Saying good bye to our mate, John Briggs...
Thurssday, 12th April 2007

Dear friends,

For those on our mailing list who have not yet caught up with the news, yesterday we learned of the passing of one of the foundation members of this community. John Briggs was a retired public primary school principal who had been an almost daily contributor to the life of this cyber community, and the cyber communities that had parented our endeavour.

For the past year or so he has been living with terminal cancer and recently returned to hospital for further surgery. There have been many moving tributes on the discussion boards he frequented since the news broke of his passing yesterday. Perhaps the best tribute we could collectively pay is to spend a few minutes reflecting today on his last post to us here at Catholica.

This is how it goes...

What I meant... (Main Forum)
posted by JohnB, 23.03.2007, 15:50 58.107.151.231

I was fascinated to read a couple of years ago that the word "Hypocrite" comes from the Greek and means "mask wearer". You no doubt are aware that in Classical Greek theatre the actors wore masks which represented various vices and virtues, and thus made the actor anonymous. In Shakespeare's sense we are all actors upon the stage, and all of us learn to "mask" our true feelings. Hence we are all hypocrites. It is not a disease, it is a reality of social existence. It is only when we are alone with our most private conscience that we are "authentic". In our life we play many parts and not one of us appears in public without our mask.

Jesus, like Alex says, is calling us to be "open" and "vulnerable" and "fully available" to the "other". It is a radical call for authenticity. When Jesus has a go at the pharisees as "hypocrites" I very much see myself as being spoken to, so I don't go getting all righteous. Remember Jesus saying "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone".

John B

We extend our deep feelings of condolences to his wife, Freia-Maria, and his children, Katherine, Caroline, Chris and their families. [Tributes on the Catholica Forum] [Tributes on the CathNews discussion board]

Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life, and in our world,

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia