‘Precious in the sight of
The Lord is the death of his saints’.
Such is a quotation from the psalms, and I’m sure that it’s not confined
to those marble faced type canonised by past pontiffs. Yes, and
thankfully, during the century that has just gone, many of these
‘saints’ were thrown out after centuries of veneration All part of the
reforming work of good ‘John the 23rd’! Not the result of
senility as some quite uncharitably supposed, but rather because of his
desire to bring about a reformation within, which went well past any
medieval council of Trent.
Some of the saints I,
myself, have in mind were those within the cause of animal liberation;
and some of them were, indeed, far removed from one’s traditional
profession of faith. I think of Jill Phipps and of
Barrie Horne. I’d offered to conduct the funeral of the
former, before Coventry cathedral’s provost intervened with his rigid
conditions; and I’d made a one-man protest outside the York hospital of
the latter! However, the general opinion of animal rights activists
towards Christian clergy hardly endeared them towards my own feeble
efforts for their cause. After all, these two comparatively young folk
would, literally, lay down their lives for the animals; reminiscent of
far off ‘good shepherds’ prepared to lay down their lives for sheep and
used by Christ as His supreme analogy
Indeed, let us not forget
also the sacrifice of her life - for the animals - of Vicki Moore!
Tossed repeatedly by a frenzied bull after the latter had been
repeatedly stabbed and goaded, Vicki – momentarily carried away – had
jumped over in to the ring to acquire close ups of the barbarity taking
place. Yes, a true saint whose memorial service was in Liverpool’s
Protestant cathedral as she had ultimately turned her back upon the
Catholicism which had nurtured her but had quite inconsistently
supported bullfights!
Vicki, of course, was not
alone in openly criticizing her own churches apathy – nay support! – for
bull fights and similar blood ‘sports’. We must never ever forget
Hans Fishinger whose rebuke of his own church was most vehement.
Indeed, the way he slated Cardinal Rattsinger over the New Catholic
Catechism was reminiscent of a John The Baptist. Of course, he was not
alone. Several devout members of the Catholic Study Circle For Animal
Welfare assured me that they would terminate affiliation to their church
should Rattsinger ever become next pope. Well, he did! But they haven’t
joined another. For them it’s been, I sense, a matter of ‘better to stay
with the devil you know than the ones you don’t know’!.
One also thinks of true
Anglican Michael Sutcliffe. Yes, as mentioned in a
previous News Letter, he had the marks and breeding of a true English
gentleman and was, consistently, a practising Christian in every way.
And why should I be on such a subject as the discussion of deceased
‘gems’ such as these? Is it because I’m typing this start of the
newsletter after Armistice Day: a day when we remember the massacre of
thousands of soldiers, seamen and airman? A day when, annually, we
remember such tragic human casualties and deaths; yet prefer to
forget the abominable suffering of so very many horses in battle, not to
mention mascots and birds! I tell you – that for me - it’s more
than that:
Though several books might refer to “the animals’ padre” – yes, in one
fashion or another! - only one has been dedicated to me: a small book,
fully reflecting factors I have stood for, in scripture and theology And
its dedication by the beautiful author Regina Hyland – a
true saint ‘recently promoted to glory’ – now quite wrenches my heart
when ever I read it:
‘This book is
dedicated to the Reverend James Thompson, an Anglican priest known as
“the Animals’ Padre”. In both his ministry to the animals and his
ministry to people, he has always chosen to follow the Gospel of Christ
rather than the doctrines of men.’
Yes, I can only say that
it was with intense sorrow and heartache that Doreen and I learned of
the sudden and unexpected demise of the Reverend Regina from Sarasota.
Here again we have a lady who, after being cradled in Catholicism,
underwent a deep spiritual experience ultimately leading to her
inception into the American Pentecostalist ministry (not to be confused
with much of the Pentecostal fundamentalism of the UK!). But, even then,
her first book to be published: ‘Sexism Is Sin’ would eventually result
in her ostracism from that same movement. And, no doubt, this would be
accelerated by her involvement in perceiving a place for animal rights
as consistent with divine revelation. The fact is that, though an
ordained Pentecostalist, her depth of academic learning appeared to have
made her, in my own mind, to be more consistently a full-blown Unitarian
than representative of, a largely, fundamentalist movement
Yes, Regina in her early
seventies, had become very much akin in theology to myself, and I cannot
thank Jesus enough for every remembrance of her. Also – like myself –
she was much indebted to Hans Ruesch and the pioneering
work he did for animal rights. Appropriately, in her same compact and
yet profound publication she uses the ‘Acknowledgments’ section to
highlight a kindred spirit who’d ‘passed over’ before her self:
‘I would like to
acknowledge the pioneering work of Hans Ruesch, author of Slaughter Of
The Innocent and Naked Empress. His integrity and refusal to yield to
self serving speciesm in the struggle against vivisection is unsurpassed
– and, for the most part, unmatched.’
Go on to Plagiarism and Tunnel
Vision
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