Year: 2019

Regional meetings in support of the well-being of priests were held during February in Kilkenny, Tuam, Cork, Letterkenny, Dublin, Limerick and Armagh.

In his Catholic Times column Chris McDonnell reflects on Lent.
“Too often we are quick with our answers on matters of faith and morality when really we should look more at the options and context……….Maybe that is what Lent gives us, more time than usual to ask the difficult questions, not of others but of ourselves. And if the answers are not immediate, then we should not worry.”

Jo O’Sullivan gives an account of her experience of a Deanery meeting.
“My experience at the Deanery meeting has me wondering if, …….. It is all only window-dressing – a pretence that the members of Parish Pastoral Councils are involved in decision-making.

Paddy Ferry reminds all readers in Scotland that Tony Flannery will be there on Thursday evening, 21 March, at Edinburgh University talking about “Celibacy, Sexuality and the Crisis in the Priesthood”.
“A Conversation with Fr. Tony Flannery”, 6th Floor Common Room, Chrystal Macmillan Building, 15a George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD. 7.00pm to 9.00pm.

Paddy also draws our attention to the fact that the German bishops have started “a binding synodal process”, as Cardinal Marx has called it, to discuss much the same topic.  It  has been reported in many outlets including the Catholic Herald.

For those who find the “new missal” prayers unwieldy and cumbersome to say aloud there is an alternative ‘approved by English speaking Bishops’ Conferences if unapproved by curia’ option in the ICEl 1998 Missal. 

Roy Donovan reflects on the discussion evening on the themes of the book, Elephant in the Church, on Women’s International Day, March 8th, in the Avila Centre in Donnybrook

Seamus Ahearne writes against the backdrop of current experience where “We can feel got at … we feel accused of sexual chaos  …. we are deflated … the Church is battered. …. the priesthood is in a mess.” and states that we still need to be “people who have a view of a bigger picture and can give a real context to every day and always have a broader outlook. We can’t be a slave to the News or to the Moment.” We can’t let life get us down.

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt reports in La Croix International on a press conference given by Father Helmut Schüller of Austria where he said that the sex abuse crisis shows an urgent need to ‘desacralize’ the Catholic priesthood and empower the laity. Time, he warned “is running out for the Church to make major structural changes if its leaders want to save it from collapse.”

Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times about the crisis in which the church is mired states “First of all, we cannot expect, nor should we presume, that the bishops can achieve change by carefully chosen phrases and pious pleasantries. There must be deep and meaningful exchange with the laity, using the latter’s experience and expertise to inform and develop a satisfactory strategy. Ownership by all achieves more than the instruction from a selected group.
Secondly, we must ensure that women are allowed and encouraged to participate fully in such developments……….The singular male voice has dominated for too long and the story that has been told has been incomplete. Maybe now, at long last, change will be forced upon us and we will recognise that appreciation of the broader picture will only come when the response is from both men and women.”

Brendan Hoban writes in the Western People in the wake of the recent Rome meeting on ‘The Protection of Minors in the Church’

“No one, reading what Francis has said, could find any kind of doublethink, evasion or prevarication. Or indeed any room for equivocation. He clearly means what he says and there’s a real sense that he is now giving the abuse of children (and how the Church has dealt with it in the past) his full and undivided attention. And, by announcing his ‘defrocking’ of former cardinal, a few days before the Rome conference he’s sent a clear signal of his intent.”

At the next meeting of We Are Church Ireland  the terrific film Monseñor – The Last Journey of Óscar Romero  (DVD 88 minutes)  will be shown in the large International Room…

A discussion evening on the themes of the book, Elephant in the Church, will be held on Women’s International Day, March 8th, in the Avila Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin.
“It will look at the multitude of aspects that make up women’s status in the Church, creating a space for women, a language for women and a ministry for women, all of which are currently ignored.”

An edited version of this article by Peter Stanford about the bishops’ meeting in Rome to discuss clerical sexual abuse appeared recently in The Observer.
“It is an appalling moral failure and needs to end now, but that will involve rethinking an entire approach to sexuality in Catholicism that is peculiar, punitive and often plain perverse. The Jesus of the gospels had almost no interest is such matters. Why does the Church leadership? “

Gerry Heffernan of St Joseph’s and St Anthony’s Parish, Brisbane shares a prayer with us on the occasion of the Vatican Summit dealing with the issue of abuse in the church.

Brendan Hoban in his Western People column takes a look at a new proposed programme on Sex Education in schools, at what could be the next debate / battle “between civil and religious contexts’ where “distrust and accusation are the order of the day.”….
“The hope would be that … we’ve learned a bit from our mistakes: that we don’t know it all; that we can learn from those we may disagree with; … and especially that, given all that has happened in recent decades, we’re not in the best place to pontificate on matters sexual. In other words, that we can learn as well as teach.”

A talk by Fr Gerry O’Hanlon in The Parish Centre, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow on Tuesday 19 February at 7.45 p.m.

Paddy Ferry brings our attention to an article by Mary Cullen, editor of Open House where she sets the scene for the Open House conference in June which will explore some of the new directions opening up in the Catholic Church in Scotland.   
This article first appeared in February/March edition of Open House and we are grateful to Mary Cullen for permission to publish it here.

A reminder for our Scottish friends that Gerry O’Hanlon travels to Edinburgh on Tuesday to speak at the Newman Association.

Seamus Ahearne reflects on the final article written by Daniel O Leary for The Tablet – ‘Coming Home Too Soon.
We carry a link to the article in The Tablet.

Chris McDonnell in the Catholic Times (an edited version of a longer article published in the Dominican Journal SPIRITUALITY this month) about the cult, and curse, of clericalism.
“Our recognition of clergy as a defined group has become confused with our appreciation of priesthood, that ‘royal priesthood’ we all share, …… “