Year: 2017

Wandering Thoughts

Seamus Ahearne reflects on the reality of pastoral ministry and care in a ‘disadvantaged’ parish;
“more work and different work is essential in a Deis (band 1) parish. Our Church is outside of the building. Our Liturgy has to happen on the hoof. The preparation for the special occasions needs more energy and more imagination. It has to be gentle, real and kindly. The domestic Church is the only church we now have.”

Final Report of the (Australia) Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Over the next days, months, and years there will be much media coverage and comment on the The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
The report is vast, consisting of 17 volumes and an executive summary.
It can be accessed at the commission’s website directly.
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/preface-and-executive-summary

‘The priesthood dehumanised’: Australian bishop urges end to clericalism

The National Catholic Reporter carried an article about the call by Australian Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen for an end to clericalism in the church.
“… the priesthood ‘pedestalized’ is the priesthood dehumanized. It is bound to lead us into the illusion of a messiah complex and an inability to claim our wounded humanity and to minister in partnership. What we need to do is to humanize the priesthood so as best to equip ourselves with relational power for authentic Gospel living and service.” Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen is quoted as saying.

Love’s Pure Light

Angela Hanley gives an account of the 19th Annual LGBT Christmas Carol Service that was held in Dublin on Saturday 09 December 2017.
Angela tells of the genuine welcome that was extended to all by the Unitarian Church.; “this welcome is rich, all encompassing and full of the love of God.” She finishes her report by saying “others will just have to learn how to provide the same welcome in their own churches.”

Irish Catholic Church – Crisis or Opportunity?

 Joe McVeigh suggests that we need to view the position in which our church finds itself as an opportunity rather than a crisis.
“this is not a crisis for the Church. It is a crisis for a certain model of Church leadership and ministry. The old model was based on the pyramid structure of the Roman Empire.  The Second Vatican council moved away from that model – in theory anyway.” ……
“The prophetic role of the priest in Ireland today has been neglected. There has been much discussion about the need to reform the church rather than about how to make the Word of God relate to the lives of people of today.”

The Widow’s Mite

Brian Fahy’s reflection on ‘The Widow’s Mite’ reminds us “to give what I have, however little it seems. It will be the more in God’s eyes.”
…. “This is a Christian truth. Every human being, every life is important: important to oneself first of all, important to God most of all, and important for all of us to learn.”

A ‘Great Principle’ betrayed and belittled?

We carry reports of the bishops’ conference in the U.S. approving liturgical texts according the the no longer approved ‘Liturgiam authenticam’ and the bishops’ conference of England & Wales refusing to review the ‘new missal’ and seeming to again surrender their authority in such matters to the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments and Divine Worship.
In the context of these reports Mattie Long wonders “With the New Zealand conference of bishops being the only one so far that seems willing to grasp the nettle of beginning to do something to rectify the absolute mess that is the ‘new Missal’, we can only wonder what is preventing others from taking their courage in their hands and responding to the authority and challenge that is presented them in the’ “Great Principle” of Francis.”

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