Rationabile Obsequium

General Absolution at Christmas

2011-12-10T17:15:00.000Z

Fr Z's blog has a complaint from an Irish reader about a priest who is refusing to implement the corrected translation of the Roman Missal and who is offering General Absolution for Christmas:

Add to that our bi-ennial General Absolution is available after all Masses this weekend – he instructed parishioners that they don’t need to mention any specific sins, but will be absolved from all their sins on receiving his absolution. God help us! I’m a secular Carmelite so one aspect of our vocation is praying for priests – I’m praying very hard for him and offering up trials and suffering that his eyes will be opened, but wonder if I should be doing something more concrete? I’d be grateful for your advice.

Fr Z correctly points out that the worried parishioner should calmly write to his or her bishop about this. He also points out that repeated General Absolution is invalid.

This is a point that I wish was made more often and any time I'm asked about this, I always make the point that unless it's an emergency situation a priest cannot validly give general absolution. Additionally, when general absolution is given, penitents must be reminded that they should confess the sins which have been forgiven through general absolution the next time they make a proper one-on-one confession.

A Sacrament - not magic
I can only conclude that the priests who give general absolution willy-nilly either have some very strange ideas about their power to administer the Lord's forgiveness or don't believe in the forgiveness of sins at all. I mean, if I believed that I could forgive sins as a matter of routine by means of general absolution, I would walk up and down the Main Street of my parish every morning with a loud-hailer forgiving the sins of all my parishioners on a daily basis. I think the question should be asked of any priest who regularly gives general absolution why he doesn't do that.

The administration of general absolution as a matter of routine transforms the priest's power to grant absolution from a sacramental act into a magical act. As I administer the sacrament of confession, I believe that through my ordination and the power granted to Christ by the Church, I can make Christ's own forgiveness present to the penitent who approaches me with the desire to receive Christ's mercy. I believe that absolution given in this context is simultaneously an act of Christ, of the Church and of the Priest. The administration of general absolution - outside of the legitimate limits set by the Church for emergency situations - betrays a belief in magical thinking: the idea that forgiveness can be granted by the recitation of a formula by the priest - setting aside the role of the Church in the forgiveness of sins and depriving the faithful of a genuine encounter with Christ.

Homily for the 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Year A)

2011-07-24T17:46:00.000+01:00

Readings here
A number of my parishioners said some kind things about my homily this morning and said it encouraged them. It's somewhat more 'personal' in tone than most of my homilies, but it seemed like an appropriate time to speak very personally about some of the challenges of priesthood these days.

It has been a tough week and a half to be a priest in Ireland. There is a storm raging around us at the moment, and it’s not always easy to know what to make of it. Because, some of what is happening these days is JUSTICE – hidden things being brought to light – evil, wrongdoing, incompetence, carelessness and neglect being dragged into the light of day. Sunlight is the best detergent – this kind of purification, even when it is painful, is something that we must accept, and even welcome.

Some of what is happening these days is INJUSTICE – some things have been said which are unfair. Hurtful and hate-filled things have been said. So much of the good work done by laity and clergy has been written off and ignored. Anger about Cloyne is justifiable. However, this same anger has blinded some people and led us to the day I never thought I’d never see – the day when the political leaders of our own country would be mounting an assault, trying to crack open the seal of confession. Priests have been willing to die for the sake of that seal.

Some of the criticism the Church has received has been justified. Some of it has not. But, I don’t think that a homily is the right time for me to work through in detail the rights and wrongs of the whole horrid situation. Good and sincere Catholics disagree about where these rights and wrongs and this is not the time for me address that particular controversy.

Because, I very much appreciate that all of you who have gathered here this morning have made your choice to come to Mass. Many of your friends and family, I am sure, take a different decision. Those of you who have come here have probably had a difficult week and a half as well. Some of you probably dread turning on the radio or looking at the newspaper.
Some of you have come to Mass with serious doubts about the Church, or about the clergy. Maybe your faith is battered and bruised. That is understandable. Some of you are here feeling that the Church is getting an unfair whipping and you’re angry with politicians or the media. Maybe you feel like digging in your heels in spite of them. That’s understandable as well. Some of you are probably somewhere between those two positions or don’t really know what to think. That’s understandable as well.

Whatever you feel about being here at Mass this morning, about being part of the Church, can I reassure you of one thing? The real reason that you are here this morning is because God wants you to be here. St Paul in our second reading assures us of this – God has a plan for us, and has chosen us to be the brothers and sisters of his Son. He wants to be at work in us so that we resemble ever more closely Jesus Christ. We must never lose sight of that. God has called us and continues to call us to know His mercy and his love; He invites us to know his friendship and His consolation and the healing power of Christ.

And it is because of that invitation, that call, that I am so upset about the situation in Ireland at the moment. I am upset, first of all at the damage and pain inflicted on victims of cruelty, abuse or neglect. That upsets me greatly.
And I am upset at the fact that this pain and damage and all the aftermath from it – both inside and outside the Church – is cutting people off from the healing power of Christ and His Gospel. Lord knows, we need that healing and that Gospel these days. As a priest, it’s the fact that Christ’s own healing and power is being blocked in so many ways that frustrates me.

I have been in this parish for the past X years and have been a priest for the past Y – I can’t really complain of ever being badly treated in any real way because I am a Catholic priest. I haven’t had to deal with people hassling me or insulting me because of my priesthood. I don’t feel threatened or put upon in the slightest in that way. Quite the opposite, in fact. People have been so good and supportive to me in my priesthood and have been keeping me in their prayers, so I don’t at all get the sense that people want to treat me badly. And I want to make it clear that I am as happy today to be a priest as I was the day I was ordained.

No, the thing that concerns me about the priesthood in the present day and about the future is that because of all the evil things that have happened in the past and because of the way we’re dealing with them today, it’s going to be more and more difficult to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people – and in a time when there is so much pain and confusion, that’s truly disheartening. There is so much out there blocking the Gospel and making it harder to hear the voice of Jesus Christ in our country. That, as I said, is truly disheartening.

Because, I genuinely believe in the ‘pearl of great price’. I believe in the Kingdom of God, I believe that knowing Jesus Christ and trying to do God’s will is worth more than anything else in the world. I believe that there is a greater beauty, a greater power, a greater healing, a greater wisdom and a greater consolation in the Gospel of Christ, the only-begotten Son of the Father, than in all other philosophies.
I believe that NOTHING compares with the fact that the Son of God has come among us as a man, has suffered for us, and invites us to be part of His family, the Church. I believe that there is nothing greater than knowing that we are His brothers and sisters. There is nothing more life-giving than to know Him in Word and Sacrament.

The fact that you too have gathered here in this church for Mass this morning shows that you too know the attraction and power and healing of Christ – and you will understand me when I say that the only healthy and sure way out of our current morass is in turning to Christ with courage and trust asking Him to give us the words and the understanding and the healing that He alone can bring. We won’t find it in our upset, or our anger or our frustration or our disquiet, unless He alone shows it to us. But if He grants it to us, we will find Him despite the darkness we have to face.

Solomon, in our first reading, prospered because he discerned well. He knew what he needed from God in order to rule justly and he asked for it. God heard him, God granted His desire and gave him even more than He asked for because He asked wisely.

We need the spirit of Solomon today – in our weakness, we need to turn to the Lord and ask him to guide us, to give us his wisdom. We need a spirit of prayer. We need a spirit of discernment. We need a spirit of understanding and right judgement to make sense of difficult times. Above all, we need a faith that binds us ever more closely to Christ. In this faith, we need to find a deep compassion for all who are called to be Christ’s brothers and sisters and to be our brothers and sisters as well. The Lord alone can grant that, and the Lord alone can cause his will to be done, even in times of confusion and chaos.

St Paul points us in the right direction – he reassures us, “by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him.” We see that most clearly of all in the Cross – when Christ brought salvation out of unadulterated evil. All that Christ has to give us comes out of that darkness. We ask Him to do the same for our Church, for our people in Ireland today – to bring His salvation and light out of the darkness and confusion of these days.

Prison Chaplaincy...

2011-06-09T14:10:00.000+01:00

I'm not a fan of the Association of Catholic Priests, but I find this statement on their website very interesting.
It concerns a prison chaplain and a convicted rapist who is suspected of being responsible for the deaths of a number of young women. On his release from prison a number of months ago, the ex-prisoner was followed by a posse of journalists and camera men. I remember being disgusted by the voyeuristic tone of the coverage at the time. Anyway, the ACP statement is as follows:

The Association of Catholic Priests wishes to affirm its full support for the priestly work of Fr. Ciarán Enright, Chaplain Arbour Hill Prison, in the wake of the unjustified criticisms made against him in the Sunday World, 5th June. During the lengthy imprisonment of Larry Murphy in Arbour Hill, Fr. Ciarán ministered to him in a caring and compassionate manner. It is part of the Church’s role to break down the social barriers which society tries to erect, just as Jesus did. No-one, no matter what crimes they have committed, is excluded from the Church’s caring ministry or from the love of God.
The reprehensible manner in which Larry Murphy was released from Arbour Hill prison at the end of his sentence has already been severely criticised in the most recent Prison Chaplains’ Annual Report. The media coverage fuelled fear and anxiety amongst the general public, could only have added to the distress of his victim and indeed could have put his own life in danger. The only voice of protest came from Fr. Ciarán. Being faithful to the Gospel requires the Church to affirm the dignity of every human being, and to insist that this dignity be respected. This does not always sit easily with the attitudes of many in society.
The media witch hunt which, in the pursuit of profit, demonises some high profile offenders whose crimes are rightly abhorrent to the vast majority of society, only increases the risk of re-offending and consequently makes society less safe.
As prison chaplain, Fr. Ciarán has devoted many years to ministering to those whom society would prefer to shun. As Catholic priests, we stand firmly with him, and we are encouraged by his faithful witness to the values of the Gospel.

Amen to that! I've always had a huge regard for prison chaplains and the fact that Fr Enright's ministry is provoking howls of outrage from the gutter-press should be a reminder to us how the Gospel of reconciliation and the doctrine of the dignity of the human person is subversive of worldly values. The pastoral support and concern of the Church is not something which should or can be earned, but is something that is offered to all. Often those most in need of that support and concern are those who are 'least deserving' in the eyes of the world.

Readers might be interested in reading the text of the Sunday World article which prompted the above statement:

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Priest pal of rapist Murphy in bizarre rant in support of sicko
THE priest who is predator Larry Murphy's best pal has claimed that the sick sex beast is the victim of a "shameful witch hunt".
Father Ciaran Enright says the rapist and attempted killer's life is in danger.
And in a stunning outburst he claims Murphy should have been given special treatment when he was released from prison last year.
The Sunday World has learned that the priest - Murphy's only friend in the world - is furious over the way that his sick sidekick Murphy is being pursued by the Press and blames the Irish Prison Service for "appalling and irresponsible" treatment of him.
The head chaplain at Dublin's Arbour Hill prison, where Murphy served a 10-year sentence for a vile rape and attempted murder, is in regular contact with the suspected serial killer and greeted him at Dublin Airport when he returned to the country 11 days ago.
Garda sources say that the holy man has been totally taken in by Murphy and believes that he is a reformed character.
Impulsive
However, senior gardai say that Murphy is an "impulsive psychopath" and could strike again at any time. He is now living in a safe house in rural Ireland and will not leave the country until at least the end of next week.
Fr Enright, in his position as head chaplain, said: "The hysteria that was generated by media coverage heightened the danger to his life and fuelled fear and anxiety among the general public.
"While current legislation may not have allowed for any curtailment of this appalling media coverage, senior management had not only the power, but also the responsibility, to be cognisant of such intense media intrusion when putting a discharge plan in place for a person who had spent over 10 years in the custodial care of the State.
"The failure to do so represents a clear failure of responsibility and duty of care that played into the hands of the media."
The devil's advocate went on to say that making Murphy walk out the front gates of Arbour Hill when he was released caused the pervert "unnecessary distress" and created a "witch hunt" that was "shameful and dangerous".
The 46-year-old psycho refused all offers of counselling and rehabilitation treatment during his decade behind bars.
Despite Murphy giving two fingers to the authorities, Fr Enright has stood up for him, saying the lack of special treatment "endangered his life and caused untold distress for many people".
"No amount of political spin or selective recalling of facts can justify this," Fr Enright said.
The priest has also accused the prison service of leaking "inaccurate and false" information about Murphy that Enright believes was "destructive, disturbing and unacceptable".
The Sunday World can exclusively reveal the background of Larry Murphy's controversial return to Ireland.
The 'Beast of Baltinglass' was enjoying a drink in an open-air bar in a square of Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday, May 19, when his passport fell out of his back pocket. Contrary to reports, there was no prostitute involved in stealing it.
He only realised it was missing when he went back to his hostel and the following day he went to the Irish Consulate in the city and informed them of what happened and asked about how to get a replacement.

The Sunday World ignores previous press reports that show Fr Enright encouraging Larry Murphy to engage with the probation services after leaving prison. I'm glad that Fr Enright was at the airport to meet this man and I agree 100% with his criticisms of the media pursuit of Murphy following his release from prison. If you read what Fr Enright actually said, it's far from being the 'bizarre rant' implied by the journalist.

Now, if Larry Murphy is guilty of further crimes, then of course he should be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. However, failing that, I suspect that some sectors of the Irish media would be reasonably satisfied by his suicide. If, God forbid, that should come to pass, those journalists would have blood on their hands.

An interesting article...

2011-05-21T21:13:00.000+01:00

Andrew O'Connell of the Irish Catholic is definitely worth reading on the latest child protection controversy in Ireland. His article puts together a very clear picture of the situation.

Media reports gave the impression that the Church had willingly placed legal obstacles in the way of the Board's review of current safeguarding practices in dioceses and religious congregations. The impression was also given that the Church was withholding information and starving the Board of funding to conduct training in best practice. Legal obstruction, financial strangulation and continuing hypocrisy; the hallmarks of an un-reformable institution, according to one journalist.
However, that is a gross misrepresentation. How that impression was created was due to three factors; the presentation of events in the Board's own report, the willingness of the media to provide the worst possible interpretation and the failure of the Church to provide a rapid response to a meltdown situation.

Why is it that Andrew seems to be able to explain what's going more clearly and more effectively than the hierarchy's own media office?

"Including three women..."

2011-03-28T21:31:00.000+01:00

There's a rather predictable whiiiiiiine from the Association of Catholic Priests in response to the shocking (SHOCKING!) news that the improved English Translation of the Roman Missal will come into force in Ireland. They seem to be throwing their toys out of the crib in protest.

Anyway, I think it's all rather absurd and am looking forward to using the new texts. Yes, there will be teething difficulties and they will take time to get used to, but I will not miss the current translation. So much of the theological meat and substance were drained out of the prayers when they were initially translated that I look forward to finally praying them as they were meant to be prayed.

The ACP statement is puzzling in one respect. It contains following:

At a meeting in Maynooth on Monday, February 28th a delegation from the ACP met the Episcopal Commission of Worship, Pastoral Renewal and Faith Development. There were five members of the Bishop’s Conference and a number of others, including three women, present.

I'm scratching my head at why the clause 'including three women' was included. Is something sinister implied? Are we to suppose that they are the bishops' concubines? Vatican spies, perhaps? Are these women to be considered class-traitors for their connivance with the male hierarchical hegemony in linguistic impression?
Or are we to suppose that they are included for theological reasons - that they weren't literally present, but have been added in by the person drafting the statement in order to symbolise the thousands of women written out of the Bible when it was re-written by the Emperor Constantine? Do they represent the Myrrhbearing women at the tomb of the old translation?
Or, is it just the case that the ACP - despite all its protestations about respecting women in the Church - has some kind of difficulty in seeing women involved in these issues, especially when they're on the wrong side of the desk?

School Patronage - The Answer Already Decided?

2011-03-28T14:30:00.000+01:00

This report from the Irish Times is of interest - it describes how a group is being established to examine how the patronage of some Irish primary schools might be transferred away from the Catholic Church (or more precisely, the local bishop) in order to better represent the religious make-up of Ireland and in order to afford choice to parents who may wish to have their children educated in a school with a non-Catholic ethos.

A word of explanation may be needed for non-Irish readers - the Article 42 of the Constitution of Ireland says the following about education:

42: The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.

42.2: Parents shall be free to provide this education in their homes or in private schools or in schools recognised or established by the State.

The State shall not oblige parents in violation of their conscience and lawful preference to send their children to schools established by the State, or to any particular type of school designated by the State.

The State shall, however, as guardian of the common good, require in view of actual conditions that the children receive a certain minimum education, moral, intellectual and social.

The State shall provide for free primary education and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially in the matter of religious and moral formation.

In exceptional cases, where the parents for physical or moral reasons fail in their duty towards their children, the State as guardian of the common good, by appropriate means shall endeavour to supply the place of the parents, but always with due regard for the natural and imprescriptible rights of the child."

It should be noted that the State is not charged directly with providing primary (elementary) education, but rather should 'provide for' - in other words, co-operation with religious and other groups in terms of the provision of education is explicitly foreseen.
So it is that most Irish primary schools - 90% or so - come under the patronage of the local Catholic Bishop or a religious order. The other 10% are mostly Protestant schools, interdeminational/nondenominational schools or schools established for the promotion of the Irish language.
Now, it should be noted that the State funds all these different sorts of schools in an even-handed manner. Our primary education system is almost entirely state-funded. Likewise, the curriculum and most of the regulations to do with running the schools come from the Department of Education and not the patron. So, it would be a mistake to suggest that these schools are CONTROLLED by one religious group or another. [The last line of the news report is a nonsense - the Department of Education has much more 'control' in the schools than the Church.] However, the Patrons (religious and otherwise) are key to the management and ethos of the schools. So, a school under Catholic patronage would have daily Catholic religious education and prayers. The school would play an active part in the life of the parish and should be expected to have a Catholic spirit. Non-Catholic pupils are welcome in our Catholic schools, of course, and parents may opt their children out of Catechism classes and so on. In general, I would argue that our schools are very accommodating and Christian in the welcome they give to non-Catholic students and the way in which the reasonable rights and expectations of parents are respected. This is especially important in areas where there is no alternative to the local Catholic primary schools.
I mentioned management earlier - whilst a Catholic primary school is funded by the State and is subject to a state curriculum and regulations, it is actually managed by a Board of Management on behalf of the Patron (local Bishop). It is an 8-member board. The Chairperson and one other board member are directly nominated by the Patron. (Normally the local priest and a local layperson are the bishop's nominees.) The school principal and a teacher also sit on the board. Parents nominate two members and these six members select the final two members from the local community. The management of the school, therefore, is very representative of the various parties who have a strong and genuine interest in the school itself - an excellent example of subsidiarity and local involvement.

Anyway, it has been clear for a number of years that the de facto monopoly of Catholic primary schools wasn't meeting the needs of parents in some parts of the country. The idea of parental choice in these matters is something that co-incides nicely with Catholic thought, so the Irish Bishops have said that they are open to transferring the patronage of some schools. I think that it's probably fair to say as well that some schools have found it difficult to maintain their Catholic identity/ethos when a large proportion of the students attending are non-Catholic, so this transfer of patronage could also be seen as facilitating the strengthening the ethos of those schools which remain under Catholic patronage. Parents would have to chose to send their children to a Catholic primary school, rather than sending their children to a local Catholic school because the only schools out there are Catholic. Similarly, teachers would be choosing to teach at a Catholic primary school rather than just accepting at job at a Catholic school because there are no other teaching posts available.

However, this report from the Irish Times is worrying in that it states that the Minister for Education wants to see 'at least half' of the schools currently under Catholic patronage to be move to some other form of patronage. In other words, less than 45% of Irish primary schools would remain in Catholic patronage. One wonders how he came up with that figure and why he thinks that it is fitting that he should announce the answer before the body investigating the question has even met. When you consider the fact that most small rural primary schools are very embedded in the life of their local parish, it doesn't make sense to suggest that their patronage should be transferred. In the main, parents, teachers and community are happy with the status quo. So, does the Minister have his figures wrong or is there something more ideological behind his statement?

Maynooth Seminary to Close?

2011-03-23T15:23:00.001Z

There's an interesting report on the Irish Catholic website suggesting that Ireland's largest seminary may be closed as a result of the recent visitation by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.

The national seminary, which has educated Irishmen for the priesthood since 1795, may be set for closure after the recent Apostolic Visitation by New York's Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. It is expected the report will recommend that Pope Benedict XVI move all Irish seminarians to a reformed and restructured Pontifical Irish College in Rome.
The historic shift would bring an end to concerns about falling academic standards at Maynooth and claims by some that the college in no longer 'fit for mission'. One senior academic told The Irish Catholic that the Apostolic Visitors were ''appalled'' by some of the standards in Maynooth. Rome would give access to heavyweight universities under direct scrutiny from the Vatican.
It is understood the plan would include the Irish College in Rome dramatically reducing the number of non-Irish students enrolled in the seminary to make way for the seminarians from Maynooth.

I can imagine that this news won't go down well as many Maynooth graduates won't want to see their Alma Mater closed. It's interesting that the focus of the article is on the academic shortcomings of the Pontifical University. Whether Maynooth had sufficient weight to be considered a viable Pontifical University is something that I've heard quietly discussed for years.
One wonders what Archbishop Dolan's report will have to say regarding formation in Maynooth and the other Irish seminaries (Rome & Belfast).

Incidentally, speaking of Archbishop Dolan, his St Patrick's Day Letter this year is a very fine reflection on the Sacrament of Confession. I'm loath to quote selectively from it, so go and read the whole thing.

[Anyone want to lay a bet on how quickly the Association of 'Catholic' Priests will be in putting together a whine about Rome suppressing Maynooth?]

Edited to add: The President of Maynooth says the report is 'without foundation'.

Dorothy Cummings McLean on Spirit Radio this Friday

2011-02-23T23:18:00.000Z

Be sure and listen to Spirit Radio this Friday morning at 10.00am. There will be an interview with Dorothy Cummings McLean who writes (with humour and sanity!) about the single life from a Catholic perspective.

And with your spirit!

2011-02-18T11:40:00.000Z

It's a shame that those who are less than enthusiastic about the new translation of the Roman Missal are making all the noise... This homily by Bishop Conley (Auxiliary in Denver) certainly explains why we should be enthusiastic about the new translation.

When we celebrate the Eucharist, the pope says, we are “entering into the liturgy of the heavens that has always been taking place. Earthly liturgy is liturgy because and only because it joins what is already in process, the greater reality”.13

To drive this point home, our new Mass translation replaces the mundane affirmation – “Happy are those who are called to His supper” – with a confession of faith worthy of the cosmic character of our celebration.

We are not “happy”. We are blessed. We have not been called to any ordinary meal. No, we have been invited to the great banquet of our heavenly King, the wedding feast of His Son, our Redeemer.

Accordingly, we will now pray: “Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb”. Again, the prayer has been there all along in the Latin. The language is an almost literal quotation from the revelation of the heavenly liturgy given to Saint John in the Book of Revelation.14

In the holy Mass heaven reaches down to earth and earth reaches up to heaven. We are worshipping not only in our local church, but in the precincts of Mount Zion, “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and [with] innumerable angels in festal gathering, and [with] the Church of first-born who are enrolled in heaven.”15

That is how the early Christians understood their worship. And it’s time for us to reclaim that same consciousness. We need to come to our worship filled with this same awe for the mystery of God’s love and His covenant plan.

Amen!

A Challenging Read...

2011-02-05T13:06:00.000Z

There's an interesting article in the Homiletic and Pastoral review by a Fr Ference entitled Why Vocation Programs Don't Work. One could certainly transpose this article into an Irish key and ask why the life of the Irish Church seems to be in terminal decline.

The root of our current vocation problem is a lack of discipleship. Of course, a disciple is one who encounters Jesus, repents, experiences conversion and then follows Jesus. All too often those of us in positions of Church leadership presume that all the folks in the pews on Sundays, all the children in our grade schools, high schools and PSR programs, all the kids in our youth groups, all the men in our Men’s Clubs and all the women in our Women’s Guilds, and all the members of our RCIA team are already disciples. Many are not. (The same can be said of staffs and faculties of Catholic institutions.) Our people may be very active in the programs of our parishes, schools and institutions, but unfortunately, such participation does not qualify for discipleship.

Read the whole thing and I think you'll find that the discipleship orientation proposed by Fr Ference seems to resonate much more strongly with the Sermon on the Mount than the suggestions coming from some other quarters about a path to renewal.

