Coull Quartet in Leicester

The Coull Quarted played Haydn, Shostakovitch and Beethoven to a packed audience at the University of Leicester Embrace Arts centre last night. They were excellent and much helped by the programme note and brief introductions by the second violinist. My concert partner and  I were treated to seats so close to the players that we could see the notes on their copies of the music.This gave an impression of what it is like to play in a string quartet especially the intimacy and closeness of the other players.

Background reading: Vikram Seth An Equal Music

Iain McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary

I have had this book now for a couple of years and not read it until recently. I was reluctant at first because because because...and now I am glad I have. To get a taste of it there is a You Tube 30 minute lecture by McGilchrist at the RSA which is accessible. As are many of the other links on You Tube.

If you have any comments before, during or after reading the book please let me know.

Stephen Hough on the culture wars, from Daily Telegraph

Gay marriage and Catholics

By Stephen Hough Lifestyle Last updated: March 6th, 2012

333 Comments Comment on this article

As a gay Catholic I suppose I should be in the perfect position to comment on the recent flurry of news stories in the media about the Church's opposition to gay marriage. Actually being in the middle of the debate enables me perhaps to see both sides and thus to have less of a fixed opinion that might be expected.

I am embarrassed by Cardinal O'Brien's outbursts last weekend, in print and on air. He seems to me to have closed ears and hearts, to have advanced the cause he was opposing, and to have allowed his determination to be seen as someone defending Christian values to trump the values themselves. He makes it much harder for saner and wiser Christian voices to be heard.

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe O.P.

I am heartened by Father Timothy Radcliffe's article in The Tablet which tries to place marriage and partnerships from a Catholic viewpoint in a clearer perspective. As the former head of the Dominican Order worldwide, he is the most senior churchman to offer a revisionist view on this issue.

But what about the man in the middle, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, andthe upcoming campaign to halt the change in the law? One problem is that the argument about the meaning and ends of marriage has changed. The Church altered its teaching from the mid-20th century onwards away from the traditional 'procreation first, relationship second' to an equal billing for the two. Pope John Paul II was a key thinker in this shift of official opinion when he was still a mere priest teaching in Poland – a hundred years ago he would have been considered a heretic for his views. But people now, at least in the West, primarily choose their partners based on love, companionship and compatibility. That is not going to change.

Then there's social science (a.k.a. the understanding of how God's creation works) which has changed the way we think of same-sex attraction. A hundred years ago the very word 'homosexuality' was newly minted and any act of intimacy between two men a criminal offense. Research has been published with regularity over the past years which gives force to our understanding that being gay is something out of our control. Even if you don't accept the mounting genetic evidence, no onechooses to be attracted to one gender or the other. The awareness of our own preference is presented to us at around the same time as the awakening of love itself – significantly, before we connect it with procreation. In fact, affective attraction arrives before its genital counterpart – a further pointer that homosexuality is simply something in nature, thus 'natural'.

Then there's the fact that more straight people divorce than remain married these days – an 'unfortunate' statistic for those who would suggest that traditional marriage is an unassailable force for social cohesion. I know of straight couples whose relationships have been strengthened by their same-sex friends or neighbours: "If they can make it work, why can't we?" The argument that gay marriage will damage straight marriage is patently untrue. It may actually be the opposite. But, I'm sad to say, those who want to demonize gay relationships hate to see them working well.

AIDS changed many things, not least the awareness that, long after sexual attraction had disappeared into hacking coughs and festering sores, heroic love and deep commitment were gracing hospital wards across the globe. This was not a question of one-night stands, but of nightly sitting at the bedsides of loved-ones.

If Fr. Radcliffe's lone voice were a united choir from the bishops worldwide the Church might be in a better position to discuss this issue and make a valuable contribution. But I'm afraid the secular world knows that, left to itself, the Church will tell the gay 13 year-old (whether Christian or not) that the only option for him or her for the rest of life is celibacy … 'till death do us part. Offering no alternative to that position brings the discussion screeching to a halt; and until just one gay bishop (they exist) is willing to stand up and say, "I'm gay and celibate" there is no role model to support the official teaching, thus no honesty, and thus no way forward.

