As Christians called to follow Christ in good times as well as bad, we gather to praise our God who sustains us on that journey. (Today is celebrated as Father’s Day, so in the Mass we remember and pray for our fathers.)
The CDF has issued its first document, “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” or “the Church rejuvenates.” under Pope Francis.
Can a leopard change its spots? Not according to some commentators;
“Much of the text reads like the “desk-bound” or laboratory theology that the 79-year-old pope finds unhelpful.” commented Cindy Wooden, Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service.
Others such as Massimo Faggioli see it a little differently;
“There is a very interesting admonition about ordained members of new movements that seek ordination to serve only their movement (par. 22) – a very well-known problem that so far has been officially denied by the Church leadership – and an interesting phrasing about the danger of having the movements creating a “parallel” path in the Church (par. 23). This is something that came up at the 1987 Synod, but no pope before Francis had the courage to talk about. There is also the clear intention of Francis not to create new precedents in the recognition process of new movements.”
In seeking to explain Pope Francis, Antonio Spadaro S.J. in Cyber Theology points to 5 traits of the ministry of Francis.
‘Francis is a pope who is living his ministry as a ministry of discernment, of ”incomplete thought”…’
Brendan Hoban, writing in the Western People, welcomes Archbishop Diarmaid Martin’s recent comments about the lack of ‘people of intellect who can address the pressing issues of the day’ in the church in Ireland and the need for ‘competent lay men and women well educated in their faith’.
Archbishop Martin’s comments, read in conjunction with Siobhán Larkin’s research http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2016/06/nurturing-the-roots/ ,
point to a definite need in church and is a call for urgent action to address this issue.
Thanks to Paddy Ferry for bringing this video by Fr. Jim Martin SJ to our attention.
Fr. Martin is commenting on the attitudes we have towards the lgbt community in the context of the murders at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Siobhán Larkin is a Holy Faith Sister who worked in New Zealand; she has lectured in All Hallows and has recently completed her Doctorate.
In this article she kindly shares some of the conclusions that she has drawn from her research.
Her thesis “puts the spot light on work that is being done by many committed lay people and suggests that education of this group in particular is imperative if this strong force within the Catholic Church is to be maintained and expanded.”
“the renewal of the Church in Ireland is most likely to begin at grass roots level, and that it is in the renewal of parish life that the sense of belonging to the community of the Church will be revived.”
“Official recognition of the place of lay people in ministry roles in Ireland is essential……. At national and diocesan level it is essential that ways of financing the education of adult lay people, particularly those who are undertaking significant roles, is found.”
God’s forgiveness sweeps away all that holds us back. God, who forgave King David and who through the ages took away the sins of everyone who asked, invites us to expererience that same healing power today.
Pådraig McCarthy alerts us to the new feast day for Mary Magdalen.
The announcement has been met with mixed reactions; some welcoming it and others saying it is just another gesture, not real change.
Updated with Bishop Fleming’s address at the launch.
Brendan Hoban is well known as a commentator on current church affairs as well as his commitment to the implementation of the reforms of Vatican II at all levels in church.
Less well known is his remarkable interest in history as demonstrated with the publication of his latest book “Telling the Story, A Dictionary of Killala Clergy” which is the third book of a three volume series of Readings in Killala Diocesan History.
Brendan Hoban, in the Western People, considers the case of the politician who was dismissed from the ministry of reader in Cobh.
“If every priest in Ireland was to examine the consciences of everyone who has a ministry in the Church and decide whether or not they tick the one-size-fits-all Catholic box (and act according to the Cobh dictat) it would clear out our parishes in jig-time. We need to jettison that sniffy, arrogant mentality before it does real damage.”
God’s power is absolute: God is not defeated by death. Jesus shows divine power in today’s Gospel, raising the widow’s son from the dead. We celebrate his compassion and pray for the grace to imitate it.
Sarah Mac Donald writing in this week’s Tablet describes the awful ordeal of Fr Tim Hazelwood who had an anonymous false allegation made against him and who then was left to prove his own innocence while feeling totally abandoned by official church and fobbed off by the National Safeguarding Board.
“I was left feeling very alone”, he says. “I had to fight my accuser but I also had to fight the Church, because it didn’t help in any way.”
This article raises very disturbing questions for church authorities in how they deal with anonymous allegations, questions that should prevent them from sleeping easily until they have been fully resolved.
Robert Dore, solicitor, describes the Church’s protocols on anonymous allegations as “wrong” and “wholly inappropriate”.
John Shea has again written to Pope Francis and to the Council of Cardinals asking for honest dialogue on the issue of the ordination of women.
With a seeming hiccup holding up the production line of new bishops, {five appointments in the waiting line}, Brendan Hoban asks in his weekly column “who would want to be a bishop? “
A little tongue in cheek he suggests ” a few of us might even at this late hour be prepared, for the good of the Church and reluctantly, of course, to accept high office though in advanced years, …. So if the nuncio is really, really stuck, I have a few in mind who would loosen things up a bit.”
With genuine concern being expressed in varied quarters about the toll on the mental and physical health of priests due to increasing workloads and expectations Brian Fahy’s article is timely.
“A soul friend is someone you can go to regularly and share your spiritual feelings and condition with them, trusting them to hold your confidence and to listen in a positive and constructive manner, and who will offer guidance and advice as needed. This habit of having a soul friend puts us all on the level playing field. You are no longer regarded as a suitable case for treatment. You are a fellow traveller on life’s journey and your soul is never neglected.”
John O Connell, retired parish priest of Bray, recalls a run in some years ago with the CDF. Their heavy hand has been felt for many years by teachers and pastors alike but now more and more people are no longer willing to submit to their secretive ways and suffer in silence. There are probably many more stories of their attempted suppression of pastoral practices.
Laudato Si’ and the Importance of Water
Columban Ecological Institute, St. Columban’s, Dalgan
Saturday May 28th 2016, 9.00am – 3.30pm
Fr. John Mannion in “Doctrine and Life” (Dominican publication) January, 2016 wrote about the dilemma that Gays present to the church.
The traditional response was, he said, “fed by a historical separation …. between scientific advancement and Thomistic moral theology.”
“The current theory explaining the biology of sexuality … has two complementary dimensions, one evolutionary, the other statistical.”
Outlining this theory, he states, that it “explains the major sexual phenomena currently the focus of controversy in most societies”.
“In medical circles, the curtain has irrevocably set on those who think that homosexuality is an illness which can be cured with psychological treatment.”
John concludes that “We live in a country which still calls itself Christian but where the level of scholarship needed to bridge the gap between modern man and a heritage of thousands of years is often conspicuous by its absence.”
Report on a meeting between the Association of Catholic Priests and representatives of the Irish Episcopal Conference – Council for the Clergy – in the Columba Centre in Maynooth on Thursday, May 19, 2016
Pat Rogers provides a summary of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, ‘The Joy of Love’. Pat says his intention is “to provide the main thrust, and some of the key phrases, of this most encouraging papal teaching on family life today. I feel that this inspirational text has not yet been widely publicised or read here in Ireland.”
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