanted equality for everybody, then you were a communist. That was a criticism that I and many in Latin America put up with: the accusation of being a communist. All that is gone today, but it was a problem in the past.
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Q. How do you pray when confronting misery, suffering, injustice, and misunderstanding?
A. I think we have learned to live with that-not that we do not protest against it. It is very sad, and we continually try to change the country so that there will not be poor people, or fewer poor people. But I think we realize that this is very difficult with the kind of globalized economy we live in today. We have to realize it is a struggle that will take a long time. We cannot solve all these problems ourselves and need to trust in God and do the best we can. So, I think that would be more my prayer.
The virtue we need most of all, I would say, is hope. We need to teach people hope, and to be hopeful ourselves in one way or another.
Q. How can you teach hope?
A. Well, "teach" is entirely the wrong word. No, you can’t teach hope. But if we are hopeful, and can give an account of our hope to others, as the Letter of Peter says, we can, by what we do and say, enable other people to be hopeful.
Reading this is so inspiring . and empowering! In our own unique way, Malaysia has much to learn.
. What the South African experience seems to be saying to us here is that justice, peace and reconciliation can be achieved only through good leadership, which does not only mean leadership that is strong and decisive, but leadership that is humble, honest, fearless and unselfish, a leadership that is based upon a deep personal freedom. In Christian terms we might want to call it ‘holiness’ or ’sanctity’. That this should have been found in people who sometimes had little or nothing to do with the Church is a challenge to our theology.
. Another element in South Africa’s dialectic of change was the development of a strong civil society. Because only the mildest of opposition political parties were allowed to operate, the real opponents of apartheid, black and white, worked in and through the organs of civil society. Many South Africans were in fact members of the banned African National Congress (ANC), Pan African Congress (PAC) or South African Communist Party (SACP), but they worked in civil society movements like trade unions, youth movements, women’s movements, student movements as well as volunteer organisations or NGOs (non-governmental organisations) working for the poor, the uneducated, the illiterate, the disabled and so forth. Churches and religious communities, and especially religious organisations and movements working for justice and peace, were also seen as part of civil society.
It was in the organs of civil society that people of different colours and creeds learnt to work together united in the struggle against the common enemy, apartheid. In 1983 almost all these organisations and movements, including some church movements, came together to form the extremely powerful United Democratic Front (UDF).
. Over the years most whites had been pleading for peace and reconciliation, but they had not been willing to sacrifice their privileges and allow equal rights for the black majority in one undivided nation. They wanted peace without justice. Tough negotiating changed that.
. Reconciliation in South Africa is based squarely upon a common belief in the value of negotiations. Today, South Africans, black and white, travel the world to assist in situations of violent conflict by ‘preaching’ the virtues of a negotiated settlement.
A feature of South Africa’s experience worth noting is that negotiations, and even the original talks about talks, were never brokered or facilitated or mediated by anyone from outside – even when the negotiations threatened to break down and once or twice did break down. That the negotiators themselves were able to pick up the pieces again and again and get the process back on track must be attributed to our extraordinarily wise and magnanimous leadership.
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The South African experience of conflict and reconciliation highlights a number of human and Christian values:
- the value of dialogue and negotiation in place of violent conflict,
- the value of striving for a more just society rather than the victory of one group over another,
- the value of making carefully defined concessions or compromises,
- the value of a willingness to forgive or at least to grant amnesty when necessary,
- the value of dealing with the past rather than burying it,
- the value of avoiding complacency and apathy in the face of overwhelming problems,
- the value of a strong civil society including trade unions and religious communities, and, last but not least,
- the indispensable value of good leadership and personal freedom.
Albert Nolan: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Good basic information.
Caught between chaos and promise
I’m on Albert Nolan overload right now ..
Episode 1: Jesus was amazingly free (21 min.)
“Jesus was an amazingly free person and what he was bringing was not new constraints and so forth, not new prohibitions, etc., but freedom,” Nolan tells Tom Fox. “Many people look at Christianity and the church and see it as something that constrains, it prevents people from being free, it prevents people from doing things, and is generally restrictive and I think that’s a mistake. Christianity is not supposed to be like that and Jesus was not like that.”Episode 2: People are disillusioned (22 min.)
“All the things that were promised with progress are not working,” Nolan tells Tom Fox. “The great ideologies are all shown today to be faulty. The grand narratives, as they are called, are all falling apart. People are disillusioned.” And this is a great opportunity for Christians, he says. Christianity has a holistic answer to this. This disillusionment, he says, “opens up all sorts of possibility.”Episode 3: New voices give hope and the ‘new science’ (17 min.)
