| AS I SEE IT-THE NEWS HEADLINES. |
| ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST TOWNSEND FELLOWSHIP. |
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| Some days the newspaper headlines are so awful one can hardly bear to read them, let alone look at the accompanying pictures. On one such � a day of yet more violence in Belfast � the headline screams �New Riots grip Holy Cross� ; fear and anger grip my heart, my brain says to me, �how can you be a Christian if this is what Christians do to one another?� |
| I have no answer. I wish I did. The Holy Cross situation is worsened by the fact that children are involved, youngsters caught up in the hatred between parents who have faith in the same God, but belong to different churches. It is not the fault of the children, yet they are the ones who are suffering. It is not the fault of the parents who are tolerant of the beliefs of others. If blame there be, where does it lie? Many problems of law and order, violence and killing, are now being blamed on the events of September 11th. This may or may not be accurate, but what is true, is that violence, achieves only more violence. Rioting begets riots. Killing begets more killing. Terrorism begets more terrorism. The horrors which human beings heap upon other human beings spread as fast as the bush � fires in Australia. |
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| Yet millions of us, all over the world are still going to church on Sunday, saying prayers for people less fortunate than ourselves, going to meetings, raising funds for the church roof or tower and taking comfort from the familiar rituals of religious practice. Is it of any use? Apart from its individual placebo effect. If I really thought my faith was simply a placebo, I would have ditched it long ago. But I cannot. There has to be something in it , for it to have lasted for more than 2000 years. . |
| Just at the moment, it is hard to see what. So I must go on trying, trying to live the way Christ taught us, to show love, tolerance and trust to my fellows, in the hope that , eventually, it will make some sence of the whole (literally) bloody mess that the world is in today. |
| Pauline Druiff. |
| At our March meeting we welcomed our guest, Clowne�s Community policeman, PC Brian Emment who gave a most interesting and enlightening talk on all aspects of security.We were all very much absorbed in what he had to say about home security, personal security and of course ways in which we can help to safeguard our cars. We wish to offer our grateful thanks to Brian for a very worthwhile evening, we are sure that we all learned something. Looking ahead to our next meeting on Wednesday 3rd April, our guest speaker will be Jill Meade, manager of Community Transport, who will speak on it�s uses, how to contact them and making full use of their facilities. We hope all members will make the effort to attend. Kind regards to you all from Hazel and Nora. |