The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed the Most Reverend Dr Dermot Farrell, until now Bishop of Ossory, as Archbishop of Dublin.
Address of Bishop Dermot Farrell on his appointment…
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Speeches by An Taoiseach, Mr Leo Varadkar and Pope Francis In Dublin Castle.
An Taoiseach; “Holy Father, I believe that the time has now come for us to build a new relationship between church and state in Ireland – a new covenant for the 21st Century. It is my hope that your visit marks the opening of a new chapter in the relationship between Ireland and the Catholic Church.
Building on our intertwined history, and learning from our shared mistakes, it can be one in which religion is no longer at the centre of our society, but in which it still has an important place.”
Pope Francis; “It is my prayer that Ireland, in listening to the polyphony of contemporary political and social discussion, will not be forgetful of the powerful strains of the Christian message that have sustained it in the past, and can continue to do so in the future.”
The song is called “Rows and Rows of Men.” The title probably says it all. It’s had 1,600+ views since last Friday so it’s obviously striking a nerve. Here’s the…
Link to Gerry’s homily for this Sunday, 23rd Sunday of the Year (B):
Gerry O’Hanlon SJ writing in America magazine: August, vacation time, can often be a quiet time in the news and opinion cycle. But the quiet was disturbed this year in…
Oh, the dangers of predictive text even for a bishop/archbishop – especially when it’s in Latin. I’m sure Bishop Dermot’s motto, ‘Auditorium nostrum in nomine Domini’, would be meaningful when he comes to opening a new auditorium or aula maxima somewhere in Dublin. But I see his motto in Ossory has in fact been the more traditional, ‘Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini’.
I wish Dermot Farrell every good blessing and inspiration for the enormous task he is taking on as the new AB of Dublin.
The following headline has appeared from his address today – “New archbishop pledges to hear voices of women”. This sounds good and well intentioned. I think many women and the rest of us are tired of this talk of men saying we must ‘listen to women’. Listening to women seems to imply – let them talk and then we get on with business as usual or maybe make a few nominal changes but nothing to upset the patriarchal clerical church structures.
‘Listening to women’ over the past few years has become an empty tired catch phrase. Women have spoken out here in Ireland and all over the world. It is very clear what they want.
The gap between society (women and men are equal/even the GAA are seeing this) and the Church is getting bigger and bigger. Women are speaking loudly but men at the top of the Church/our leaders are deaf. We don’t need any more nice semantics. We need ACTION and big changes in our Church NOW.