No 'Ghosts' in Michaela's Story

2011-01-16T12:47:00.000Z

The bloggers over at Get Religion often talk about 'ghosts' - religious aspects and angles to media stories which are overlooked. I think it's worth noting that the Irish media haven't done badly in reporting the religious 'angle' following the recent death of Michaela McAreavey.
Michaela was the daughter of popular Gaelic Football manager Mickey Harte and newly-wed wife to John McAreavey, Gaelic footballer and nephew to the Bishop of Dromone. While the couple were on their honeymoon, Micheala was murdered in what seems to be a petty theft gone wrong. Needless to say, the whole country has been shocked by this sudden and brutal event.
It's been notable that the bereaved families and communities have been using the language of faith in their public statements to the media. It has been notable too that the press haven't shied away from reporting on Michaela's strong Catholic faith and the assistance provided by the Church community at this time. A good example is this linked article from the Irish Independent.

Within an hour of Michaela's body being found in Mauritius, news of her death reverberated across sporting and political circles in Ireland, making the news by midday. It wasn't just the shattered promise and optimism of a couple of newly-weds on honeymoon that resonated, or the fact that she was the daughter of the legendary Tyrone football manager, Mickey Harte. She was also a beautiful, fashion-mad young woman, who was also a devout Catholic and a fluent Irish speaker, a pioneer and a huge GAA fan: for many people, she represented a side of Ireland that isn't often so evident these days.
She was Mickey and Marian Harte's only daughter, sandwiched between three brothers, Mark, Michael and Matthew. She was raised in the village of Ballygawley, a close-knit community with an active parish, and educated by the Loreto nuns in Omagh and later completed her teacher training with the order. She taught Irish at St Patrick's Academy in Dungannon at the time of her death.
[snip]

Francis Downey, a childhood friend of John's, summed her up last week: "She should be remembered as the nicest person you could ever meet. She was a loving woman, she loved her family, she loved football, she loved religion. She would have done anything to help anyone."
He said that John was a "lad's lad" until he clapped eyes on Michaela when they were both students at Queen's University Belfast in 2005. She was studying to be a teacher; he was reading business.
She was a devout Catholic: he was nicknamed the Bishop, after his uncle, Bishop John McAreavey. They went out together for three years before they got engaged. He brought her to Paris and proposed. They married two years later, on December 30, in Michaela's local parish, at St Malachy's Church in Ballymacilroy, Co Tyrone.
They were to move into their new house in Banbridge, Co Down. Their friend, Eamonn, told how he had already helped them to move in some of their things before the wedding, and how John was "happy as Larry", fussing about the heating and making sure everything was just so.
The Bishop of Dromore, John McAreavey, who married the couple, said that she was the love of his life, "absolutely and truly".
"He adored her and talked about her with such warmth. He loved everything about her: her faith, her personality, her love for things Gaelic and Irish, her sparkle. I have a sense that a light has gone out with the death of Michaela," he said.
Mickey Harte seemed proof of that when emerged from his home in Ballygawley, flanked by his two sons, to read a statement to the media on Tuesday. He appeared shrunken and pale, his face contorted into bewildered grief, as he spoke of his loss.
"Michaela was a lovely girl, a wonderful daughter, a brilliant sister for these boys and we will always treasure her. She was a beautiful girl. She couldn't be better, couldn't be nicer. God love her, we are so, so sorry.
"We are equally sorry for poor John, her husband, whom she adored. He adored her. They did not get so long to share their lives with each other. It is such a shame. Our hearts are broken."
He pleaded with the media to "lay off" John. "John is out in Mauritius. He is isolated out there. It has been an awful time. Our hearts go out to him and I would ask everyone to please respect his privacy. . . Please lay off. We are speaking on his behalf. We are devastated. Through us, he wants to say to leave him alone. He is in such a lonely place and even his own family members are not out there yet."
But the Catholic community had already rallied its forces, something Michaela, would have no doubt appreciated. Michaela was a former Loreto girl and the order happened to have four Irish nuns stationed in a convent in Mauritius. Sister Noelle Corscadden, with the Loreto Sisters in Rathfarnham, contacted them. So too had parishioners in Ballygawley; one of the nuns, Sister Theresa Clarke, was from originally Tyrone and many local parishioners stayed in touch.
And so first thing Tuesday morning, three Irish nuns left their convent in the central plains of Mauritius and set off for the north-east coast, and Legends Hotel, to offer comfort to Michaela's heart-broken husband. They talked at length and later they brought him to Mass in a nearby parish. They returned over the following days, offering solace and prayers, as family and relatives began to arrive from Ireland. They included his brother, Michaela's brother and his father, who had been holidaying in Thailand with his mother. An Irish priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Mauritius stayed by John's side for three days. Even the local parish priest, Fr Jaques Harel, who celebrated a Mass in honour of Michaela at the hotel on Thursday, had trained in Ireland. Michaela was apparently the first tourist to be murdered in Mauritius in living memory. For a small African island dependent on affluent visitors to its luxury spas to shore up its emerging economy, her death was not only a human tragedy but a diplomatic incident that required fast action.

May the Lord grant her eternal rest and support to her grieving family.

Happy New Year & A Blessed Epiphany...

2011-01-06T16:40:00.000Z

I'd like to wish the two or three people who wander by here a Happy New Year and a Blessed Epiphany. We call the latter Women's Christmas or Nollaig na mBan in this part of Ireland. I told my parishioners that today is a lovely day to give thanks again for Christ's coming among us as Light to the Nations in a more low-key and demanding way than Christmas Day itself. (Thus, Women's Christmas when busy mothers should have the chance to have a rest a celebration.)

In parish news, we had a most unusual group of people auditioning for our choir recently:

Alas, it's not quite what we're looking for.

An extract from my Christmas Morning Homily

2010-12-24T17:36:00.000Z

And he dwelt among us. Literally, in the Greek, it says, he set up His tent among us. He threw his lot in with us. It wasn’t just that he passed through – making an appearance and then vanishing like a shooting-star making its way across the heavens. That would make the Incarnation, the Word becoming Flesh, a wonder – something to be commemorated, but not the mystery we celebrate today. No, He became one of our tribe in such a way that our sufferings are His sufferings, our victories are His victories. When he ascends to the right hand of the Father, it is not to abandon us, but rather, to lead us on that same journey. The manner of His coming shows what He intends. He wasn’t born in a palace or behind closed doors. He wasn’t insulated from the hardships of life. He came among us in a stable where poor shepherds and wise Kings found an equal welcome. He came to us as a child – so that instead of putting fear into our hearts, He might draw love out of them instead.

To all who did accept Him, he gave power to become children of God. That is why we rejoice today. He didn’t just come among us as a teacher or a guide. He came to transform us – to make us children of God. Beginning with the love and wonder we feel when we gaze on Him in the Nativity scene, He wants to transform our entire being – to turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, to bind up our wounds, to give us the strength to walk righteously and to restore our friendship with the Father. This day, we see the Saviour who has come to search for us, the one who wants to spend time with us. Come, therefore, and let us find him. Let us adore Him who is so great. Let us spend time with Him in prayer. Let us receive Him in the Eucharist. Let us know His reconciliation. Let us see his Glory and learn from his humility. Let us welcome the One who is the true light.

The mask slips...

2010-12-19T21:46:00.000Z

From Saturday's Irish Times, Senator Joe O'Toole displays his anti-Catholic bigotry:

“One mention of pregnancy termination and the church leadership is galvanised into action. The Minister for Foreign Affairs should be asked to send a cable to Armagh on where it is we stand, and let the cobbler stick to his last. They can do the praying up there and we’ll do the legislating down here, thanks very much.”
As John Hanafin (FF) had stated, we were an independent republic, and we would do our own business, added Mr O’Toole. “We won’t be lectured to by any fundamentalist whether he is wearing a red hat in Armagh or a white hat in the Vatican . . . This is not an issue of abortion. This is an issue of protecting pregnant women whose lives are in danger.

One wonders whether such discourse about any other religious group would be tolerated? That reference to the Minister of Foreign Affairs sending a cable to the North betrays a less than respectful attitude to our brethern on the other side of the border. One wonders whether Senator O'Toole also has a gripe about the fact that our current President is a Northerner? (I could also be pedantic and point out that Cardinal Brady is a Southerner by birth and that his diocese straddles the border.)
Pope Benedict very presciently noted last week:

There also exist – as I have said – more sophisticated forms of hostility to religion which, in Western countries, occasionally find expression in a denial of history and the rejection of religious symbols which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of citizens. Often these forms of hostility also foster hatred and prejudice; they are inconsistent with a serene and balanced vision of pluralism and the secularity of institutions, to say nothing of the fact that coming generations risk losing contact with the priceless spiritual heritage of their countries.
[snip]
I also express my hope that in the West, and especially in Europe, there will be an end to hostility and prejudice against Christians because they are resolved to orient their lives in a way consistent with the values and principles expressed in the Gospel.

Catholics should expect more of this. Don't let the politicians get away with it.

A curate's egg from the Irish Catholic...

2010-12-01T21:53:00.000Z

The editorial in the Irish Catholic is somewhat of a mixed bag this week - Garry O'Sullivan does make a good point about the usefulness of a more visible act of penance on behalf of the Irish hierarchy.
However, his rather unfocussed anger draws in a whole range of other issues which muddy the waters significantly and which generate a lot of unnecessary heat.
I'm particularly disappointed by his handling of the Bishops' recent pastoral letter on Friday penances (PDF).
He complains:

Yet the leaflet makes no mention of why Pope Benedict called for penance. No mention of abuse. Just silence on the anniversary of the Murphy Report from the collective group. Remember this moment well because this is the moment that the institutional Church in Ireland picked itself up, dusted itself off and went back to business as usual.
Reading the leaflet, the language is the language of a Church that has long passed. There is no life, no Christ, no Good News in the language used, it's all penance and no explanation why we should be so penitential? What exactly are Christ's faithful in Ireland doing penance for? For the sins of paedophiles? For the bishops who covered up? For the remaining bishops? Where are they today? Certainly not out there leading by example but ducking and diving as usual.

Garry misses the point here - and I don't think that he's understood the Pope's letter properly. It's quite clear from the Holy Father's letter that it's not a question of doing penance specifically for the sins of paedophiles or bishops. What the Pope explicitly asked for was to offer our penances for the following intention: "to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland." What Garry fails to appreciate is that the Friday penance is something which should have been part of our life as Catholics long before the Pope's letter to us - it should be part of normal Catholic life and is part of the Church's discipline (see Canons 1249-1253). I suspect that most Irish Catholics were aware that abstaining from meat on Fridays was no longer strictly obligatory - but I doubt that more that one in fifty were aware that they should have been doing some form of penance on Fridays - either the traditional abstaining from meat or substituting another penance in its place.

I really fail to understand what Garry O'Sullivan means by the leaflet being written in "the language of a Church that has long passed" or that "[t]here is no life, no Christ, no Good News in the language used." The letter explains:

Penance is an essential part of the lives of all Christ’s faithful. It arises from the Lord’s call to conversion and repentance.
We do penance in memory of the passion and death of
the Lord,
* as a sharing in Christ’s suffering,
* as an expression of inner conversion,
* as a form of reparation for sin.

What's so objectionable about that? Christ's public ministry is preceded by the great figure of John the Baptist whose great call is to repentance and conversion. Christ's first public act is - although He Himself was sinless - was to submit to the penitential Baptism of John.
Penance (and particularly fasting) as a means of uniting ourselves to Christ's suffering, as an act of remembrance of Christ's sacrifice, as an act of reparation and as a motivator and expression of interior renewal is central to the Christian tradition. Maybe making a sacrifice for Christ and making some feeble gesture aimed at union with Christ crucified is hardly something we can set aside because it doesn't measure up to some kind of pie-in-the-sky, happy-clappy idea of what the journey of faith is about. A more sober, realistic assessment of the human condition rooted in the wisdom of the great spiritual writers will see the absolute necessity of penance both as a discipline of the Church and as something that the ordinary Christian would eagerly embrace as being part of the fabric of Christian life.

I fail to see how - post-Murphy - the Irish Church can aim for renewal without a recognition for the need for penance as part of the ordinary Christian life. Having come face to face with the sins and weaknesses of abusers, those who enabled abuse, those cover-up abuse and those who lacked the courage to speak out, we should realise more that ever that a Gospel of optimism and shiny-lights is insufficent. Our Friday penance should be a reminder to us of our weakness, a reminder of our need to cling to Christ-crucified, a reminder to us to remain spiritually alert, a reminder to us that we should voluntarily seek solidarity with those who suffer and a reminder to us of our humble dependence on the Lord. It is also a reminder to us that the vigour and the renewal of the Church is not unrelated to the holiness and asceticism of her members. The call for a more humble Church makes little sense if Catholics are too stiff-necked to be penitential.

I'm also puzzled by the following paragraph in the editorial -

We've seen it recently - when can someone with Aids use a condom? The debate is like the supposed theological debate of the Middle Ages - ''How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?'' The mother of a priest who was in the thick of the resignations and general chaos in the Irish Church post-Murphy Report made a fascinating point to me recently. ''How could a Church'', she asked, ''which was so interested in controlling condoms and making sure everyone behaved in the bedroom as they the Church said was the proper way to behave, could then turn around and give a free pass to those who were molesting children?''

At best, it strikes me as glib. Why bring in the whole debate about the Pope's remarks about condoms? That's hardly the fault of the Irish Church or the Irish Bishops. The Good News of the Church's teaching about sexuality is implicitly trivialised... and given the fact that the debate involves literally involves matters of (physical and spiritual) life and death, I don't think it should be cheaply used to take a potshot at the Bishops.

In fairness to Garry, it's important that he's raising his voice at this time. It would be interesting to hear an episcopal response to what he had to say. It's debatable whether the 1st anniversary of the Murphy Report is the appropriate time for the Irish hierarchy as a whole to make a statement. Perhaps there's more happening at a local level, more things happening quietly than this editorial would suggest. However, it's so unfortunate that the some of the main points of this editorial seem, in my estimation, at least, to miss the mark.

Coping with Recession

2010-11-23T17:59:00.000Z

The current Irish economic and political situation reminds me of some advice offered by Flann O'Brien during the dark days of the Emergency (World War II).

THE BROTHER has it all worked out.

What?

The war. How we can get through the war here in the Free State. I mean the rationing and the brown bread and all that class of thing. The brother has a plan. Begob you'll be surprised when you hear it. A very high view was taken when it was explained in the digs the other night.

What is the nature of this plan?

It's like this. I'll tell you. We all go to bed for one week every month. Every single man, woman and child in the country. Cripples, drunks, policemen, watchmen - everybody. Nobody is allowed to be up. No newspapers, 'buses, pictures, or any other class of amusement allowed at all. And no matter who you are you must be stuck inside in the bed there. Readin' a book of course, if you like. But no getting up stakes.

That strikes me a curious solution to difficulties in this dynamic iron age.

D'ye see, when nobody is up, you save clothes, shoes, rubber, petrol, coal, turf, timber and everything we're short of. And food too, remember. Because tell me this - what makes you hungry? It's work that makes you hungry. Work and walking around and swallying pints and chawin' the rag at the street corner. Stop in bed an' all you'll ask for is an odd slice of bread. Or a slice of fried bread to make your hair curly, says you. If nobody's up, there's no need for anybody to do any work because everybody in the world does be workin' for everybody else.

I see. In a year therefore you would effect a saving of twenty-five per cent in the consumption of essential commodities.

Well now, I don't know about that, but you'd save a quarter of everything, and that would be enough to see us right.

But why get up after a week?
The bakers, man. The bakers would have to get up to bake more bread, an if wan is up, all has to be up. Do you know why? Because damn the bit of bread your men the bakers would make for you if the rest of us were in bed. Your men couldn't bear the idea of everybody else being in bed and them working away in the bakery. The brother says we have to make allowances for poor old human nature. That's what he called it. Poor old human nature. And begob he's not far wrong.

Very interesting. He would do well to communicate this plan to responsible Government department.

You're not far wrong there yourself. Bye-bye, here's me bus!

(from Cruiskeen Lawn, in The Irish Times, during The Emergency. Available in Flann O'Brien's "The Best of Myles"

(Transcription found here)

I despair, I really do...

2010-11-20T21:41:00.002Z

... about the inability of the press to accurately report religious matters.
The Daily Telegraph website has the following headline:

The Pope drops Catholic ban on condoms in historic shift

Do I need to say that the headline is totally misleading?
Anyway, the article opens as follows:

After decades of fierce opposition to the use of all contraception, the pontiff will end the Church's absolute ban on the use of condoms.
He will say that it is acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention is to "reduce the risk of infection" from Aids.

So, what did the Pope actually say? The Curt Jester actually quotes chapter and verse from the Pope's interview with Peter Seewald:

From Chapter 11, “The Journeys of a Shepherd,” pages 117-119:

On the occasion of your trip to Africa in March 2009, the Vatican’s policy on AIDs once again became the target of media criticism.Twenty-five percent of all AIDs victims around the world today are treated in Catholic facilities. In some countries, such as Lesotho, for example, the statistic is 40 percent. In Africa you that the Church’s traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church’s own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

The media coverage completely ignored the rest of the trip to Africa on account of a single statement. Someone had asked me why the Catholic Church adopts an unrealistic and ineffective position on AIDs. At that point, I really felt that I was being provoked, because the Church does more than anyone else. And I stand by that claim. Because she is the only institution that assists people up close and concretely, with prevention, education, help, counsel, and accompaniment. And because she is second to none in treating so many AIDs victims, especially children with AIDs.
I had the chance to visit one of these wards and to speak with the patients. That was the real answer: The Church does more than anyone else, because she does not speak from the tribunal of the newspapers, but helps her brothers and sisters where they are actually suffering. In my remarks I was not making a general statement about the condom issue, but merely said, and this is what caused such great offense, that we cannot solve the problem by distributing condoms. Much more needs to be done. We must stand close to the people, we must guide and help them; and we must do this both before and after they contract the disease.
As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen. Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?

She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.

Now, that's quite a lot to read by the standard of today's journalists, but it seems to me that the Pope is stating quite explicitly that condoms are not a moral solution. What's unclear about that?
Yes, the Pope does point out that in certain circumstances the decision to use a condom to prevent a sexual partner from contracting HIV may represent for that person a first step towards a healthier and more moral appreciation of their sexuality and their sexual behaviour. But, what he says is in no way an alteration of the Church's teaching.

(If I might suggest an analogous argument - a promiscuous young man who makes a decision to be faithful to his steady girlfriend may be a first step towards a healthier and more moral sexuality. I think any sensible confessor or moral theologian would see that. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that extra-marital sexual activity is something good or something to be approved of.)

Also, one would have thought that the Telegraph's Religious Affairs Correspondent would know that Popes aren't in the habit of promulgating major doctrinal rulings in book-length interviews. It's curious how journalists who, presumably don't believe in Papal infallibility, tend to attribute the greatest of weight to the Pope's obiter dicta.

Edited to add:
Of genuine interest are these snippets from the book in question.

For example,

And how does Pope Benedict pray?
As far as the Pope is concerned, he too is a simple beggar before God – even more than all other people. Naturally, I always pray first and foremost to our Lord, with whom I am united simply by old acquaintance, so to speak. But I also invoke the saints. I am friends with Augustine, with Bonaventure, with Thomas Aquinas. One says to such saints: “Help me!” In this sense, I commend myself to the communion of saints. With them, strengthened by them, I then talk with the dear Lord also, begging, for the most part, but also in thanksgiving – or quite simply being joyful.

That image of the beggar strikes me as very Augustinian

The Liberator

2010-11-17T12:45:00.001Z

Newstalk's Talking History had a very interesting discussion of Daniel O'Connell and his legacy. (For Podcast see here.) Like Patrick Geoghegan, I was gobsmacked that the man who won Catholic Emancipation and politically mobilised the Irish like no one before him wasn't on the shortlist for Ireland's Greatest Person.

Keeping an eye on the ACP

2010-10-26T22:15:00.001+01:00

Via RTE:

Catholic Church authorities need to distinguish between the paedophile priest and the cleric who committed a minor indiscretion with a teenager 30 or more years ago, according to a spokesman for the new Association of Catholic Priests.
Father Tony Flannery said many priests who attended a meeting in Co Mayo this afternoon sympathised with colleagues who had been excluded from ministry even though their behaviour since the transgression had been blameless.

That's where they're beginning? Some sex offenders need to be treated more leniently than others?

Fr Flannery was speaking to the media after his organisation's first regional meeting, and he decides to go with that line? That is not something that the priests of Ireland need at the moment.

Now, the handling of allegations against priests does need to be scrutinised. As with any system of justice, the rights and reputation of all parties concerned - including the accused - need to be handled carefully. However, I do not think that the best way of addressing that issue is launching a media debate and I do not think that it's a good idea to engage in special pleading for those who might have committed a minor indiscretion with a teenager thirty years ago. That kind of talk seems to downplay the seriousness of sexual expolitation.

To my mind, a different kind of renewal is needed - a spiritual renewal of our clergy and a more impassioned preaching of Christ and His Gospel.

Post scriptum: I wonder how this is going to play out in the media... Fr Flannery has the reputation of a media-darling, so I wouldn't be surprised if this statement were largely overlooked. Were a more theologically conservative priest or, God forbid, a bishop to make such a comment, he'd probably be flayed alive. However, it'll be interesting to see whether tomorrow's newspapers tear into Fr Flannery or give him an easy ride.

Iggy is at it again...

2010-10-07T09:22:00.000+01:00

Can you believe that this letter to the Irish Times is from a Catholic priest?

Madam, – I read with interest the report of your correspondent Paddy Agnew on the Vatican’s opposition to the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Robert Edwards for his pioneering work in the field of in vitro fertilisation (World News, October 6th). It appears it opposes IVF because it separates conception from the “conjugal act”. I wonder what St Joseph and Mary would make of this controversy. – Yours, etc,

Fr IGGY O’DONOVAN,
Shop Street,
Drogheda, Co Louth.

I'm speechless.

RTE & the Boycott

2010-10-02T11:42:00.000+01:00

From David Quinn's column in the Irish Independent:

If a single solitary person was to call on people to boycott RTE on a given day of the week in protest against, say, its perceived bias, how do you imagine RTE would react? I'd imagine they'd ignore the call completely and among themselves dismiss the person as a crank.
But when a single solitary person has the Catholic Church in his or her sights, it's a different matter entirely. Then the person gets all the publicity they can handle. This is exactly what happened to Jennifer Sleeman when she called on Catholics to boycott Masses last Sunday in protest against the male-only priesthood.
In the event, the call for the boycott was a total damp squib. There was no measurable effect on Mass attendance and some priests said that, if anything, attendance was up. Nonetheless, RTE covered the event as though it wasn't a total failure.
(snip)
We might ask how would RTE react if on 'Boycott RTE Day', there was no discernible drop in its viewership figures, but nevertheless TV3 went out of its way to give the impression that something of note had really taken place? Without doubt, RTE would see it is a piece of anti-RTE campaigning by TV3.

Something more upbeat...

2010-09-30T22:24:00.001+01:00

A friend has taken to describing the Association of Catholic Priests as the Association of Grumpy Priests, so it behoves me to post something uplifting and positive.

Firstly, Don Marco reminds us that we have some wonderful saints to celebrate this week:

I have always experienced the last days of September and the first week of October (September 29 -- October 7) as a moment of spiritual enchantment within the Church Year. Is it the intoxicating effect of Saint Michael's Summer with the peculiar quality of its light? Is it the procession of saints that passes before our eyes, or should I say, through our hearts? These are days almost excessively rich in grace.
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael descend first on September 29th, in a cloud of incense and a blaze of light. Christ Himself is all their beauty: decus angelorum. Ask them to teach you to gaze with faith and with holy desire upon the Face of Christ, the Human Face of God.
Saint Jerome follows on the 30th, absorbed in the Scriptures, with his lion plodding sleepily along beside him, stopping only for those who need a word of encouragement in the labour of lectio divina. Ask him to obtain for you the grace to practice lectio divina as a Holy Communion with Christ.
On October 1st a young Carmelite smiles: Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Doctor of the Church. As she passes she lets roses fall; she says nothing, but in her eyes shines a message of confidence for the sinners whose company she has always preferred. Ask her for an increase of hope.
And there are more...

I've also added a new Irish Priest 'blog to my links: Fr John Hogan's Ex Umbris et Imaginibus. (I almost wish I'd chosen that as the title for my 'blog...)

