Another voice

Father Murphy's caper

Auberon Waugh •

Lourdes, High Pyrenees One must not gloat. A week of pilgrim- age to this Marian shrine with 575 Catholics from the north of England — many of them, needless to say, in wheelchairs — has had such a debilitatingly charitable effect that one can almost find it in one's heart to forgive the Sunday Times the extraordinary apology, brash and boastful as ever, with which it hoped to end further discussion of the great Hitler im- posture. The message to all these unfor- tunate people — to Mr Frank Giles, Charles Douglas-Home, Lord Dacre, Mr Murdoch — must be: 'Smile and be happy. God loves you.'

That, at any rate, is the message carried on various Faith and Light banners from such places as Rotherham, decorated with the Faith and Lighters' emblem of a smil- ing face which looks like this: These Faith and Lighters are not to be con- fused with charismatics, whose habits of throwing their arms around and crying out in the voice of tongues — i.e. Double Dutch — make them a pain in any company. Faith and Lighters specialise in dancing round handicapped children, singing babyish songs to them.

There is nothing remotely sinister or vicious about the movement. It makes its members happy, and the handicapped children do not seem to mind. I should judge that these Faith and Lighters com- prise one of the more obviously attractive aspects of born-again Christianity as it sweeps through the parishes of the north- west and north-east, even if it does not, in itself, answer the question which has often troubled me — whether some sort of softening of the brain or deliberate suppres- sion of the critical faculties may not be a necessary concomitant to the experience of Christian renewal in our time. Even such an articulate person as Malcolm Muggeridge has great difficulty in expressing the joy he feels, beyond urging other people to take the plunge too. One has only to see the old boy radiating joy all around to understand that there are solid benefits. The great ques- tions remain: what is the price of all this joy, and is it worth it? If so, why does one instinctively cringe away from the extrovert demonstrations which are, apparently, an essential part of the new religion? Why should fellowship and sharing be thought necessary ingredients of religious belief'?

One describes the 'born-again' phenomenon as a new religion because it has challenged and now threatens to sup- plant entirely the practice of the traditional or evolved religion which was, for most of us, the only religion we ever had. But in fact there has always been a 'born-again' or revivalist movement inside the mainstream. Its theology derives from John iii, 3: 'Ex- cept a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' Traditional theologians took this with iii, 5: 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God' to interpret the passage as meaning no more than that bap- tism was essential to salvation, but I must admit that from the perspective of an anti- sacramental age this interpretation looks rather ropy. The same chapter has a somewhat chilling answer to my second question, about why so many of us instinc- tively shy away from the new enthusiasm. It might otherwise have been answered in terms of traditional British — or public school — reserve, but John iii, 19 has a more austere suggestion: 'And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.'

Harrumph. Yes, well, that is the scrip- tural basis for all the hand-clapping, guitar- playing, hugging, swaying, hand-shaking and prancing which are rapidly replacing the traditional Christian forms of service. I am not at this point arguing that the Worlocks of this world were wrong to say that the ancient liturgy was irrelevant to modern needs — or at any rate irrelevant to most people's religious needs in the modern world. Those of us who rejoiced in the old forms were almost certainly in a minority, although that was never a good reason to suppress them as savagely — almost vindic- tively — as they have been suppressed. But it would be absurd to pretend that most of the illuminati — the renewed Christians — found their way there through a reading of St John. The new arrangements came about in response to a definite demand for them, and it is only by examining the demand that one can understand the phenomenon and decide whether one's own instinctive reluc- tance to be drawn into it is necessarily the result of a devil-and-holy-water situation.

In Lourdes I fell into conversation with a 51-year-old unemployed joiner called Joe Fenton, from Birtley, County Durham. He kindly lent me a copy of his own account of his reconversion or 'renewal', written in the unadorned vernacular of the north-east. The vernacular of the north-east does not reproduce very convincingly for southern readers. I quote extracts from Look Again by a Local Lad or Where did! go Wrong by Joe Fenton neither in mockery nor in ex- travagant approval, merely for the insight it

affords into one man's religious experience. We start with Joe Fenton as a typical beer-swilling, television-watching member of the unemployed. `So I have failed.' "Joe," said my wife, "Fr Murphy is hav- ing a renewal next weekend." "Anyway what is this caper renewal about?" "It's about sharing." "Sharing what?" ' One can see Joe is a pretty bad hat. After her own renewal his wife, Enid, says:

"Eeh Joe I feel great. I was very apprehen- sive about going but I wouldn't have missed

it for the world. It was .. I'm sorry, I can't find words to express it."

'My wife and son asked me to go to renewal. "It's not for me," was my replY- "I'm not getting mixed up with this kissing and cuddling caper." ' But Joe is alreadY popping into church from time to time, and it is not long before he is persuaded. Meetings consist of a talk from Father Mur- phy and then discussion groups:

'Sunday 2 o'clock. Everybody knows each other now and there is a lot of laughter round the hall. I have no worries now about saying things to them because I know they are my friends ... The people who have ex- perienced these renewal weekends must try to get other people to go, if we want the parish to grow, not only in strength but In buildings, where we can have showS, dances, meetings and something most of all, a place where the youth of the parish can entertain and be entertained. ... To peoPle, who read this and say, "Who is this idiot? I am pleased to say I have left that corner where all idiots are still sitting Yon may laugh, but I know who is smiling now. Look around you and say, "How mail friends have I got?" for I know I have got more than you.' I think these extracts (the full text can be had for 10p plus postage from Joe Fenton, 78 Portobello Way, Birtley, Co. Durham) may answer my third question: why should fellowship and sharing be thought 3 necessary ingredient of religious belief? The reason is that it is a strong, even desperate need for fellowship which is bringing People, back to religion. This govey-dovey' aspect of Christian fellowship, embarrassing as it may seem from outside, undoubted!Y makes people happy, encourages them in, good works and other forms unselfishness. It is not exclusive or

since anyone can join who wants.

It is undoubtedly a valid form of religion. My only objection is that it is not the orilY one, Where does this insistence .00 fellowship and community participation leave all the hermits and contemPlativ,es' who form as great a part of the Christian_ tradition as the revivalists ever have? Wier` does it leave the ordinary man and woman_ who is happier on his own? Why cannot the revivalists exist as their own sideshow.; without rebuilding the whole church in thet.. own image? My quarrel is with the presuni ption of a generation which has thrown away nearly 2,000 years of accumulated ex- perience to catch the mood of a nionlen years.

which may not last more than ten or 20