"smoking ceremony"

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 05, 2008

This remarkable CWN story from Australia must have escaped the notice of most readers. Otherwise, I feel sure, the "Sound Off" circuits would be overloaded with expressions of outrage and dismay.

There were apparently at least two (allegedly) Catholic bishops in attendance at this ceremony, in which Christian clerics joined aboriginal elders in a "smoking ceremony" and sprinkling water over the congregation, to the sound of a didgeridoo. Since this favorable summary of the events appeared on the official web site of a Catholic diocese, we have further confirmation that the event met with official favor.

There were, again, two Catholic bishops on hand, as well as at least that many Anglican prelates. But the homily was delivered by a Dominican nun. (You can read the full text here, if you have the staying power.) You can almost see her thoughts rising aloft, like the smoke from that ceremony-- because they too are lighter than air. In terms of intellectual rigor and clarity, the presentation by Sister Gerathy makes the typical Hallmark slogan look like a proposition from Wittgenstein's Tractatus.

All of which leads me to ask two questions:

- Did Catholic bishops-- successors to the Apostles-- actually approve of this meeting?

and

- What were they smoking?