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Archive -Seychelles

Re-opening of Supreme Court |16 September 2006

Members of the judiciary reflect on challenges of uniting ‘old and new’


The Supreme Court of Seychelles re-opened yesterday with the traditional religious ceremony held this year at the St Paul’s Cathedral of the Anglican Church under the theme ‘The old has gone the new is here’.

The religious ceremony was like always followed by a procession, marching to the tunes of the National  Brass Band and led from the cathedral by the Chief Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, judges, magistrates, clerics, lawyers and court staff.

But this year after going around the clock tower up to State House Avenue and to the Victoria Gymnasium car park, the procession did not walk back to the old Supreme Court building in Victoria (as this has since earlier this year ceased to offer services) but took a motorcade to the new Palais de Justice at Ile Du Port – thus the theme for this year’s opening ceremony.

Presided by Anglican and Catholic bishops James Wong and Denis Wiehe respectively, Anglican archdeacon Danny Elizabeth and Reverend Daniel Kallee, the thanksgiving prayer and reflection-filled service comprised readings from both the Old and the New Testaments of the Holy Bible and also prayers from various religious denominations.

In his homily when highlighting the challenges of uniting the old and the new, Bishop Wiehe said the two cannot be separated from each other so easily and he quoted some very famous people who have reflected on this theme. They included among others Sir Winston Churchill (representing politicians and historians) who said: “Do not let spacious plans for a new world divert your energies from saving what is left of the old”; Antoine de Saint-Exupery (representing writers and poets) who said: “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new”; and a less well-known but very practical Tony Robbins (representing people from all walks of life) who said: “A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.”

Bishop Wiehe went on to say that this theme, apart from illustrating the fact that the Courts of Justice in the centre of Victoria have now been replaced by the brand new, more spacious and modern Palais de Justice on Ile du Port, also touches on our way of living, on our culture, on the way we dress, on the music we like and on what we eat, etc.

“We live in an environment which is continuously evolving towards what is new and yet which is linked in a vital way to the past,” he said.

He further noted that this theme of the old and the new is very familiar to all those who reflect on the meaning of life because we are aware of the values which we inherit from the past but at the same time we wish to live fully with all the new gadgets and advances made available by scientific and technological progress.


“Modern scholars of the Bible speak rather of the First and the Second Testaments because we realise more and more that the two are linked to each other in such a way that what is in the New Testament cannot be fully understood without knowing what is in the First Testament,” said Bishop Wiehe.

Referring to the Second Reading of yesterday’s service taken from the letter of St Paul to the Romans, Bishop Wiehe said it contains a very interesting and pertinent example of how the Second Testament does not abolish the First but on the contrary brings it to perfection.

“This reading talks about the law. We are told that we must obey the laws of civil society. We must be law-abiding citizens. Then comes the conclusion: in Verse 9: “The commandments – Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else – all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’.”

Reflecting on the issue of social renaissance, Bishop Wiehe said renaissance is defined as ‘a revival or rebirth’ and so it has a very strong and powerful meaning and does not refer only to a change in the organisation of ministries and services offered to the citizens but a completely new way that people look at each other and behave towards each other. The bishop asked that God be with us in this major task of personal renewal and of moral renaissance of our society.

He also thanked God for the organisation of our society and for its institutions.
“We ask for your blessing once again on the Palais de Justice and all those who work in the judiciary so that they may dispense human justice according to the highest principles of good and also to the best of their abilities. May your wisdom, Lord, guide our human intellect and judgment. May we be supported and consoled by your presence in our search for a more just and humane society.”

 

 

 

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