Over at The Preaching Life, Fr SC recounts a favourite anecdote of a mutual Dominican friend:

During one particular homily one of the preachers recounted a conversation he had with an old friend. This friend had been very successful in business, he was a real high flyer. And as things go, as he succeeded in his business life, he abandoned, or at least 'down graded' his spiritual life, and gave up on the Sacraments. One day the two friends were talking and religion came up. The priest's friend explained who he thought religion was a good idea, but that 'institutional' church was not something for him. He began to explain that he saw God as an energy, somewhere out there, a life force to be tapped into when you needed it. (A common enough idea, these days, by the way.) The learned Dominican retorted "How do you expect me to have a relationship with a battery?!"

I'm probably stealing that one for this Sunday's homily!

Finally, I can't wait to start using the corrected English translation of the Roman Missal which is due to come into effect in just over a year's time. The current translation regretably obscures some of the more theologically powerful parts of our Mass. I've often wanted to preach on a particular liturgical point but don't really fancy beginning a homily with the words If you look up the Latin text of this prayer... Anyway, the Church Music Association of America have produced Youtube videos of the new Mass texts chanted. Have a listen to get used to the new texts, and hopefully these videos will encourage those priests who can sing to use these melodies when the corrected translation comes into effect.

I'm really having to bite my tongue...

2010-09-28T18:23:00.004+01:00

...because I really want to use some very unpriestly language to describe the Association of Catholic Priests. The proposed women's boycott of Mass last Sunday was something of a non-event. My own observation, the anecdotal evidence given by priests and laity and press reporting of the event suggests that Mrs Sleeman's boycott didn't attract any noticable support.

The Catholic Communications Office issued a statment the day before the proposed boycott which rather uncontroversially said the following:

Catholic Communications Office statement on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
"Mass is a community sacramental celebration of the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus. We would encourage people not to absent themselves from the Eucharist where we re-enact the Last Supper and the Paschal mystery, following the command of Jesus ‘Do this is memory of me’.
The celebration of the Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation is essential to the practice of the Catholic faith as the Sunday Eucharist is a pivotal aspect of the spiritual lives of Catholics."
Separately, in relation to role of women in the Church: "Lay women and men contribute actively to all aspects of Church life and this involvement has increased significantly in recent years. Every day throughout Ireland lay people, priests and religious work together making decisions in parishes for the local community. Examples of this collaboration include Parish Pastoral Councils, liturgy groups, child protection, social justice initiatives, parish finance committees, communications and in administration posts."

This statement, however, upset the ACP. What's more, the fact that a spokesperson pointed out that the boycott didn't seem to have much of an effect was dismissed by the ACP as border[ing] on triumphalism. Overstate things often?

Really, it would want you to make you sigh (or swear) because people will believe that the whinging statement of the ACP represents the views of a significant number of Irish priests. Indeed, it would be interesting to poll the (alleged) two or three hundred priests who attended the founding meeting would be able to fully subscribe to the statement which begins: We in the Association of Catholic Priests...
One wonders how the statement was drafted, what consultation there was amongst the members and who issued it. My cynical streak suggests that this Association of Catholic Priests will become a sort of soap-box for a small coterie of Irish priests of a certain ideological bent who - whilst claiming to be voiceless - seem never to be out of the newspapers. Now, however, they can put forward their frequently wrong-headed and stale opinions as somehow representative of the thought of Irish Clergy.

What's interesting as well is that this group says:

women are presently excluded from many ministries and from all forms of decision-making.

Now, it's quite true that women are not accepted as candidates for Holy Orders. Ordaining a woman to the priesthood is a power that the Church simply doesn't have. I know that upsets many people and I know that it's hard for many people to accept or understand. It is imperative that people's concerns are heard in good faith. However, the Church has no power to do otherwise and people need to understand that it's not a question of policy which could change at the stroke of Papal pen. It's something that the Church is irrevocably bound to. It's counter-cultural... it's practically scandalous in some ways, but as Catholics we're called to strive to understand and accept those parts of the faith that challenge us.

However, saying that women are excluded from 'all forms of decision-making' is simply incorrect. You should try explaining that to the Chairwoman of our local branch of the St Vincent de Paul Society. You should try explaing that to the women who play a leading part on our various parish committees, on diocesan finance committees, pastoral councils and a myriad of other similar bodies on the local, national and international level. You should explain that to the superiors of female religious orders and women who occupy leadership positions in lay eccesial movements. You should try to convince female principals in our Catholic schools and chairwomen of Catholic school Boards of Management that they are 'excluded from all forms of decision-making'. Tell the legions of Catholic mothers and grandmothers that they have no decision-making power within the Domestic Church which is the family. I've always understood that my vocation as a diocesan priest working in a parish is in helping all my parishioners in realising their own vocations and assisting them to follow Christ in their lives. That necessarily involves collaboration with those same parishioners and encouraging them to play their part in the work of the parish. However, this collaboration is not an end in itself and there's a clear danger that the future of the Church is seen as a clericalization of the laity rather than an encouragement of their discipleship of Christ in the world.

To my mind, the statement of the ACP devalues the work of Catholic laity, male and female.

Ironically, the Association of Catholic Priests seems to confuse worthwhile participation in the life of the Church with membership of the clergy. There is no appreciation for the different roles of the laity and clergy as set out in the Second Vatican Council. There's no appreciation that the Christian vocation involves a sancification of everyday life. I'm not always sure what the word clericalism is, but the ACP statement reeks of it. I suspect that many of the more 'conservative' clergy have a much better appreciation of the need for a renewal of the lay apostolate rather than pushing a model of clericalising the laity and making the Church an inward-looking organisation. (Pope John Paul II's Christifidelis Laici and Vatican II's Apostolicam Actuositatem deserve to be read.)

The Letters Page of today's Irish Times contains a sensible antidote to the ACP statement:

Madam, – The strong turnout of women for Mass last Sunday in Clonakility, despite the widely promoted and widely publicised boycott, confirms something that I have suspected for a long time.

Despite what we are often told to believe, a substantial number of women do not feel discriminated against or “oppressed” by the absence of women’s ordination.

As a young Catholic woman I see plenty of opportunities to be involved in the mission of the church. Such opportunities are complementary to that of ordained ministers, certainly not supplementary.

Perhaps if others were less clerically minded they’d see these opportunities too. – Yours, etc,
ANNE-MAREE QUINN,
Newtown Avenue,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.

The Association of Catholic Priests

2010-09-23T21:35:00.000+01:00

I've already explained my objections to the Association of Catholic Priests which has recently been founded here in Ireland. Well, they've just launched a website and nothing on it encourages me. The statement of objectives is the usual vague Spirit of Vatican II stuff. Now, I agree that there is an urgent need for "Full implementation of the vision and teaching of the Second Vatican Council". It's just that I don't recognise the vision and teaching of the Second Vatican Council in what this association proposes.

Let's get back to basics. What was the purpose of the Council? Bl John XXIII of happy memory described it as follows at the opening of the Council:

The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously.

The Council calls us to believe more firmly and profess our faith more clearly. The Association of Catholic Priests would rather have us wring our hands and re-shape the Church according to the mores of contemporary society rather than vigorously engage with life and culture drawing on the riches of the Christian tradition.

(I also note that they're not very keen on the corrected translation of the Roman Missal which will be issued next year.)

Tackling Mis-information...

2010-09-14T12:23:00.003+01:00

Damien Thompson's latest post points to an article in a secular humanist magazine which debunks some of the outlandish statements made in supposedly respectable newspapers about clerical sex abuse.

Bishop Michael Smith tries to puncture Hans Küng's claim to be the authentic interpreter of the Spirit of Vatican II. (I agree 100% with Bishop Smith, but note that the headline put on this piece makes it seem much more of an ad hominem attack than it really is. Beware the power of the sub-editor! A positive article about what the Pope has to say is spun as a hatchet job!)

Seraphic gives a boozy assessment of Peter Tatchell's programme on Channel 4.

Strange Goings-On at the Birmingham Oratory.

2010-09-03T15:27:00.003+01:00

Cardinal Newman, soon to be Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, was one of the finest satirists ever. There's a fine example of this in his Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England where he addresses the suspicions of local Protestants whose prejudice led them to suspect that when the Oratory was being built that the cellars were intended as prison cells.

Coaches, omnibuses, carriages, and cars, day after day drive up and down the Hagley Road; passengers lounge to and fro on the foot-path; and close alongside of it are discovered one day the nascent foundations and rudiments of a considerable building. On inquiring, it is found to be intended for a Catholic, nay, even for a monastic establishment. This leads to a good deal of talk, especially when the bricks begin to show above the surface. Meantime the unsuspecting architect is taking his measurements, and ascertains that the ground is far from lying level; and then, since there is a prejudice among Catholics in favour of horizontal floors, he comes to the conclusion that the bricks of the basement must rise above the surface higher at one end of the building than at the other; in fact, that whether he will or no, there must be some construction of the nature of a vault or cellar at the extremity in question, a circumstance not at all inconvenient, considering it also happens to be the kitchen end of the building. Accordingly, he turns his necessity into a gain, and by the excavation of a few feet of earth, he forms a number of chambers convenient for various purposes, partly beneath, partly above the line of the ground. While he is thus intent on his work, loungers, gossipers, alarmists are busy at theirs too. They go round the building, they peep into the underground brickwork, and are curious about the drains; they moralise about Popery and its spread; at length they trespass upon the enclosure, they dive into the half-finished shell, and they take their fill of seeing what is to be seen, and imagining what is not. Every house is built on an idea; you do not build a mansion like a public office, or a palace like a prison, or a factory like a shooting box, or a church like a barn. Religious houses, in like manner, have their own idea; they have certain indispensable peculiarities of form and internal arrangement. Doubtless, there was much in the very idea of an Oratory perplexing to the Protestant intellect, and inconsistent with Protestant notions of comfort and utility. Why should so large a room be here? why so small a room there? why a passage so long and wide? and why so long a wall without a window? the very size of the house needs explanation. Judgments which had employed themselves on the high subject of a Catholic hierarchy and its need, found no difficulty in dogmatising on bedrooms and closets. There was much to suggest matter of suspicion, and to predispose the trespasser to doubt whether he had yet got to the bottom of the subject. At length one question flashed upon his mind: what can such a house have to do with cellars? cellars and monks, what can be their mutual relation? monks—to what possible use can they put pits, and holes, and corners, and outhouses, and sheds? A sensation was created; it brought other visitors; it spread; it became an impression, a belief; the truth lay bare; a tradition was born; a fact was elicited which henceforth had many witnesses. Those cellars were cells. How obvious when once stated! and every one who entered the building, every one who passed by, became, I say, in some sort, ocular vouchers for what had often been read of in books, but for many generations had happily been unknown to England, for the incarcerations, the torturings, the starvings, the immurings, the murderings proper to a monastic establishment.

Kevin Myers: 'Our society must stop celebrating lives of reckless car-crash teens'

2010-09-02T22:35:00.003+01:00

In today's Independent Kevin Myers writes a provocative article about our attitude to young people who die in road traffic accidents. It's strong stuff and liable to provoke some controversy. I might 'blog in more detail about what he says when I've had the chance to reflect on it a little more.

Mackey's Parting Shot...

2010-08-31T09:30:00.003+01:00

I've been following the series of five weekly articles in the Irish Times by Professor James Mackey with a certain grim fascination. For a man who once had a reputation as one of the brightest theologians in the Irish Church, it's disturbing to see him slide into a sort of populist anti-clericalism. In today's article he writes:

[I] initially at least, the largest grouping of Catholics is likely to consist of those who remain unconvinced that any substantial reform is necessary; nothing more than a clearance of maverick clerical and religious abusers and dealing with other incidental occurrences of that regrettable ilk.
The welcome and willing leader of this grouping is the current pope, a mere mortal man convinced of his supreme infallible power to dictate what we, all “children of our holy father”, are to believe and practise in life liturgical and moral.

Seriously? That's meant to be the writing of a theology professor... one who, I understand, still claims to be Catholic?
And he goes on to say:

And there will always be a majority who prefer a judgmental God for whom punishment is the primary instrument of love (as the Archbishop of Dublin would put it) to the father of the prophet Jesus. Particularly as this majority sees itself as so especially God’s people, and he their special God, that they have privileged access to the sacramental means for escaping punishment both here and hereafter.

What can one say about about such a crude representation of the doctrine of the atonement? And does he really think that such an idea is held by a majority of practising Catholics?
It seems to me that Professor Mackey has moved from a hatred of the clergy to a contempt for ordinary Catholics.

So, what are Professor Mackey's recommendations for those who want to follow Christ? He concludes on an unlikely note:

There are yet other options for disenfranchised Catholics: decamping to other religions or to none at all; and many take this option.
It is a reasonable option, particularly in the case of Christianity’s two sibling religions, Judaism and Islam.
For Jesus was a prophet in and for Judaism and Muhammad received him as a prophet on a par with himself; and it can be seen and shown that both of these sibling religions retain some features more faithful to the faith of Jesus than are their current Roman Catholic counterparts.
The same can be true in varying degrees for other world religions, and primal religions, and for the personal spiritualities of people disenchanted with organised religion as such. For God has left no one ever without evidence of the utterly gracious and eternal presence; as the Masai woman introduced in earlier instalments quite amply illustrates.

One has to wonder what a 'liberal-minded' critic of the Church and an advocate of women priests is up to when he includes conversion to Islam as a favourable option for those seeking a certain sort of reform within the Church.

A Reason to Read the Irish Times

2010-08-27T17:16:00.003+01:00

John Waters writes about the Rimini meeting of Communion & Liberation:

The other day, for example, I went for a second time to experience an exhibition on the life and work of the Irish-American writer Flannery O’Connor. Now there’s “conservatism” for you: a Catholic novelist whose characters seem to have been conceived at the very precipice of human possibility: strange, dark misfits torn between grace and meaninglessness, awaiting that moment of exceptionality when a choice will throw itself before them. Flannery O’Connor once said that if she had not been a Catholic, she would have had “no reason to write, no reason to see, no reason ever to feel horrified or even to enjoy anything”.
Is it possible for those of us who live in the nominally Catholic land from which her ancestors once hastened to gain any insight into such a judgment?

It never fails to astound me how hostile the reader comments are when John Waters dares to say something positive about his faith. Probably the most amusing hostile comment is from a 'Roger Quinlan' who suggests that Flannery O'Connor should widen her horizons. Given that she passed from this life in 1964, I would imagine that her horizons are, God willing, infinitely broad.

My Reservations about Irish Journalism

2010-08-26T15:55:00.005+01:00

The Archbishop and the Serious Catholic Press
In his recent address in Rimini, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin noted that there is no 'serious Catholic press' in Ireland. I'm not sure that my friends at the 'Irish Catholic' newspaper would quite agree with him, but I think that the substance of Martin's remarks is generally accurate. The Irish Catholic makes a valuable contribution to the life of the Church in Ireland and is certainly a serious newspaper. But, in a broader sense, we don't have a 'serious Catholic press' because outside of the niche which that publication occupies, there is no serious newspaper which approaches the news of the day with a Catholic outlook. One weekly publication - no matter how good - does not constitute a serious Catholic press in a predominantly Catholic country. Likewise, I don't think that any of the religion correspondents who report in the Irish dailies are particularly well-informed or sympathetic. There are some columnists, of course, whose work is worth following, but believing Catholics with a basic sense of loyalty to the Church will find few friends in the Irish media.

Get Religion?
I recently came across the American GetReligion website. Based on the premise that the media 'doesn't get religion', it examines religious reportage and showing precisely how - through either spin or ignorance - much of what is published is inaccurate or misleading. If I didn't have the care of my parishioners and my own sanity on my conscience, I wouldn't mind doing something similar with the Irish press. Hardly a day goes by without my coming across an article in one of our broadsheets which misses the mark. I don't expect the secular media to confine themselves to printing only good things about the Church, clergy and the laity; I do wish that our Irish journalists would write a little more fairly and a lot more knowledgeably.

A Typical Example
Take, for example, this report in today's Irish Times about Ave Maria University Professor Colin Barr's latest book The European Culture Wars in Ireland – The Callan Schools Affair, 1868-81. (I've met Professor Barr and he's an expert on the life and times of the 19th Century Irish Cardinal Paul Cullen.)

The Context
The headline reads: Mental reservation used 'to lie to jury'. Now, non-Irish readers need to understand the context of this. As part of an investigation (the Murphy Report) into the abuse of minors by clergy in the Archdiocese of Dublin, Cardinal Connell (former Archbishop of Dublin) explained that he felt justified in making certain seemingly mis-leading statements by virtue of the doctrine of mental reservation. The Cardinal understood that he was telling the truth, but in such a way that it concealed knowledge from the person asking the question either because the person asking wasn't entitled to know the information at issue or in order to justifiably prevent harm.
One such example given in the Murphy Report was Cardinal Connell's telling journalists that diocesan funds are not used for the compensation of child abuse complainants. He believed himself justified in saying that because it was a true statement. However, he didn't volunteer that diocesan funds may have been used that way in the past. For whatever reason, he either thought that the journalists shouldn't be told that.
Now, one can argue about whether Cardinal Connell was justified or not in dealing with the journalists that way. The point, however, is that when the Cardinal explained that he was engaging in 'mental reservation', this was seized upon by commentators as an example of how dishonest the Catholic clergy are in that they could cook up such an idea as mental reservation so that they could lie to people at will.

Did anyone bother to find out what was meant?
I don't know of any Irish journalist that bothered seriously investigating what was meant by 'mental reservation'. If any of them had done so, they'd probably have discovered that mental reservation is something they almost certainly do themselves and which they find morally unobjectionable. One could imagine a journalist being put under pressure to reveal a source, saying that he didn't hear about such-and-such a secret from Mr Purple, when in fact he had learned about the secret from Mr Purple. Perhaps Mr Purple had sent the journalist a note, so technically the journalist didn't hear anything from Mr Purple. That would be an example of mental reservation. Whether and when it's a justifiable thing to do is as open to debate. Whether Cardinal Connell was as honest as he should have been with the media is a question worth asking. But it's intellectually sloppy and ethically careless to use the expression 'mental reservation' as a codeword to suggest that Catholic priests can't be relied upon to tell the truth.

Latent Anti-clericalism
Anyway, Michael Parsons of the Irish Times explains:

“Mental reservation” allows clerics knowingly to mislead people “without being guilty of lying”, and came to public attention last year in the Murphy Report (on clerical sexual abuse).

Note the suggestion that mental reservation is a devious clerical activity rather than something which is part and parcel of pretty much everyone's generally accepted standard of truthfulness. (It should be noted that the Murphy Report itself doesn't help because of its statement: Mental reservation is a concept developed and much discussed over the centuries, which permits a churchman knowingly to convey a misleading impression to another person without being guilty of lying. One might as well say that alcoholism is a disease which leads to journalists getting riotously drunk on a regular basis.) Indeed, I would argue that most people are much looser in their use of untruths, half-truths and equivocations than the Catholic idea of mental reservation would permit.

Why is this a story?
Well, that explains the headline and probably explains why the launch of Professor Barr's book made the Irish Times at all - it's another example of clerical perfidy to be brought to the public's attention. So, how did [Cardinal Cullen use] the concept of “mental reservation” to “lie to a jury and commit perjury in a civil court case”? (The quotations are, one presumes, from Professor Barr's book.) The article doesn't bother telling us! I've read and re-read the article, and there is nothing about any testimony given by Cardinal Cullen in court. The article doesn't explain what truth - if any - the Cardinal was trying to conceal and what form of words - if any - he used in court to conceal it. All we have is the term 'mental reservation' thrown out there to blacken Cardinal Cullen's name without bothering to explain what charge is being made against him.

Now, it could well be that Cardinal Cullen behaved dishonestly - I have no particular brief to defend his memory, even though I think he gets a pretty raw deal from our journalists. (Interestingly, Mary Kenny writes very well about Cardinal Cullen in today's Irish Catholic!) I don't think one needs to be particularly cynical to suggest the fact that reminding us all of the Murphy Report and of Cardinal Connell's mental reservation is the probable motivation for the story and headline as published rather than telling us anything substantial about Cardinal Cullen or Professor Barr's book.

Postscript
In 1864 Cardinal Newman wrote his famous Apologia pro vita sua, an explanation of the development of his own religious thought in response to Charles Kingsley's attack on Newman's own honesty and the integrity of Roman Catholic clergy in general. The passage which Newman found objectionable in a book review of Kingsley's was the following:

Truth, for its own sake, had never been a virtue with the Roman clergy. Father Newman informs us that it need not, and on the whole ought not to be; that cunning is the weapon which Heaven has given to the saints wherewith to withstand the brute male force of the wicked world which marries and is given in marriage. Whether his notion be doctrinally correct or not, it is at least historically so.

In the resulting exchange of letters and his publication of the Apologia, Newman roundly refutes Kingsley's charge and writes one of the finest spiritual autobiographies. Interested readers might like to read the correspondence between Newman and Kingsley.

Michael Kelly on the Claudy Report

2010-08-24T20:37:00.002+01:00

Some quarters of the media have been throwing around the word 'cover-up' to describe the Church's actions regarding the alleged involvement of a priest in a 1972 bombing. However, as Michael Kelly's latest blog post shows, such mud-slinging is gravely misleading.

The report itself shows that the RUC were - for whatever reason - unwilling to investigate Fr Chesney fully. There's no evidence that this unwillingness to investigate came due to pressure from Church quarters and, indeed, it seems as though the whole situation was sprung on Cardinal Conway who was left in an awkward spot. This priest was suspected of involvement in a bombing and the Church co-operated fully with the civil authorities. Formal and informal questioning of Fr Chesney by other clergy turned up nothing but a denial and the police were unwilling to investigate further. The Cardinal was hardly in a position to dictate how the RUC investigate a terrorist crime and nor does it seem that he was in a position to carry out any kind of disciplinary action within the Church based on the evidence to hand. Going public with the suspicion would have served no good and would probably have led to priests being targeted by loyalist terrorist.

I'm sure some journalists get a kick out of putting an anti-Church spin on what happened, but the only accurate description of what happened here is Church co-operates with law enforcement authorities.

Religious Journalism in Ireland...

2010-08-21T13:45:00.005+01:00

The only National Daily paper I read with any regularity is the Irish Times. However, even the most-respected of the Irish dailies is very weak in terms of its religion coverage. Unfortunately the religion related content of today's paper seems to be dominated largely uncritical reporting of the speeches of the Church's critics - internal and external - during the various 'Summer Schools' which have been held in various Irish venues over the past few days.

However, what really caught my eye was this report:

PRESIDENT MARY McAleese and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, are among the speakers due to address the annual “Meeting For Friendship Between Peoples” next week, held by the influential Italian Catholic lay movement Comunione e Liberazione in Rimini.
President McAleese, who delivers one of the opening speeches of the six-day meeting tomorrow evening, is expected to deal with the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland in an address entitled, “The Forces Which Change History Are Those Which Change The Hearts Of Men”.
Archbishop Martin will take part in a public debate on Tuesday, focused on the figure of John Henry Newman and entitled, “In Defence Of Reason”.

Very interesting...

However, a few paragraphs later, the paper's Roman correspondent goes on to say:

Generally perceived as right-wing, conservative and integrationalist, CL has often been politically active in Italy. In the 1970s, the movement played a prominent part in failed campaigns to prevent the legalisation of both abortion and divorce. CL has always counted important shakers and makers among its public supporters, including most notably the seven-times prime minister Giulio Andreotti.

One can debate the accuracy of that description of CL and the question of how one can accurately and fairly report on a 'general perception', but what strikes me is the use of the term integrationalist. What's that supposed to mean? I'm pretty sure that Paddy Agnew meant to use the word integralist which makes at least some sense in context. (He may have intended to say integrist, but I doubt it...)
The point I'm making, however, is that someone - either Paddy Agnew or an Irish Times sub-editor - seems to have thrown that technical term out there, without taking the care to ensure that it was being used correctly and explained to the readership. I would wager that fewer than one reader of the Irish Times in fifty would be able to explain what was meant by the adjectives integrist and integralist, or would understand that the word integrationalist seems to be meaningless in context.

The Thorny Question of Child Protection...