The closets are collapsing and the theologians don't know what to do about it. There are actually only two honest possibilities: if homosexuality is as immoral as Cardinal O'Brien suggested then the Church should be trying to make it illegal again; if it isn't then the Church should be trying to help gay relationships be holy, stable and celebrated.

Until this week I was loosely on the side of the 'civil partnerships, yes; marriage, no' side of the fence. But do I hear music? It seems to be in C major, to be bright and rousing. Yes, and the composer is Felix Mendelssohn.

Culture wars continued

When a person goes on and on and on about the evils of this or that we often say, "He protests too much". Reading the words of Cardinal O'Brien and listening to him on the Today programme yesterday is to witness  a man flailing about, lost, shouting for a world that has changed. From where do his images come? Words like grotesque and comparing same sex marriage to slavery seem to emanate from a paranoid internal world that is in turmoil. 

Monitoring my own reactions to the gay marriage question makes me aware of a shift in my own thinking. A few weeks ago I was indifferent, feeling that I do not want to ape heterosexual patterns and as long as civil partnerships provide the same benefits as marriage then that was fine. However, the homonegativity that the gay marriage question has evoked from some religious leaders has pushed me into taking a line that supports same sex marriage for those who want it. Neither my civil partner nor I do want it but want other gay and lesbian people to be able to get married if that is what they want.

The words of Cardinal O'Brien have done much to galvanise support for gay marriage. Ironical, or what? Well done. 

from the culture war trenches in LE2

Listening to Cardinal O'Brien on the Today programme this morning was decidedly odd. Does the Cardinal have any sense at all that he is  senior member of a church not just a man on the terraces at a rough football match. Talk of grotesque and slavery serves only to discourage those who might be amenable to his views.

Life here in the house is one of a continual conversation with each other, with visitors, with friends on the phone, via email, Skype, twitter....it is endless.

A month ago, my position was one of general indifference to same sex marriage. I did not see the need to copy heterosexuals and rather liked our distinctive status. As the days have gone by my view has shifted to one where I now support marriage equalities that allow those who want marriage to have it. The likes of cardinal O'Brien and his language now convinces me that it is right to work for marriage equality but I do not want it for myself. Neither does my civil partner, he tells me, for himself.

I was surprised and pleased at the Daily Telegraph blog inviting readers to record their opinions. Currently, more than 70% voted for gay marriage. My sense that more people in the country as a whole are in favour than against is supported by the DT. It will be interesting to see how the Daily Mail jumps.

The word 'grotesque'

Jewish people have for centuries in Europe been labelled as 'grotesque'. Images of Jewish people have been routinely made to look strange. Noses, symbolically phallic, have been used to make non Jewish people aware of their Jewish neighbours.

When a cardinal of the catholic church uses the word to describe the celebration of a same sex couple's relationship, then we know there is something profoundly wrong. Gay people are being used as scapegoats as has groups as black and asian, lesbian, gay, transgender and queer people. We are one step away from the vilification of Jews by the Nazis.

The culture wars arrives here

As I have been predicting the culture wars -isues such as same sex marriage - have spread from the USA to Scotland and have now arrived south of Hadrian's Wall. Mr Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, said he was in favour of gay marriage "because (he) is a conservative". The coalition government are starting a consultation this month and the main opponents will come from religious leaders. These religious leaders rarely if ever tell the media that their faith group has a range of opinions about the rights and wrongs of same sex marriage and, certainly in the mainstream Catholic and protestant communities, many lay people support the idea.

Who owns marriage? Who is to say who can and cannot get married? These are real questions.

It is not just in the UK that the question is being taken up. Here is an Australian contribution, schmaltzy but making a point:

If you want to read an intelligent statement look at the website of Stonewall on these matters:http://www.stonewall.org.uk/media/current_releases/7345.asp

For those Catholics and other interested readers who cannot wait for a week to read the letter to be read out next Sunday from archbishops Vincent Nichols and Peter Smith just drop me a note and I will let you have a copy (free). My first reading is that it is carefully drafted but it needs a robust challenge from those who do not agree with its conclusions.