Sixth Roy Bradley Annual Oration

‘Things Known and Strange’ the 6th Annual Roy Bradley Oration was delivered, via Zoom from New York, by poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama. Pàdraig’s deep interests in conflict, violence, language and story offered rich food for thought and reflection. There was a response of approximately 200 people globally registered for the online presentation from New York City. Pádraig generously awoke at 4.30 am to do so!

Pàdraig suggested that the world’s propensity for violence means that for many people peace is the stranger, the foreigner. Referencing his Irish heritage and the impacts of colonialism, suffering people are at risk of begetting suffering in their own and new contexts: the victim can become the perpetrator.

Pádraig posed the question: Whose pain and suffering matters? If we are to move towards peace there needs to be a reframing of who has suffered; the First Nations of Australia continue to experience dispossession and marginalisation. The Judeo-Christian myth of Adam blaming God for Eve’s actions depicts the origins of blame and abuse of power. Change needs political action motivated by love. Incorporating poetry, his own and others, Pádraig powerfully and poignantly spoke of a range of approaches to peace-making. Dialogue, truth-telling, and acknowledgement of wrong-doings are essential beginning points, as are sitting with grief and remembering past injustices.

Remembering the unremembered also honours those who have suffered and died over generations, allowing the dead to breathe through and with us. Pádraig asserted that these principles and practices also apply to the whole of creation, including the other-than-human world. 

His challenge included bearing witness to our complicated pasts, and to breathe in a way that enables future breathing to be made easier because of the decisions we make today. These beginning points demand a political responsibility and reframing for flourishing. The development of any formal peace treaties needs to be embedded beyond partisan interests. Pàdraig commented, based on the Irish experience, that it takes 39 change iterations (small steps) to achieve a workable treaty.

During the Q&A session he was asked what sustains his hope in a world that is so fraught. He wasn’t sure that he believes in hope, rather the capacity of artistic expression, manifested in all cultures, provides the momentum and inspiration for creativity which keeps cynicism at bay.

We give thanks for the depth and breadth of Pádraig’s insights, scholarship and love of poetry. 

Link to recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1VrYrzjU9c