St John the Evangelist RC Church Tadworth

The observant among Aidan’s readers may have noticed that this article is somewhat overdue..

Fr Columba died a month ago, on the 4th August - the day on which in the pre-Vatican liturgical Calendar one was wont to celebrate the feast of the founder of the Order of Preachers, St Dominic. (In the current Calendar his feast has been moved to the 8th.) The Times Obituary described Fr Columba as a philosophy teacher, broadcaster, university chaplain (at Strathclyde in Glasgow), indefatigable pilgrim and pastor. His clarity of thought, deep learning and impish wit endeared him to generations of Catholics from academics to primary school children.

The Times noted that his last journey - less than a fortnight before his own death - was to Rye for the funeral of his younger brother John at which he preached the sermon. Those of Aidan’s readers who had not come across Fr Columba in his preaching or teaching may however be familiar with John Ryan’s work. Captain Pugwash was his creation - the cartoon character whose escapades thrilled and enchanted so many generations of youngsters - and their elders. Readers of The Catholic Herald too will be familiar with his cartoons.

Turning now to examples of Fr Columba’s preaching, it would be quite inappropriate in an Article such as this to attempt to precis any of the material available. All that is feasible is to take a single simple point from a couple of his sermons.

The first is one preached on the Feast of The Transfiguration (which we have recently celebrated). In a few well chosen words Fr Columba explained that only recently had Peter professed his belief that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed one. Until then the Master had led his disciples gently and without shock. Now he began to teach them that the Son of Man (the way he regularly referred to himself) was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and to be put to death.

This was altogether too much for Peter. He argued against it. But Jesus persisted. The disciples had been led to this point with little understanding of the way ahead. It was time now to make it clear that the path to be trodden was not one of glory and acclaim. The disciples had to be taken on to this frightening truth. By Peter's profession of faith they had become committed to Jesus and now had to learn the full consequences of that commitment. It was very far from what they had expected.

The momentary encouragement of seeing Jesus in his glory had passed; they were returned to an every day reality with a future they now had to accept as full of cruelty and menace. And yet they were not alone. Jesus was with them. The familiar Jesus, their leader, their hope and inspiration.

Fr Columba’s sermon ended at this point, leaving it to the Congregation to apply the experience of the disciples to themselves.

A second example is taken from a sermon preached on the Cana Wedding with which everyone is familiar. The modern reader would like to know if there is any historic basis to the story. For all its importance as an outstanding miracle and a turning point in the disciples calling it is not recorded in any of the other Gospels. Was it then just a theological fantasy on John's part? No doubt John used his customary craftsmanship to write the whole thing up, but it is worth remembering what kind of glory was revealed in Christ: at Cana he told his mother that his hour had not come. When his hour came the 'glory' was in the ignominy of the crucifixion. 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you'.

The place of crucifixion was even more forsaken than Cana of Galilee. At Cana, his mother was present, and she was present also on Calvary. But in both cases she was strangely distanced from her son: at Cana by his gentle rebuke to her meddling in his affairs ('What is that to you and to me?'); at Calvary by the distance between life and death. Yet on both occasions her trust in him was absolute: 'Do whatever he tells you'; and at the Cross she stood near him when others fled.

Cana was a forsaken little place with tin-pot musicians whose wedding party ran out of wine, but surely in that trivial setting something did happen which opened the eyes of Jesus's new disciples to his glory. It may not have been dramatic enough to occupy everybody's attention. Nor was the everyday crucifixion of criminals thirty years later enough to engage the attention of the world at large. But the glory was there. It opened the eyes amongst others of the centurion: 'In truth this was a son of God’.

Again the sermon ended, leaving the congregation to apply it to themselves - as indeed one should following any effective sermon.