2010-08-20T17:01:00.003+01:00

The Irish Independent carries a report of how some parishioners have reacted following the stepping down of their Parish Priest in order to facilitate a child protection investigation:

SUPPORTERS of a priest who stepped down from his position over allegations regarding the safeguarding of children have said he will launch a robust defence against what they described as the "ludicrous" claims.
A groundswell of support has gathered in Blackrock, Co Louth, for Fr Oliver Brennan, who made the decision in order to allow the investigation to proceed.
Substantial anger has been aimed at Bishop Gerard Clifford, who made a statement telling parishioners of the development at a Mass over the weekend.
(snip)
Bishop Clifford was confronted by a number of irate parishioners after he read the statement. He was said to have been visibly affected by their angry reaction.

To be quite honest, I don't know whether the current protocols regarding how these issues are handled need to be reviewed in the interest of the 'natural justice' due to the priest. However, in terms of understanding the past and dealing with the present, it's well worth taking note of the pressure the Bishop is being put under for dealing with this case 'by the book'. You can be sure that similar pressures were at issue when these things were handled a lot differently in the past. People don't want to believe these things about their clergy. I hope and pray that Fr Brennan is totally innocent of any wrong-doing, but if, God forbid, he is found guilty of something, how do we interpret the actions of his parishioners. Would it be fair to call them facilitators in abuse?
I have no brief to defend the indefensible or to justify the actions of bishops whose actions perpetuated abuse, but the groundswell of support for Fr Brennan should make us think about why it was so easy for our bishops to make such bad decisions in the past.

The Preaching Life...

2010-08-08T19:06:00.001+01:00

A priest-friend and fellow-soldier from our seminary days, Fr SC has started a new blog devoted to preaching called 'The Preaching Life' - do check it out.

Pointers towards a response to James P Mackey

2010-08-03T10:04:00.004+01:00

The Irish Times is running a series of 5 articles by James P Mackey which are supposed to reflect on the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Well, that's what the by-line says. Professor Mackey himself admits to a more polemic intention. Starting with the Papacy he says:

[I]n this and a further four columns, five features of church life and teaching that most loudly cry out for reform will be analysed.

Certainly not a case of 'accentuate the positive'... I won't deny the usefulness of non-Catholics presenting their critique of the Church and her constitution, but what I find offensive about this article is the way in which the author's criticisms are so detached from an accurate understanding of Church history and what the Church actually teaches about the Papacy. It's the kind of mud-slinging exercise which poisons the public discourse and upsets Catholics who haven't had the formation to see the blunders that Mackey makes.

Mackey's Reading of Scripture
Mackey begins with his reading of the Gospel scene where Christ appoints Peter as the Rock on which His Church would be built...

In the gospel scene in which the prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, is thought to have instituted papacy, Jesus is pictured choosing a leader for his group of close companions in mission. He wants to make sure the leader will know who Jesus is and what he is about.
Cephas steps forward and confesses that Jesus is the Christ and is duly rewarded with the new name, Peter or Rock, and given the keys of the kingdom of God. But at this point promoters of a Petrine papacy seem to stop reading and fail to notice that Peter is quickly fired from the job just offered him.
When Jesus went on to say that he must go up to Jerusalem and die for his message and mission, as prophets often had to do, Peter corrected him.
Jesus suddenly realised that Peter’s idea of the Christ was modelled on King David, the paradigmatic Christ in Israel’s history, who would reign over the same kingdom, now won back from the Romans, and reign as absolute monarchs are wont to reign, by threat of force both armed and punitive.

Beneath that analysis is a picture of a Jesus Christ who doesn't really know what's going on. Mackey presents Him as a wobbly and indecisive personnel manager rather than the Incarnate Son of God. Christ's rebuke of Peter is severe - Get behind me Satan - but if you actually read the Gospels AND read the writings of the early Christians, there's no indication that Peter's commission was somehow withdrawn at that moment. When dealing with the Apostles, the consensus of the scriptural and non-scriptural early texts of Christianity consistently put Peter in the role of leader.

Now, theologians can and do argue about what that role means for the future of the Church and the development of the Papacy, but Mackey's suggestion that Christ somehow sacked Peter just after appointing him is a novel and bizarre reading.

Of course, the Gospels do show Peter making a mess of things. They don't paint a rosy picture of him. (And this is a point in favour of their accuracy!) He can be blustering and impetuous, and when the moment of trial comes, He denies Christ three times. That is a moment where Peter seems to undo himself. However, far from being a moment where Christ dismisses him, it's Peter's own weakness which sees him fall short of the role given to him. And Christ knew that would happen. If we have a look at the 22nd Chapter of Luke we find:

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren."

Even after his failure, the task of strengthening his brethren would fall to Simon Peter.

And when he does fall, what's Christ's response? After He rises from the dead, he takes Peter aside...

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." (This he said to show by what death he was to glorify God.) And after this he said to him, "Follow me." (John 21:15-19)

The three-fold denial is undone with a three-fold declaration of love, and even though Peter is more aware than ever of his weakness, Christ commissions him to feed His flock.

Mackey seems to side-step the importance of that passage by saying, "There is no scene in the New Testament that describes Jesus reinstating Peter as pope before he died; indeed in one scene of the arrest of Jesus, Peter draws the sword to bring on the insurrection." Note the qualification before he died. Is Mackey unwilling to deal with the 21st chapter of John because he doubts the veracity of the resurrection appearances or is he sneakingly trying to dodge the issue with a little equivocation. Is he hoping that the readers won't notice the qualification he makes and will overlook what Christ has to say after He rose from the dead?

Constantine and the Pope?
The rest of Mackey's article is flawed as well. He brings up the old boogey-man of the Constantinian papacy - the idea that somehow the first three centuries of Christianity led to the generation of a Papal monarchy. Even a cursory reading of Church History shows that Mackey doesn't know what he's talking about. Yes, things did change for the Church with Constantine. But, it didn't result in the immediate creation of some form of Papal Monarchy. Indeed, Mackey seems to be engaged in some hand-waving here... He points out:

The assimilation was consummated under Constantine, who himself as Pontifex Maximus was head of religion as well as state; just as Pope Benedict is absolute monarch of his Vatican statelet and simultaneously of the worldwide Catholic Church – and pretender to absolute rule over all other Christian churches.

Is he implying that Benedict XVI is - in some sense - a successor to Constantine? Well, he's glossing over the fact that Constantine wasn't Pope. Whatever was 'consummated' under Constantine wasn't some kind of Papal Imperium. Mackey seems just to want some kind of excuse to throw Benedict's name next to that of nasty ol' Constantine.
What Mackey is not saying is that from the time of Constantine onwards, one of the key battles of the Church has been to stop secular rulers from abusing the spiritual authority of the Church for their own advantage. Putting a limit on the claims to spiritual authority of Constantine and his successors - as well as preserving the Church's own independence from temporal interference - is one of the big themes of Church history for the millennium after Constantine. Scraps between Pope and Emperor pepper the following centuries.
The Papacy does develop over that span of time. Frequently some very unworthy men filled that office. Many of them could be accused of greed and veniality. However, the assertion of Papal authority which came under Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) is much more important in terms of defining the role of the papacy than anything that happened with Constantine. The Gregorian Reform, as it is known, was aimed at securing the freedom of the Church from the corruption of medieval nobles, a renewal of holiness and an affirmation of the spiritual mission of the Church. Now, the history of the Papacy is certainly painted in shades of grey and there's plenty there to criticise. However, the point I wish to make is that Mackey's historical picture is confusing and detached from the facts.
I'm also at a loss to charitably interpret Mackey's reference to the 'Vatican statelet'. Does he want us to imagine Benedict sitting on his sofa contemplating his absolute rule over a mighty empire of 110 acres? The Vatican City State could have been bigger, but during the negotiations with the Italian state in the 1920s Pope Pius XI refused to accept anything more than the current size of the Vatican to serve as place which guarantees the independence of the Papacy.

The Infallible Governor?
Finally, the sting in the tail, Mackay's assessment of Papal infallibility and his confusion between the Pope's teaching and governing functions:

The matter of papal infallibility is also relevant to the historical papal hunger for absolute power; as the promoters of that cause before Vatican II amply illustrate.
For even if an absolute monarch dictates to you, without need for your agreement, some harsh rule on what to believe, how to worship, how to live, you might still retain some slight hope that you could persuade him that this was a mistaken or at least a counter- productive move. If though he has decreed himself infallible, you are utterly helpless.

Speaking of the Pope as an 'absolute monarch' is a somewhat pejorative description of the Pope's role in the Church. Yes, he does have the 'last say', but to speak of him as an 'absolute monarch' without reference to the rights of the laity and clergy as set out in the Code of Canon Law, without reference to the governance exercised by bishops in their own diocese (something the Papacy is loath to interfere in) and without reference to how things actually work is a cheap shot. Additionally, the Pope's authority to teach infallibly on matters of faith and morals is not something self-declared. It's something taught by the First Vatican Council and (horror of horrors!) Vatican II. Mackay's article would be a lot more useful if it explored what that infallibility consisted of. It's not about infallible governance as Mackay seems to imply, but rather a special charism and responsibility to formally and authoritatively teach in matters of faith and morals. It's something which has been used sparingly and within a narrow scope. And, it's also worth pointing out, when the world's bishop's teach together on matters of faith and morals - either when they gather together in a council or when they teach separately but in harmony in their own diocese - they too have the charism of infallibility.
The appeal to infallibility has - in theory and in practice - very little to do with how the Pope governs the Church from day-to-day. It's an easy word to bring up when you want to have a pot-shot at the Catholic Church, but Mackay's article doesn't even try to engage with actual Church teaching about the Papacy or infallibility. Nor does it go into specifics about how infallibility has been mis-used. One would expect better from someone claiming to be a theologian.

Why not an honest critique?
There are issues to be discussed here both within and outside the Church. The ongoing dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Churches will see the role of the Papacy debated and clarified. However, discussion cannot be based on the kind of caricature painted in Mackay's unworthy article. He presents us with a reading of scripture which has no support in the New Testament itself or in any early Christian reading of the scriptures that I'm familiar with. His reading of Church history is self-contradictory and doesn't even attempt to engage with the real (and sometimes murky, I admit) development of the Papacy's temporal and spiritual power. And, finally, his point about the Pope's role as 'absolute monarch' seems to based on a knee-jerk distaste for the term infallibility rather than an actual engagement with what, for example, Vatican II teaches about the governance of the Church or how things actually happen in real life.

Footnote:
A close reading of Vatican II's Lumen Gentium explains the make-up of the Church and the Pope's role. Likewise, the Catechism does a good job explaining the special mission of the Pope and the hierarchy.

Edited to add:
I drafted this post under the assumption that Professor Mackey was a non-Catholic. However, some Googling suggests that he might be Catholic. That's a puzzle, because I would expect a theologian with a Catholic background to understand things a little better.

That New Priests' Body...

2010-07-28T18:57:00.002+01:00

The Evening Herald gives another interesting perspective on that proposed new association for priests. The headline - Priests want own union to stand up to bishops - is probably the responsability of the Herald's sub-editor, but seems to point to the fact that this association is being sold the the faithful as an anti-hierarchical movement. In fairness, the organisers themselves make it clear that a 'trade union is not being proposed:

[Fr Brendan Hoban] said they did not want to form a trade union but an association that would "articulate the views of priests" as well as taking on board their rights, both civil and ecumenical.

Ecumenical? One presumes that he means ecclesiastical...

Well, I'll have none of it...

2010-07-28T10:38:00.003+01:00

There's an interesting article in today's Irish Times. It says that efforts are afoot to establish a new association for priests in Ireland. A number of years ago, the National Council for Priests in Ireland collapsed due to a lack of interest. I can't say that I was surprised at the time. I've never had any direct contact with the NCPI, and that was part of the problem. During my period of seminary training - at a time when the NCPI was supposedly active and the various scandals were raging - the NCPI had no contact with my fellow seminarians or myself. None of its officers ever visited the seminary in a formal capacity or ever contacted us in order to explain what the NCPI was or how it might help or support us in our priesthood. All I ever heard about the NCPI was what I read in the newspapers about its annual conference or what one of its spokesmen had to say. Most of the time I was not favourably impressed by what was reported.

So, what's happening now?

A MEETING of Catholic priests to consider setting up an association of Irish priests is to take place in Portlaoise on September 15th next.
The initiative follows an informal gathering in Athlone recently of about nine Catholic priests representing those in dioceses, religious orders/ congregations and missionary societies.

Okay...
And now comes the interesting bit:

It was agreed there was a need for such a coherent voice “in light of the increasingly strained relationship between priests and their bishops” and what was described as “the debilitating reality that, without a platform to express their views, priests find themselves unable to represent their own perspective on issues pertinent to priesthood, church and society today”.
The consensus at the meeting was that, “due to the diversity of opinion among priests, it would be impossible to represent all clergy”.

Disillusionment with the hierarchy may be understandable, but I'd be wary of an organisation which seems to be based on a Bishop versus Priest dynamic. That's hardly consistent with the Second Vatican Council's vison of the filial attitude a priest should have for his Bishop.
It's also interesting that the proposed organisation foreswears a claim to represent clergy in general. This is starting to look like a lobby-group rather than a generally representative organisation for priests.
And what will be the outlook of this body?

Their draft proposals include “the importance of looking seriously at the ministry, government and sexual teaching of the church” and “a concern for social justice and God’s creation.”
Those interested may contact Fr Brendan Hoban at 086-6065055, Fr Tony Flannery at 087-6814699, and/or Fr Seán McDonagh at 087-2367612.

Those who know the Church in Ireland will recognise those names. Why do I suspect that looking seriously at the ministry, government and sexual teaching of the church should be understood as challenging the ministry, government and sexual teaching of the church. Am I alone in thinking that true renewal is only possible if we were more concerned with the promises we made prior to and during ordination, and actually took seriously the ministry, government and sexual teaching of the Church.

Bishop McKeown on the Pioneers & the Pope...

2010-07-22T11:29:00.002+01:00

I've been a Pioneer (a member of the PTAA) for about 20 years - since just before my Confirmation. The Association's ethos of devotion to the Sacred Heart and reparative temperance has played a significant part in my spiritual life since then. So, when the Pope urged the Catholics of Ireland to devote their Friday penances as an act of reparation for the evils of child sex abuse, it immediately chimed with Pioneer spirituality and I tried to explain it to my parishioners in that context.

It's interesting that Bishop Donal McKeown does the same in a recent homily to the Pioneers:

One key element in your daily Heroic Offering is making reparation for sins of intemperance. Many criticised the Holy Father when, in his letter to the Catholics of Ireland, he spoke of the need to do penance and proposed that Friday should be kept as a weekly day of penance. Some commentators dismissed that as asking the ordinary people of Ireland to do penance for the sins of clergy and bishops – and they couldn’t understand that idea. But all Christians come from the strange belief that Jesus is the innocent One, the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. Our secular society – that so often likes to locate sin and repentance only in individuals rather than accepting the possibility of corporate responsibility – cannot easily comprehend the idea of doing penance and making reparation for others. But Pioneers and all Christians can. Making reparation for ourselves and for others is at the heart of being a Pioneer and a part of what all Christ’s followers are called to do. In fact St Paul takes up that theme in our second reading. He is, he says, happy to suffer for the Colossians, doing what he can in his body to make up for what still has to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. Of course, that should never be a smoke screen for a failure of church leaders to do penance for their own sins and the sinners of departed colleagues. It can never be an excuse for not instituting the necessary reforms. But in the Body of Christ, we share both a story and a hope.

The whole homily is worth a read. He paints the Irish problem with alcohol in stark colours:

Not surprisingly we have the highest percentage of heavy under age drinking in Europe. Figures I saw recently suggested that 25% of 15-16 years olds in this country get drunk at least three times a month. It is estimated that 50,000 children get drunk every weekend in Ireland. The actions of intoxicated adults and some young people’s own inability to have control of themselves would imply that many children are being physically, emotionally and sexually abused across this country on a daily basis – and especially at weekends. I am not scaremongering when I suggest that frightening numbers of children are being physically abused because of addiction and that many under 18s are being sexually exploited each weekend – often in the name of harmless freedom and craic. But an abused child is an abused child whether they are in care or in a pub. That is a national disgrace and we seem unable to acknowledge it. It affects not just people living somewhere else. It seeks to insinuate itself in to all families and all social strata. That is the dark underbelly of the image of the happy carefree Irish who enjoy socialising. Somebody pays the price and too often it is battered wives and abused children who pay the biggest toll. Too often it is our hospital and emergency staff, who have to pick up the pieces or defend themselves against intoxicated patients. Too often it is communities and key people like clergy, who have to try and deal with the effects and consequences of this dark secret that lurks in the corner of every part of this country.

Any readers not familiar with the Pioneers might be interested in the Heroic Offering - the prayer we recite twice-daily:

For thy greater Glory and consolation, O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Thy sake, to give good example, to practice self-denial, to make reparation to Thee for the sins of intemperance and for the conversion of excessive drinkers, I will abstain for life from all intoxicating drinks, Amen

Itchy Nissan

2010-07-14T19:59:00.002+01:00

My friend 'Sakura E' describes herself as 'a newly-minted (US) Navy wife'. She and her husband have just been assigned to Japan and she's blogging about it here.

A reason not to abolish the Seanad...

2010-07-07T14:48:00.003+01:00

Via the Irish Times:

Three Fianna Fáil senators today lost the party whip after John Hanafin, Labhras Ó Murchú and Jim Walsh relinquished it over the Civil Partnership Bill.
The three senators had have spoken out strongly against the proposed legislation. Mr Hanafin had said they hoped amendments they proposed would be accepted and would “move forward on that basis”.

At least some of our Senators have the guts to speak out for the rights of conscience and marriage.
I know that Independent Senator Rónán Mullen has also resisted the bill as it currently stands and I hope that some FG Senators will also vote against it.

Homily - 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Year C)

2010-07-03T14:59:00.006+01:00

I sometimes wonder what the 72 must have thought when Jesus sent them out two-by-two, with none of the usual accoutrements you’d need for a journey – no money, no back-pack, no sandals. Just go out there, stick your neck out and preach my message.

They must have been dubious… They must have worried that they’d be left sleeping in the fields or laughed out of the towns they visited. And yet, with the power of Jesus’s name and the gospel they were spreading, they went out and did it, and they did great things despite having precious little in terms of the backing you would think they needed.

The Church here in Ireland needs to look at those 72 Disciples and draw a lesson from them and their courage, because if you read the signs of the times in today’s Ireland, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to live the life of a committed Christian and to openly preach the Gospel.

Last Thursday night the Civil Partnerships Bill made its way through Dáil Éireann without a vote. If it’s approved by the Seanad and signed by the President, it’ll become the law of the land. In essence, a new form of marriage is being created in Ireland without the sort of public debate and serious consideration such a momentous step calls for.

Our Catholic Bishops opposed the Bill on two main grounds. First of all, by creating this new institution of ‘Civil Partnership’ the government is not respecting the role of the family – and in particular marriage – as the basic foundation stone of our society.

Secondly, there is no provision in the Bill permitting people who don’t believe in ‘Civil Partnership’ for whatever reason to exercise their right of conscience to not participate in them. It seems as though if you have a hall or hotel which you’re willing to hire out for weddings or if you’re a photographer or a baker who normally does wedding work, you won’t be permitted to say I have no interest in facilitating Civil Partnerships. You could find yourself open to criminal prosecution. If you took on the job of a Civil Registrar thinking that you were going to be dealing with marriages, you’ll now be forced to deal with Civil Partnerships. The basic freedom of freedom of conscience is being undermined in our State. Our basic right to say I disapprove of that, I have no interest in that, therefore I’m not going to play a part in that is being taken away from us.

Now, I’m sure that there are people here who don’t have a huge problem with the Civil Partnership Bill. All I can do this evening is to ask you to read the Bishops’ Statement Why Marriage Matters which is available on the Irish Bishops’ website and encourage you to read some solid Catholic material about the meaning of marriage. The Catholic understanding of marriage has not had many voices speaking up for it in the newspapers, on the radio or on TV for the past few decades. It’s not based on hatred, it’s not based on unjust discrimination – it’s a positive, live-giving understanding of marriage, but because it poses a challenge to people, it does not receive a fair hearing in the media.

Anyway, a number of things worry me about the passing of the Civil Partnership Bill. Minister Dermot Ahern described it as being one of the most important human rights pieces of legislation dealt with by the Dáil. And, yet there was precious little coverage of it in the media. If you were following the papers and the TV for the past couple of weeks, you’d think that the legislation about stag hunting was the big story of the week. Big, big news, but very much under-reported… You have to wonder if those who influence the media wanted this legislation about Civil Partnerships to slip through without people kicking up a fuss. Were they trying to slip it past conscientious Catholic, Protestants, Jews, Muslims and other people who would have reason to raise questions?

The second thing which worries me is the way the Bishop’s Statement Why Marriage Matters was received by our political class. It was initially released in March, and the Bishops issued a statement drawing people’s attention to it again a couple of weeks ago. When they did this, Minister John Gormley started complaining about the Church ‘interfering’. He tried to put it about that the Catholic Bishops had no democratic right to present the teaching of the Church. Every other group in society – trade unions, political parties, sporting organizations and so on, they all have a right to comment on the big issues which affect the life of our country, but when the Church says a few words on the value of marriage, then prominent politicians try to silence her. Why is that? What is it that makes some members of our political class behave so irrationally when we try to have our democratic say?

Incidentally, Archbishop Dermot Martin was speaking to the St Joseph’s Young Priests’ Society in Knock last week. He pointed out how the politicians were giving out to the Bishops last year for not telling people to vote ‘Yes’ to the Lisbon Treaty. Now, 12 months later, when the Church has something to say about marriage, there’s an attempt made by the politicians to shut the Bishops up.

Another politician who had something to say about the Bishops’ contribution was Minister Dermot Ahern. He said that he was of the opinion that politicians shouldn’t allow religion to cloud their judgement. I suspect that quite a number of politicians, public figures and journalists would say something very similar. And, yet, that kind of thought shows a huge misunderstanding of what religion is and what role it has to play in a democratic society. Now, let me be quite clear – there’s no justice in any politician trying to impose his religious beliefs or religious practice on the people he’s governing. Our Catholic faith insists that the State has no role in coercing anyone’s religious beliefs. It’s one of our fundamental human freedoms. However, this freedom which is recognised in our constitution does not mean that everyone who is elected to public office has to pretend to be a non-believer when making decisions. Religious believers can be objective and fair without being asked to switch off part of their brains or deny their fundamental values.

If you allow yourself to be formed and shaped and informed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that shouldn’t be a disadvantage to you in political life. If you love God and sincerely want to serve your neighbours in the political life then your religious faith is not clouding your judgement. If your faith gives you a strong understanding of what’s right and wrong and how the common good can best be served, then that’s not something you could or should lock away in a box when tough decisions have to be made. Dermot Ahern might just as well have said that politicians shouldn’t allow their conscience, their understanding of right and wrong to cloud their judgement.

The holy Capuchin priest Ven. Solanus Casey once referred to religion as the science of our happy relationship with God and our neighbours. That’s not something you’d ever want to set aside. However, it’s becoming clearer that many of our country’s leaders, most of whom claim to be Catholic, are tending towards an understanding of faith and religion as something totally private, something that offers a little personal consolation, a little bit of a spiritual high and some nice ceremonies, something one does in one’s spare time, but isn’t mentioned in polite society, and certainly doesn’t influence what one does with the rest of one’s life. That’s not healthy, that’s not true religion, and it ignores the great work done by literally millions of Christians in shaping society for the better because of their faith. Racial equality and an end to slavery was a proudly Christian cause in so many places. Many of our Irish missionaries fight for the dignity of the poor and downtrodden throughout the world. Would we say to them that they should set their religion aside, their strong sense of right and wrong to one side as they campaigned for the God-given rights of those who suffer? Would we dare tell them that their religion is clouding their judgement?

The third thing that worried me was that the legislation passed through the Dáil on Thursday night without a vote. One TD – a Presbyterian, by the way – did speak in favour of the sort of conscience clause which Catholic, Church of Ireland, Baptist and Presbyterian religious leaders had lobbied for. However, he got precious little support and I don’t think that one politician on Thursday night objected outright to the Bill. All the major political parties seem to have supported the Bill and I don’t think that any of the major political parties were willing to allow their TDs the right to reject the Bill. The whip was on. Does that seem right to you? That such important and controversial legislation made its final passage through the Dáil on a nod and a wink, that we didn’t see any significant opposition to it. It’s obvious that the membership of Dáil Éireann don’t adequately represent public opinion. Was there even one Catholic member of the Dáil willing to take a stand in favour of marriage and the Constitution?

