Fr Martin Sirju

What is JSTB? The Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (California) – the campus where I am at for my sabbatical. How did I get here?

Well this is one of the few places in America that offers a sabbatical for one semester or two (i.e. a year). The name of the sabbatical programme is New Directions and even though I have just got into it, it looks like something I would recommend for my confrères in ministry, especially those with over 20 years full-time ministry (I, however, am only 15 years in full-time ministry).

The sabbatical is also open to lay people, not only priests and religious. Director of the programme, Dr Bruce Lescher, Associate Professor of Spirituality is a fine person – gentle, patient and kind, what back home we would call “a nice fella”.

The emphasis at New Directions is not academic. The emphasis is to renew ministry by renewing the minister. This means that the emphasis is to relax, rest, take things easy and see what new directions one would like to chart in one’s ministry for the next 10 to 15 years.

At the same time, since there ought to be no dichotomy between theology and spirituality, we must do some courses, usually two but no more than three. We choose courses in consultation with an academic adviser and in keeping with our own particular needs and interest. But as if to conform to Josef Pieper’s “Leisure the Basis of Culture”, we also have times for liming.

For instance, there are monthly van trips to places of interest like downtown San Francisco and Napa Valley – the wine belt of California. We also watch a movie together once a week and meet in the living room downstairs on evenings to chat about what’s going on in one another’s lives.

I keep saying “we”. Who are the “we”? Well there are thirteen of us: Africa - 4, India - 2, USA – 3, UK – 1, Ireland 1, Jersey (an island off the coast of France) – 1, and of course yours truly.

That makes five women and eight men or alternatively, six priests, two brothers, four religious sisters and one laywoman – a wife and mother of three children who works for the British Catholic agency CAFOD. We go to Mass together on weekends - some go to Mass daily – and even have occasional dinners together at some eating joint close by.

The name of the game is bonding while looking out for one another as well as looking internally at ourselves, which explains why each one of us has a spiritual director whom we ought to see once per fortnight.

The courses are varied and one can choose from a total of about 200 courses which may be taken at JSTB or any of the affiliated schools of Graduate Theological Union (GTU) of which JSTB is a member.

Other schools include the Franciscan School of Theology, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, as well as interdenominational schools like the Pacific School of Religion and Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Some have chosen courses on transition, women in the Christian tradition, prayer, spirituality, leadership, cinema and religion, and human suffering. I have chosen a course on theology of religions and one on Islam. It will by no means make me an expert but simply help me to understand a little more the multi-religious/multi-cultural global flux of which Trinidad and Tobago is a part.

I am convinced that as Catholics we can no longer define ourselves in isolation – as pressing as the problem of Catholic identity is today - but rather in relation to people of other faiths.

The faculty here is essentially Catholic with experts in the various fields – church history, ethics, theology, inter-religious dialogue, scripture, art and religion, spirituality, mission and ministry. We have on staff the famous Sandra Schneiders, a religious sister and professor of New Testament who was recently awarded the John Courtney Murray Award for excellence in theology – the most prestigious theological award in the US.

In fact, in a little over 20 years only five women have won the coveted award. At the Gesu (Jesuit) chapel next door Mass is offered twice a day – 8.00 a.m. and 5.15 p.m. This palpable connect between spirituality and theology enshrines the famous words of Karl Rahner: “The best theology is done on your knees.”

Regarding the practice of Catholic faith, first impressions are that more people turn out to Saturday/Sunday Mass than I have observed in several places in Trinidad. The idea that Americans have no time for religion is a myth. The idea that young people don’t attend Mass is another a myth.

And they don’t all sit to the back either! The music tends to be a bit low-keyed, even though well put together and executed; I miss the zip provided by West Indian folk music. We recently attended a Mass in honour of the Holy Spirit.

It was quite nice but again a Mass to the Holy Spirit back home tends to be a more jovial and noisy affair. I cannot say the homilies I have heard are on the average better than in Trinidad. We do quite well back home. There is generally too much talking before Mass here.

I was quite taken aback at the number of young people, not necessarily involved in parish ministry, who are doing the MDiv and MA programmes in theology. Beyond the bounds of orthodoxy, the Spirit is clearly brooding (?), calling people from many different directions, professional backgrounds and sexual orientations.

They may not all accept the Church’s teachings on a variety of issues but they have been grasped by the Spirit with a sincere desire to serve Church and world. So while vocation is diminishing in the traditional sense it is also expanding in a lay ministerial sense. This is also happening back home, only more slowly because of the lack of opportunities and finances.

Finally, how could I end without a word of thanks? When I decided on this sabbatical I knew it would cost money, about US$30,000. I have witnessed the amazing generosity of family, friends, and parishioners, especially from the parishes of Princes Town, and her younger sister, San Fernando.

The Chancery and Catholic News were also very helpful. The outpouring of generosity was edifying and touching; I lacked no financial resources for getting here. To all of you I can only say those words that are used so repeatedly and routinely that they sometimes lose their meaning.

But I say them still: “Thank You”. For some time I pondered this unencumbered generosity and asked why was it so forthcoming. God’s goodness surely, and Trinis legendary generosity too, but these lyrics from The Sound of Music refused to leave my mind: “Nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could; so somewhere in my [little priesthood] I must have done something good.”