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I have been retired for several years, but I find I am often busier than I was prior to retirement. That is what makes life so interesting. For many people, when you retire you simply stop working - but what then? A round of golf a couple of times a week? Mow the lawn? Read the papers, go to a Senior Citizen Centre? Not for me any of that. For me the word "retire" means just stopping doing what you have been doing for so many years, and branching out to do something completely different.
As I said above, I find I am often busier than before I retired. I get called upon to get involved in things I would have thought would be way outside my line. I live now in the beautiful country of Cambodia which is devoid of stress, where people smile and are not angry, where the climate is pleasant 95% of the time and where - because of its geograhical position - it is convenient for visiting almost every other Asian country. It is also very affordable. Because of all this I don't always have a lot of free time - not that I need it as I enjoy everything I do here. However, during the past four or five weeks, things that were out of my control gave me plenty of time to think back over the years. Things like several long-distance trans-ocean and trans-continental flights of maybe 11-hours to mention but few.
I seldom watch films on a plane for the simple reason they are never films I would want to watch in the first place. I like to sit by a window and think. It is a good time for that.
I was on a long trans-Pacific flight just a few weeks ago when suddenly something came to my mind about which I hadn't thought for the longest time and I was quite shocked when I did. I suddenly realised that at the end of this month - 29th June 2013 (St.Peter's Day), to be exact - I will have been ordained 50-years. But that didn't seem too bad in itself until the mind went further and I realized it meant I will have been ordained for half a century. Now that is a different matter. It made me feel I was all but pre-historic. It is funny how just a change in words can make a difference.
Since that flight I have thought about that half century and how things have changed in that calling or profession over the years.
I have been extremely blessed and fortunate in my career as a priest. It has taken me around the world and been the cause of my meeting some of the most famous and interesting people on every continent. I have had the honour of being nominated for bishop four times and the privilege of being able to withdraw my name from each nomination. Being a bishop was never on my list of "must do's". I was never, am not and never would be bishop material. I am too outspoken for that and besides I prefer to be "among the people". I have had the privilege of being able to get the advice and help when needed from some of the world's most notable and respected prelates such as Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury, Bishop Riah Abu El Assal of Jerusalem, Bishop John S. Spong of Newark, Bishop K.T. Ting of China, Archbishop George Otto Simms of Armagh and Bishop Desmond Tutu of Capetown.
But things in the church world have changed drastically over those fifty years. When I was ordained in Ireland it was mandatory for the newly ordained to remain a deacon for at least one full year before being ordained to the priesthood. Furthermore, the newly ordained had to do a mandatory 3-year period as assistant - or curate - in a parish before being able to be appointed to a parish of his own. I may be old fashioned but I am continually shocked these days to see bishops ordaining someone to the diaconate then within even a month ordaining them priest having already placed them in charge of a parish. There is totally no way the newly ordained person can have the know-how to run a parish just because they have been ordained and can wear a clerical collar. Training is necessary in every profession and Divinity Schools - as they were then called in Ireland - or Seminaries do not give complete courses in the practical side of parish ministries such as dealing with a bereaved family, handling a possible suicide situation or efficiently handling domestic disputes.
As a newly ordained, I had a strict routine to follow. I could only preach once a month - that one did not particularly bother me. Every Monday I had to meet with the Rector of the parish - my boss - and go over everything I had done or not done the previous week. I would be given a list of houses where I had to make a call during the coming week. Nowadays many clergy only make house calls if they are invited by their more wealthy parishioners to dinner. Tuesdays and Thursdays were taken up by visiting hospitals. I would have to be at the hospital - there were two in the parish where I worked in Northern Ireland - at 9.00am and get from the Registrar a list of all new patients who had come in since my previous visit, and they would have to be seen. Sometimes they didn't want to see a clergy person, but on the other hand if one didn't appear there would be complaints galore.
When I moved to work in Jamaica in the West Indies, it was a different story. In my parish I had seven churches and mission stations - all of which had to have a Eucharist every Sunday. So I would start at the main church at 7.30am then go from church to church visiting, preaching, baptising and celebrating the eucharist at all seven before finally ending up at Evensong back at the main church again in the evening. A long day - but I always enjoyed it. Seven churches in the one day. Today I hear clergy complain if they have to preach twice in the one day - even at the same church!! Every weekday morning was taken up walking through the banana plantations taking communion to the old folk who could not get out to church. To see the joy on the old peoples' faces when I would arrive to give them communion was a thrill I will always remember. Today that is not a priority in most places. I was shocked to hear a priest say one time last year to an old lady - if you can't drive so far yourself anymore, get your daughter to bring you to church. No such thing as saying "I will bring the Eucharist to you". Pastoral care and consideration are both fast flying out the door.
Fifty years may have past and I may not preach anymore, but I am still very much a priest and my position as such is very much respected even here in this 98% Buddhist country by every one. I may not take part in church services and I may be considered an "inactive priest" in diocesan circles, but the work I do with students and other entities here, in Vietnam and in Laos to me is just an extension of my priestly ministry. I feel privileged to be able to contribute to the people in this part of the world and hope the Good Lord gives me time to do so for many years to come.