Just before the last General Election in the UK, the Scottish Bishops issued a very strong statement. They said:

In urging you to let your faith count at the ballot box, we ask you to think carefully before you cast your vote. Which candidate displays values closest to yours? Which candidate will best respect and protect your religious freedom and your freedom of conscience? Which candidate do you trust most to do a good job for you and your community?
As your bishops, it is not our intention to tell you which party to vote for. It is our duty to encourage you to engage with the political process and to vote for the candidate who best represents the values we, like our parents and grandparents before us, hold dear.

Archbishop Conti of Glagow went further by pointing out that none of Britain’s mainstream political parties were willing to stand up for the right to life from conception to natural death, for the institution of marriage or for the rights of conscience.

One wonders if we could say the same about the Irish political parties. There are some members of the Seanad of various political parties and none who are lobbying for a free vote when the Civil Partnership Bill reaches them next week. Watch that space. See what kind of support marriage and the rights of conscience get from our politicians and our media.

I’m afraid I’ve gone on at some length. But I want you to be quite clear what situation faces us in Ireland at the moment. The values of those who run our newspapers, television and radio stations do not – in the main – seem friendly to our Catholic values. Amongst our political class there seems to be a huge amount of confusion or misunderstanding or hostility to our values. The law of the land is changing in ways which will certainly be actively hostile to our positive and life-giving understanding of human life, marriage and the importance of conscience. In many ways – in terms of our own understanding of these issues, our grasp of Church teaching, our use of the media, we as Catholics are ill-equipped to deal with the challenges which the changing nature of Irish society offers us. In the medium term I see a number of battles down the road for us – a defence of the right to life for the unborn and those who are ill; a defence of the right to palliative care; a defence of the rights of parents; a defence of the rights of our Catholic schools; a defence of the rights of doctors to practice according to their consciences; a defence of the rights of our own consciences to follow Catholic teaching and to preach it publicly.

If you are sincere in your faith – if what you celebrate in this Church means something to you, you have an obligation to be ready for these battles. An obligation to study your Catholic faith, to question your political leaders, to treat the opinions you read in the newspapers with scepticism. An obligation to pray, to spend time with Christ, to ask his help in deepening your faith and your understanding of the world around you.

And yet, we have the example of the 72 Disciples before us. They were sent out – materially under-equipped and with nothing but Christ’s name. They came back rejoicing having worked great deeds in Jesus’s name. The Gospel of Christ is still the one salvation offered to us. Let us never be afraid to listen to it and proclaim it with confidence.

English as she is spoken in Italy

2010-06-20T14:10:00.003+01:00

I was browsing through this guide aimed at assisting Italian students with the essay-writing section of their school-leaving examinations, and was very amused to come across a list of 'English Terms in use in the Italian Language.' Amused? Yes, because some of these supposed English terms mean something quite different in Italian. Some of them I've never even heard in English.

For example, whilst studying in Rome I knew that the English word 'badge' was used to denote what we'd call an ID Card. I also knew that a Pullman was neither an atheist writer nor a a railway sleeping car, but meant a motor coach. The list on the linked document allows me to add the following:

Big mo - Short for 'big momentum' or popular enthusiasm
Big one - A $1,000 bill
Boomerang - An adult who returns home to live with parents
Boxie - A bottle blonde. (A loxie is a natural blonde, apparently.)
Buzz book - A book which has created quite a stir
Gadget - A marketing term meaning homage/tribute (Really? This seems to make very little sense)
Mooch - One susceptable to being defrauded (An easy mark?)
Muppie - A Middle-aged Urban Professinal (Older than a yuppie)
Pumpkin time - A Cinderella reference... the time when the fairytale comes to an end, and things return to normal
Shout show - The kind of chat-show where guests shout at each other

Now, maybe one or two of those terms are used occasionally by real English speakers, but most of them just make me wonder how these supposed English language terms worked their way into Italian.

Palm Sunday Homily

2010-03-27T16:56:00.005Z

Could there be a greater contrast between the two gospels we hear today? In the first, Christ is welcomed joyfully into Jerusalem as Messiah; in the second, he is hauled outside the city to be crucified as a common criminal. And in that second Gospel – the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Luke – practically every sort of human weakness is to be seen.

We see:

The apostles bickering at the table of the Last Supper
The proud boasting of Peter
The drowsiness of the Apostles who would not watch with Christ
The traitor Judas betraying his beloved Master with a kiss.

We see:

The disciples strike out with violence
The rough treatment given by the guards
The three-fold denial of Christ by Peter
The cruel teasing of the soldiers
The vengeance of the Chief Priests
The cowardice of Pilate who passes Christ off as someone else’s problem.

We see:

The mockery of Herod
The refusal of Pilate to give an honest judgement
The blood-thirsty fickleness of the mob, a crowd of ordinary people like you or me
The callousness of the executioners as they go about their work and as they toss dice for Christ’s clothes
The taunting of the thief who hung alongside Jesus.

And so Christ dies.

And yet, all is not darkness. We also see the compassion of the women of Jesusalem, the repentance of the Good Thief and the conversion of the Centurion. We see the courage of Joseph of Arimathea who claims Christ’s body and the tenderness of the women who lay Him in the tomb.

In the midst of all the darkness, Christ’s will is not broken, and he inspires some few to keep following Him. As the suffering servant foretold by Isaiah, He makes no resistance, but in fidelity to the Father carries out His mission to the end. And by carrying out this mission He offers healing. Christ first heals the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Christ inspires the women of Jerusalem to compassion at a time when the public mood is still baying for His blood. His sufferings bring conversion to the Good Thief and to the Centurion and after His death, Joseph of Arimathea steps forward with courage and the women remain faithful to Him by honouring His dead body.
Christ endured all manner of darkness, all manner of punishment and violence in order to heal us of that same darkness and in order to draw some goodness out of us. We read and re-read the Gospels so that our hearts may be softened by His grace, His teaching and His example. We ask Him, by His Passion and Death, to make us humble and faithful to His saving words.

This week is the most important week of the year. During our Holy Week and Easter ceremonies we walk with Christ step-by-step, hour-by-hour through the events which bring us salvation. We enter Jerusalem with joy, we share a meal with Him at the Last Supper, we follow Him to the Cross with our own burdens and struggles and then we wait at the tomb with hope, awaiting the victory of His Resurrection.

I ask you to do this with minds and hearts fully prepared. I appeal to each and every one of you to make the most of this week by making a good confession. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been away for a long time. It doesn’t matter whether you have something big on your conscience or if it’s just that there are lots of small things which have built up over a while. There’s no good reason to put it off Christ’s forgiveness, and every reason to make a good Holy Week. May Christ, by His Passion and Death, lead us to the Glory of His Resurrection, Amen.

Dolan on the Lord's Day

2010-03-21T16:56:00.002Z

The Church Ladies publish a nice and punchy St Patrick's Day letter from Archbishop Dolan of New York about keeping the Lord's Day holy.

Many of you reading this St. Patrick’s Day message already are keeping the Lord’s Day holy. Keep it up.

How about giving this message to someone who no longer does, especially if he or she has stopped going to Sunday Mass? Get ready for the excuses:

– “Sunday is our only free time together.” (Great, what better way to spend that time than by praying together at Mass).

– “I pray my own way.” (Nice idea. But, odds are, you don’t).

– “The sermon is boring.” (You may have a point).

– “I hate all the changes at Mass.” (see below)

– “I want more changes at Mass.” (see above)

– “Until the church makes some changes in its teaching, I’m staying away.” (But, don’t we go to Mass to ask God to change us, not to tell God how we want Him and His Church to change to suit us?)

– “Everybody there is a hypocrite and always judging me.” (Who’s judging whom here?)

. . . and the list goes on.

And the simple fact remains: the Eucharist is the most beautiful, powerful prayer that we have. To miss it is to miss Jesus — His Word, His people, His presence, His Body and Blood.

Pope's Letter to the Catholics of Ireland

2010-03-21T16:43:00.002Z

Full text available here.

To be quite honest, apart from welcoming it whole-heartedly and repeating the Pope's own request that Irish Catholics read it themselves, I think that too much comment is superfluous. Just let it be read prayerfully, seriously and repeatedly. It would be naive to think that the problems of the past and present can be sorted out within the space of a few short media cycles. However, that's not the impression one gets when watching the news or reading the papers. There seems to be an assumption that problems can be dealt with swiftly - a hurried resignation here, a statement of apology there, and then mission accomplished. Not so! Any meaningful kind of healing, purification or renewal is going to be a long and deliberate process, and if we claim to be Christians, then the healing process must involve a turning back to Christ and a willingness to offer penance.

Press Release from Catholic Communications Office

2010-03-16T11:37:00.002Z

This useful note clarifies what happened in 1975 and the then Fr Brady's role in the investigation into the activities of Fr Brendan Smyth.

Note from the Catholic Communications Office to clarify media reporting on Cardinal Seán Brady – 16 March 2010

*

The State’s first Child Abuse Guidelines came into effect in 1987 and the Church’s first guidelines Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, were published in 1996.
*

In late March 1975, Fr Seán Brady was asked by his bishop, Bishop Francis McKiernan, to conduct a canonical enquiry into an allegation of child sexual abuse which was made by a boy in Dundalk, concerning a Norbertine priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.
*

Fr Brady was then a full-time teacher at St Patrick’s College, Cavan. Because he held a doctorate in Canon Law, Fr Brady was asked to conduct this canonical enquiry; however he had no decision-making powers regarding the outcome of the enquiry. Bishop McKiernan held this responsibility.
*

On 29 March 1975, Fr Brady and two other priests interviewed a boy (14) in Dundalk. Fr Brady’s role was to take notes. On 4 April 1975, Fr Brady interviewed a second boy (15) in the Parochial House in Ballyjamesduff. On this occasion Fr Brady conducted the inquiry by himself and took notes.
*

At the end of both interviews, the boys were asked to confirm by oath the truthfulness of their statements and that they would preserve the confidentiality of the interview process. The intention of this oath was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the inquiry’s evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth.
*

A week later Fr Brady passed his findings to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.
*

Eight days later, on 12 April 1975, Bishop McKiernan reported the findings to Fr Smyth’s Religious Superior, the Abbot of Kilnacrott. The specific responsibility for the supervision of Fr Smith’s activities was, at all times, with his Religious Superiors. Bishop McKiernan withdrew Brendan Smyth’s priestly faculties and advised psychiatric intervention.

Raidió na Gaeltachta Mass Campaign

2010-02-09T15:59:00.002Z

Colleages of mine working in the Gaeltacht have been campaigning to secure the return of weekly Mass on Raidió na Gaeltachta.

De Iustitia

2010-02-04T23:09:00.003Z

The Holy Father has issued his annual Lenten message, focusing on justice. It's interesting that he concludes his brief reflection with a lesson in basic Christology:

The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25).

What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation" flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine," to give me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected.

I say this is interesting because it's typical of Pope Benedict to bring the message back to Christ. Likewise, he likes to link dogma to the other areas of theology. Staying at the level of moral theology or social ethics when discussing justice isn't sufficent. If we believe that all is revealed in Christ and that He transforms things utterly, then we should say so. If we can't link what we believe about Him to our overall outlook on life, then our faith is deficient.

Catholic Schools Week

2010-01-31T13:00:00.004Z

Catholic Schools Week Resources
The resources prepared by the Bishops' Conference for Catholic Schools Week (this week!) deserve a plug. Not all the prayers and resources chosen are quite to my taste, but it's important that we affirm our commitment to Catholic education.
Incidentally, it's a shame that this hasn't been better promoted on the ground. I only received news of these resources during the week. A little more notice would have enabled me to prepare a lot more work.

A Recent Debate
There's been a lot of nonsense in the media about the Church's control of schools, but thankfully, there've also been some solid refutations of those opinions.
In particular, there's been quite a debate recently about a recent opinion poll suggesting that a majority of Irish adults think that the Catholic Church should give up 'control' of primary schools. When the question is asked like that, the answer is bound to be somewhat skewed. However, no one seemed to bother checking whether we did in fact control the schools at all! I certainly don't 'control' the schools I'm involved in. They are Catholic schools, yes, and have a Catholic ethos, but to suggest that the Church or clergy 'control' the schools is misleading.

Church Control?
Most primary schools in Ireland are under the patronage of the Diocesan Bishop and are run by their Boards of Management. The Bishop nominates two members (including the Chairperson), two members represent the school staff, two represent the parents (normally elected by the Parents' Council) and two represent the local community. Whilst they operate with a Catholic ethos, I think you'll find that most Boards of Management are controlled more by the State than by the local Bishop. After all, it is the Department of Education who lay down the curricula, who pay the teachers, who set down the regulations under which schools run on a day-to-day basis, etc, etc...
Within that framework, however, it's important to cultivate our Catholic ethos. That is something which goes beyond the assigned periods of religious instruction (from which parents are entitled to withdraw their children). Catholicism teaches some fundamental truths about the value of the human beings, the purpose of education and a holistic understanding what growth is. As De Lubac affirms, true Christianity must be a humanism - a philosophy which contains within it a strong and affirmative vision of humanity which is committed to its development. Within that context, it should be clear that our Catholic schools can respectfully welcome those of other faiths.
Part of what we need to do as a nation is to recognise how much of our humanism - the value we place on family and community, our commitment to the physical, moral, spiritual and educational growth of our children - is rooted in our Catholic ethos. We need to recognise that a purely secular vision of education operates from a different ethos, and we need to ask whether such an ethos sustains similar or conflicting values.

Incidentally
Did you know that there's actually a legal definition of the Catholic ethos agreed between the State and the Patrons of Ireland's Catholic Schools? It's called the 'Schedule of a Catholic School' and is a useful thing to know about when questions arise about 'Catholic Ethos' and 'Church Control'. It reads as follows and should (by law) be displayed in all our Catholic primary schools.

The Schedule of a Catholic School
A Roman Catholic School (which is established in connection with the Minister) aims at promoting the full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil: intellectual, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual, including a living relationship with God and with other people.
The school models and promotes a philosophy of life inspired by belief in God and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic school provides Religious education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and promotes the formation of the pupils in the Catholic Faith.

This PDF document provides some useful addenda:

The Schedule indicates that a Catholic Primary School:
o is one established in connection with the Minister and therefore recognised as a national school for public funding
o is a denominational school under the patronage of the local Catholic bishop
o strives to be a good school committed to the ‘full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil’
o sees full human development as including a living relationship with God and other people
o provides Religious Education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church
o promotes the faith formation of the pupils in the Catholic faith including the reception of the Sacraments of Penance, First Communion and Confirmation
o seeks to let pupils experience a religious way of life by being part of a faith community, the values and practices of which model a living relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
The Schedule does not state that a Catholic school is a school only for Catholic pupils.
Neither does it state that the Catholic school provides what may be called a ‘common’ or ‘multi-denominational’ religious education programme open to pupils of all religious faiths and none. The Catholic school is a welcoming and inclusive school.

The Unfortunate Tertullian

2010-01-24T21:16:00.003Z

I mentioned 'the unfortunate Tertullian' over at Enbrethiliel's comment box a couple of days ago, and got my wrist slapped because she thinks that Tertullian was 'pretty cool'. And I must confess to having an affection for him, and thinking that he could indeed be pretty cool, even if I still insist that he was 'unfortunate'. I mean, if you start off being an exceptionally talented orthodox Christian polemicist and apologist, then drift into the somewhat murky waters of Montanism, and then find that the Montanists are too soft for you and become a Tertullianist, then you're unfortunate. If you break away from the Church, become a Tertullianist and you yourself are called Tertullian, you should probably realise that something's gone awry with your spiritual life.

But, as Enbrethiliel herself reminded me, Tertullian was pretty cool. He was certainly the earliest theologian of talent who wrote in Latin (late 2nd and early 3rd Century AD) and we can thank him for much of our Latin theological vocabulary. Speaking of the 'Trinity' as 'one substance' and 'three persons' is something that we can thank Tertullian for. His fellow North African St Cyprian of Carthage used to simply refer to him as 'the Master', and Pope Benedict devoted a Wednesday Catechesis to him back in 2007. Tertullian is as good an example as any as to why we shouldn;t confine our reading to those who have managed to stay within the confines of orthodox thought.

That being said, he is an essentially tragic figure, one whose talent and high moral standards, led him on an increasingly individualistic spiritual journey, ultimately cutting himself of from the societas permixta, the Church of saints and sinners. As Pope Benedict points out:

This great moral and intellectual personality, this man who made such a great contribution to Christian thought, makes me think deeply. One sees that in the end he lacked the simplicity, the humility to integrate himself with the Church, to accept his weaknesses, to be forbearing with others and himself.

And yet he did the Church some service. So many of the important insights and thoughts which would prove crucial in the development of Christian thought find early and robust expression in Tertullian. The principle that only the Church can soundly interpret scripture finds a typically lawyerly expression in Tertullian's Prescription of Heretics:

Thus, not being Christians, they have acquired no right to the Christian Scriptures; and it may be very fairly said to them, "Who are you? When and whence did you come? As you are none of mine, what have you to do with that which is mine? Indeed, Marcion, by what right do you hew my wood? By whose permission, Valentinus, are you diverting the streams of my fountain? By what power, Apelles, are you removing my landmarks? This is my property. Why are you, the rest, sowing and feeding here at your own pleasure? This (I say) is my property. I have long possessed it; I possessed it before you. I hold sure title-deeds from the original owners themselves, to whom the estate belonged. I am the heir of the apostles. Just as they carefully prepared their will and testament, and committed it to a trust, and adjured (the trustees to be faithful to their charge), even so do I hold it. As for you, they have, it is certain, always held you as disinherited, and rejected you as strangers— as enemies. But on what ground are heretics strangers and enemies to the apostles, if it be not from the difference of their teaching, which each individual of his own mere will has either advanced or received in opposition to the apostles?"

Even though Tertullian at his best is 'punchy', his writing wasn't all polemic. He also wrote a very early exposition of the Lord's Prayer describing it as a 'summary of the entire Gospel'. Some hold that he was one of the proto-protestants. Whatever one might make of that assessment, I think that unfortunate is the best word for one who lapsed through rigorism and enthusiasm.

What's the Irish for 'creeping secularism'?

2010-01-16T18:16:00.002Z

A priest friend has made me aware of the fact that Raidió na Gaeltachta - a radio station which serves the Irish-speaking communities of Ireland - has stopped broadcasting weekly Mass. Mass is now being broadcast one week in four, with the readings of the day being broadcast on the other four Sundays.

Christmas Night Mass Homily

2009-12-24T14:23:00.002Z

[This is still in draft form, so please forgive my infelicities of thought and style.]

After the passage of countless centuries from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created heaven and earth and formed man and woman in his own image, and very many centuries from the time when after the flood the Almighty had set his bow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant and of peace; in the twenty-first century from the migration of Abraham, our father in faith, from Ur of the Chaldees; in the thirteenth century from the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses; in about the thousandth year from the anointing of David as king according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; in the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the City of Rome; in the forty-second year of the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus; while the whole world was at peace, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the Eternal Father, desiring to consecrate the world by his most gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, and when nine months had passed after his conception, is born as man in Bethlehem of Judah from the Virgin Mary: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. (Christmas Proclaimation)

Throughout the world, on ‘this holy night’ (cf. Opening Prayer), parishes gather together to hear the Christmas proclamation and celebrate the great feast of Our Lord’s birth. Individuals and families make their way out of the cold and darkness, into the warmth and light of our Christmas celebration. It’s no coincidence that we gather in the darkest time of the winter to hear how the true light of the world came in our midst.
The Door of Humility
And as we think of millions who gather, like us, to celebrate this feast, let us turn our minds in a particular way to the City of Bethlehem, where Christian memory has preserved the place where Christ was born of Mary twenty centuries ago. A church has stood on that spot for the past 1,700 years, and beneath the Church is the grotto itself, the cave-stable where the Word of God came into this world. The spot is marked a silver star set into the floor, with a Latin inscription: Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. But to reach that that star, to go into the grotto one must first get into the Basilica of the Nativity itself. The main entrance of the Church is called the Door of Humility – and is less than 4½ feet high! It’s not possible for anyone – no matter how great or good – to get to Christ’s birthplace without bending down! Of course, it was God Himself who bowed down first, coming among us in poverty to share our condition.
The Mind of a Child?
Because God has bowed down, to come among us, let us too bow down in humility and spend a little time at the crib. Have you ever seen little children being brought to look at the crib? They’re fascinated by it – the angels, the shepherds, the Kings, the animals, Mary and Joseph, and at the heart of it all, the baby Jesus – so small, and yet the centre of attention. Christ tells us that we must be like little children (cf. matt 18:3), and this is – I think – especially true at this Christmas celebration. Children are filled with wonder and joy at Christmas. The Christmas story is one that a child can grasp. But it’s not just a children’s story. It’s not just something for children to wonder at. Our wonder and joy should be just as great as that of the smallest child learning about the crib for the first time. Our adult faith should be continually astonished that our God has come among us in such humility – as a small baby, in a cave, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger, cared for and dependent on a carpenter and his young wife. We who have seen something of life should renew our amazement and joy this night – because God Himself has come among us, has put Himself at our mercy, has come to show His love and win our love in the greatest humility. If anything, we should be even more astonished than the children!
Not a Children's Story
This is no fable or fairy story. There is no history or life more real than that of the little child, born in poverty, coming into a world of darkness. There is still much darkness and poverty in the world – in the Bethlehem of today, and in so many other places. There is a darkness and poverty in the corners of our own lives too. And yet, the true light has come into the world and we are invited to welcome Him.
Venite Adoremus
Come let us adore Him. Let us take the time to truly worship Him this evening. Let us be joyful and grateful this night. If we do not take the time to adore the child in the manger, we cannot know God or His peace. True peace and true communion are offered to the world through that little child. If we bow down and worship Him, turn our hearts and minds to adoration of Him, we will know that God is truly among us. If we worship Him in His innocence and humility, we will become what we worship. God has come among us as a child, has shared our life and our struggles so that we might have a share in His life, His peace and His glory.

Introduction to Creed
Let us stand for the Profession of Faith – and because it is Christmas, we genuflect at the words “and was made man” in honour of God's humility in coming among us.

Prayers of the Faithful
With joy and confidence in the power of God who came among us as a man, let us make our prayers for the Church and the World:

We pray for the Church throughout the World – that the faith and joy of Christians everywhere may be renewed.

We pray for peace in the world – between nations and peoples, and within families – may the Infant Jesus bless us with His peace.

We pray for all those who suffer – from poverty, ill-health, and despair – through the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of those around them, may this season bring them hope.

We pray for our own intentions – I offer this Mass this evening for all our parishioners – especially for those who find it difficult to celebrate this Christmas.

We pray for our dead – especially those who died during the past 12 months – May the Lord welcome them all into His presence.

Let us Pray
Lord God, you sent your Son among us as our Saviour. May our celebration of His birth deepen our faith and strengthen our hope. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

On the Road to Bethlehem

2009-12-23T14:51:00.002Z

I happened to be reading GK Chesteron's Irish Impressions recently, and was very stuck by something he wrote:

The Irish Catholics, like other Christians, admit a mystery in the Holy Trinity, but they may almost be said to admit an experience in the Holy Family. Their historical experience, alas, has made it seem to them not unnatural that the Holy Family should be a homeless family. They also have found that there was no room for them at the inn, or anywhere but in the jail; they also have dragged their new-born babes out of their cradles, and trailed in despair along the road to Egypt, or at least along the road to exile. They also have heard in the dark and the distance behind them, the noise of the horsemen of Herod.

One of the typical Christmas decorations here in Ireland is a lit candle in each window of the house throughout the Christmas season. These are intended to light the journey of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. In some parts of Ireland it was the tradition to take the candle from the window on Christmas Eve and place it in the middle of the kitchen floor. The door of the house would be left unlocked as an invitation for the Holy Family to stop for refreshment on their journey. Sigerson Clifford's Kerry Christmas Carol refers to this custom:

Brush the floor and clean the hearth,
And set the fire to keep,
For they might visit us tonight
When all the world’s asleep.

Don’t blow the tall white candle out
But leave it burning bright,
So that they’ll know they’re welcome here
This holy Christmas night.

Leave out the bread and meat for them,
And sweet milk for the Child,
And they will bless the fire, that baked
And, too, the hands that toiled.

For Joseph will be travel-tired,
And Mary pale and wan,
And they can sleep a little while
Before they journey on.

