Séamus Ahearne: ‘The greatest use of life is to spend it, for something that will outlast it.’ (William James)
A SURVEY:
A recent Survey was done among frontline Anglican clergy in Britain. The emerging picture is ‘of a group who are demoralised, pessimistic, lacking in vision for a vibrant church which stands in contrast to the culture of our age.’ This Survey was done by The Times. Canon Angela Tilby said that ‘this Survey was mischievously constructed to exaggerate issues that are difficult.’ Other comments said that it was a skewed Survey and deeply flawed, without any of the built-in control measures that usually are part of a professional investigation. The Letters later to The Times, after the Survey analysis was published, seemed to blame a liberal outlook in too many clergy, which was destroying faith in Britain. (The emails sent out went to 5000 clergy, randomly chosen. 1400 replied. 1185 were selected.) The story sounded very familiar.
ANTI-FRANCIS:
Cardinal Raymond Burke and his friends would be in total agreement with such an opinion. Their views lambast Pope Francis and see his Synodal way as schismatic. How do we reconcile such diverging opinions and preserve the unity of our Church? Surely the Synodal Pathway is a shared listening and discerning, where the communion of differences is celebrated? We truly can become Catholic. The naysayers and the peddlers of doom can fester the heart in every community. Many can attempt to tidy up God into controllable categories but our little minds cannot confine God. People of faith are poets always struggling with their efforts to express the inexpressible. Despondency is never an acceptable attitude in a believer.
GABRIEL DALY (a few paragraphs from an article to The Tablet)
Many of us enjoyed a little clash of opinion in The Irish Times between Augustinians. Columba Mansfield osa wrote many controversial letters. He wrote dismissively of George Simms as Archbishop of Dublin. Gabriel was an ardent Ecumenist and very involved with the Church of Ireland in the School of Ecumenics. Gabriel issued a rebuttal. Columba came back with a short note. ‘Gabriel Daly is the Censor in our Order so I will withdraw from the letter columns until the cuckoo sings again.’ We enjoyed this but it was an insult that Gabriel could be accused of being a Censor even though he officially was!
GABRIEL ON WHEELS:
In recent years, Gabriel got his big electric wheelchair. He drove around the grounds at Ballyboden. Each day he watched the progress of the plants. He let nature speak to him. He would then enthuse. It was prayer. He retained an almost childlike excitement on such discoveries of mysteries.
A CONFLICTED GABRIEL:
My last word: Willie Walsh wrote to Gabriel (not the airlines man but the bishop!) Willie had read the book – ‘The Church – always in need of reform.’ Willie said that he wished he had such a book to read years ago and what a difference it would have made to his whole ministry. Gabriel was glowing with delight and then on further thought, he was taken aback. He was being accepted by a member of the hierarchy! He was becoming respectable. Another of his disappointments; he was never accused by the CDF. Gabriel was an inspiration to us. The Church was blessed in Gabriel Daly and his ilk.
SOME PORTRAYALS OF PRIESTHOOD:
I am prompted to reflect on Priesthood. In a quick and off-handed way, these memories spring up on the keyboard: ‘The Power and the Glory’ (Graham Greene). This is a sad story but the whiskey priest is needed and useful. ‘The Diary of a Country Priest’ (Bernanos). It is very ordinary priesting work, in a wilderness of faith, not unlike our present day experience. ‘Clowning in Rome’ (Henri Nouwen). This has Reflections on central themes of our life. ‘The Clown’ (Heinrich Boll). It wasn’t written for priests but has ideas that are appropriate. Some have been taken up from this book – the priest as ‘clown’ in life which could be very apt. ‘Memories of a Parish Priest’ and ‘The Great Mysteries’ (A Greeley). Greeley was a maverick but applied the critical mind of a sociologist to his work. He was also very amusing. Andrew died on the 7th November 2008. One of the funeral songs was – ‘The Lord of the Dance.’ Some of the words on the Funeral Leaflet were: “I’m a priest, pure and simple. The other things I do are just a way of being a priest.” Richard Sipe. He wrote on priesthood; focused on Celibacy and then on clerical abuse. His words were important.
SOME IRISH CHARACTERS:
On the Irish scene, Fergal O’Connor OP featured regularly on The Late Late Show and did so with a very different and refreshing image of priesthood. His observations were clear. His manner was calm. His words were questioning. He was of the Socratic tradition. He had an inspirational effect on many students in UCD too. He died in September 2005. He was described as a saint at his funeral. Gabriel Daly’s funeral was last Friday. He made sure that our minds were flexible; that we never stopped thinking; that the muscles of faith were constantly stretched. One of his favourite words often were thrown at us: ‘Pious Waffling’ is unacceptable. Such waffling is a danger in our business. (Many more characters could make a guest appearance here).
PERSONAL PORTRAITS:
My own experience as a priest: 50 years have passed. A celebration has been organised. I am told nothing about it. I will be docile. I accept that it should be celebrated. But in many senses, it is not about me; it is concerned with the dancing God; the whispering God; the messing God of everyday. I am of the view on priesthood which could be distilled from Augustine’s Confessions. He sees Confession in the broadest sense as not about listing sin but rather stepping back in awe and gratitude for what God has managed to do for us and through us. That is my story of priesthood.
DAILY APPARITIONS:
I shrug my shoulders and shake my head daily at the homes of people’s lives that I am invited into. The mystery. The wonder. The beauty. The extraordinary. So here then is something of my view. I see the priest as poet. The poet is forever grappling with words and for words to express something more. No word. No experience. Is ever complete. There is a restlessness. There is a search going on. The holy ground is everywhere. The music of life is being tuned into. The voice is being heard. The Word is being made flesh.
Communion is real but never confined to a holy moment; it is everywhere. Mass isn’t just on the altar; it is the universe speaking and celebrating. The sanctuary is the ground of the day. Grace happens with the whisper of God in daily life and in people. Sacrament isn’t reduced or confined to a Ritual but explosive. The language of Liturgy is never a refuge for the known but a challenge to let God speak through the life story of everyone present. We are very privileged. The old weary arguments on celibacy, on male/female priesthood, are almost irrelevant. Priesthood is much bigger than the artificial straitjackets we have put it into. It is expansive, explosive, exciting, exuberant, exhilarating, exhausting. But wonder-FULL. The poet (priest) has to be wild, wicked and wonderful (indeed).
Seamus Ahearne osa
7th September 2023.