Enjoy the ecstasy and let the agonising take its course

John Carey gives an Anglican view of the Papal visit
THERE IS clearly a great deal of agonising still going on in Church circles about the best way to handle the visit of Pope John Paul.
Many Catholics are obviously worried about the charismatic style and dogmatic approach of the Pope himself: they fear that it will shore up the conservative elements in their own Church and undermine the progress made in recent years, notably at the national Pastoral Congress last spring.
This. they argue, could do serious damage, not least to ecumenical relations in Britain.
• Their concern is shared by many other Christians who are as unconvinced as they are by Cardinal Hume's assurance that the Pope "is not coming here to chuck his weight about." That, they believe, is precisely what he is coining here to do.
The sceptics undoubtedly include a large number of thoughtful Anglicans.
Whatever agreements the theologians on the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission may have come to on papal infallibility, the Pope's "universal jurisdiction'', the Petrine texts and the rest, it seems highly unlikely — to say the least — that Pope John Paul will accept that these major barriers to unity have been satisfactorily overcome.
Most Anglicans also find it hard to comprehend the constant and rigid reaffirmation of traditional Catholic teaching on issues like divorce and contra -. ception.
Critics of Anglicanism attribute this to "woolly thinking" and an inbuilt tendency 'Ito take the easy way out; supporters prefer to see it as a proper readiness to adapt to a changing world.
,. But whichever line you take, it is hard to see at first glance precisely what Anglicans might gain by responding to the repeated efforts to make the visit a genuinely ecumenical event.
What exactly are they supposed to contribute? And what might they expect in return?
Three points come to mind; the irrelevance is not necessarily confined just to Anglicans — it may embrace Catholics as well.
First, abandon the agonising. Treat the visit as a party. Go along, take your friends and enjoy it. That may sound flippant and unworthy of such a momentous event. But there is now a very real danger that so much "significance" — ecumenical and otherwise — is being placed on the trip that people will lose sight of the fact that it should also be fun.
Of all Christian groups I have met, the Catholics are far and away the best at throwing a party. The Pope's visit to Ireland was one long, exuberant celebration — and it was none the worse,.or the less spiritual for that.
Secondly, it is right and proper that A RCIC should devote itself' to an examination of the finer theological points involved in defining the proper role of the papacy as a focal point for Christian unity.
But faith is more than theology, and, by and large, ordinary people respond more to contact with flesh and blood than they do to abstract theoretical concepts.
Like it or not,.Pope John Paul has demonstrated the truth of that; and as those who have been in his presence will testify. it is a profound and moving experience.
Thirdly, Anglicans will derive huge benefits if they are prepared to subject the argUments that the Pope puts forward to really close scrutiny.
There is too little intellectual rigour in the Church of England: it is possible and indeed perfectly legitimate to disagree strongly with the Pope's views on the role of women, divorce, contraception and much else besides — but it is
ludicrously shallow to dismiss him simply as a "Polish reactionary," who is out of touch with the modern world.
It was Cardinal Hume who made the telling observation, the truth ofiwhich many thousands of Anglicans will come to recognise, if they do not already.
"We all live in the valleys of life where the problems are,he said. "There are few people who can mice us to the top of the mountain and show us a vision of what lies beyond the horizon. John Paul II is such a man. whether we are Christian or not, this is a man who can raise our minds and hearts to things which really matter.
For Anglicans, no less than others, that is what the visit is all about.