Of cows, bulls, canon law & having a sense of humour

GARRY ROCHE

DUBLIN - On one occasion while working in the diocese of Mt Hagen I was asked to give a talk on canon law (church law) to the priests in the neighbouring diocese of Mendi.

At that time many missionaries looked on canon law with suspicion, often seeing it as not being applicable to the very different cultural situations encountered in Papua New Guinea.

When I entered the large room where I was to give the talk, I noticed that, in addition to the overseas missionaries and local priests, there were some lay expatriate volunteers in the room.

While I was being introduced to the gathering I had the opportunity to look around at everyone in the room.

One local priest was wearing a tee-shirt with a slogan on it that immediately caught my eyes.

Written in large letters on the front were the words: ‘My Cow Died, I Don't Need Your Bull’.

Being aware of the fact that some of my audience might have a sceptical approach to canon law, I was in no doubt that ‘Bull’ might refer to people’s (and perhaps my) utterances rather than to mere bovine matters.

Luckily for me, I saw the good humour in the words and did not feel offended.

I was confident that I had enough real-life situations in my presentation so that it could not be dismissed as mere ‘bull****’.

At the same time, the slogan continues to remind me that we all need to be aware of the need to avoid indulging in ‘bull****’.

If our ideas are too abstract, too convoluted or too confused, maybe we need to check on the cows.

Perhaps more importantly, the incident reminds me of the need to keep a sense of humour, and to enjoy it even if it’s directed at ourselves.

Comments

[Philip Kai Morre]

What has canon law got to do with a dead cow and the bull. I am not so sure what it really means but the person who design or wrote the wordings knows best.

Is canon law really at work within the Catholic church in the midst of moral and spiritual bankruptcy? When our faith in God is dry we promote secular humanism and agnostic tendencies.

Immorality is creeping into the church, not only the Catholic church but other churches as well. Does canon law allow women to live in the presbytery with the priest? If it doesn't that priest is breaking canon law and who will discipline him or bring him to the tribunal?

In one of the parish in Simbu, the parish priest is living on the top floor and three Protestant women are living on the ground flour paying rent. You cannot put cat and rat in the same room.
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Fr Garry's piece was not about canon law, Philip, it was about the hazards of giving lectures. Nevertheless, your comments were interesting - KJ

[Joe Herman]

Nice piece Garry. Sometimes we focus too much on the brain and not enough on the heart.