(e)mergent Voyageurs

For those who have been following my blog over the last year, you will know that I have become a big fan of the late Australian novelist Morris West (see the quotes here and here). While I have many of his books, his best works (in my opinion) are his Vatican Trilogy. In book one, "The Shoes of the Fisherman", with the death of the pope, the world is surprised by the unexpected election of a Russian bishop who, as a former political prisoner, seeks to lead the church into its vocation as a compassion agent of grace to a dying world (also see the very good film version). On an interesting note, Morris told the tale of the election and career of a Slavic Pope, Kiril Lakota, 15 years before the ascension of the Slavic Karol Wojtyła to his historical role of becoming Pope John Paul II.

In the second book, "The Clowns of God", yet another pope is led to abdicate his position after receiving a powerful revelation- the end of times had arrived. Unlike the shallow travesties that the "Left Behind" books, this deeply challenging, somewhat distubing and remarkably believable book is an important work. Even those of us who hold to a more positive eschatology, it is well worth the read.

Book three, "Lazarus", which I am halfway through now, the final pope of the trilogy, Pope Leo, a hard and stern pontiff, faces possible death from open heart surgery and an assassination attempt by Muslim terrorists. As a result, his character is transformed (another side note, this pope might as well have been modelled after Pope Benedict XVI). In one scene, after his surgery, Leo is preaching to a small community of faithful believers. One line stood out to me:

"One of the greatest mistakes we have made in the Church, a mistake we have repeated down the centuries- because we are human and often very stupid- is to make laws about everything. We have covered the pasture-land with fences, so there is no place for the sheep to run free. We do it, we say, to keep them safe. I know, because I have done it all too often. But the sheep are not safe: they languish in a confinement that was never their natural habitat..."

I believe that fiction is a powerful art that should play an important role inour spiritual formation. I highly recommend Morris West as a significant voice in that process.


Emerging Church