| |

‘Ireland’s Troublesome Priests’ feature on BBC Radio 4

In ‘Ireland’s Troublesome Priests’, Ruth McDonald investigates the crisis in the Irish Catholic Church (submitted by Mary Woods, in England, who commented on it:
“The only really jarring note was the way the traddie asserted that the administrative reforms desired by the ACP and many many Irish Catholics were “dogma” like the divinity of Christ !    And therefore unchangeable.  Unfortunately the interviewer didn’t pick him up on this.”)
See for yourself: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mtslz/Irelands_Troublesome_Priests/

Similar Posts

  • The importance of different coloured buttons.

    Articles
    12 Comments

    Brendan Hoban’s weekly column in the Western People takes a look at the ‘noxious weed’ of clericalism.
    Clericalism, Brendan describes, is when “In simple terms the priest was given to believe that he knew best, was in full charge of everything and should feel superior to mere lay-people. To give this clericalist mentality substance it was wrapped in black soutanes and Roman collars and placed in a context of status, deference and privilege. Priests became part of an exclusive, hierarchical and authoritarian elite.”

  • The Poetry of life – and I was thinking!

    Articles, Editor's Choice
    6 Comments

    Seamus Ahearne has been reflecting on his life’s vocation and work, and “has been thinking” and thankfully writing for us.
    As always his thoughts are a wonderful antidote to the often banal, myopic, clichéd and uninspiring writing that is done about church and religion in Ireland.
    His words challenge all of us to find new ways of ministering to each other.

    “there is an absence of gratitude. There is a crudity in our public discourse. How can there be Eucharist if we don’t come in humility to say thanks to God? If we don’t stop to be aware of the ‘gracefulness’ of life; if we don’t stop in utter amazement at the very mystery of life in nature, in people, in moments. If we don’t look at a baby and become more human; if we don’t look at a leaf and become more human; if we don’t look at the exuberance of a child for First Communion and become more human; if we don’t look at the act of faith of two lovers in marrying and become more human; if we don’t see the selflessness of parents and become more human; if we don’t see the prayerfulness of our faithful and become more human.”

  • The Church in Dublin: where will it be in ten years?

    Articles
    11 Comments

    Dublin Diocese’s website has published the speaking notes of Archbishop Diarmaid Martin’s talk at the Patrick Finn Lecture Series given at Saint Mary’s Haddington Road, 16th November 2017.
    Archbishop Martin made some very interesting points:
    ” ….. will involve new forms of priestly presence within faith communities in the changing future of Ireland.”
    “How do we reach out in a new way to people where they are and create a desire among them to deepen their understanding of Christian message?”
    “What are the factors that alienate people from the Church structures of today?  Probably the most significant negative factor that influences attitudes to the Church in today’s Ireland is the place of women in the Church.  Next would be the ongoing effect of the scandals of child sexual abuse.”
    “A survey of young people’s attitude to parish was carried out in the Dublin diocese …. The report was one of the most disappointing documents that I read since becoming Archbishop.  Young people felt unwelcome in parishes.”
    “But the fate of the Christian is more likely to be that of marginalization rather than martyrdom.”
    “Why am I still optimistic?  Irish society is still permeated with elements of faith.  Residual faith, however, is probably more fragile in an indifferent world than in a world of hostility.   There are deeper elements of goodness and idealism and generosity among young people but despite years of Catholic education, they do not seem to have been truly touched by the knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ.”

2 Comments

  1. Eddie Finnegan says:

    As I listened to this programme over lunch yesterday I found it like the curate’s egg (if we had curates or could afford the eggs), covering the field and state of play more or less for a wider ‘Tabletesque’ or ‘NCRish’ audience. But Mick Peelo was there for his two-part RTE programme last December, inspecting the same quivering shoots of new growth and the same muffled moans of frustration: Porterstown women, Fr Seamus Ahearne, the same familiar figures saying the same familiar things from BASIC and We Are Church, and of course tripping over our walking sticks and our grey heads at the Regency in search of an ACP non-silenced interviewee. Will Galway and Cork provide new voices and themes to keep the media mill chugging over happily?
    Of course David Quinn is the other constant in a changing Church. I don’t think Mary Woods was very fair to David. Nicknames like ‘traddie’ win no arguments and don’t score very highly on the Christianometer dial. I thought David Quinn was using an analogy and not really asserting that some of the “show-of-hands” admin reforms the ACP seeks are on a par with a dogma such as the divinity of Christ. True, maybe it’s time that folks like Ab Diarmuid Martin and the Iona Islanders (mea culpa) took time and trouble to establish what the ACP stands for. Maybe it’s time all ACP members and their supporters took time and trouble to establish that too! Rather than shorthand nicknames, maybe we should come up with better arguments than the oft rehearsed ones from David, BO’B and others from the islands off Iona. And maybe successive popes should come up with better arguments for what they think should be definitive or infallible or outside the discourse of thinking believers.

    Reply

  2. A little bit concerned that any Catholic would have a go at David Quinn. David has been fighting the good fight for many years now and, I believe, has done a fantastic job in defending the Church ; while criticising it where necessary. Readers of the Irish Catholic may recall an interview David did with then Cardinal Ratzinger, about 10 years ago. What came accross was the humanity & humility of the Cardinal, nothing like the caricature of the Irish media. In addition, he demolished the bigoted Mr. Dawkins in a debate on RTE radio. Maybe some of us are unfair on the ACP ; speaking personally I feel this stems from a fear that the ACP might be used by certain unscrupuluos elements of the media to attack the Church. But that’s not the ACP’s fault. It’s a tricky balancing act.

    Reply

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.