Canon Michael writes…

In the late 1980’s I attended a Selection Conference to enable the church to discern my perceived calling to the priesthood. One of the selection activities involved drawing a piece of paper from a hat, on which was written a question and then lead a 10-minute discussion on that question with others exploring their vocation. I vividly remember my question which was, ‘Discuss the assertion that nuclear weapons have played a vital role in keeping peace and preventing further wars in Europe.” I remember introducing the topic saying that we must remember that ‘peace’ is so much more than an absence of war’.

This Sunday is being observed as ‘Safeguarding Sunday’ across the Church, and Ripon Cathedral will be focussing on safeguarding. It is important to remember though that being ‘safe’ is so much more than an absence of ‘harm’. The church nationally is rightly focussing on safeguarding and promoting the continued process of changing a culture. This is so that everything is done to avoid a repetition of the horrors of the past, and where that is not effective, we are able to respond swiftly and appropriately to victims. As I have said to choristers, chorister families and the congregation, ‘we cannot change the past, but we can, and have, learnt from it.’

Changing culture means that there is not just an absence of ‘harm’, but that people feel valued, supported and therefore empowered to live, as Jesus said, life in all its fulness.

It is crucial that people feel safe in church, but it is also crucial that people feel safe in every facet of their lives. That must also include in the face of climate change. Currently, the 30^th COP is taking place in Belem. The Brazilian President Luis Inácio da Silva has repeated the mantra that the summit will be historic because ‘it is a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon.’ By making the rainforest a tangible focus of discussion rather than an abstract concept, he argues, the event may have an emotional impact and become a greater catalyst for action.

Let us pray that that will be true; and that as nations work together for action, so may we in our homes and churches, and communities – also work together for action so that feeling ‘safe’ is not just an absence of ‘harm’ but a state in which we may all have life in all its fulness.

Canon Michael