“While we in the West were pursuing individualism as a great ideal, being independent of everybody else and autonomous and so forth, we are beginning to discover now that that is not good for us. In other words, being selfish and self-centered is our problem, not the solution to our problems,” Nolan says. This is being challenged, he said, by new voices: the poor, women and indigenous people.Also in this episode, Nolan talks about “the new science.” He tells Tom Fox: “Scientists have reached the point where they’re able to say, ‘We don’t know, we don’t understand . It’s a whole new approach to the universe, to the world, to human beings, to everything-that it is mysterious.”
Episode 4: Jesus’ spirituality (26 min.)
Nolan says, “What Jesus tried to do for people was not to condemn, to blame, to punish, judge, or any of those things, but quite clearly to heal. He says that people need, the sinners need a physician. They need a doctor. They need a healer. . [Understanding this] is very important, it’s a way of understanding what [Jesus] actually contributed, what he brought, what salvation is all about.”Episode 5: In the presence of colossal mystery (21 min.)
“Everything is a mystery.” That doesn’t mean, Nolan explains, that everything is disappointing because can’t know it. “Rather, it is recognizing that we don’t know, but it is so much bigger, greater, grander than anything we do know,” he tells Tom Fox. Being “in the presence of colossal mystery . leads to a kind of attitude of praise and worship and adoration, but then also to the recognition that the mystery loves me and you and everybody else. So, it is a mystery of love.”Episode 6: The sharing Jesus had in mind (22 min.)
“Sharing seems to be an extremely important part of Jesus teaching that gets lost,” Nolan tells Tom Fox. “It’s no longer seen as the great ideal that Jesus wanted. I think Jesus saw the solution, if you want to call it that, to the problem of poverty and wealth, and all that kind of thing, as sharing. . [Sharing] seems to me to describe a very important aspect of the Kingdom of God.”In this episode, Nolan also talks about creation. God the creator is better understand as artist than as a manufacturer, he says. “God’s act of creating, not only continues right through to today, but God creates with a process that’s evolutionary. In the past, I think we didn’t realize that. Even the great theologians, and so forth, didn’t realize that,” he says.
Hope-giving spirituality-Albert Nolan
Short but profound .
A hope-giving spirituality, then, would be a spirituality that deepens our sense of the reality of God. Yet for many people God is dead: despite their profession of belief, in practice God, plays no role in their lives at all. We cannot blame them for it: the images of God (punishing judge, supreme male patriarch, the all powerfull manipulator, etc) is hopelessly misleading. Hence for hope we must to unlearn these images of God. We should not worship images(idols) of God.
We need a re-enchantment with God. The removal of mystery lead to the death of God. Our way to the mystery of God is not knowledge. Hence, my relationship to God is wonder, being enthrawled, being marveled. The new cosmology, away from Newton’s mechanistic machine cosmology towards Einstein, the mystery. Then the next step is worship and adore God- we can only bow down and worship- we are in teh presecne of some so much bigger then what we are. One we’ve done that, then trust and confidence in God comes forth- we believe what jesus taught us. God becomes like a personal lover. an expreience of love. This is prayer, not knowledge or theology. It a relationship.
4 Firefox Add-Ons to Ease Your Online Life
I’m adding away!
Preaching: This might hurt a little…
I wonder whether some personalities are more drawn to this … however, Willimon has some needed corrective wisdom here for those of us who lean to the other side of just helping without hurting.
"A person emerged from our church a few Sundays ago, saying to me at the door as she left, ‘I know you would not intentionally hurt anyone with what you say from the pulpit, but I was hurt by what you said today in your sermon.’
And I thought, ‘Where would you have gotten the notion that I would not want to hurt you? I’m a preacher. Some infliction of pain goes with the job!" -Will Willimon, Pastor
2 views here … from a USA context.
Charles Colson: I don’t think that you can simply forget the fact that we live in a kingdom and a state. Our job is to make the state as righteous and conformed to God’s standards as possible. But you can love the Lord your God with your heart, mind, and soul and also love your country as a way of loving your neighbor.
Gregory Boyd: This is the fundamental difference between us. In your book you speak a lot about our dual commitments, our dual allegiances to God and country. I just don’t know where in the New Testament you get that. I can’t imagine Jesus or Paul saying such a thing. God tells us to obey the laws of the land and to pray for peace. Those are our two engagements. But I don’t feel we have any kind of duty to love or defend our country.
The 10 Commandments of Web Design (via Church Marketing Sucks .. I love that name!)
Here’s a sampling …
- Thou shalt not abuse Flash. The technology can easily be abused–excessive, extemporaneous animations confuse usability and bog down users’ web browsers.
- Thou shalt not clutter. The web may be the greatest archive of all time, but sites that lack a coherent structure make it impossible to wade through information.
- Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections. Some experts say Apple’s habit of creating glassy reflections under photos of its products has been far too commonly copied, turning the style element into a cliché.
- Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography. Designers say that despite the increase in broadband penetration, plain text has gotten a second wind in cutting-edge web design.
