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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JANUARY 31, 1986
am glad the Channel is there--not only because it separates
us from the French but also because it gives the idea of
going abroad••••
The original Channel Tunnel Company's scheme of the 1870s was
essentially romantic. Sir Edward Watkin was a megalomaniac,
obsessed with extending his empire of rails•••• In those days
Parliament took the arguments about the Channel tunnel very
seriously•••• As one contemporary railway writer, John
Pendleton, wrote in 1896: "There is the feeling in many
breasts that the French, polite and accomplished though they
may be, are quite near enough to England, and that the stormy
bulwark God has placed around the coast should not be
undermined."
The contrast with the hurried and autocratic behaviour of the
present Government is striking.
A hybrid Bill is to be
pushed rapidly through Parliament so that work can begin in
1987.
This will avoid the necessity of a public inquiry,
which an issue of such national importance•••surely demands.
Along with the secularization of British society as a whole has
developed a diminishing public awareness of divine intention in the
creation of this "stormy bulwark." Thus public acceptance of a fixed
link has grown in recent years, according to the January 17, 1986,
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
Although the English Channel has provided something of a
security blanket for Britons who feel that it has kept
potential invaders like Napoleon and Hitler at bay, as well
as keeping out rabies and terrorists, attitudes are changing.
Polls show a majority of Britons are in favor of some kind of
fixed link, preferably one that includes a road tunnel.
One cannot help but reflect on the proud words:
"Rule Britannia,
Britannia rule the waves, Britons never, never shall be slaves."
Papal Call to •Re-evangelize• Europe
A
very significant article
appeared in THE TIMES of London on January 17, 1986, in which Pope John
Paul II was reported as calling for Roman Catholic bishops to help him
"re-evangelize" Europe, in what he calls a "common plan of action" to
combat atheism. Here are the key points of the article:
Pope John Paul II has called upon the Roman Catholic Church
throughout Europe to collaborate in a programme to ·�
evangelize" the continent and halt the progress of atheism.
In a letter published in Rome and London yesterday he asks
the
Council of European Episcopal Conferences, of which
Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster is president, to take the
lead in this campaign.
It is addressed to all the
conferences of bishops in Eastern and Western Europe, and
suggests that the diversity of cultures and languages they
represent, which could be an obstacle to communication and
joint action, should be turned to the church's advantage.
European Christians also had a particular responsibility to
heal the disunity Q!. the churches, he declared, as it was in