Saturday 7 September 2013

Unlike the Local Authority, At St Mary Magdalen's We Treasure and Love Our Irritating Little B******



It wasn't the Church or Fr Ray Blake that ordered a stringent ASBO on this man, banning him from central Brighton and anywhere he may 'upset the tourists' or the shoppers and consumers of this  'diverse' city, where all but the poor are welcomed with open arms. This man is so irritating, so drunk, so regularly off his nut and so very intrusive in his beggging techniques, that he is not allowed in vast areas of Brighton itself. At St Mary Magdalen's Church, however, he is welcomed, often against our own interests and the safeguarding of the dignity of the Sacred Liturgy,

It wasn't the Church or Fr Ray Blake that evicts him, regularly, from homeless hostels. It wasn't the Church or Fr Ray Blake that hounds him from pillar to post, who sees him as a 'problem to be solved' by punishment or draconian action, monitoring him, inhibiting his movement, freedom, rights and dignity. No. That will be the local authorities - that will be the Council, the Probation service, the Social Services, Alcohol and Substance Misuse Services and Mental Health Services (exactly where are they when you actually need them!?) and all those charged with a statutory duty of care for someone classed as a 'vulnerable person'! Does Fr Ray ban him from his parish Church? No. Who bans him from the streets of inner Brighton? The loving arms of the State, at a local level, of course! Who wants him out of Brighton? The Council, the rich, the powerful!

Bill Gardner, sir, and all you lousy daily national journalists, who thought it might be fun to bring down the reputation of a good and holy priest by taking out of context his thoughts on the duties Christians have to the poor, I challenge you to spend ten minutes with this man and not feel in any way 'irritated' and to think or say anything that does not offend holy charity. I've tried it a million times. I am convinced it is impossible to all but God. I challenge you to get the real story here - how one man survives each winter - against all the odds, when the local authority abandons him to the rain, cold, sleet and snow. How one man keeps going despite his many setbacks in life, despite his horrific childhood, despite his addictions to drugs and alcohol, despite being beaten up regularly on the streets by other homeless people. There's a story. The man is a living story, an embodiment of the Gospel message to us, and a challenge to all of us, Christian or not, to respond with love, 'tough love' perhaps, but love nonetheless, to a poor man rejected by nearly all in society but the Catholic Church (He's not allowed in CCK you know - those 'welcoming' Protestant evangelicals) and those who adhere to Her teachings on the love of Christ served in the poor.

After this interview, I asked this man whether he thought that, at times, he could be described as 'irritating'.

He agreed.

Pray for the public vindication of Fr Ray Blake against the malicious slander that has been sent in his direction, not merely in the local pathetic excuse for a newspaper, but now in the national daily press as well. Of course, just because this man is, as virtually all of Brighton knows, an irritating little ******d, does not mean we do not care for him, treasure him, love him, cloth him, feed him and give him some loose change when we have it because these are actions of love. This is what Jesus tells us to do.

Pray too for Jason. He says that he is only evicted for a night or two. Of course, the Council's hostel have said that before...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

WONDERFUL POST, imho. Thank you.

Martha said...

Nobody reading Fr. Ray`s article properly could really believe what Bill Gardner has written. It is hard to believe that he hasn`t deliberately misinterpreted it.
The Argus should publish a full scale apology, and an article giving a comprehensive account of all the good work that you do in Brighton and Hove for the homeless and disadvantaged, and repeat the realities of how difficult and unrewarding it can be, but you still do it.

Fr. Stephen Brown said...

Good, speedy work Laurence. You must let us know what reaction you get from the Argus.

Matthaeus said...

Well done for posting this, Laurence.

It is very interesting to see the man that prompted Fr. Ray's original post, and to get his own opinion. Clearly he appreciates what Fr. Ray does to help him. Obviously, Jason has lots of 'issues', and is probably someone who could only be easily tolerated in very small doses. Nonetheless, he is clearly getting a pretty rough time from many quarters, and gains something from the small kindnesses shown by Fr. Ray, yourself and others.

His final, succinct, comment concerning the Argus probably trumps all the blogposts that have been written in support of Fr. Ray - even though very few of us would consider putting it in quite those terms :-).

Nicolas Bellord said...

Bones: where would we be without you? Absolutely brilliant.

Unknown said...

Well done Laurence. Next you need to hand out Bill Gardner's address to these chaps so they can go round there and ask for help at 2 in the morning.

Unknown said...

I have sent the Editor & the said guilty party emails containing protests from my family and web links such as this one. I have demanded an apology for this wonderfully charitable priest. Such poor taste, such calumny. We must put the pressure on this local paper.

Roses and Jessamine said...

Absolutely brilliant. Well done, Bones.

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