Lenten Editorial
The Aotearoa Television/Tukoroirangi Morgan affair has dominated the news for more than a month. Much of the criticism has been too personal and simply re-enforced racial prejudice and bias in those who believe Maori are getting too uppity.
The facts appear to be reasonably clear at this point. Tuku Morgan appears to have been greedy, overbearing and arrogant in his cavalier attitude to his involvement in a publicly funded company. He has not been accused of theft. Lines of authority appear to have been murky. He probably should have got the sack. Instead, he went on to become a new MP representing a Maori electorate. His head has been demanded on more than one occasion. Resignation calls came from some Opposition members. Many say that politically, ÔheÕs now dead in the water.Õ
Yet something else has been happening. Within the context of his cultural network, he has been called to account in a way that no other MP in recent times has. What other public figure has had to endure such public vilification and humiliation for events which in effect did not involve corruption or theft but rather incredibly clumsy and stupid decisions? He has humbled himself with apology to his Tainui people. He has publicly in Parliament apologised to his people for his misdemeanours. He has also announced he will attend 15 special hui to face up to his role in Aotearoa television collapse. Rather wonderfully, Maori retain the cultural processes that enable them to face one another on the marae, confront the difficult issues and, where possible, start to heal damage done. No doubt he will emerge from this series of meetings a humbler and wiser man.
Simultaneously with the Morgan affair, the Winebox Enquiry has disclosed daily examples of lying, cheating and gross incompetence by public officials and others. Grand scale fraud is alleged. Both the Serious Fraud Office and the Inland Revenue Department, our public watchdogs on such matters, have proved to be almost criminally incompetent in their investigations of the corporate companies involved. They may have cost us millions of tax dollars that could have built hospitals, schools, kohango reo and a whole range of public amenities. Yet it is Morgan and his boxer shorts who have sent the media into a tailspin. Really, you have to ask, why?
Lent is the season of the year when the readings are full of proclamations about repentance and change. Most of us are pretty blasŽ about this repentance stuff. We donÕt think we do too much wrong, so why the need? I guess it depends in what area of life one looks.
A true understanding of the change of heart which the scriptures speak of often escapes us. It is basically a call to an openness of spirit to a growth in compassion and justice. Such a heart searches how to live the full teachings of Christ, how to plant daily the Kingdom of God in our midst. It is an on-going thing.
And it demands concrete results. The Ôbeloved communityÕ of God that St John so lovingly speaks of allows for no racism, no economic exploitation, no prisons, no domination of one culture by another. Yet try to mention the issue of Maori grievances in any company, be it in a pub or a church, and watch the hackles rise. Talk about the sinfulness of usury to a group of business people and watch the sparks fly. Try talking about closing down three-quarters of the prisons (which would bring us into line with the imprisonment rate of Ireland). Then duck for cover. The concrete expression of our change of heart, of true biblical repentance, will include some of these things.
The Church teaches that repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation are at the centre of the path that leads to God and the wonderful spiritual gifts available to those who are faithful. But it does leave us with questions about how we as communities and nations can establish processes to enable such a shift in focus to be enacted and then ritualised. Maori have retained much that is rich in terms of symbolism and ritual from which Pakeha could well learn.
In this Lenten edition we raise some issues of sinfulness and some models of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. Two features stand out. Robert Consedine writes of the troubled real history of Maori and Pakeha in Aotearoa (which we never learnt at school) and suggests Lent is a time to reflect upon it and look at it through a new lens. And Michael Lapsley, Napier-born Anglican priest, offers a marvellous personal testimony and some real insights into forgiveness and reconciliation as he reflects on his journey to his personal Golgotha.
Sin, as the gospels teach us, is both personal and social. When we each have reached a position of taking personal responsibility for collective sin, then we truly have Ôput on the mind of ChristÕ and are surely on the road to spiritual growth. Lent offers an opportunity to focus on such things.