Keeping a sense of proportion

IT IS FONDLY to be hoped that the Synod of Bishops just coming to an end in Rome will have a profound effect on both nations and individuals.
In the case of the latter, has the plea for more frequent confession come too late and fallen through the generation gap? Not necessarily. Today's young people deserve and need the best confidential advice obtainable on their personal problems. To neglect the Sacrament of Penance is, among other things, to cut oneself off from such advice and help. A more frequent word from the pulpit on the subject might not go amiss.
On a wider plane, Bishop Lodunu of Keta-Ho, Ghana, argued that "a greater responsibility should be accepted by the Church for pursuing international peace."
The aim here must be reconciliation not only between nations but also between factions within nations who are or could be at enmity with each other.
In this connection, the Vatican has announced that two events could occur in the near future. The first could well be a powerful contribution to reconciliation. The second could easily have the exactly opposite effect.
We are referring, in the first instance, to the Pope's intention to visit Beirut. The announcement was made before the latest horrors occurred. So the visit would now seem to have even greater urgency.
But should the Pope visit Beirut without visiting Jerusalem? If the Pope is as above politics, as is always claimed, a visit to the holiest of all cities should not be impossible. It might do something to bring reconciliation to a city which contains representatives from almost every Christian community in the world — as well as the two other great monotheistic religions — but is ever in a state of cold war within itself.
The rivalry, amounting to outright enmity, which exists between the various Christian communities in Jerusalem is one of the greatest scandals in Christendom. No one — Pope, Patriarch or other — has ever made any real effort to end this disedifying scandal. Jerusalem, as a result, is probably the most unecumenically minded city in the world. A sad irony indeed.
The other event that might occur in the foreseeable future is the proposed canonisation of pro-Franco clergy "martyred" during the Civil War in Spain. Far from bringing about reconciliation, such a move could well do untold harm. The idea was turned down flat by Pope Paul VI, and for good reasons.
Spain's delicate progress towards becoming, once more, a nation reconciled within itself, has been won by patience, forgiveness and brilliant moral leadership by King Juan Carlos. Those advising the present Pope, and with an interest in Spain, could open some terrible wounds if they continue to urge him toward such a gesture.
Individual Spaniards have always been among the most pious Catholics in the world. But the rich and powerful institutional Church in the Spain of Isabel II, Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII did not endear itself to the country's ordinary people. By way of strong contrast, the Church in modern Spain has found its way back into many hearts and homes where it was previously not welcome.
None of this is to say that the murders of so many priests and religious during the war was anything but monstrous. So were the atrocities committed by the other side. Who is mad enough to want this terrible war to be fought all over again in words, insults, demonstrations and, quite possibly, further bloodshed?
It sometimes seems that the leaders of our Church momentarily lose all sense of proportion and wisdom; that the Devil has succeeded in driving them temporarily mad. Let's hope and pray that, in this case, the madness will be extremely short lived.