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The Kirking of the
Council
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First of all I want to thank the Rev.
Alan Birse, Minister of Paisley Abbey, for his gracious
welcome. I am honoured to share in this act of worship in a
setting of such architectural magnificence and of such
historical significance. I am pleased to be able to greet
today the Provost of Renfrewshire Council, the Leader of the
Council, Councillors, Officers of the Council and all the
Staff of Renfrewshire Council. We come together to ask God’s
blessing on you and on your work. As we heard in today’s 1st
Reading, God blessed Solomon with gifts for the kingly
government of the Chosen People, and since then biblical
culture has given us the phrase “the wisdom of Solomon”. We
call on God today to give this Council all wisdom and
discernment for your deliberations and for the decisions you
must enact for the good of the communities you serve.
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As a local authority, you have a
challenging remit: housing, education, social services,
health care, transport and local infrastructure, planning
and the environment, and a host of services for the public.
Deeper dimensions of your responsibility are social justice,
friendship and harmony in the community, and care for the
poor, the homeless, the deprived, the vulnerable and the
less privileged in our society. I am sure you will feel that
it is an honour to serve in public office. I am sure you are
full of enthusiasm and energy for your work. I am sure you
are well aware that your responsibilities are considerable.
May God give success to the work of your hands!
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The political dynamics of this Council
will call for skills of listening, persuasion, negotiation
and cooperation. I commend to you the exhortation of St.
Paul to an early Christian community that we heard in
today’s 2nd Reading: “Never have grudges against
others, or lose your temper, or raise your voice to anybody,
or call each other names, or allow any kind of spitefulness.
Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other
as readily as God forgave you in Christ.” I am sure there
will be lively debate among you and honest disagreement. May
this debate, however, lead to a practical consensus which is
capable of solving the problems of our communities and of
giving them a better life.
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Coming now to today’s Gospel passage,
when Jesus said, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, he
recognised the due autonomy of temporal and political power.
You are the legitimate leaders of Renfrewshire Council. The
democratic system has invested in you a rightful authority.
Citizens implicitly pledge themselves to respect that
authority. You have the right to expect your properly
enacted decisions to be implemented and to be respected by
the public. This is the nature of civic leadership and
political authority in the democratic system, and it is a
most honourable thing.
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When Jesus said, “Give back to God what
belongs to God”, he was making the point that political
power is not divine or absolute. It has its rightful and
very important place, but it is not everything. Only God has
the right to demand everything from man. You will find that
members of the public who are religious or who are people of
faith will more or less subscribe to that principle of the
absolute authority of God and of the rightful limited
authority of the state and of political leadership.
Incidentally that is why laws and legislation which do not
respect God’s purpose for man can pose dramatic problems of
conscience for people whose morality is shaped by their
faith. At the same time, you will find that members of the
public who acknowledge God in the proper way should and will
have an instinctive and well-founded respect for rightful
civil authority, and they should and will support you with
their prayers, favourable disposition, and practical
cooperation, especially in the discharging of your duties
towards the poorer and more vulnerable in our communities.
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I certainly look forward to continuing to
have a friendly and fruitful engagement with Renfrewshire
Council, and once again wish you every success in your
undertakings for the good of the communities you serve. May
God bless and enlighten you!
+Philip Tartaglia
Bishop of Paisley
17th June 2007.
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