What then is preaching, or indeed evangelisation? Nothing other than the words of the Psalm: Proclaiming the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples. And how? In whatever manner is best suited to one’s own God-given talents. Certainly it may be in the formal context of the liturgy, or in a lecture hall, but not necessarily so. That was Fr Columba’s role, but not solely so. You may recall what The Times article said: his impish wit, no doubt. He never rose to the administrative heights of his uncle Finbar, a former Provincial of the Irish Dominicans and later Archbishop of Port of Spain on the Island of Trinidad. That was not Columba’s calling, but what has been said of him elsewhere: his pastoral sensitivities to those in need, whatever those needs might be.

In sharp contrast was Fr Columba’s younger brother John’s use of pen and ink, paints and film, and the numerous books he wrote - and of course his special forte: cartoons. His films were beautifully crafted, as the Daily Telegraph’s Obituary noted: He developed a real-time technique for animating his artwork using setups he called ‘captions’. These consisted of cardboard cutouts of the characters laid on painted backgrounds and linked to a series of cardboard levers that made the figures and objects ‘move’. Can one not recognise that all his works, in their differing ways, were equally effective as his brother’s for spreading the Lord’s message far and wide, though John may never have seen it that way?

For 40 years John produced a weekly cartoon for The Catholic Herald. In its issue of 31 July, its editor Luke Coppen wrote:

John was modest about his faith, describing himself as a "not particularly virtuous Catholic". But behind the thick wall of self-deprecation stood a true Christian gentleman, the kind that Cardinal Newman described as "one who never inflicts pain".

He had an unerring instinct for what would make readers laugh but not cause them offence. But his deep respect for Catholic sensibilities did not neuter his art. On the contrary, he produced some of his most powerful work for the Herald.

Coppen continues: One of John's early mentors was Fr Sylvester, a monk at Ampleforth who encouraged him to learn the cartoonist's art. John never forgot that it was the Church, in the person of Fr Sylvester, who urged him down the path that led to creative fulfilment, success and worldwide recognition. What he offered in return was an extraordinary act of faithfulness that he repeated every week for more than 40 years. While John would never have said so, I believe his work for the Herald was an expression of his deep love of the Church. After all, as he often pointed out with a glint in his eye, he didn't exactly do it for the money.

And what of us? In this context it may be salutary to remember Jesus’ words to his chosen disciples at the Last Supper: You did not choose me: I chose you. And note the words Jesus added: I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last [John 15:16]. It is easy to say to oneself: But those words were spoken to the disciples in the Upper Room. True. But in Jesus’ prayer to his Father he adds: I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word [John 17:20]. Are we not all called to discipleship, all of us who believe in Jesus’ name?

To view The Times Obituary go to: The Times (online) Then enter: "columba ryan" in the empty SEARCH box and press ‘search’. Highlight his name and this should bring you to the Obituary.

For a small selection of his Sermons, enter: http://torch.op.org That may bring up an individual Name and entry. If it is not Fr Columba’s, in the lefthand column headed Preaching highlight Preachers and search through the pictures which are in alpha order of surnames. Click on Fr Columba’s name and you will be presented with some 8 or so of his sermons.

An alternative approach is to enter godzdogz in a search engine and see what comes up. www.godzdogz.com is being reconstructed. It’s run by Dominican students at Blackfriars, Oxford. You may find nothing comes up, but it’s worth a try.

To view The Telegraph Obituary go to:: www.telegraph.co.uk Then enter: "john ryan" in the empty SEARCH box and press ‘search’ Highlight his name and this should bring you to the Obituary..

The Ampleforth website contains an interesting description of how films of his animated cartoons were produced. Enter www.oa.ampleforth.org.uk Then in the column headed Recent News go to Recent Deaths and highlight ‘John GC Ryan’..

The Catholic Herald website address is: www.catholicherald.co.uk . If you can find the Herald’s issue of 23 July the brief announcement of John’s death includes a picture of the family featuring, in addition to John himself, his wife Priscilla, their younger daughter Isabel, a granddaughter Lucy, his brother Fr Columba and Luke Coppen (the Herald’s Editor),

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