More letters on the Egans

The Christmas issue of the Catholic Herald published my letter in reply to Martin Elsworth, on Br Egan's criticism of Bishop Egan. Round 1 is here. It was published beneath a second letter from Br Egan. My reply to Elsworth worked well as a reply to this new letter rom Br Egan, so this is a neat conclusion to this exchange.

Mr Elsworth (Letters, 14th December) defends the peculiar phrase ‘John’s last Supper model of the servant Church’, despite St John not giving us a narrative of the Last Supper, on the basis that the mandatum took place ‘at supper’.  Alternatively, the phrase might point to the ‘Farewell Discourses’ which follow. I think we can agree that the phrase is misleading, and that anyone familiar with the Fourth Gospel would more naturally refer specifically to the mandatum, or the Farewell Discourses, or whatever he actually meant, if he wished to be understood.

And what do we read in the Farewell Discourses? ‘If you love Me you will keep my commandments.’ (John 14.45) There is no tension between keeping the commandments and loving Our Lord and our fellows. Doing what God commands is the necessary precondition for helping others and attaining holiness, because it is nothing other than uniting our wills with God’s. As the Penny Catechism expresses it so pithily (123), ‘Mortal sin kills the soul by depriving it of sanctifying grace, which is the supernatural life of the soul.’

In the ‘liberal’ society praised by Br Edward Egan, whom Mr Elsworth defends, living according to God’s commands, according to Natural Law, is first allowed as a private eccentricity, then persecuted, and finally—as we can see with legislation before Parliament as I write—simply outlawed. We have already been told that teachers will be sacked for teaching about marriage in accordance with Natural Law. For how long will parents be allowed to do the same thing?

Our bishops have rightly alerted us to the danger. We should listen to them, not to Br Egan’s selective reading of the Gospels.

It is of course true, as Br Egan claims, that there is an historical connection between Christianity and liberalism, but it is not that liberalism emerged out of a Christian concern for toleration and freedom to pursue evils ways of life without hindrance. Rather, it emerged out of he failure of Protestantism to remain united as a national religion in England and places like Prussia and America, leading to people like Locke saying that toleration of religious dissent (not, of course, of Catholicism), was necessary if we were to get on with the serious business of making money from the slave-trade and the like. But that, as they say, is history...

Battle of the Egans

Bishop Egan

Bishop Philip Egan got a dressing down a couple of weeks ago on the letters page of the Catholic Herald, from a certain Br Edward Egan, who appears to be a Christian Brother. Bro wrote, in part:

'Bishop Egan seems to be nostalgic for a society where the Christian Church was central - I hope not one like Franco's Spain, Galtieri's Argentina or Pinochet's Chile! Is not modern liberal society more fertile ground for John's Last Supper model of a servant Church than many 'Constantinian church' models since?'

Now there's a man who's learnt some long words but doesn't really understand them.

Bishop Egan hardly needs me to rush to his defence, but I found this letter more than usually irritating. Is military dictatorship the only alternative to a supine surrender of the Church to her enemies? Is everyone who doesn't embrace liberalism a Fascist? So I replied, as published in this week's edition:


Sir,

Br Edward Egan (Letters, Nov 23) appears to be accusing Bishop Egan of Portsmouth of hankering after military dictatorships, on the basis that he opposes anti-Christian secularism. This association of ideas seems a little extravagant. 

Galtieri: lookalike?

By contrast, Br Egan appeals to 'John's Last Supper model of a servant Church.' This is a bit strange, as St John's Gospel contains no account of the Last Supper. Perhaps Br Edward should spend less time attacking people who defend the Church, and more time reading the Gospels. 

Yours faithfully, 
Joseph Shaw Chairman, The Latin Mass Society 

Brother Egan has form. Googling him brings this unsavoury letter to the Catholic Herald up, attacking the late, great Alice Thomas Ellis, from 16th July 2004:

She criticises religious sisters for dressing in a modern and sensible way that signifies that they are truly sisters to their fellow men and women. Many people were alienated by the old medieval garb that could signify sanctimonious separateness and superiority.

The Belgrano: sinking like Br Egan

Her criticism of Creation spirituality and her regressive championing of Original Sin theology is wrong. Many people are liberated by the concept of Original Blessing and the Creator’s wonderful gifts...

The “tawdry baubles of paganism” were there aeons before Christianity in all continents, providing a more feminine,peaceful and eco-friendly world until the arrival of the more patriarchal, war-mongering and exploitative last two millennia of so-called Christendom.

I suggest that Alice Thomas Ellis might benefit from reading modern theology and Scripture studies (and also The Tablet), instead of dragging us back to the dark ages of “the fortress Church”.

(Unfortunately the page in the Catholic Herald archive jumbles his letter up with another one; online subscribers can chase it down in full via Exact Editions.)

It is interesting how the debate has moved on. Back in 2004 Br Egan's long letter in the Herald defended a succession of heretical, disobedient, or just plain lunatic ideas which were really widespread: they were the basis of many religious communities and parish groups and appeared to have full official encouragement. Alice Thomas Ellis, though well known and feisty, was very much at the far conservative end of the spectrum of printable opinion, and died early the following year at the age of 72. Now Br Egan has for an opponent a newly appointed bishop of 57, and has got printed a letter which is just as bonkers as the last one, but seems a little forlorn. Calling people you don't agree with 'Fascists' always comes across as pretty pathetic.

You may need to get them second hand, but I recommend Alice Thomas Ellis' interesting commentary on the Church, the Serpent on the Rock, slightly less so the collection of her articles, God Has not Changed, (the Herald article (link for subscribers) to which Br Egan was responding was an extract from that book), and above all her great novel, The Sin Eater. And say a prayer for a great Catholic. Alice, you've won.