They will be weary of the roads,
And rest will comfort them,
For it must be many a lonely mile
From here to Bethlehem.

O long the road they have to go,
The bad mile with the good,
Till the journey ends on Calvary
Beneath a cross of wood.

Leave the door upon the latch,
And set the fire to keep,
And pray they’ll rest with us tonight
When all the world’s asleep.

Thanks to Fr Philip...

2009-11-15T11:54:00.002Z

His post on 'Five Hard Truths' provided the back-bone to my homily this Sunday. As Advent draws near and we remember the Holy Souls during this month of November, he gives a very fitting reflection.

Anglicanorum Coetibus

2009-11-09T14:59:00.002Z

The Holy See has issued the Apostolic Constitution which sets up new structures enabling Anglicans to enter into full communion with Rome. My brief reading of it suggests that they're essentially getting mini-dioceses - personal Ordinariates - giving them quite an amount of autonomy to preserve their Anglican heritage.

IV. A Personal Ordinariate is entrusted to the pastoral care of an Ordinary appointed by the Roman Pontiff.

V. The power (potestas) of the Ordinary is:

a. ordinary: connected by the law itself to the office entrusted to him by the Roman Pontiff, for both the internal forum and external forum;

b. vicarious: exercised in the name of the Roman Pontiff;

c. personal: exercised over all who belong to the Ordinariate;

This power is to be exercised jointly with that of the local Diocesan Bishop, in those cases provided for in the Complementary Norms.

Interesting... and one wonders if this is a possible structure which could be used to reconcile the SSPX?

The spin, the spin...

2009-10-19T11:19:00.002+01:00

I note with interest this report in the Irish Times which deals with a Church of Ireland group which is supportive of Civil Partnerships for homosexual couples. Now, I don't have the time or inclination to moderate a debate about that particular issue. However, I think that it's important that we look at what one preacher is supposed to have said.

In a sermon at the chapel yesterday Rev Sharon Ferguson, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and a minister at the Metropolitan Community Church in London, said “those who are called by God to be our religious leaders are exhorted to remember that they are no different from the rest of us and consequently deal gently with all people”.She said: “Jesus spent his whole ministry reaching out to those rejected by the Jewish faith – lepers, tax collectors, women, gentiles, the sick and disabled, prostitutes – and he showed God’s all encompassing love for all people.“He didn’t judge them and insist that they changed their ways before sharing God’s love with them, for he knew that none of these things matter.”

Now, I don't know whether that's an accurate account of what she said, or the context in which she said it, but taking it at face value, it's applying a huge amount of spin to the Gospel itself.

Certainly, religious leaders are called to be gentle and to remember that they're made of the same flesh as everyone else. And Christ certainly spent his ministry reaching out to those on the margins.

However, it's somewhat disingenuous to suggest that lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, gentiles and the disabled are somehow interchangeable. All received healing and forgiveness from Christ, but their situations were not identical. The woman caught in adultery was urged to go and sin no more, whilst I don't ever recall Christ telling anyone go and don't be a gentile or a woman any more.

Yes, Christ showed God's all encompassing love for everyone, regardless of what their situation was. I truly hope that the Church can continue to do that. However, He also called those He touched to a new and challenging way of life. Some took up the challenge; others, like the rich young man, turned away. Christ brought God's forgiveness and mercy because they are so needed. Whether one needs to turn to God and take up the challenge of conversion is not a matter of indifference. Christ was continually calling people to conversion - the pharisees, the tax collectors, those who hate, those who refuse to forgive, and, yes, adulterers and prostitutes. That's not a denial of God's all-encompassing love. It's a sign that God loves us too much to leave us in a state of slavery.

So, unless Rev Ferguson wants to suggest that ministers of religion should stop speaking out against financial corruption, war, thief, ingratitude and all those other ways in which we give evidence of our fallen nature, then she can't really argue that the example of Christ means that the Church shouldn't speak out against Civil Partnerships. If she wanted to argue that homosexual relations were holy and blessed, and that the Church should therefore support civil partnerships, well, I could respect her. I wouldn't agree with her, but I would respect her reasoning to a point, because it would not be denying the fact that Christianity has something to say about right and wrong.

However, the road she's taking at the moment suggests that God doesn't care about anything and that therefore the Church shouldn't take a position on any moral issue. Anyone who knows even a little about the Gospel and the history of Christianity will know that line of reasoning is bunkum.

Mathematical Ignorance

2009-10-15T11:01:00.002+01:00

This is a good example of why I don't trust newspapers. The science editor of the Irish Times writes about the work of Nadia Baker who encourages mathematical literacy. However, he concludes with the following howler:

Ms Baker referred to something that, on the face of it, seemed a remarkable coincidence but in fact was only simple probability.
It would seem a long shot to meet someone with the same birthday date as you, but in fact in a random group of just 23 people, there is a greater than 50/50 chance of meeting someone with the same birthday as you.
You can bet on it.

No you can't! In a random group of 23 people, there is a greater than 50/50 chance that two people in that group will share a birthday. Dr Math explains it here.

HOWEVER, that's not what the article says. The article says that in a random group of 23 people, there's a 50/50 chance that I will find someone with the same birthday as myself. That's patently absurd. As a matter of fact, I would need to get a group of 183 other people together in order for the probability of one of them having the same birthday as myself be more than 50%.

Someone has seriously misunderstood the birthday problem...

Irish Priest Kidnapped

2009-10-12T14:06:00.001+01:00

From the Irish Times:

An extensive military and army search is underway in the Philippines following the kidnapping of an Irish priest by a gang of armed men in the south of the country yesterday.
Michael Sinnott (79), a Columban Father originally from Barntown in Co Wexford, was taken away on a speedboat after six gunmen entered the Columban House in Pagadian city in the province of Zamboanga del Sur yesterday evening, and dragged him away, according to reports quoting local police.
Fr Sinnott was taking a stroll in the garden of the compound when a man knocked on the door asking for a priest. When a member of staff opened it, gunmen barged in and grabbed him.
The missionaries could not do anything “because the abductors had powerful weapons”, regional police commander Angelo Sunglao said.
The kidnappers took Fr Sinnott away by sea, Mr Sunglao said, citing fishermen in the area. The van used to take him from the house to shore was later found abandoned and burned near the Catholic mission.
Regional military commander Major General Benjamin Dolorfino said Fr Sinnott was kidnapped for ransom. Intelligence reports indicated he was taken by boat to a town in nearby Lanao del Norte province, where a large Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is active.
Maj Gen Dolorfino said it was not clear if the Moro group or smaller but more violent al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists were involved.
(snip)
Fr O’Donoghue said people from all walks of life had contacted the order to express sadness at what had happened to Fr Sinnott. “Right across the divide people are outraged that this could happen to a 79 year-old-man who has given his life to poor and to justice in this country,” he said.
The kidnapping comes nine months after Abu Sayyaf abducted three Red Cross workers on the island of Jolo. They were released one by one in a hostage crisis that lasted for six months. The group was also blamed for kidnapping Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, who was held for more than a month in 2007.

Good News!

2009-09-13T18:59:00.002+01:00

The most excellent Sisters of the Gospel of Life (based in Glasgow) have welcomed a new Postulant. The sisters are very much in their infancy as a congregation, but from having met them and heard much about their apostolate, I'm convinced that they have a huge amount to offer to the Church and I pray that they will thrive. Congrats to Sisters Roseann, Andrea and Amanda.

The Wedding of Tommy Tiernan

2009-08-10T13:57:00.003+01:00

I was interested to read about the wedding of Irish Comedian Tommy Tiernan in today's Irish Times. Back in 2006 he created some controversy by performing on the Late Late show. I don't recall the details, but he generated quite a lot of ill-feeling by being very offensive about Christ and the Catholic Church. More recently, he fell afoul of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission for mimicking a man disabled in a motor accident.

A Church Wedding?
Still, I must say that I wasn't tremendously surprised that he was married in the Catholic church at Corracrin in Co. Monaghan. The right of the baptised Catholic to be married in the Church is very strongly upheld by the Code of Canon Law, and whilst Tiernan seems to have displayed little respect for the Church in the past, I'm not in a position to speculate about the current religious attitudes of himself or his bride.

Waiting for the Bride
However, the newspaper report's description of the wedding annoys me for a whole variety of reasons. Firstly, the wedding was supposed to take place at 2.30pm. Any priest will tell you that the bride being a little late is traditional, and that it's rare enough for her to be ridiculously late. In my own experience, I find that couples are usually quite good, and on those rare occasions when I've been kept waiting due to unforeseen circumstances, the bride has usually been most apologetic. However, in this case, the groom didn't arrive until 5 to 3, and the bride was a full hour and a half late, eventually showing up at 4pm. Now, one of the challenges that I have with weddings is trying to preserve an air of recollection in church beforehand. Folk are excited, and maybe some aren't frequent church-goers, so I don't run around slapping their palms with a ruler for talking in church. However, I always preface a wedding with a few words of welcome for friends and family and a reminder that they're all gathered to prayerfully accompany the couple on their big day. That, I think, helps bring things under control in the 5 or 10 minutes we spend waiting for the bride.
Now, let's be honest. I find it hard to believe that the great and the good of Irish showbiz society were quietly prayerful during the 90 minutes wait for the future Mrs Tiernan. When a wedding runs that late, it seems as though respect isn't being shown to the Church, the priest, the guests or Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Security Guards?
I was also disturbed by the fact that security guards were hired to keep the riff-raff (i.e. local parishioners) out of the church for the duration of the wedding. Marriage is a public act, and in Canon Law should only be performed secretly for a grave and urgent cause. (Canon 1130) Personally, I wouldn't dream of allowing any church in my parish to be closed to my parishioners in such a manner.
I'm also puzzled as to how this fits in with the provisions of the Civil Registration Act of 2004 which states:

51.—(1) A marriage may be solemnised by, and only by, a registered solemniser.
(2) A registered solemniser shall not solemnise a marriage
unless—
[...]
(c) the place where the solemnisation takes place is open to the
public,

The Cleric as Tight-rope walker
My attitude to this is pretty much the same as my attitude to the controversy surrounding the late Ronnie Drew's funeral. The Church has rules to guarantee the rights of the faithful and to assist the Christian people grow in holiness. They're often administered with a light hand for the sake of the salvation of souls. However, when it seems as though the usual procedures are set aside for the rich and famous, the Church is made to seem as though she favours those who have been successful in the eyes of the world. Preferential option for the poor, where are you? Sometimes it's a case of priests caving to pressure applied to them, at other times it's a case of an unfortunate cleric having his head turned by fame or celebrity. Sometimes my brother priests can be disloyal in having little time for the basic rules and regulations which the rest of us try to compassionately uphold. Sometimes the laity take the initiative and arrange for things to be done 'their own way' whether the clergy like it or not, and we're left in the situation of making the best of a bad situation without causing too much scandal.

I'm not in a position to make accusations or point fingers at anyone - lay or cleric - in the case of Tommy Tiernan's wedding. I don't have the inside story on how things were arranged by anyone involved in the celebration. Perhaps everything was done 'by the book' and in good faith. However, the media report of the wedding seems to raise several questions about the way in which the marriage was conducted, and seems to me to be an example of how scandal can be caused when special allowances are made for people who are only special because of worldly success. What can I do, but echo the bewilderment of the parishioners who were locked out of their own church?

Divorced and Re-Married - An Internal Forum Solution?

2009-08-03T11:31:00.003+01:00

Fr John Boyle posts a very interesting article about whether an 'internal forum' solution exists for divorced and re-married Catholics who wish to receive Holy Communion.

Amnesty International & Domestic Politics

2009-07-31T16:20:00.004+01:00

John Waters in today's Irish Times turns his attention to Colm O'Gorman's recent comments about the proposed civil partnership bill, and in particular the position of Amnesty International in the debate. Now, I was wondering whether his remarks were made in his capacity as Amnesty International's executive director or in a private capacity. I guess its coverage on the Amnesty Website resolves that to some extent.
I recall Amnesty visiting our school when I was 11 or 12. I think I unnerved the visitor somewhat by asking whether their defence of human rights included protection for the unborn child. She explained that they stayed out of that debate - and in retrospect, one can understand why an organisation concerned with representing prisoners of conscience might steer clear of such a disputed and divisive issue in order to focus on their core mission. However, in recent times, Amnesty has dropped its neutrality on the issue of abortion.
(By the by, I should hope that it's obvious to readers involved in education that Amnesty should no longer be welcome in our Catholic schools.)
John Waters notes that Colm O'Gorman's statement on civil partnerships also represents a shift away from what used to be Amnesty's priorities:

WITHOUT ANYONE emphasising or questioning the shift, Amnesty International has gone in recent years from being an organisation devoted to the rights of prisoners-of-conscience in foreign jurisdictions to a lobby group concentrating selectively on ideological issues within the immediate jurisdictions in which it operates. I often wonder what its founders would have thought about this. I wonder, too, if people who stuff cash into the boxes of Amnesty’s street collectors are aware of the implications of what has occurred.
Twenty years ago, the idea of Amnesty lecturing the Irish Government in partisan terms on a matter on which there is democratic controversy would have been inconceivable. The old-style Amnesty considered human rights too vital to be mixed up with everyday political argumentation within democratic societies.

What's also interesting is that Waters valiantly attempts to point out how O'Gorman and other gay rights activist try to (and in general succeed) to change the meaning of the concepts used in our national discourse in order to muddy the issue and demonise those who promote a traditional understanding of marriage and the family:

O’Gorman’s statement was laden with disingenuous constructions and weasel words. Amnesty is either arguing for gay marriage or it isn’t, but can’t have it both ways. The Bill does not discriminate against gay couples any more than unmarried heterosexual couples can claim to be “discriminated against” for similar reasons. In not dealing with the adoption of children at all, the legislation might be said to discriminate, in accordance with public policy, against both categories by comparison with married couples, but this is a false comparison. And nor does the legislation discriminate against adopted children being brought up in gay unions any more than against adopted children being brought up by unmarried parents who are not gay. It does not deal with adoption at all. O’Gorman’s reference to “the right not to be discriminated against because of who you love” is a piety designed to fudge the issue and bully the public.
[snip]
The gay lobby has made its case by mangling the meaning of terms such as “marriage” and “discrimination”, and by bullying with accusations of “homophobia” and “bigotry” anyone who refuses to acquiesce in the new definitions.

Of course, the question should be about what is meant by marriage and why it's an institution worthy of legal recognition.

Marriage, a contract between a man and a woman, is an institution maintained by society for reasons having little or nothing to do with “love”. All men and all women have a right to marry, provided they wish to marry members of the opposite sex to whom they are not closely related by blood. Heterosexuals, like homosexuals, are prohibited from marrying people of their own sex. It is no more valid to allege wrongful discrimination in this context against gays than to argue that cycle lanes “discriminate” wrongfully against wheelbarrows.

Now, that statement needs a lot of unpacking, and it probably says a lot about the quality of catechesis in Ireland that not many of the decision makers in our society are willing or capable of doing this.

Holy Communion Services without a Priest

2009-07-25T13:21:00.004+01:00

One of the vexing questions facing us here in Ireland is how we should cope with the increasingly severe shortage of priests. Of course, relative to much of the world, there's still an abundance of priests in Ireland - and maybe the past has spoiled us in terms of our expectations, but what is clear is that many Irish parishes will be losing priests at a very rapid rate over the next few years.
One consequence of this is that communities will find the number of Masses celebrated on weekdays and on Sundays cut back. Should these simply be dropped or should they be replaced by lay- or deacon-led services? If they are replaced, what form should these services take and should they include distribution of Holy Communion?

There's been a lot of muddled thinking about this issue, and I think that there are a number of points which should be made clear. Firstly, the absence of the celebration of Mass in one's local church doesn't necessarily dispense one from one's serious obligation to attend Mass on a Sunday or Holyday of Obligation. If one can travel to another nearby church for Mass, one should, and it would be a very worthwhile thing for people to assist their elderly neighbours and all others who have difficulty making it to Mass. Consequently, we should be extremely cautious about replacing our Sunday Masses with other forms of service when it is practicable for the faithful to travel to nearby churches. Redemptionis Sacramentum is very clear that this is the preferred way of dealing with this situation:

Therefore when it is difficult to have the celebration of Mass on a Sunday in a parish church or in another community of Christ’s faithful, the diocesan Bishop together with his Priests should consider appropriate remedies. Among such solutions will be that other Priests be called upon for this purpose, or that the faithful transfer to a church in a nearby place so as to participate in the Eucharistic mystery there.

However, circumstances may arise where Sunday celebrations in the absence of a priest may be appropriate. It should be noted that the distribution of Holy Communion need not be part of such a celebration. Obviously one would have to take into account how long the community would be deprived of Holy Communion in such a case.
It's worth noting that the guidance of Redemptionis Sacramentum very much frowns on weekday services where Holy Communion is distributed outside the context of the Mass:

Likewise, especially if Holy Communion is distributed during such celebrations, the diocesan Bishop, to whose exclusive competence this matter pertains, must not easily grant permission for such celebrations to be held on weekdays, especially in places where it was possible or would be possible to have the celebration of Mass on the preceding or the following Sunday.

I note that there has been a certain amount of press coverage given to a priest who, whilst on holidays, arranged for a lay-led service with the distribution of Holy Communion. That would seem to be contrary to the liturgical guidelines, and in my opinion, a bad idea.

One of the sad things one encounters pastorally is the lack of understanding of the Holy Mass. The separation of the distribution of Holy Communion from the Mass inevitably increases this confusion. Anecdotally, I've heard of situations on the Continent where parish communities have refused the offer of holidaying priests to celebrate a Sunday Mass for them because they like the 'Mass' (sic) celebrated by their local lay pastoral worker. To my mind, it's incredibly sad that a community deprived of the Mass due to a shortage of priests would refuse the opportunity to participate in the Eucharist when it is offered to them. The personality of the lay pastoral worker or the community's own self-regard has displaced Christ as the focus of their worship.

One of the central advances in liturgical and sacramental theology of the past century or so is the re-connection of the participation in the Mass with the reception of Holy Communion. It might surprise modern readers to learn that until the early 20th century Masses were frequently celebrated without the distribution of communion to the lay faithful, and the reception of communion often happened in a ceremony separate from the Mass. One of my professors in Rome told me of a convent which had the following custom on the eve of the Second Vatican Council. The nuns would receive Holy Communion outside the context of the Mass, and then attend Mass as their thanksgiving for Holy Communion. This, of course, ran totally contrary to the teaching of the Popes from St Pius X onwards who encouraged frequent communion in the context of attending and participating in the Mass.
Now it seems we have another problem - people equate going to Mass with the right to receive Holy Communion. It's becoming increasingly difficult to explain to people why they might attend Mass when they are not in a situation where they could receive Holy Communion. The celebration of the Mass seems to have become subordinated to the reception of communion. Divorcing the distribution of Communion from the Mass would only increase this confusion.
I was recently re-reading Dom Ansgar Vonier's 1925 classic A Key to the Doctrine of the Eucharist and found that the following passage inadvertently prescient:

There ought not to be in classical Christianity a real division of spiritual attitude between Mass and Communion. Suppose per impossible, that there were an extreme multiplicity of private communions by the faithful on the one hand, and an ever-dwindling attendance at the sacrifice of the Mass on the other hand, it would indeed be the gravest spiritual disorder; it would falsify the Eucharistic setting; it would lower the sacrament through a misconception of its true role.

Caritas in Veritate - New Papal Encyclical

2009-07-07T12:35:00.003+01:00

Just a reminder that the Pope's new encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) has been published.
It seems quite dense and deals with "integral human development in charity and truth."

Maynooth Open Day

2009-05-05T15:25:00.002+01:00

I'm delighted to see that there was a decent turn out at Sunday's open day at the seminary in Maynooth.

About 80 men aged between 20 and 35 attended the Open Day at Maynooth last Sunday, Vocations Sunday.

The initiative which marked the close of the Year of Vocation, was the first of its kind for St Patrick’s College, and organisers were surprised and impressed at the numbers of young men who showed up to get an insight into what life is like in the seminary and as a priest.

The idea for the day, came from the seminarians, who were all present for the event.

After talks by the President of Maynooth, Mgr Hugh Connolly, and other members of the formation team on the four foundations of formation: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human, four seminarians from different diocese shared the stories of their own calls to the priesthood. The four are all at different stages of their training – from second year to already being a deacon.

The Priest's Wife...

2009-05-02T21:19:00.002+01:00

When I was in seminary, we jokingly referred to the breviary as 'the wife'. I was bemused to learn that Don Marco finds a similar description in the Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena.

The bride they hold ought to be the breviary, and the books of Holy Scripture their children. There they should take their pleasure in sharing instruction with their neighbors and in finding a holy life for themselves.

--The Eternal Father to Saint Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue

Secundum Scripturas

2009-05-01T14:21:00.003+01:00

An American friend sent me this link. Sandro Magister writes:

ROME, May 1, 2009 – In a few days, the daily "la Repubblica" and the weekly "L'espresso" will offer to the Italian public, in hundreds of thousands of copies and at a reasonable price, the entire Christian Bible, in a new translation edited by the bishops' conference (CEI), accompanied by extensive notes and illustrated with artistic masterpieces from all time periods.
The work will be published in three volumes: the first with the Pentateuch and the historical books; the second with the wisdom books and the prophets; the third with the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the letters, and Revelation.
The initiative is all the more unusual in that "la Repubblica" and "L'espresso" are the leading publications for secular opinion in Italy, and are often critical of the Catholic Church and the Christian faith itself.

Can you imagine anything like that happening in Ireland?

Even more interesting is the article in L'Espresso which accompanies this project. It reads in part:

But be careful, the Christian Bible can punish those who venture into it blindly. It is an extremely special book, or rather collection of books, seventy-three in all, produced over a thousand years and divided into two major collections, the Old and the New Testament. These absolutely cannot be separated, at the cost of understanding nothing. The Mass shows why this is. The Gospel is never read without a prior reading from the Old Testament, which anticipates it "in allegory." Jesus is incomprehensible without the prophets. If he is risen from the dead, as the Gospels attest and the "Credo" proclaims, this took place "according to the Scriptures." If blood and water gush from the pierced side of Jesus, It is impossible not to think of the second chapter of Genesis, and the sleeping Adam from whose side God takes Eve, the mother of the living. The cross is the new tree of life of paradise, like the magnificent cross in bloom in the mosaic in the Roman basilica of Saint Clement. It is the fountainhead of the Church, it is the beginning of the new creation.
One should begin by reading Genesis in the Old Testament. It should come as no surprise that there are not one but two accounts of creation, one after the other and very different in style and content. The Bible does not intend to say how the world came about, but why. And also why, in a world that is indeed blessed by God as "good," so much evil should be unleashed, not by destiny but according to free and voluntary choice, disrupting both man and nature. From Cain to Lamech, from the Tower of Babel to the flood, wickedness invades the earth. But there is Noah the just man, in the ark that is saved from the waters. Then there is the calling of another just man, Abraham. And there is also justice beyond the chosen people, in a mysterious Melchizedek, "without father, without mother, without genealogy," as the author of the letter to the Hebrews would write in the New Testament. And there is God who visits Abraham in the person of the three anonymous guests whom Rublev, in the 15th century, would depict as an icon of the Trinity. And again, God who fights with Jacob on the shore of the river Jabbok. God? The Bible doesn't say so. It hints at it. Maybe.
In this, the Bible is truly extremely modern. It never says everything. On the contrary, it requires the reader to enter into the plot and decide. "The divine words grow with him who reads them," Pope Gregory the Great said in a homily on the prophet Ezekiel. It is as if the Scriptures were sleeping, before the reader came to wake them up. They were written this way, full of enigmas, ellipses, narrative leaps, obscurity. Rabbinical exegesis has always been this way: the "midrash" is an inexhaustible accumulation of readings and re-readings, reconstructions and reinterpretations, reality and vision. A painting by Chagall illustrates this perfectly. And the Christian liturgy is the same way: there, the Word of God is not a bookish reading, but becomes a living reality in the sacramental symbols. The Word of God takes on body and blood.

