Articles Archive of Michael Henderson
I have been asked how I come to be writing books about forgiveness.
The short answer is
that for more than fifty years I have been closely involved in Initiatives
of Change (IofC). This is a worldwide work for reconciliation formerly
known as Moral Re-Armament or MRA and before that The Oxford Group. In 1996
I wrote a book to mark the fiftieth anniversary of IofC’s conference centre
in Caux, Switzerland, which has three times been nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize. The book traced the work of Caux through the laying of
foundations for Franco-German reconciliation to efforts to help introduce
democratic foundations in the countries of the former Soviet Union, from
the dialogue of decolonialization
in Africa to the healing of hatreds after the killing fields of Cambodia.
Looking
through the manuscript’s contents for a possible title, it was clear that
the common factor in many of the stories of individuals and of nations was
forgiveness, and so the book was called The Forgiveness Factor.
As a result, out of the blue a
publisher in Oregon where I was then living asked me if I would write a
book about forgiveness. And I soon found myself learning more about it and
writing articles and further books and even speaking on the subject.
A longer answer is that many
years ago I began to get an inkling from my mother’s experience of the
wider ramifications of personal apology and forgiveness. My Anglo-Irish
family had lived for hundreds of years in Ireland. But in 1922 at the time
of Irish independence my grandfather was told by ultra-nationalists to
leave the country by the end of the week or be shot. Our old family home
was burned to the ground. We were all that was unpopular at the time: not
only Protestants but from a landowning family that for generations had
served in the Royal Irish Constabulary and in the British Army.
Many years later my
mother finally faced how deeply hurt she felt about being forced out of
Ireland. As a family in 1947 we attended a conference at the
Caux center. The center had been
opened the year before by Swiss who felt that, as their country had been
spared the ravages of the war, they should provide a place where the hurts
and hates of that war could be healed. One day an Irish Catholic Senator,
Eleanor Butler, spoke. She was a member of the Council of Europe and spoke
of unity. Everything in my mother rebelled against her. Who is this woman
talking about unity in Europe and she chucked me out my country? But in the
spirit of that place she felt moved to apologize to Senator Butler for the
indifference our family had shown to Catholics over many years. She did so
and the two became friends and worked together, becoming part of that great
army of women who kept the peace hopes alive.
Soon after
that visit to Caux, Senator Butler said, “I come from a nation of good
haters. We enjoy feuds and we love fighting, almost for the fun of it. But
in these last months I have had to do something I very much dislike.
I have had to make some honest apologies for
viewpoints which have divided instead of united me to other nations and
other parts of my own nation. In
every case new unity was born between myself and those from whom I had been
separated.” She went on to be one of the founders of the Glencree
Reconciliation Centre.
At the launching
of one of my books on forgiveness a rather pompous young man from an
important American think tank came breezing up to me and said, ‘Is your
approach journalistic or analytical?’ Not thinking quickly enough to
suggest that journalists could also be analytical, I said, ‘Journalistic.’
‘Ah,’ he said, ‘then you’ll tell stories.’ He was right. I don’t come to
the subject from academic study but simply from hands-on experience around
the world. It is a privilege to tell the stories of amazing people from
different faiths and races. Sixty years on, Mountain House, Caux, where our family found unity and a sense of purpose, continues its work for healing and reconciliation. You can read more about it at www.caux.ch
Articles Archive of Michael Henderson
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