July 15 2020 - Association Of Catholic Priests

4 comments
Lessons for the Church from recent State scandals?
April 1 2014
Sean O’Conaill
Jesus was crucified because he was a whistleblower against religious hypocrisy and injustice - but we will wait forever for an encyclical to tell us this - or to admit that Jesus tells us that himself when he says he has ‘overcome the world’ (John 16:33). To overcome the world is obviously to overcome our greatest fear - the fear of ‘what people will think’ if we do speak truth to power. St Ignatius of Antioch had obviously overcome that very same fear when he was making his way to the Colosseum c. 107 CE - two centuries before the inauguration of Christendom by Constantine. The recent BBC series ‘Colosseum’ clearly admits that it was Christian martyrs such as Ignatius who undermined the might-is-right ethos of that central Roman arena, making it eventually a neglected ruin - because they believed that the power of the truth of Jesus’ resurrection was greater than the power of Rome to kill them. And Ignatius’ letters (written on that journey) show also that his faith was creedal. Christendom did not invent the Creed but instead it undermined it by making the clerical church itself a broker of power. After Augustine of Hippo justified coercion of Christian dissenters, the Donatists, in 408 CE it was to take until 1965 for Vatican II to contradict that by insisting that the truth cannot be conveyed by coercion. That was far too late to stem the rise of relativism, and we are still suffering the consequences of what Pope Francis has recently called the ‘immorality’ of the Inquisition.
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4 comments
Lessons for the Church from recent State scandals?
April 1 2014
Father Kilian Byrne
Yes, if you read his Confessio you will see that it begins with a true confession of his sinfulness and that his ‘vision’ came from a faith informed by the supernatural. A rarity today, even among priests.
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5 comments
24 Sept 2023 – 25th Sunday, (A)
September 24 2023
Lucian
Thank you for your inspiring reply and thanks to the writer of the main homily. God bless.
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Séamus Ahearne: “I was a very reluctant priest.”
September 25 2023
Dermot Quigley
Congratulations Father Seamus on your Golden Jubilee. Ad Multos Annos. You use the word 'passive' in describing the Mass. What I believe about the Mass is best expressed by making a quick summary of what the venerable Roman Catechism says. I believe that assuming a validly ordained priest, right intention, form and matter etc., that the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Furthermore, the Mass is a Sacrifice at which, our Lord's oblation on Calvary is made present. So Mass is offered in Petition, Sacrifice, Praise and Thanksgiving. The Mass therefore gives me hope as it is an infinite Sacrifice in which, among other things, our Lord's plea 'forgive them for they know not what they do', makes satisfaction for our Sins and enables our souls to be cleansed when we receive Absolution. In his excellent book, 'The Incredible Catholic Mass', Fr. Martin von Cochem tells us that the angels present at Mass make the petitions of the priest and congregation, their own. Therefore the Mass is not Passive. I hope because of the Mass. I don't despair and I Don't presume. I have ongoing Health issues but I don't despair. I was declared a Schismatic by a member of the Irish Hierarchy earlier this year. It was later found to be invalid. I only got through all of this because of the Mass.
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Lessons for the Church from recent State scandals?

Lessons for the Church from recent State scandals?

24 Sept 2023 – 25th Sunday, (A)

Séamus Ahearne: “I was a very reluctant priest.”

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