After GAFCON: Reflections by the Bishop of Durham
Bishop N.T. Wright gives it a go …
Cutting your links with the past can be like cutting off the roots of a tree. Reconnecting with our roots – and, where necessary, refreshing and cleaning them – is always better than pretending we don’t need them. But what matters is of course the fruit. Here in my diocese, as in so many in England, we are refreshing our roots and seeing real fruit; but we don’t imagine we are self-sufficient. On the contrary, we know we have a great deal to learn from brothers and sisters in many other parts of the world, Africa included. I would have hoped, actually, that all this would now go without saying: that we have long moved beyond the sterile stand-off between ‘colonialism’ and ‘post-colonialism’. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what matters.
SURRENDER IS BOTH a definite decision and a lifelong process that happens day by day. It starts when we consciously decide to hand over our will and life to God. But it does not end there. It is never a one-shot experience. Each new day we will need to renew our act of surrender and offer ourselves to God again. Shifting from a self-centered lifestyle to a God-centered one takes a lifetime.
- Trevor Hudson
One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality
(via Upper Room Daily Reflections)
It’s not to be energized when I’m with people who embody what the quote above is talking about. In the midst of some conversations whether it’s younger Christians or older Christians, I get the sense that learning to "surrender" as well as the actual practice of "surrendering" is a great battle.
We tempted to rationalize our choices and preferences. We judge one view as less valid as we justify our own as having a better conscience. In short, in all honesty we pick and choose our "rights and wrongs". In reaction to rigid moralizing, we easily slip into a self-appointed moral code where we are the center. This is a understandable move since in our context, we have tended to be under pressure to fit into other people’s expectations, so there is a drive to differentiate ourselves from those who we perceive to be exerting themselves. So the poles are between ourselves and others, and thus for our own sanity better flowing ourselves than forcing to live for others.
This God-centered talk lifts us from these seemingly opposing poles of self and others. It breaks us our of the endless cycle of pleasing ourselves or pleasing others. The kind of "surrender" I’m talking about is not a mindless one. It’s not blind faith. And yet, we also don’t want to be too calculative and paralyze ourselves by too much measuring.
So in the midst of this definite decision of surrender, and day by day surrendering … it’s more about freeing ourselves from our greatest enemy ourselves and our prejudices, and also freeing ourselves from the imposition of other people’s agenda, towards the One who truly has our best interest in mind. It’s faith posture, I admit. Still, to me it’s the better bet. Perhaps, some initial rewards has convinced me … 
There’s more to come.
This will be one constituency many eyes will be watching. Last night, I managed to catch her speak in Malaysiakini.tv for the first time. After hearing Nurul Izzah speak, I can see she is no pawn or pushover, and can pretty much stand her ground. The little leaflet going around Bangsar has a number of points which I thought stood out (BTW, the way the content is written balances the more personal dimension of a candidate as well as the bigger pictures in which they operate in):
SHE HAS THE CHARACTER AND COMMONPLACE VALUES
She is very down to earth and without airs, respectful of others. She is humble and always ready to learn. She feels deeply for victims of poverty, discrimination and abuse. She is very approachable, pleasant and a pleasure to meet with.
SHE IS YOUNG, ENERGETIC AND THINKS GLOBALLY
She will be a diligent MP, attending parliamentary sessions and attending to the plight of her constituents. She will rigorously promote her party’s manifesto to create a vibrant economy for all; “For Malaysia to stand again amongst the giants (of Asian economy), we must play by the rules of the global game as well as eliminate corruption and wastage.”
The Bigger picture closing wraps up with an educational flavor:
LET US NOT GIVE ANY GOVERNMENT THE LUXURY AND TEMPTATION OF A TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT so that they can
- act with impunity without adequate accountability to the People
- amend the Federal Constitution any time or anyhow they wish
- become arrogant and usurp the rights and position of the People
- suppress freedom of assembly, association, speech, and information
- muzzle the press and media
- create economic monopolies as they wish
LET US SEND NURUL IZZAH TO PARLIAMENT to be a voice for women and youth and the people of Lembah Pantai articulating our concerns about
- the direction, resources, and future of our nation
- abuse of power and resources
- rising cost of living
- crime and public safety
- national unity and harmony
- fundamental liberties
- the independence of the judiciary
Kelana Jaya get an MP : Take your chances with Gwo Burne
Following the comments and discussion over him has helped sharpen the issues for many. And yet, Haris closing comments probably represent the general consensus of many who were caught at first by surprise and puzzlement. I noticed Gwo Burne’s website has a needed facelift … click here
Farida’s closing question led me to the question ‘What are the negatives that make Gwo Burne an incurably unacceptable choice?’
