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A baptism

WE REPRODUCE below extracts from the first report of the Archbishops' Council, encouraged to do so by the Council's hope and belief that this is the start of a "fruitful dialogue and working partnership" with the wider Church. Such a partnership depends, in the first instance, on the wider Church's knowing what the Council has been up to. Since the Council has been reticent and vague during its first five months of operation, this is the first serious glimpse we get of its workings. Given the Council's early stage of development, it is perhaps understandable that the tone of the report is reminiscent of a group of enthusiastic sixth-formers. To quote another example from the report's conclusion: "We have focused our early work on developing a shared sense of purpose, clear objectives, a readiness to listen and a determination to learn from experience. We are enjoying working as one body." Why is this so unnerving? Partly, perhaps, because such a positive voice has been missing from the Church's government for so long. Partly, though, it is because this is the language of New Management: relentlessly optimistic regardless of whether circumstances warrant it. Such optimism is more likely to achieve results than the grim pessimism it is attempting to replace. But somewhere in between is the need to admit to the Church's inadequacies as well as its strengths. The Council is more likely to carry the rest of the Church with it if it begins to use a more recognisable language, one that matches the reality of life in so many of our parishes. And a wedding A WOMAN in PR is to marry a man who helps run a television production company. The odds that the marriage will be a success are, at best, even. This is not simply because of the divorce statistics; an additional destructive element in this case is the media. Just why the media should prove so damaging to marriage is not entirely clear; but it is certainly true that media marriages have a particularly high failure-rate. Perhaps it is because people in the media spend much looking critically at the marriages of others, and this inhibits reflection on their own relationships. Or it might be that the glamour, arrogance and mindlessness of much of the television world attracts unstable people. The two people marrying tomorrow appear, thankfully, to be immune to many of these influences, though they do have other pressures to deal with. They deserves our prayers.

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