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Sean O’Conaill raises some very relevant questions about “the dichotomy of ‘secular and ‘religious’ “.
“In Ireland a militant secularism is obviously bent on ‘binding’ together all those alienated from the remnants of the ‘Catholic state’ into a significant political constituency.”
But Sean asks “How exactly can something so obviously evangelical, pacifically inclined, moralistic, charismatic, ‘binding’ – and salvational – not qualify as a ‘religion’? “
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Seamus Ahearne draws on the experiences of varied people, ‘the chorus line in church life’, because they ‘are the ones that help us create a different model of priest and church.’
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Fr. Anthony Ruff writes in his praytellblog.com about the change of rules concerning the washing of feet on Holy Thursday.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments now says that female feet may be washed!
Anthony asks ‘is too much being made about a rather insignificant matter?’
We could add why has it taken Rome so long to catch up with what has been common practice in most parishes for many years.
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The Council of Priests of Dublin Diocese commissioned a report by Towers Watson to estimate the number of active Priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin in 2030 and estimate the Mass attendance numbers and number of people presenting for sacraments in 2030.
The report having made this estimate then puts forward some suggested ways of coping with the projected situation. These suggestions are to be discussed by the Council of priests.
How similar is it to projections made by others dioceses?
Are there any new imaginative suggestions as to how the Church in Ireland should respond to the impending virtual disappearance of priests from most communities?
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Loup Besmond de Senneville writing in globalpulsemagazine.com draws our attention to the fact that not all bishops or bishops’ conferences take the same approach or strategies when dealing with state authorites or pressing social issues.
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Notice of a day on ‘Laudato Si’ and Biodiversity which will take place at the Columban Ecological Institute, Dalgan Park, Navan on March 19th 2016.
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Gerry Heffernan, writing from Brisbane, invites each one of us to express our solidarity with the Christians of the Middle East by joining in some way with Chaldean Christians who in accordance with their liturgical tradition are preparing to observe the so-called “fast of Nineveh” (Bautha of Ninwaye).
The Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Luis Raphael I, has invited all the faithful of the Chaldean Church to pray and live abstinence from food in order to ask the Lord for the return of the gift of peaceful coexistence in Iraq and throughout the troubled region of the Middle East.
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Brian Eyre, reflecting on his own experience, asks ‘Should the modus operandi of Married Priests be the same as that of Celibate Priests?’
Brain suggests they should have a different focus but many of his suggestions may have equal validity for all priests, married or celibate. ‘If they are to make a significant contribution to the life of the church let them be more people orientated and less church buildings orientated.’
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On Sunday 10 January 2016 Tony Flannery and his brother Frank were interviewed by Miriam O Callaghan on rte radio 1.
We provide a link to the rte radio player where you can listen to the interview.
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Brendan Hoban, in his Western People column, comments on the recent publicly expressed differences between Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Bishop Eamonn Walsh in relation to comments made by Eamon Walsh at the funeral of bishop Dermot O Mahony.
“Not so long ago bishops never contradicted each other. It wasn’t just regarded as bad form; it was breaking a golden rule because bishops never disagreed with each other – at least in public.”
“But now Pope Francis has brought a refreshing air of realism into the Church, where freedom of speech makes possible an adult debate for the first time in more than half a century. So bishops (and priests and people) can now say what they want – with the Pope’s imprimatur.”
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Now that we’re as good as done with Christmas for another year is it time we evaluate how and when we celebrate the birth of Jesus?
Just before Christmas, Father William Grimm writing in globalpulsemagazine.com asked was it time to drop Christmas. “We could re-adopt the ancient multifaceted feast of Epiphany. Or, we could just move the celebration of the Nativity to some other point on the calendar.”
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Mattie Long, moderator of the comments on this site, raises the issue of anonymous comments being published on the ACP website.
“It would appear to me that doing so encourages less than charitable, and less than Christian, instincts to get the better of some people who otherwise would see themselves as Christian in word and in deed”.
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The Association of Catholic Priests
is seeking applications for the following position:
PART-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY
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Brendan in his weekly Western People column outlines how we can all experience Christmas in very individual ways.
Brendan then suggests; “Make sure you take a bit of time off from Christmas. Let the water under your feet settle into a little puddle so that you can see a bit of yourself in it. Let the bustle fade into a silence. Find a clear space where you can hear what life is saying to you. Sit somewhere and look out at the world as it rages and races past. Find a quiet corner ….”
Good advice!
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Pope Francis, suffering from a cold, in addressing the curia prescribed a course of “curial antibiotics”.
He said that last year when speaking to members of the curia he “spoke of certain temptations or maladies – the catalogue of curial diseases. …Diseases which call for prevention, vigilance, care and, sadly, in some cases, painful and prolonged interventions.”
However this year “.. in the context of this Year of Mercy and our own preparation for the coming celebration of Christmas, I would like to present a practical aid for fruitfully experiencing this season of grace. It is by no means an exhaustive catalogue of needed virtues for those who serve in the Curia and for all those who would like to make their consecration or service to the Church more fruitful.”
A challenge for all, not just the curia!
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The NCR carried an interesting Editorial about the “Year of Mercy” and what is intended by it.
“The fear inspired by legalism dominated the community’s life for decades, but we’ve learned that fear stifles and kills; it does not nourish or transform. Mercy is an encounter with the other, and ultimately an experience of God. Mercy is transformation. “
“Speaking at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 8, Francis said: “We have to put mercy before judgment, and in every case God’s judgment will always be in the light of his mercy. Let us abandon all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead, let us live the joy of encounter with the grace that transforms all.”
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Brendan Hoban in his weekly column in ‘The Western People’ reviews Gabriel Daly’s most recent book, ‘The Church always in need of Reform’.
“This is a remarkable book in the clarity of its thought and the conviction of the writer. Gabriel Daly’s contribution to theology has been immense but I would suggest that nothing he has written is as important as this book.”
” … a robust and convincing analysis of where we are as a Church, and, if there’s a book I’d recommend for Christmas, this would have to be it.”
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Sean McDonagh comments on the multilateral treaty on climate change that was signed by 195 countries at the end of the Conference of the Parties (C0P21) in Paris.
“At most of the COPs which I attended during the past decade, the Catholic Church was barely visible, but at COP21 in Paris, the reverberations from Pope Francis’ powerful encyclical Laudato Si’ could be heard.”
“Despite major omissions, the Paris agreement demonstrates that global cooperation has the potential to steer us on to a safer path for both people and the planet.”
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Pádraig McCarthy writes about Bishop Dermot O’ Mahony who died on 10 December, aged 80.
Our sympathies to bishop O Mahony’s family and friends.
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The Website IP5, or onepeterfive, carries an interesting article about an open letter written to Pope Francis by a “former member of the curia”.
The letter originally appeared in the German-language magazine, FOCUS.
While clearly meant to be read as a criticism of Pope Francis it perhaps unintentionally gives a disturbing insight into much of the culture and mindset of the curia and how they see their position, power and status in the church.
Do all bureaucracies, in the spirit of “Yes Minister’s” Sir Humphrey, eventually come to think that they are there to be served rather than serve, that all wisdom resides in them and none in the temporary ministers, or popes, who come and go and that all decisions should be left firmly in their control?
Pope Benedict’s reasons for retiring become clearer every day.
[for international readers; “Yes Minister” was a BBC tv comedy. The chief civil servant, bureaucrat, Sir Humphrey was apt to reply ‘Yes Minister’ to every request of the Government Minister and then worked wholeheartedly at subverting every single plan and policy of the minister if it in any way infringed on the power and control of the civil service.}
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