For me, those negatives were neutered by the responses I got to my questions during the interview that I had with Gwo Burne day before yesterday, and which I shared with you in a post entitled ‘The People’s Parliament catchs up with Loh Gwo Burne’ together with the impression I formed of him even before nomination day, having had the opportunity to observe him in the witness box during the Commission proceedings.
That impression which I formed of him earlier I will share at the ceramah later tonight.
For now, let me just say that I think Kelana Jaya voters should give this man a chance in Parliament.
One of the side excitements during this election season is the rise of the younger candidates mostly from the opposition. Hannah Yeoh has been making waves slowly but surely.
Question time: PJ Utara’s Tony Pua vs Chew Mei Fun
Tony Pua is the same age with me … I was tickled when a church member said he’s a Tony Pua fan … wow.
Agenda Utama: Pemerkasaan Rakyat untuk Masyarakat Madani
I heard Nik Nazmi take the mic a few times at some forums and he left a deep impression in my view. His youtube video is really good.
(NOTE: I’m sure there are also younger candidates from the BN who have been given a chance and also have much potential, but since they already get so much exposure in the mainstream media, I thought it would be nice to focus on the opposition and all the candidates above each have their own unique way of generating excitement)
Looks like the “Bersih Buzz” prevails …
Plan A, B, C, D … ?
Can we really “not be part of it”?
Supper for tonight?
“If reading about how some people selfishly criticised the rally is astonishing, then this has got to the mother of it all… someone told me this today…
“Ya’ know, I was caught up in a bad jam last Saturday. Dunno why the traffic was so bad”
I shall skip the part about how I royally admonished that person. At the end of the conversation, I got the usual remark…“Oh, I am not involved in all these politics and I am not going to be part of it”
Friends, honestly speaking… can we really entirely distant ourselves from politics? Is that truly possible? “
The BERSIH Rally – The Reconstruction of Reality and the Second Phase of Collective Movement
A genuine hope …
“I also hope that those who did not participate in the rally will speak to their family and friends who did, to get their personal accounts of what happened. They need to hear the stories of everyday Malaysians about why they demonstrated peacefully. I hope some truth pierces through the song-and-dance that the mainstream media is conjuring.
As it was with the BERSIH rally, it is likely to be the voices of ordinary people – through blogs, websites, letters to the independent media, personal phone calls and casual conversations – that share the truth of what happened, and which call, again, for reform: the reform of mainstream media in addition to the reform of the electoral system.”
CIJ: Misinformation Reigns on the November 10 March
Strong words here:
“Our country is in serious trouble in so many ways, and rather than face these issues properly, courageously, and with concern for the dignity and human rights of people, we are just supposed to pretend that everything is fine. More gloss and veneer to hide the shaky foundations and widening cracks in our society. Pretense rather than honesty, misuse of the law rather than justice, studied ignorance rather than courageous reform. Let us tackle social problems rather than avoid them! Let us rebuild the foundations of our nation and mend the cracks in the walls, not pretend that nothing is wrong!!!”
Of Public Protests, Pondans and a Pea-Brained Minister
This may sound personal but then again … the personal and the public is closely related.
Love the title ..
“It was inconvenient for many. For both the interested and the disinterested. But it was no less a call to our conscience. It was an issue of legality - and to some, defiance. Even denial. Fear and conscience can bring out the best or the worst. “
A little bit dense for an opening … but appreciate the effort.
“Any form of civil disobedience is often preceded by a process of deterioration in the part of the state. As such, civil disobedience serves as a restitutive symbol in the initiation of a reparation process. Thus, the manner and intensity in which we interact with this symbol is a constituent part of the reparation process and crucial in the determination of its outcome.”
The yellow wave and its durian effect
Nice use of the King of the Fruits … Delightfully suprised to read some Liberation Theologian names
“Will the yellow fever, like the River HuangHe does, bring sorrow to the current regime? Is the nation seeing the seeds of destruction germinating? Will the Krakatau of the Malaysian rumbling and grumbling finally erupt?
I don’t know. You and I can only make informed guesses. Man proposes, God disposes.
We can only predict and plan for the translation of theory into practice. That’s what praxis is – the marriage of idealism and action to produce “cultural action for freedom”, as Latin liberation theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Denis Goulet, and Paulo Freire would say. Or like what the brave heart Che Guevara would embody. “
WIKIPEDIA: 2007 Malaysian electoral reforms rally
Let’s see how this evolves.
More Pictures
When I was young I always wanted to learn piano, but somehow it never happened. So, I just enjoy the piano playing of others. I will add more tracks when I’m free .. for now, the combination of the notes helps me settle down.
Amazing Grace … amazing!
My votes are for the guys in the clergy collars and not with the ones with the suits and ties!
Lord have mercy.
listening to this reminds me of Michael Hedges
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I made a new discovery today … our wedding anniversary falls on the World Environment Day. What’s also interesting is that it was established on the year I was born in 1972. More info here.