Jaroslav Pelikan & the Masai Creed

2009-04-26T21:51:00.003+01:00

I was listening to an interview with the late scholar Jaroslav Pelikan on 'The Need for Creeds' and he made reference to a statement of faith drawn up by the Masai people of East Africa and the Holy Ghost Fathers in about 1960. Pelikan picked it out as being a fine example of a re-statement of Christian dogma in the particular language and concepts of a culture.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in the darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the Bible, that he would save the world and all nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from that grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Quite a number of aspects of this creed are striking. It begins with a bit of a surprise - not being composed in the context of Trinitarian controversy, the drafters didn't seem to deem it necessary to begin with a statement of the Fatherhood of God. Likewise, the eternal generation of the Son and the Lordship of the Holy Spirit aren't mentioned - not because of any squishy theology I would imagine, but rather because the focus isn't on disputed points of Trinitatian Dogma. (I would point to the strong affirmation of the need for penitence near the end of the creed as being evidence that we're not dealing with watered-down Christianity here.)
Pelikan was much taken by the idea of Christ always on safari doing good - a most lovely way of saying that Our Lord had no where to lay his head. Indeed, the emphasis on the life and ministry of Christ sets this apart from the more ancient creeds of Christendom. We normally jump from the Incarnation to the Crucifixion in those creeds which focus on re-affirming disputed points of doctrine. However, if one is coming up with a statement of the Christian faith in a non-polemic context, expressing what it is that is important about the life of the Christian, one can't simply pass over the life of Christ.
The description of what happened to Christ after his burial also has an interesting contemporary resonance. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him... One is inclined to grin - there's a certain poetry in putting it that way, and perhaps it's a little quaint, but it makes the point. The grave did not claim Him. He did not decay like other men and when you have the likes of John Dominic Crossan claiming that Christ was left in a shallow grave to be devoured by wild dogs and crows, there's a definite pertinence in affirming that on the contrary, the hyenas did not touch Him.
There's more which could be said about this creed - one could come up with several lacunae, but it's sincere and thought-provoking, and it's little surprise that Pelikan picked it out as something special.

Incidentally, it wasn't only the Masai who have come up with 'updated' Creeds. Paul VI's Credo of the People of God is a much neglected statement of the Catholic Faith.

Easter Thoughts from Bishop Tom Wright

2009-04-11T13:47:00.003+01:00

Bishop Tom Wright is the Anglican bishop of Durham. As Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey he spent several weeks in Rome as a visiting lecturer at the Gregorian University and as a guest of the Pontifical Irish College. Quite apart from being a world-renowned Pauline scholar, he's also written a very fine book about the Resurrection. His piece in today's Times is well worth a read. It's a good mix of rigorous academic thought and solid preaching that characterises much of his writing:

Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what He intends to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Jesus's Resurrection and the final rescue and transformation of the whole world are called to be new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.
This true meaning has remained hidden because the Church has trivialised it and the world has rubbished it. The Church has turned Jesus's Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday, often scaling it down so that “resurrection” becomes a fancy way of saying “He went to Heaven”. Easter then means: “There really is life after death”. The world shrugs its shoulders. We may or may not believe in life after death, but we reach that conclusion independently of Jesus, of odd stories about risen bodies and empty tombs.
(...)
Let's be clear: the stories are not about someone coming back into the present mode of life. They are about someone going on into a new sort of existence, still emphatically bodily, if anything, more so. When St Paul speaks of a “spiritual” resurrection body, he doesn't mean “non-material”, like a ghost. “Spiritual” is the sort of Greek word that tells you,not what something is made of, but what is animating it. The risen Jesus had a physical body animated by God's life-giving Spirit. Yes, says St Paul, that same Spirit is at work in us, and will have the same effect - and in the whole world.

Now, suddenly, the real meaning of Easter comes into view, as well as the real reason why it has been trivialised and sidelined. Easter is about a new creation that has already begun. God is remaking His world, challenging all the other powers that think that is their job. The rich, wise order of creation and its glorious, abundant beauty are reaffirmed on the other side of the thing that always threatens justice and beauty - death. Christianity's critics have always sneered that nothing has changed. But everything has. The world is a different place.

Easter has been sidelined because this message doesn't fit our prevailing world view. For at least 200 years the West has lived on the dream that we can bring justice and beauty to the world all by ourselves.

Good and faithful servant...

2009-04-02T16:07:00.002+01:00

It's hard to believe that it's 4 years since the passing of Pope John Paul II. I was in pilgrimage in Lourdes during the last week of his life, and happened to be returning to studies in Rome with a fellow seminarian on the last day of his life. Getting from Lourdes to Rome involved a couple of flights, and at each stop-over my colleague and I anxiously sought news of the Pope's condition. He was still alive when we landed in Rome, but as we reached the door of our residence the church bells of Rome began to toll. The only Pope we ever knew, that grandfatherly presence, that great man had passed from this life.
The next couple of weeks were to be unforgettable - the whole world gathering in Rome to pay their last respects, the hours of queuing in order to pay a final tribute to his remains, the memorable homily of Cardinal Connell who offered a requiem Mass for the Pope in the presence of Rome's Irish community and the almost unbearable sense of emptiness during the Eucharistic Prayer when the Christians of Rome had neither Pope nor bishop to pray for.
Curiously, the most eloquent tributes paid to the pontiff were drawn by the cartoonists of the world. Some of these sketches captured the mission of the Pope and the unique charism of John Paul II better than newspaper editorials and lengthy obituaries.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.

Year of Priesthood

2009-03-16T13:00:00.001Z

Via Northampton Seminarian:

It was announced this morning by the Holy Father that there will be a "Year of the Priesthood" from 19th June 2009 - 19th June 2010. The theme will be "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of the Priest." The year will be opened at Vespers on 19th June (Solemnity of the Sacred Heart) by Pope Benedict. The year coincides with the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d'Ars, St John Mary Vianney. At the end of the year, the saint will be declared patron of all the priests in the world.

Looking towards 2012

2009-03-14T16:48:00.002Z

As I mentioned previously the 50th International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Dublin in 2012. I was delighted to learn from my bishop that I'll have a role to play in the local diocesan preparations for this Congress. Now, the Congress isn't being held in my rural diocese, but I think that it's important that the collective mind of the entire Irish Church be fixed on this Congress and on the mystery which it honours. At the moment I'm brain-storming with a few friends as to how there can be some sort of Eucharistic Renewal on the ground in the run up to the Congress. I'm keen that practising Catholics should have a deeper understanding and love for the Sacrament, and that the preparations for the Congress should be an opportunity for evangelisation and re-proposing the Mystery of the Eucharist to non-practising Catholics.

What should this consist of?
Well, it's evident that any renewal needs to draw on the richness of sound Eucharistic theology. (For my own part, I've decided to focus my reading on Eucharitic theology for the foreseeable future.) Good preaching and the opportunity for the faithful to deepen their understanding of the Eucharist is a sine qua non. Additionally, I think that it's important that we should draw on the history of the Church in Ireland - and in particular the history of devotion to and the celebration of the Eucharist in Ireland - in order to make people aware of our country's deep and abiding devotion to the sacrament. Thirdly, there would seem to be scope for an engagement between culture and the Eucharist. Perhaps our artists and young people should be encouraged to consider the Eucharist and Eucharistic spirituality as a topic for consideration. Wouldn't a flourishing of writing, poetry, music and the visual arts be a worthy way of honouring the sacrament which has so much to do with Divine creativity and artistry?
There will also be the more practical question of organising groups to travel to and from the Congress, and some sort of cathechesis 'on the ground'.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions as to how the Church in Ireland can make the most of this Congress?

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T17:06:00.003Z

Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return...
Repent and believe in the Gospel

The liturgy today affords the priest a choice - he can chose either of those prayers as he applies ashes on the faithful today. This is my first year being in a parish for Ash Wednesday so I distributed ashes for the first time ever today. Between those attending the morning mass and the students in the schools I look after, I've probably distributed ashes to well over 500 people - and the evening Mass is still to come.

Now, I have a certain affection for the old-fashioned "Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return" and was always mildly irked as a layman that I never came across a priest who used it. However, as it suited the cathechesis I gave the school children, I used "Repent and believe in the Gospel" at the schools. (I was pleasantly surprised that some of the kids asked me about the whole mortality symbolism of the ashes without any prompting.)

Anyway, probably the most sombre moment of the day was when a mother and child came up for ashes at Mass. I asked the woman whether she wanted ashes for the child as well, and she nodded. It's difficult to say to a babe in arms, "Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return", but it was more appropriate than the other option. Whether we realise it or not, our death casts a shadow from the first moment of our life.

Forthcoming Canonizations

2009-02-16T14:04:00.004Z

The Vatican's press office announced that there will be a gathering of the Holy Father and Cardinals to formally promulgate a number of forthcoming canonizations - including Blessed Damien of Molokai.

The story of Fr Damien was a staple of religious education classes when I was a youngster, but I suppose he's not on the new syllabus as the kids I come across seem not to have heard of him. I was discussing him with some of our primary school children recently, and I told them about leprosy and how the lepers had to gather together in an isolated area. I asked the kids what kind of life the lepers had - they realised that the lepers probably missed their families and friends and were very sad to be living in the leper colony. Then I asked them what kind of life the lepers had together. With the optimism of youth, one sharp little girl suggested that the lepers were friends with each other. Would that it were so, but I had to tell them that the lepers did not live together in peace and that their village became a place of drunkenness and fighting. The children seemed to understand that when they themselves were sad or sick or upset about something, they became quarrelsome with their parents and friends. Then I explained to them that Fr Damien's coming to live with the lepers was important - not just because he cared for their medical and material well-being, but that through his preaching and example he brought Christ to them.

Fr Neuhaus

2009-02-02T10:41:00.001Z

I was surprised that there was no reference to Fr Neuhaus's passing when the February edition of First Things arrived last week. The magazine was obviously put together whilst Fr Neuhaus was still alive, and indeed includes a piece by Fr Neuhaus wherein he discusses his medical condition. I was very taken with its conclusion:

The entirety of our prayer is “Your will be done” — not as a note of resignation but of desire beyond expression. To that end I commend myself to your intercession, and that of all the saints and angels who accompany us each step through time toward home.

On the Conversion of St Paul (Extract from a Homily)

2009-01-24T20:44:00.002Z

If we want to understand St Paul, we need to understand what happened to him on the roads to Damascus. If we want to understand why he wrote so passionately, travelled so tirelessly, was willing to endure shipwreck, imprisonment and beatings, we need to understand what was special about that event. There was a blinding flash of light, a heavenly voice, and a force that knocked St Paul to the ground... extraordinary things indeed, but they don't explain the great change which occurred in Saul of Tarsus. The important thing which happened on the road that day was that Paul met the Risen Lord, and that's what changed his life. And why did this meeting make such an impression? Because in Christ he encountered the mercy and love of God. Christ does not punish Paul for persecuting his followers, but offers him the chance of forgiveness. And Christ doesn't simply say to Paul, "I have forgiven you, let bygones be bygones." No! Through Annanias, Christ invites this former persecutor to become an intimate friend, someone who is entrusted with a mission which is no one else's. That's how God works. That's who God is.
My brothers and sisters, that same meeting happens in the life of every Christian. He presents Himself too us, He dearly wants to meet us. He extends to us the same mercy and makes known to us the same divine love. He invites each and every one of us to that same friendship. He has known each and every one of us from before the foundation of the world and has for each and every one of us a mission which He has entrusted to no other.

What precisely has the Pope done?

2009-01-24T16:35:00.005Z

This morning's bulletin from the Holy See's press office contains the news that the Pope has lifted the excommunications of four bishops of the Society of St Pius X. Now, I'm worried about how the media - and in particular the Irish media - are going to report this event. I fear that all too easily this will be used as a stick with which to beat the Pope and that most journalists lack the background to explain the precise significance of this event. So, I'm writing a brief post to explain what precisely the Pope has done and what the background to this event is.

Basically the Society of Pius X is a society of priests who are not in full communion with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church as a whole. It was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre because of his resistance - and the dissatisfaction of many clergy and laity - concerning the liturgical changes which came into effect after the Second Vatican Council and various elements of the Council's teaching - especially on the subject of religious liberty. It operated for some years outside the normal structures of the Catholic Church in what might be described as being, at best, a canonical grey area. In 1988, without papal permission, Archbishop Lefebrve ordained 4 men as bishops. This was a very serious crime under Canon Law, so he, an assisting bishop and the 4 men who were ordained bishops were excommunicated.
Archbishop Lefebrve has since died, as has the bishop who assisted him. The 4 men he ordained bishops (Bishop Fellay being their leader) were, until this morning, still excommunicated.

However, in recent years there has been an attempt to reconcile the SSPX to the Church. There have been behind the scenes discussions and communications. In order to facilitate this process of reconciliation, the Pope has lifted the sentence of excommunication placed on the 4 SSPX bishops. He has removed the punishment they incurred for allowing themselves to be ordained bishops without permission. This is an act of mercy and a gesture aimed at healing wounds and encouraging reconciliation.
However, that does not mean that all is well with these bishops and the clergy of the SSPX. Whilst no longer excommunicated, these bishops are still not proper Catholic bishops in union with Rome. They lack the necessary permission to act as bishops, and the priests who work under them do not have the necessary permissions to act as priests. The division between the SSPX and Rome has not been healed, and it is still a very serious matter for a Catholic to receive the sacraments from a member of the SSPX in all but emergency situations. SSPX clergy do not have the necessary permission from Rome or from local bishops to carry out their work anywhere in the world. The Pope lifting the excommunications does not mean that the separation between the SSPX and Rome has ended. However, it is a move which seems to promise a sincere effort on Rome's behalf to bring the SSPX back into the tent of the Church. The ball is now very much in the SSPX's court in terms of how they will respond to this gesture.

It should especially be noted that the lifting of the excommunication does not mean that the Pope agrees with anything or everything that the SSPX bishops might say. In a singularly infelicitous episode, one of the SSPX bishops seems to have denied the holocaust recently. Do not let anyone try and convince you that the Pope endorses these views. Sometimes it is necessary to extend mercy to people whom we do not approve of - in this case, for the sake of the souls of the SSPX clergy and the people who attend their chapels, the Pope has been very brave in persisting with this act of mercy even though it threatens to be a PR disaster.

What next? There are a whole host of things that need to be sorted out between the Roman Curia and the SSPX. Fortunately, other smaller communities with an attachment to the older form of the liturgy have been received back into the Church in recent times. Aside from the liturgical issue, the question of the interpretation of Vatican II and its teaching on religious liberty is something that will need to be agreed between Rome and the SSPX. I suspect that even if the proposed discussions are successful, not all of the clergy and faithful who are attached to the SSPX will be happy to reconcile with Rome. Some hold opinions which flatly contradict the teaching of the Church and they may not be willing to abandon these opinions. However, I think that we should all be praying that this process of reconciliation goes smoothly and that we will be able to welcome many back into full communion with the Holy Father. We should also pray that those hostile to the Church and those hostile to the Holy Father within the Church will not take advantage of an act of Papal mercy in order to further their own agendas.

As usual, American blogger Amy Welborn covers this issue very well.

Prayers for Fr Foster

2009-01-18T22:12:00.001Z

My former teacher and latinist sui generis Fr Reggie Foster is not doing well, according to Fr Zuhlsdorf:

Fr. Reginald Foster, famous American Carmelite Latinist who works for the Holy See, continues to have serious health problems, ever since his fall last June. He has basically been bed ridden ever since that incident. What follows is the latest.
Yesterday (Saturday) he was taken from his monastery to the Fate bene fratelli hospital on the Tiber Island. Shortly after arriving, he suffered some kind of seizure and was put in intensive care. At first they diagnosed it as pulmonary embolism and they did not expect him to survive. Now they say it was NOT an embolism, but apparently his spleen ruptured and the ensuing rush of fluid in his body caused temporary heart failure.

Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord

2009-01-11T20:16:00.002Z

I think that we tend to under-rate the importance of this Feast and the event that it celebrates. I seem to recall reading that the Orthodox put much emphasis on Christ's Baptism in the Jordan as being one of the great Trinitatian theophanies - it's one of those rare times when the Three Persons make themselves 'visible'. We hear the voice of God the Father, God the Son Incarnate is baptized, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

Of course, part of the difficulty is in correctly interpreting that baptism. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, so understanding why Christ submitted to it can cause difficulties. The Arians took Christ's baptism and the fact that He received the Holy Spirit at that time as evidence that He was not equal to the Father. Well-intentioned Christology which seeks to affirm Christ's divinity tends to downplay the importance of the Baptism of the Lord, reducing it to a mere gesture of humility. I'm inclined to think that such an over-simplification of things tends towards monophysitism - a rejection of the dogma of Christ's two natures, human and divine.
On the other hand, other theologians treat the Baptism as though it were the moment when Christ became divine, or as though He were just an ordinary man whose miracles and preaching derived purely from His having received the Holy Spirit at that time. Similarly, whilst it is evident that this Baptism was hugely significant in Our Lord's beginning his public mission, it would be a mistake to treat it as being the vocation-moment in His life when He realised who He was and what He had to do.

So, what is the Christological significance of the Baptism? Well, I shan't attempt to give a comprehensive answer, but I will highlight some aspects which strike me as important. Firstly, whilst Christ was sinless and not in need of forgiveness, I think that we can understand undergoing John's baptism as being more than just a gesture of humility or solidarity with the mass of sinful humanity. Rather, Christ is the Head of the Church and assumed a human nature which was marked by Adam's sin. He did not have the stain of Original Sin or the concupiscence which comes from it, but he did assume many weaknesses to which man is subject as a result of the Fall. It was therefore fitting that the Head of the Church should take part in the Baptism of repentance and thereby bring the Body with Him. Of course, it is the sacrifice of the Head which makes possible the repentance and salvation of the Body.
The Baptism is also profoundly a sign of acceptance - a prefigurement of His redeeming death. The logic of our sacramental relationship with Christ means that it makes perfect sense that if His baptism is a sign of His acceptance of His death, that our baptism allows us to share in the benefits of that sacrifice.

Various

2009-01-08T19:19:00.002Z

Many thanks to Don Marco for posting an English Translation of the Holy Father's catechisis on Rom 12:1. My blog title is derived from that verse, and I took the concept of rationabile obsequium as a challenge to myself in the exercise of the priestly ministry.

True Worship in Christ
But the question persists: Then how should we interpret this "reasonable spiritual worship"? Paul always supposes that we have come to be "one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28), that we have died in baptism (Romans 1) and we live now with Christ, through Christ and in Christ. In this union -- and only in this way -- we can be in him and with him a "living sacrifice," to offer the "true worship." The sacrificed animals should have substituted man, the gift of self of man, and they could not. Jesus Christ, in his surrender to the Father and to us, is not a substitution, but rather really entails in himself the human being, our faults and our desire; he truly represents us, he assumes us in himself. In communion with Christ, accomplished in the faith and in the sacraments, we transform, despite our deficiencies, into living sacrifice: "True worship" is fulfilled.

Christ's True Sacrifice Made Present
This synthesis is the backdrop of the Roman Canon in which we pray that this offering be "rationabile," so that spiritual worship is accomplished. The Church knows that in the holy Eucharist, the self-gift of Christ, his true sacrifice, is made present. But the Church prays so that the celebrating community is really united to Christ, is transformed; it prays so that we ourselves come to be that which we cannot be with our efforts: offering "rationabile" that is pleasing to God. In this way the Eucharistic prayer interprets in an adequate way the words of St. Paul.

Alas, the current English translation of the Roman Canon fudges the following:

Quam oblationem tu, Deus, in omnibus, quaesumus, benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilemquw facere digneris: ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi.

Secondly, Kansas Catholic has some wonderful pictures of a first profession of vows by one novice and the investiture of four postulants by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Amongst the 4 who received the habit was my good friend Sr Mary G.

Finally, may Fr Richard John Neuhaus rest in peace.

This Sunday's Readings...

2009-01-03T22:28:00.003Z

We're fortunate in Ireland that the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on the 6th of January, so we have the wonderful readings of the 2nd Sunday after Christmas tomorrow morning. A friend of mine from seminary suggested that the core of the Gospel would be preserved if, through some freak occurrence, the New Testament were lost except for the Letter of St Paul to the Galatians. I keep meaning to re-read Galatians with that hypothetical scenario in mind in order to make sense of what he was saying.
As I was reading the 2nd Reading and Gospel of this Sunday's liturgy, I realised that a somewhat similar claim could be made about those two readings. Between them they manage to encapsulate much of what is most central to our faith. If one were to commit them to memory, one would have the answers to the most pressing existential and philosophical questions.
The Second Reading ( Ephesians 1:3-6. 15-18) summarises God's plan for us quite nicely:

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved.

That will explain why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love that you show towards all the saints, have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thank God for you. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit

The Gospel (John 1-1-18), on the other hand, is virtually a complete Credo and a summary of all that follows in John's Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word:
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower

A man came, sent by God.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.

The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had its being through him,
and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock
or urge of the flesh
or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh, he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his
as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
'This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me
because he existed before me'.

Indeed, from his fulness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father's heart,
who has made him known.

Back in the day that (up to the words 'grace and truth') was recited by the priest at the end of Mass as the 'last Gospel'. There was a decided wisdom in repeating the richest of scriptural passages after each and every Mass.

Feast of the Holy Family

2008-12-28T20:43:00.003Z

Whilst preaching today, I reminded the congregation that the Church is a great advocate of the natural rights of the family, and that parents in particular should familiarise themselves about what the Church has to say about their role. Ironically, on the radio this morning I heard a commentator complain about the Church's role in education. He didn't think it was fitting that the vast majority of Irish primary schools should have the local bishop as patron in 'Post-Catholic Ireland' and thought that the Constitutional provision in this regard needed revision because it was drafted by Archbishop McQuaid of Dublin. What precisely did he regard as needing to be changed? The following which he referenced explicitly:

Article 42.1 The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.

Part of this commentator's 'solution' to the 'problem' of most educational provision was a revision of that section of the Constitution which guarantees the rights of parents.

Ahmadinejad's Alternative Christmas Message

2008-12-25T21:34:00.003Z

There's been quite a fuss in the UK because of Channel 4's decision to broadcast an 'Alternative Christmas Message' from Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That's an interesting collaboration between radical Islam and a decidedly left-of-centre TV station.
Now, I'm not an expert in Islamic theology, but it's interesting to compare Ahmadinejad's opening paragraphs with the Christian understanding of what Christmas is really about.

"In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain.
The Almighty created the universe for human beings and human beings for Himself.
He created every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection. He called on man to make every effort to live a good life in this world and to work to achieve his everlasting life.
On this difficult and challenging journey of man from dust to the divine, He did not leave humanity to its own devices. He chose from those He created the most excellent as His Prophets to guide humanity.
All Prophets called for the worship of God, for love and brotherhood, for the establishment of justice and for love in human society. Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice.

The initial impression is of an austere God who, although he does not 'leave humanity to its own devices' is not the Incarnate God of Triune love who is himself our Saviour. Likewise, his description of humanity's struggle "from dust to the divine" has distinct Pelagian tones - a Christian would be much more aware of our need for divine grace and the implications of our fallen state. A prophet can only inform and exhort. Christ establishes a true communion of love between God and man for our salvation.
(Note also - Ahmadinejad says that God created "human beings for Himself". The classical Christian Catechism answer to the question as to why God created us is so that we might know and love him. Our doctrine of God as a Trinity of love does colour our understanding of our own purpose.)

Christmas Homily

2008-12-24T18:36:00.003Z

After the passage of countless centuries from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created heaven and earth and formed man and woman in his own image, and very many centuries from the time when after the flood the Almighty had set his bow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant and of peace; in the twenty-first century from the migration of Abraham, our father in faith, from Ur of the Chaldees; in the thirteenth century from the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses; in about the thousandth year from the anointing of David as king according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; in the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the City of Rome; in the forty-second year of the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus; while the whole world was at peace, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the Eternal Father, desiring to consecrate the world by his most gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, and when nine months had passed after his conception, is born as man in Bethlehem of Judah from the Virgin Mary: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.[1]

There are many ways in which we could try to date the event we celebrate this evening. The Ancient Greeks counted out the years between one Olympic Games and another, putting the birth of Christ in the 194^th Olympiad. The Romans counted from the year their own great city was founded, and marked out time according to the reigns of their emperors. St Luke, when he was writing the history of Christ pinned down that first Christmas by reference to the fact that Quirnus was governor of Syria. Since then, empires have fallen and risen, and all those ways of marking time have fallen into disuse. We now count our years as AD and BC. AD –in the year of our Lord, BC – before Christ.

