Spent an interesting evening as part of the Theological Reflection series which we run for our students in training and recently ordained. We were ‘talking about communication’ which is, I suppose, at least slightly better than talking at length about the use of silence.
We talked, of course, about the skills and arts of communication. But I was struck by how much of what we talked about was to do with the communication of the intangibles: integrity, faith, love, empathy, passion, peace, the presence of God ……
And, of course, one ponders the conundrum that spiritual authority might actually diminish as institutional status increases. In which case bishops might be better to stay at home and let others get on with the communicating.