Tom Martin

IN THE FIRST CHAPTER of Remi De Roo’s 1986 book Cries of Victims – Voice of God these words appear: Jesus dedicated his ministry to bringing “good news to the poor” and “liberty to the oppressed.” How these words from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew are interpreted is the core issue of Patrick Jamieson’s 2012 book, The ‘Vindication’ of Remi De Roo. Is the church for the rich or the poor?
   Remi De Roo was appointed Bishop of Victoria in 1962. This was the same year Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the issues discussed at this Council was liberation theology and the preferential option for the poor. The Council had a profound effect on many priests, bishops and lay people within the Catholic Church. Bishop De Roo was one of those people.

IN THE FIRST CHAPTER of Remi De Roo’s 1986 book Cries of Victims – Voice of God these words appear: Jesus dedicated his ministry to bringing “good news to the poor” and “liberty to the oppressed.” How these words from the Gospels of Luke and Matthew are interpreted is the core issue of Patrick Jamieson’s 2012 book, The ‘Vindication’ of Remi De Roo. Is the church for the rich or the poor?
   Remi De Roo was appointed Bishop of Victoria in 1962. This was the same year Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the issues discussed at this Council was liberation theology and the preferential option for the poor. The Council had a profound effect on many priests, bishops and lay people within the Catholic Church. Bishop De Roo was one of those people.
   At the same time, some of the findings of Vatican II made others in the church afraid. A church that includes the poor and emphasizes equality is a very different kind of church from one th at provides support only to the established elite in society.
   Throughout history, some priests, bishops and archbishops have been among those who dared to repeat the words of Jesus quoted above and to suggest they continued to have relevance for their time and place. Some paid with their lives for such beliefs. Others suffered from attempts to discredit them in one way or another.
   Patrick Jamieson describes how in the Diocese of Victoria a circle of people became hyper-critical of Remi De Roo and attempted to vilify him. The story is complex but centers around the purchase of a piece of industrial land in Washington State. Like a mystery story, much of it is revealed only towards the end of the book.
   Jamieson does not deal with the question of whether it is appropriate for the Church – at least one part of which has charitable status – to be dabbling in real estate and land investments.
   Jamieson makes some points with humour. When writing about criticism of Remi De Roo for not caring about money for its own sake and the bishop’s role in fiscal administration, the author notes: “It seemed like judging the competence of an Old Testament prophet by the tidiness of his cave.”
   The story of the Lacey Land Saga, as told by Patrick Jamieson, contains important learnings for people of all religious persuasions. Jamieson calls it an odd if not tragic drama. De Roo has always been clear and transparent about what he believes while declining to defend himself. Herein resides a key message for all of us. I am not a Catholic. Nor am I any longer a member of any church, but I am grateful to Patrick Jamieson for his persistent courage in writing this story.

Tom Martin, a retired microbiologist, is the author of “The Bluff Detector: Stories, Dreams and Rivers of Change”, a book about transformation based on stories from the author’s life and stories of social and cultural change. He is also the author of a 2011 paper “The Canadian Tar Sands: An Edge Between the Old Industrial Paradigm and the New Sustainability Paradigm”.