Sir Thomas More Society Dinner

Ladies and Gentlemen, I greet you in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori, CookIsland, Niue and Tokelau

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni.

More specifically I greet you, Your Excellency Apostolic Nuncio to New Zealand, Archbishop Charles Balvo; you, Your Grace Archbishop John Dew; You, Your Honours the Judges of the Court of Appeal, High Court and District Court; Distinguished Guests otherwise, I instance you Sir Tipene O'Reagan, and members of the Stir Thomas More Society.

Thank you for the invitation to come and speak as an outsider to the St Thomas More Dinner - which for a variety of reasons has somewhat more adrenalin attached to it than that of being an insider with the St Thomas More Dinner.  The arrangements attendant upon tonight's Dinner at least thus far, seem to have been well played by the insiders and I recognise a challenge not to disturb that point of view. 

The duty of a speaker to establish a place to speak before you is made easier by what I have just said in that I have an affiliation with the Society and with the profession of law that we either all serve, have served or have been served by.

I recognise many familiar faces here this evening arising out of one or more former roles for which I have had responsibility. My experience is that of many people connected with the law, namely that some insights into the life of St Thomas More and their importance have been impossible not to encounter.  And it is a matter of record that St Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers as much as he is the patron saint of politicians.

I have always appreciated the value of having role models in the profession - both those near at hand or available only more remotely through reading or observation.

As a Catholic, I think that the life of St Thomas More is to be valued as a benchmark believer and as someone who seemed to be able to apply remarkable and consistent principle throughout his professional and private life. 

I have long admired the breath of ecumenism offered by More. To explain that, More in the 1530s was advocating the superiority of the old order of the traditional church as being the preferred option for the future —as opposed to King Henry's individual wish to legitimise his new marriage and to scrap the old one. More did not want to see the Reformation. Indeed in his book Utopia More had written:‑

"It is a monstrous thing that man should set upon man to oblige him to seek God by force in a way that is not his own".

Perhaps there is a thought to be offered, that nearly 500 years on, at a time where fractionation has diluted and blunted the effect of the Christian message, that it is time to look to things that bind Christians together rather than to stand on those things that divide. This matter of ecumenism has I note, also being struck by the Catholic world's new Pope, Benedict XVI a piece from whose inaugural address went as follows:

"Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed.
Each of us is loved.
Each of us is necessary".

But I suggest the fact is also to be appreciated, that despite his religious convictions, More was something of an enigma.  Here was a person who was pious, yet given to humour and merriment, who was a lawyer, an author, a judge, a diplomat, a family man who married two wives and had several children, and yet be one who spent a great deal of his adult life wearing a hair shirt as a matter of discipline and supplication. 

While most people remain uncertain about many aspects of More's personality, no one is in doubt that he belonged to a very rare group of people who not only achieve notable things for their people and their cause, but who also live by the highest ethical standards.  Most often, these lofty standards are self-imposed and, thus, deeply ingrained. 

More's legacy has far outstripped his natural life and his influence as a leading humanist and scholar is still noticeable, more than 450 years since his death.

More is primarily remembered for his refusal to recognise King Henry VIII's claim as supreme head of the Church of England.  It was this one principled decision which led to his imprisonment for treason and, later, to his execution in July 1535.

The circumstances leading to that execution convey the strength of this man's convictions. There can be no doubt this man had extraordinary courage. Even in his final moments, he remained true to his belief.

Upon mounting the scaffold, he is widely believed to have said:

See me safe up: for my coming down, I can shift for myself.

Just moments before his end, he declared that he died:

The king's good servant, and God's first.

The unfaltering commitment More had to his faith has been celebrated since his death, particularly by Catholics.

It contributed to his beatification by Pope Leo XIII in 1886, and to him later being canonised after a petition of English Catholics in 1935.

The very fact that some 471 years after his death, in a country then unknown to him and his peers, we are today celebrating his life and work, illustrates the lasting effect of his commitment.

Of course More is well known for more than just the events leading to his death. He was a leading Christian humanist of his time, such being evident in his writing and scholarship.

He was, in some ways, ahead of his time, having put an emphasis on his daughters' education. He was, among his peers, well liked and respected.

Erasmus left a portrait of More in his famous letter to Ulrich von Hutton, dated 23 July 1519. This strikes me as a fitting description of St Thomas More the man. Erasmus wrote:

His countenance is in harmony with his character, being always expressive of an amiable joyousness, and even an incipient laughter, and to speak candidly, it is better framed for gladness than for gravity or dignity, though without any approach to folly or buffooneryIn a word, if you want a perfect model of friendship, you will find it in no one better than in More.

He was a outstanding lawyer. As a Judge, he was utterly incorruptible this being more than somewhat a point of difference amongst many of his peers.

As a result of his role, as Judge and as Lord Chancellor, his influence has continued and is evident in this room tonight.

More was also very much a man of his word.  Some lines from Richard Bolt's play "A Man For All Seasons" put this in copybook fashion when More answers his daughter Meg's question about why he will not swear the oath submitting to Henry:‑

"When a man takes an oath, Meg, [Thomas says] he is holding his own self in his hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then — he needn't hope to find himself again".

I have already referred to More constituting an enigma and nowhere is this more pronounced than at his trial where, it has been pithily said, that he fought his case for the right to be right - not for the right to be wrong. Hence has arisen the debate as to whether More is a standard bearer for conservatives or one for liberals.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are very occasionally remarkable people who have an impact on humanity that belies the short time they spend on earth.

There are many great people, but perhaps few who could be categorised within anywhere near the same league as St Thomas More. They come from surprising walks of life and have had influence in unexpected ways.

They are people who have been the catalyst for positive change, either in their own lifetimes, or after their death, as with Sir Thomas More.

Without in any way comparing incomparable people, four people strike me as inhabiting a remarkable space in our own lifetimes, including two international figures and two from our own history.

They are Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Kate Sheppard and Apirana Ngata.

It is worth noting that these people have in common an absolute, unwavering commitment to a belief. That belief, whether founded in religion, in politics or in the principles of humanity, have helped make the world a markedly better place.

Thus, their deeds and their legacies have, like St Thomas More's, made a difference to the world around them.

They also teach the rest of us what it means to live by belief. They teach us how not to become mesmerised by the daily minutiae that can take up so much of our attention.

They teach us to see the possibilities in the world around us - the possibilities of humanity when nurtured. And, so, we learn from them how we can live a better life.

If, in New Zealand in 2006, More can teach us anything, it is to be true to our values, to stand and to live by our beliefs - and leave a legacy  which enriches humanity.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora koutou katoa