Pentecost
“Yes, but how account for their gift of Tongues?
And how explain – oh how explain! –
the sudden reversal in the Galileans –
from feckless to fearless?..”
– from Conclave: Inside the Sanhedrin by Seán Walsh. Available on Amazon.com ebook and paperback.
There is an interesting, if sad, article in americamagazine.org on the subject of the campaign against Pope Francis and against his attempt to renew and reform the church in the light of the teachings of Vatican II.
Seamus Ahearne shares one of his reflections on life and God being revealed in the reality of the world about us; “God is not dead. The beauty of our gift as faith-people is magnificent. We cannot tolerate the dark, the dull, the dreary, the deluge of overwhelming sadness.
We have to sensitize our minds, hearts and imaginations to the world of God. We are ministers of the Gospel. We have the ‘joy of love.’ That enthusiasm has to burst out from us. Whatever gets in the way of this; has to be pushed aside.”
Brendan Hoban, in the Western People, writing about ‘Synodality’ says that “The truth is that there is a split, a clear divide, opening up in the Catholic Church between those who realise that ‘synodality’ (clergy and laity working together rather than clergy dominating laity) is the way forward and those who want things to remain as they were.”
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Sean Walsh’s play, Conclave, while set in the context of the passion of Jesus, belongs to any and every age. A group of powerful men work to ensure that they remain in power and that any individual who threatens their power is eliminated. They are so committed to their own version of the truth that they will stop at nothing to suppress any challenge to their truth. The one member of their group who raises the possibility that this Jesus of Nazareth may be revealing a more disturbing version of truth is dismissed out of hand. Yet, in spite of all the clever machinations of this powerful elite, the play suggests that, in the end, God’s truth will out.
Sean’s writing is pruned back to the essentials which heightens the sense of drama and ensures that the reader is carried along by the flow of the marvellous dialogue. A wonderful addition to this playwright’s portfolio.