Christ was born into a world where dates were marked by reference to the great men of the time, or some historical event. Now, however, every time we read a date or talk about an event in history, we mark the time by reference to what happened on that holy night in Bethlehem. The death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the fall of the Roman empire in 476 AD, the great Fire of London in 1666, the 1916 Easter Rising, September the 11th 2001. The way we number our years reminds us that all of human history can be divided into a before and an after… the preparation for the coming of Christ, and the new era which began with His birth. Cardinal Newman once wrote, “Christ … came to make a new and better beginning of all things than Adam had been, and to be a fountain-head from which all good henceforth might flow.”[2] Tonight we celebrate that new and better beginning, when God himself was born into this world as a little baby.

Look at the crib. Step back from the romance of it for a moment, and it does not look like a promising beginning. A family, forced to leave their home so that they might be taxed, a mother who finds no place to give birth to her baby, but a stable. A baby, wrapped up tight in swaddling clothes, unable even to lift his arm. And yet, this baby, this little child is not only the King promised to the Israelites, but is the Son of God Himself.

It is a scene of love, and of joy too, no doubt. Mary and Joseph rejoice in the birth of his child, but to human eyes it seems an unpromising and poor beginning for a child's life, and not at all like God's new beginning for us all.

The angels know better, they sing, “ Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.” They see what we now know by faith. They see in that little child God’s favour, God’s generosity to us all. They see what we struggle to understand – that God made himself weak so that all men and women might know Him, love Him and receive His peace, His salvation. The angels see that God does not want to gather his straying children by a show of force, but wants to share our human life so that He can transform it from within. He wants to walk with us, so that we can learn from one like ourselves, He wants to suffer for us, so that He will never be far away when we suffer, He wants to die for us, so that we might no longer have anything to fear from sin and death.

That is what we celebrate tonight. Our ancestors knew how to celebrate this feast, even when they lived in a hardship we can’t imagine. There is the old custom of lighting a candle in the window each Christmas so that Mary and Joseph might have light to guide them on their journey. There was also the custom of setting food out on the table so that the Holy Family might have something to sustain them in their travels. The light of that candle also promised safety to the priest in times of persecution and a welcome to the wanderer in times of hardship. The food was not only for the Holy Family, but was to be shared with anyone who had need.

These customs show that those who went before us realised two things. In their concern for the Holy Family they realised that when Christmas is celebrated, the events which happened in Bethlehem are not trapped in the past… The birth of Christ still matters today, still has effects for us today, and if we celebrate Christmas well, we can, in a sense, be brought back to that stable, to gaze on the Child Jesus and welcome Him with joy!

The second thing they realised is that the celebration of this feast should lead us into a greater love and generosity for those around us. The new and better beginning must take hold in our hearts… If we welcome Christ at Christmas, and if we welcome him in the Eucharist, then we must give birth to Christ ourselves, by having a more Christ-like heart. We must not be afraid to be more generous, more forgiving, more loving, more prayerful, more humble. We must not be afraid to let the idealism and the joy of Christmas touch our hearts. Christ came into the world poor so that our souls might be made rich through him.

“Mary treasured all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” May her prayers help us to give Christ a true welcome this Christmas.

[1] Roman Martyrology (The Proclamation of Christmas)

[2] Lectures on the Doctrine of Justification

Holy Father's Christmas Address to the Roman Curia

2008-12-22T18:00:00.002Z

I like to keep an eye on the Pope's Christmas address to his collaborators in the Roman Curia. Remember, it was in the context of his first such address that he coined the term Hermeneutic of Continuity.
Well, this year's address (link to Italian version) was interesting, with the Pope making a number of sharp points. Rocco analyses what he had to say about World Youth Day.

"The uniquness of the [World Youth] days and the particular character of their joy, their creative force of communion, can find no explanation. Above all it's important to take into account the fact that the World Youth Days do not consist solely in just the one week where they're publicly rendered visible to the world. It is a long road, interior and exterior, that leads to them. The Cross, accompanied by the image of the Mother of the Lord, makes a pilgrimage across countries. Faith, in its way, needs to see and touch. The encounter with the cross, which comes to be touched and carried, becomes an internal encounter with the One who took up the cross and died for us. The encounter with the Cross sustains in the soul of the young the memory of that God who wanted to make himself man and suffer alongside us. And we see the woman given us as our Mother. The solemn Days are but the culmination of a long road, along which we find one another and go together to encounter Christ. Not just in Australia did the long Via Crucis cross the city and become the culminating event of these days. It likewise reflected again all that happened in the years preceding it and pointed to Him who reunites together all of us: that God who so loved us even to the Cross. So, too, the Pope is not the star around which it all unfolds. He is totally and merely the Vicar. He returns to the Other who is in our midst. Finally the solemn liturgy is the center of this togetherness, for in it comes that which we cannot realize and which, still, we are always awaiting. He is present. He enters among us. The heavens are torn and the earth is made luminous. It's this that renders life light and open and unites the many ones with others in a joy that is incomparable with the ecstasy of a rock festival. Frederich Nietzsche once said: "The ability is not in organizing a party, but in finding the people able to bring it joy." According to Scripture, joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf Gal 5:22): this fruit was abundantly perceivable in the days of Sydney. And just as a long road precedes the World Youth Days, a path following it is likewise drawn. Friendships are formed that encourage a different lifestyle and that sustain it from inside. The great days have, not an ending, but the scope of sustaining these friendships and of making places of life in the faith rise in the world where, together, hope and love can be seen.

And what's the subtext? Rocco speculates as follows:

During WYD Sydney, a leader of the Aussie branch of the Society of St Pius X -- the schismatic traditionalist group -- knocked the weeklong event as a "happy party" with "very little that is truly holy and sacred and prayerful" in it.

Interesting! WYD 2000 in Rome was a crucial event for myself personally and a major help in encouraging me to pursue my priestly vocation.
Also of interest is the following passage:

Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza. Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico. E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua e l’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti. Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso. È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto. Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato. Qui si tratta di fatto della fede nel Creatore e dell’ascolto del linguaggio della creazione, il cui disprezzo sarebbe un’autodistruzione dell’uomo e quindi una distruzione dell’opera stessa di Dio. Ciò che spesso viene espresso ed inteso con il termine "gender", si risolve in definitiva nella autoemancipazione dell’uomo dal creato e dal Creatore. L’uomo vuole farsi da solo e disporre sempre ed esclusivamente da solo ciò che lo riguarda. Ma in questo modo vive contro la verità, vive contro lo Spirito creatore. Le foreste tropicali meritano, sì, la nostra protezione, ma non la merita meno l’uomo come creatura, nella quale è iscritto un messaggio che non significa contraddizione della nostra libertà, ma la sua condizione. Grandi teologi della Scolastica hanno qualificato il matrimonio, cioè il legame per tutta la vita tra uomo e donna, come sacramento della creazione, che lo stesso Creatore ha istituito e che Cristo – senza modificare il messaggio della creazione – ha poi accolto nella storia della salvezza come sacramento della nuova alleanza. Fa parte dell’annuncio che la Chiesa deve recare la testimonianza in favore dello Spirito creatore presente nella natura nel suo insieme e in special modo nella natura dell’uomo, creato ad immagine di Dio. Partendo da questa prospettiva occorrerebbe rileggere l’Enciclica Humanae vitae: l’intenzione di Papa Paolo VI era di difendere l’amore contro la sessualità come consumo, il futuro contro la pretesa esclusiva del presente e la natura dell’uomo contro la sua manipolazione.

In brief, the Pope is reminding us that the Church has a responsibility for creation. However, this isn't only about protecting the environment - we are also called to develop an "ecology of man" whereby we stop ourselves from destroying ourselves. Central to this understanding of humanity is the Church's recognition of the relationship between man and woman. The reduction of 'gender' to the status of a social construct is to ignore God's plan and the fact that God speaks to us through creation - man being the image of God, for example, and the analogy between marriage and the covenant.

I'll try and post an English translation of the more important bits when it's available.

My favourite Christmas Carol

2008-12-15T11:23:00.002Z

Here.

Written by St Alfonsus Liguori, no Italian Christmas gathering is complete without an enthusiastic singing of Tu scendi dalle stelle.

Pastoralia: Christmas Family Mass

2008-12-15T10:57:00.003Z

I don't often blog about the goings-on in my parish, but I thought that the following might be worth a mention. Like many other parishes, in addition to the 'Midnight' Mass on Christmas eve, we celebrate the Vigil Mass of Christmas at a more family-friendly hour. The placing of the Infant Jesus into the crib is a very special moment during our Midnight Mass, but this means that the children who attend the earlier Mass miss out on this. So, we're encouraging the families who come to the earlier Mass to bring along the figure of the Child Jesus from their cribs at home so that it might be blessed. I don't mind admitting that I shamelessly swiped this idea from the Holy Father who blesses hundreds of crib figures every Gaudete Sunday. Thanks to Rocco Palmo, we also have the text of the blessing used by the Pope.

God our Father,
you loved man so much
to send us your only Son Jesus,
born of the Virgin Mary,
to save us and lead us back to you.

We pray that, with your blessing
these images of Jesus, soon to come among us,
might be, in our homes,
a sign of your presence and love.

Good Father,
give your blessing to us, too,
to our parents, our families and friends.

Open our hearts,
that we might know to receive Jesus in joy,
always do what he asks of us
and see him in all those
who need our love.

We ask this in the name of Jesus,
your beloved Son, who came to give peace to the world.

You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.

Dignitatis Personae

2008-12-12T14:50:00.002Z

The Bolletino from the Holy See press office gives a synthesis (in English) of the CDF's latest bio-ethical document, Dignitatis Personae.

What did he say?

2008-11-26T21:11:00.004Z

I don't trust the Irish Times to adequately report what any bishop has to say, and find myself puzzled by some aspects of this report:

Yesterday, the Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev Diarmuid Martin said that, while he didn't feel any of his fellow bishops were opposed to what Cardinal Seán Brady said about the Bill at the recent Céifin conference in Ennis, they might have said it differently.
"We haven't expressed an opinion as an Episcopal Conference (on the Bill)," he said. "I don't think anyone in the conference is against what Cardinal Brady said, but they may have said it in different ways."
The Archbishop also said that while the Catholic Church favoured marriage, "it is not against other forms of intimacy".
Catholic teaching "is linked to the complementarity of the sexes", he said, "and this was not something it was possible for any individual to change. It is part of the order of things since Creation." He noted that while "the Catholic Church is in favour of marriage, it is not against other forms of intimacy". He added that "consistently, all Christian churches emphasise the uniqueness of marriage based on the complementarity of the sexes", but they addressed other forms of intimacy on other bases.

What did Archbishop Martin mean by 'other forms of intimacy'? He can hardly mean that Catholic teaching is okay with the cohabitation of hetrosexual or homosexual couples, but this reference to 'other forms of intimacy' leaves things vague. What's going on here? Inadequate reporting, an exceptionally poor use of language by the Archbishop of Dublin or a major capitulation by one of Ireland's senior churchmen?

God bless Cardinal Brady for his analysis of the situation:

In his address to the Céifin conference on November 4th, Cardinal Brady indicated that the Government could face a legal challenge if the Civil Partnership Bill became law. "Those who are committed to the probity of the Constitution, to the moral integrity of the word of God and to the precious human value of marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of society may have to pursue all avenues of legal and democratic challenge to the published legislation if this is the case," he said.
The Bill was "perhaps the greatest revolution in the history of the Irish family" and the Government was obliged by the Constitution to guard the institution of marriage "with special care", he said.
The Civil Partnership Bill is expected to become law next year and will give greater protection to cohabiting and same-sex couples in areas such as pensions, inheritance and tax. Cardinal Brady said a complete assessment could not be made until the legislation was published, but that it appeared the Government was prepared to grant to cohabiting and same-sex couples the status of marriage in all but name. Apart from the restrictions on adoption by same-sex couples, "it is difficult to see how anything other than the introduction of de facto marriage for cohabiting and same-sex couples is envisaged", he said.
The cardinal said he found it "remarkable" that "Ireland looks set to repeat the mistakes of societies like Britain and the US by introducing legislation which will promote cohabitation, remove most incentives to marry and grant same-sex couples the same rights as marriage in all but adoption".

Café Theology, Limerick

2008-11-19T22:42:00.003Z

Fr. Phonsie Cullinane, chaplain at the Institute of Technology in Limerick has dropped me a line to let me know about this event... and I'm sure he won't mind me giving it a plug here:

Fr Vincent Twomey, a former doctoral student and personal friend of Pope Benedict, will present a talk on The Antidote to Boredom for CAFÉ THEOLOGY on Tuesday next, November 25th at 7pm in the Bella Italia Bistro, Thomas St.

Fr. Twomey is the first priest to speak at Café Theology. He is a former Prof. of Moral Theology in St. Patrick’s College Maynooth, author and regular guest on radio and TV, and one of the finest commentators in Ireland on matters religious and cultural. Come along, listen and ask your questions.

Archbishop Clifford on UCC Stem Cell Decision

2008-10-29T14:45:00.003Z

From the Irish Times:

THE ARCHBISHOP of Cashel, Dr Dermot Clifford, a member of UCC's governing body, has distanced himself from its decision on stem-cell research.
In a brief statement last night, Dr Clifford said he had informed the governing body of Catholic Church teaching on stem-cell research "and reiterated that human life is sacred from the moment of conception until death".
He said he believed that "it is wrong to conduct research on embryonic stem cells and such research should be prohibited by law. It is contrary to the ethical and moral teaching of the Catholic Church because it is contrary to the common good."
The Pro-Life Campaign has accused the UCC governing body of gross misrepresentation and hypocrisy, while Senator Ronán Mullen said the decision was "irresponsible" and "to be deplored".
Dr Audrey Dillon of the Pro-Life Campaign said it was "a gross misrepresentation for UCC to claim it has found an 'ethical solution' to embryo research that does not involve destroying human life".
She added: "Under the UCC proposal, human embryos are destroyed somewhere else. The university imports the stem cells to use in their research, hypocritically denying their complicity in the killing that produced them."
Dr Dillon said: "The onset of induced pluripotent stem cells [iPS] offers the prospect of a win-win solution, where science and ethics can successfully coexist. Shamefully, UCC has chosen to ignore these possibilities and opted for a socially divisive stance.
"It has absolutely no authority to speak for the Irish people on such sensitive matters. Clearly, it is the preserve of the legislature and electorate to decide these issues," Dr Dillon said.

I've tried in vain to locate a copy of Archbishop Clifford's statement. I'm a little puzzled by his reference to the 'common good' rather than the dignity of human life, but without the full statement it's difficult to assess his statement.
On this issue, I think it's important to stress that Catholic opposition to embryonic stem cell research is based on the natural law rather than simply referring to Catholic doctrine. Our Catholicism should make us passionate in our defence of the unborn, but the basis for that defence is rationally defensible.
UCC's decision is doubly-flawed. It obviously fails to respect the dignity of the embryonic human person. Additionally, the idea that one can avoid the moral problems of embryonic stem cell research by having the 'dirty work' of destroying embryos performed outside the State is a fudge... and an inherently contradictory one at that. If there were no moral reservations about using embryonic stem cells, UCC would not be stipulating that the cells come from outside the State. However, once one admits that there are moral difficulties, then the fact the destruction of the embryo happens abroad changes nothing. It seems to be a case of keeping the embryos out of sight and out of mind.

Unholy row?

2008-10-21T17:31:00.003+01:00

Via the Irish Times:

A Minister of State was booed off the altar in St Andrew's Church on Westland Row this morning when he tried to address the Age Action meeting called to protest over the abolition of the automatic entitlement to medical cards for the over 70s.

More than 1,000 older people attended the meeting and there were angry shouts of protest every time the Government and Fianna Fáil were mentioned.

Minister of State for Health John Moloney was the Government's representative at the meeting, but when he stood up to speak, he was loudly heckled and he eventually left the microphone.

The meeting was due to be held in a room in a hotel with a capacity for 300, but when hundreds of older people began to turn up, the meeting was moved to the nearby church.

More than two dozen older people addressed the meeting before political leaders were given two minutes each to speak.

PD senator Fiona O'Malley was also heckled but addressed the crowd and said it was wrong that the minister was not allowed to speak. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore and Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin all received a warm welcome.

I'm baffled by the fact that someone at the parish or diocesan level thought it fit to give permission for a political meeting of this sort in a church. It doesn't seem to respect the sacred nature of the building.

Religious Reporting...

2008-09-09T21:38:00.003+01:00

There's another example of the poverty of religious reporting in today's Irish Times. This piece deals with Opus Dei's first parish in Ireland...

In attempts to soften concerns, it was noted that 42 of Dublin's 200 parishes are already in the care of religious orders. That, however, is disingenuous. Opus Dei - aka The Work - is an entirely different creature, a highly traditionalist lay organisation, guided by an authoritarian ideology, that happens to have its own priests. It is also an organisation that has been shot through with obsessive secrecy and elitism up to recent times. Far from rubbing along with the traditional religious orders, Opus Dei is perceived as the vanguard of an other-worldly view of Christianity, replacing the influence of the religious orders which had become more grounded in their support of an experiential faith.

Quite apart from the editorial swipe ('disingenuous'), in terms of describing various orders and associations, Opus Dei falls under the 'conservative' rather than the 'traditionalist' banner.
I was also struck by the following:

It is the only Roman Catholic organisation, other than the church itself, that believes it was created by God. This view of itself was copper-fastened by the 2002 canonisation of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá, and its placing at the heart of the Catholic church by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

That's hardly accurate... Firstly, the legenda of many religious orders bring out their being founded according to the divine will. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that Opus Dei doesn't see its role in the Divine plan as being comparable to that of the Church herself. Thirdly, note the misuse of the word 'created'.

(Should I note that I have absolutely no connection with Opus Dei?)

A very apt letter on funerals...

2008-08-25T11:29:00.002+01:00

From the letters page of Irish Times:

Madam, - Last year I returned to Ireland for the funeral of my late father. He was a practising Catholic and his funeral took place in his local parish church.

At that time we had hoped that several pieces of Dad's favourite music might form part of the celebration, as well as a short tribute from my eldest brother.

We encountered a young(ish) priest who while extremely polite and sympathetic absolutely refused to permit any "secular" elements in the Mass, quoting liturgical correctness as the main reason. While deeply unhappy, we had no option but to acquiesce. I was enraged therefore to see that Ronnie Drew had a "send-off" like no other complete with a congregational rendering of Wila wila wallya, and all presided over by an auxiliary bishop of Dublin. Perhaps celebrity ensures an appropriately robed bishop as chorus master.

It is either permitted or not to have "secular elements" and one's status should have no bearing on the matter. This is another example of the hypocrisy which is turning many from holy mother church. - Yours, etc,

LAURENCE LACEY, Rue de Blayes, Toulouse, France.

It's difficult not to sympathise with the letter-writer in this case. Many of our dioceses have regulations about acceptable music and the giving of eulogies at funerals. They're sensible, and mean that the deceased and the bereaved receive the benefit of the Church's liturgy and the care of the parish community. Whether clergy are applying these regulations consistently or not is another issue.
For those who do, it's therefore disheartening when celebrity and political funerals come along which don't seem to follow best practice. It gives the impression that the Church has one set of rules for the famous and another for the ordinary man. It obscures the fact that all are equal before the judgement of God. It diffuses a misleading and false impression about what the funeral liturgy is, and gives rise to unreasonable expectations about what is acceptable in a Catholic Church. Pastorally, it makes the planning of funerals more traumatic than it need be, and (as in this case) has the potential to upset the bereaved who will feel that they have been treated unjustly by their local priest.
Adherence to the rubrics is about more than a desire for the abstract value of 'liturgical correctness' - rather, it is also an eminently pastoral approach which is aimed at giving the People of God the benefit of the Church's liturgy.

I didn't see any of the media coverage of Ronnie Drew's funeral, so I can't really say how out-of-line the liturgy was. Nor, in these cases, is every detail of the liturgy approved by the presiding cleric in advance. Sometimes these things can be 'sprung' on a celebrant. One can hardly imagine the idea of Weela weela wallia being sung in a church being approved by anyone with a sensitivity to the liturgy.

Wonderful Vocations Poster

2008-08-25T11:19:00.004+01:00

Thanks to Fr Z for publicising this poster which was issued by the Diocese of Raleigh. (Click image to enlarge)

The quotation from Sacramentum Caritatis is especially apt :

The pastoral care of vocations needs to involve the entire Christian community in every area of its life. Obviously, this pastoral work on all levels also includes exploring the matter with families, which are often indifferent or even opposed to the idea of a priestly vocation. Families should generously embrace the gift of life and bring up their children to be open to doing God's will. In a word, they must have the courage to set before young people the radical decision to follow Christ, showing them how deeply rewarding it is.

Do we appreciate this sufficiently in Ireland? Year of Vocation notwithstanding, I wonder how much the shortage of priests will have to 'hurt' parishes before the Holy Father's point is taken. What can we do in parishes to ensure that our young people are brought up in homes where the idea of a priestly or religious vocation is something which would be seriously and supportively considered?

Newman on the Assumption

2008-08-15T11:45:00.002+01:00

From his Meditations and Devotions:

Mary is the "Rosa Mystica," the Mystical Rose

MARY is the most beautiful flower that ever was seen in the spiritual world. It is by the power of God's grace that from this barren and desolate earth there have ever sprung up at all flowers of holiness and glory. And Mary is the Queen of them. She is the Queen of spiritual flowers; and therefore she is called the Rose, for the rose is fitly called of all flowers the most beautiful.

But moreover, she is the Mystical, or hidden Rose; for mystical means hidden. How is she now "hidden" from us more than are other saints? What means this singular appellation, which we apply to her specially? The answer to this question introduces us to a third reason for believing in the reunion of her sacred body to her soul, and its assumption into heaven soon after her death, instead of its lingering in the grave until the General Resurrection at the last day.

It is this:—if her body was not taken into heaven, where is it? how comes it that it is hidden from us? why do we not hear of her tomb as being here or there? why are not pilgrimages made to it? why are not relics producible of her, as of the saints in general? Is it not even a natural instinct which makes us reverent towards the places where our dead are buried? We bury our great men honourably. St. Peter speaks of the sepulchre of David as known in his day, though he had died many hundred years before. When our Lord's body was taken down from the Cross, He was placed in an honourable tomb. Such too had been the honour already paid to St. John Baptist, his tomb being spoken of by St. Mark as generally known. Christians from the earliest times went from other countries to Jerusalem to see the holy places. And, when the time of persecution was over, they paid still more attention to the bodies of the Saints, as of St. Stephen, St. Mark, St. Barnabas, St. Peter, St. Paul, and other Apostles and Martyrs. These were transported to great cities, and portions of them sent to this place or that. Thus, from the first to this day it has been a great feature and characteristic of the Church to be most tender and reverent towards the bodies of the Saints. Now, if there was anyone who more than all would be preciously taken care of, it would be our Lady. Why then do we hear nothing of the Blessed Virgin's body and its separate relics? Why is she thus the hidden Rose? Is it conceivable that they who had been so reverent and careful of the bodies of the Saints and Martyrs should neglect her—her who was the Queen of Martyrs and the Queen of Saints, who was the very Mother of our Lord? It is impossible. Why then is she thus the hidden Rose? Plainly because that sacred body is in heaven, not on earth.

Fr Ladaria Ordained Bishop

2008-08-14T12:50:00.002+01:00

I was delighted to learn that one of my former professors, Luis Ladaria SJ, was appointed secretary of the CDF. This page carries the news story and a brief video of the occasion of his episcopal consecration.

Ladaria as Secretary at the CDF

2008-07-12T05:43:00.002+01:00

I was delighted to learn of the appointment of Fr Luis Ladaria as Secretary of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. I had the privilege of being his student on a number of occasions and he sat on the Examining Commission for my STL degree. John Allen has an excellent article on him and it's hard to disagree with the overall conclusion. Ladaria is one of the finest theologians to have taught in the Greg in recent years, and his popularity testifies to his gracious and genial personality. Allen notes:

It was impossible to find anyone who doesn't seem fond of Ladaria on a personal level -- for his work ethic, his scholarly achievement, and his warm disposition.

Eucharistic Congress - Dublin 2012

2008-06-22T17:08:00.003+01:00

The Holy Father has just announced that the next International Eucharistic Congress will be in Dublin in 2012. This will be the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Congress, also held in Dublin. I pray that we will use the next 4 years well in order to revive our country's zeal for this most Holy of Sacraments.

What I did this afternoon...

2008-06-05T19:47:00.001+01:00

I dropped by the Gesù and saw the Pozzi altarpiece in action [video]. That's 17th century technology at work!