Mission & Justice

Peter N. Miller; 28/10/08

Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic; By Ingrid D. Rowland; Hill & Wang
On February 17, 1600, Giordano Bruno was executed for his ideas, burned at the stake in the centre of Rome, his tongue spiked to prevent him from speaking or crying out. In her provocative biography, a marvellous feat of scholarship, Ingrid Rowland brings before us the pieces of an extraordinary 16th-century life. She begins, in fact, with that death and with the memorial to it, the famous statue of the murdered thinker, on the Campo dei Fiori. Most of the time the brooding figure on his plinth is lost amid the diurnal market stalls and nocturnal revels that make this Roman Covent Garden such a crossroads. But on one day a year, Rowland reminds us, things on the Campo dei Fiori are different. The mayor of Rome comes and lays a wreath in the name of his city, and then various groups of ideologues come and turn the sculpture into a soapbox. The place has been consecrated to freedom of thought and speech for a long time. Already in the 19th century, when the sculpture was commissioned by the students of Rome and dedicated to a new patron saint, it was seen as a blow against papal domination of secular, modern and (it was hoped) enlightened interests. At first, Bruno’s back was turned to the Vatican, but this was too much even for those who despised clericalism. Now his hooded eyes glower in the direction of his persecutors.

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Sr Emma Delgado; Interact, Summer ‘08; 1/7/08, a Dominican nun from Mindanao, reflects on the journey that took her to work for Peace Advocates for Zamboanga (PAZ) This is an edited extract from a ‘Sharing stories’ session at Progressio’s regional workshop on women, faith and peace, Timor Leste, 21-24 February 2006. It is taken from “Faithful peace, peaceful faith; The role of women of faith in building peace”, by Jane McGrory
I come from Basilan in the southern Philippines. Paz is 12 years old and its mission is inter-religious dialogue: we work with Muslims and Protestants, reach out to indigenous people, and dream of reaching out to the Buddhist community. We celebrate the Mindanao week of peace, supported by the government. Every year more religious communities and community groups get involved, from all over the Philippines and beyond. My own personal story is of inter-religious dialogue in life. I grew up in a Muslim community: we played, ate and lived together without concern for religious differences. Life was beautiful. But in the 1970s the situation became very confused and the military took control. There was violence everywhere, widespread rights violations, and war. The conflict was between military forces and Moro rebel groups, and the victims were both Muslims and Christians.

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