FEBRUARY 2006 - ISSUE 6 - ISSN 1448 - 6326

“Bishop Saibo’s Vision” Humanising Theology: Model for Reconciliation Rt Revd Saibo Mabo & Revd Barry Paterson

Abstract

Bishop Saibo’s Vision relates to real human beings in a specific situation requiring reconciliation or, the term he prefers, “bridge-building”. The proposed response is an exercise in Practical Theology through the use of peace-making ceremonies and inculturated praxis. Implications for the “way of doing theology” and “being Church”—dialogue with people, engagement with cultures, dealing with issues on a human scale, sensitive approach to sacrament, symbol and ritual—challenge all Christians and theologians in their understanding of Christian life and holiness today. (Editor)

Bishop Saibo Mabo tells this story:

“When I was at Nungalinya College in 1998 I had a vision that I later shared with Fr Ned Wapau who is now the priest at St Paul on Moa Island. In the dream I saw a bridge joining all of the islands of the Torres Strait. There was an old man playing a drum and all of the people were dancing over the bridge. They danced and they danced faster and faster until one by one they danced off the bridge and fell into the dark water. I was sitting with my wife watching this with Uncle George Mye and his wife and the late Father Stanley Waigana and his wife. I spoke to the old man who was hitting the drum and asked him what this all meant. I could not understand what he said. The last two people to dance to the edge and jump into the water with hardly a splash water were my wife’s nephew and my wife’s cousin from Boigu Island. They won the competition. My wife’s nephew came out of the water with a stick and came towards me and handed me the stick he said “Bab, this is for you”. Then I woke up and began to wonder what the dream could mean.”

In 1999 came the split in the Anglican Church in the Torres Strait while Saibo was still at Nungalinya College and not yet a bishop. He saw this split as people jumping off the bridge that connected all of the people of the Islands. The bridge is the Church. He now has his “stick” his bishop’s staff and he wants to help all of those people that fell into the water back onto the bridge again. The words of Paul in 1 Cor 1:10 resonate throughout his ministry 

“By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose.

Bishop Saibo was asked to speak at a gathering in Darwin to commemorate the visit of the late Pope John Paul II to Alice Springs. Since then we have been talking about the central theme of that speech – that the Church needs to humanise its theology if it is going to reach out to marginalised people in our society, the people who have fallen off the “bridge” in Bishop Saibo’s vision. We have been reflecting on the theme because of the very strong response his speech evoked in Darwin amongst those attending the gathering.

Bishop Saibo believes that the main function of the Church locally and nationally is to build relationships, or “bridges” between people and between groups of people. In this we can see the outworking of his vision in 1998. This theme is close to his heart because he has had to deal with the split amongst Anglicans of Torres Strait that has begun to fragment the church and the culture in the Torres Strait. Families have been divided, islands in the Torres Strait have been opposing one another, and divisions go beyond the Torres Strait itself. This is a very serious matter for the church to face.

For Bishop Saibo reconciliation is not a word or a slogan. Reconciliation is his main priority in ministry. He says he must be a true bridge-builder. He has a number of ways to deal with the split. The most extreme way is to excommunicate all those who are in communion with the breakaway groups. This approach was discarded as it denied the significance of bridge-building, it was ripping down rather than building up the Body of Christ. At the other end of the scale, he could simply ignore the fact that the split had happened and simply receive all those who wanted to return into the Anglican Church again. This would ignore the reality that is foundational to any reconciliation process. The split has occurred. It does cause pain and distress. People have denied their solemn ordination oaths and their commitment to membership of the Anglican Church of Australia.

DeGruchy gives this straightforward definition of “reconciliation”: "a process in which there is a mutual attempt to heal and overcome enmities, build trust and relationships, and develop a shared commitment to the common good." DeGruchy believes, with Bonhoeffer and liberation theologians, that reconciliation is first "an action, praxis and movement before it becomes a theory or dogma, something celebrated before it is explained." It is first a gift of God and then a social task. God's gift of reconciliation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus gives us the courage to struggle for human forgiveness and repentance in our relations with our neighbours.  (Shriver, 2004)

If strict non-Indigenous church rules are applied, then people may well be alienated even further from the process of reconciliation. The process needs to be energised before it is theorised. The process needs to be “humanised’ to use Bishop Saibo’s term. His term has the sense of the praxis ascribed to Bonhoeffer above. Reconciliation needs to move, to be active in the context of the life and culture of the people of the Torres Strait. All of the players are Torres Strait Islanders and most of them are bound to one another by ties of kinship.

There are peacemaking ceremonies in traditional culture and they are the ones that need to be used here. The details of the ceremonies differ but they have the following common characteristics.

·        A gathering of all of the people in a peacemaking place

·        Singing of songs to mark the peacemaking

·        Speeches showing the willingness of people to be involved in the peacemaking.

·        The exchange of gifts to show good will

·        A speech by the “big man” accepting what people have said and the gifts they have given

·        A sign of peace is given

·        There is a feast and dancing to celebrate the peacemaking.

All this is very well if we ignore totally the part the wider mainstream Anglican Church would rightly want to play in the process. In aligning themselves with schismatic organisations at the national and international levels, the members of the Torres Strait breakaway groups have moved the matter out of a strictly Torres Strait cultural and ecclesiological context.

How might this cultural model work if the Church allows the matter to return to its original context? Here is a speculative description of how the process might work once everyone had decided to go ahead. Is the description feasible?

The cultural  element	The praxis
A gathering of all of the people in a peacemaking place	The gathering place in the Torres Strait has always been the ground in front of All Souls Church on Thursday Island. The people might be in traditional dress and the clergy in Eucharistic vestments
Singing of songs to mark the peacemaking	Hymns from each of the regions of the Torres Strait are known by all and sung by all
Speeches showing the willingness of people to be involved in the peacemaking	Here people would be invited to address the gathering to show their support of the peacemaking process
The exchange of gifts to show good will	These gifts might include traditional symbols or food of various kinds
A speech by the “big man” accepting what people have said and the gifts they have given	This would be a speech by the Bishop to state the importance of the things they were doing today and to thank people for the gifts they had brought
A sign of peace is given	1.   The clergy and people process into the church. 2.   The clergy who are being reconciled should leave their vestments at the door of the Church and then proceed to the altar where the Bishop gives them their licence and their new vestments. 3.   The Eucharist continues with the Sign of Peace. 4.   All clergy concelebrate with the Bishop
There is a feast and dancing to celebrate the peacemaking	This takes place in the Hall and the area in front of the Church

This is a speculative model. Would it work? We pray God that it will for the sake of the unity of his Holy Church.

Reference:

Shriver, D. W. (2004, January 27). Evil Consequences: The Costs of Reconciliation. The Christian Century, 121, 32+. Retrieved September 13, 2005, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002069399

Bishop Saibo Mabo, a man from the Island of Mer, is Assistant Bishop in the Anglican Diocese of North Queensland Australia based on Thursday Island in the far north of Australia.  He has national responsibility for ministry to all people of Torres Strait Island origin wherever they may be in Australia.

Rev. Barry Paterson teaches Theology at Wontulp-Bi-Buya College in Cairns and is the Parish Priest at St Peter’s Anglican Church Kewarra Beach in the northern suburbs of Cairns.

barrypaterson@bigpond.com

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