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RTE carried coverage by Joe Little of comments made by Gerry O Hanlon SJ by video-link from Dublin to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
UPDATED
Updated with a Link to a statement from The Truth Justice and Healing Council, the body set up by the Catholic Church in Australia to coordinate the Catholic Church’s response to the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse with a commitment to justice and compassion for survivors.
And a Link to opening statement by Senior Counsel at the Royal Commission’s 50th public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
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Tony Flannery reports on the work of a group, which formed following the Network of Reform Groups conference in Chicago last October, that is tasked to produce a Charter of Fundamental Rights for all members of the Church.
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Sean O’Conaill reflects on the question of Grace in response to a recent article by Seamus Ahearne.
“In spite of that mistaken 1950s ‘take’ on grace as an antidote to sexuality, at no time in my over seven decades did I ever completely lose hope of encountering a God who was gracious in the sense of freely and constantly loving.”
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Today’s readings ask for decisions, challenging Christians to choose the right path. We gather to worship God, who can help us in all our choices.
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Seamus Ahearne reflects on the demolition and rebuilding of a church in Finglas parish.
“The new church for building in Finglas to replace the old has to be one where thinking happens; where the breadth of God is celebrated; where God is not protected from questions but where we take off our shoes and bow our heads in praise, gratitude and humility. We are forever learning. We are forever questioning. We are forever thinking. The God of our Church is praised if we are thinking. A passive church; a passive liturgy; a passive people does not respect God. I think therefore I am!”
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Over these Sundays, we listen to what Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. In today’s liturgy, we hear that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Rejoicing in this calling, we praise God who sustains us all our days.
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Michael Maginn shares a thought on St. Blaise’s Day.
“Lord,
May we see beyond rules,
beyond bricks and mortar,
to the flesh and blood
that is truly Church.”
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On January 25th 2017, Frs. Brendan Hoban, Tim Hazelwood and Sean McDonagh from the Association of Catholic priests (ACP) met with Teresa Devlin CEO of The National Board Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland and Peter Kieran who is a Director of Safeguarding. .
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Rita Ferrone reports in commmonwealmagazine.org that Pope Francis has inaugurated a review and re-evaluation of the 2001 document Liturgiam authenticam.
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The National Catholic Reporter has a story of how the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests is in the final development stages of issuing an urgent “plea” to the U.S. bishops to “formulate a plan now to meet this emerging crisis” of parish closings and consolidations.
In a working draft it calls a “Proposal for Pastoral Care In & Thru Priestless Parishes,” the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests exhorts the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and “dioceses nationwide” to quickly address the issue.
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Gerry O Hanlon SJ in an opinion piece in the Irish Times maintains that Pope Francis is quietly revolutionising the Church.
“It seems to me that what is going on here is that Francis is proposing a paradigm shift in our model of church that, in effect, reverses the status quo of the past millennium and returns, with appropriate adjustments for our age, to a first millennium model. This is huge, a ‘quiet revolution’, which, strategically, has the potential to unlock many concrete issues of contention within the Church.”
Gerry maintains that this model of church needs to be adopted at a local level.
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Sean McDonagh and Tony Flannery spoke today with Miriam O’Callaghan on RTE Radio 1.
Tony said that the Church in Ireland is “in a state of utter collapse”, with people “leaving the Church in droves”, and action is needed to change this. They said the Catholic Church also needs to apologise for how it has treated women and give them more power in the Church.
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A reflection by Fr Jim Bacik on the US election. Jim gave a joint diocesan retreat for Tuam and Kilalloe priests in Esker last June. His wisdom and spirituality was well received with Karl Rahner as a ‘giant on his shoulder’.
“it is clear that Pope Francis offers a worldview that challenges the thrust of the Trump movement.”
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Interesting editorial comment in the Tablet.
“If there is a future for the Catholic Church in Ireland it will belong to the laity, and especially to Catholic women. “
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Updated 26/01/2017 with video link and further media coverage
Tony Flannery shares some thoughts on his Mass of Celebration, marking the occasion of his 70th birthday and 40 years of priesthood.
“The Mass, for me, was emotional, but beautiful. I have celebrated many big Masses over the years, at missions and novenas, but nothing that touched me to the core like this one.”
Also included is some of the press coverage of the celebration.
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Catholics gather this Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of the Saviour and to remember his beautiful teachings. In the Beatitudes, which are read at Mass today, Jesus describes the kinds of people who are blessed in God’s eyes. We hope to join the company of all these saints in the heavenly liturgy.
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ACP Website – (Information from Google Analytics)
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Last Friday Pope Francis also had other matters on his mind along with the ‘Ad limina’ visit of the Irish bishops. He gave hour and a quarter long interview with the Spanish Newspaper El País.
A lot of what he says will sound familiar.
“Talk, please. A fraternal conversation, if you feel up to it, or at least in a civilized way. Don’t throw insults at each other. Don’t condemn before talking.”
“Too much order. When you read the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul’s epistles, it was a mess, there were troubles, people moved. There was movement and contact with people. An anesthetized person is not in touch with people. He protects himself against reality.”
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This Sunday falls within the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, when the Church prays that all Christians may grow closer together. As we join with Christians all over the world today to honour the death and resurrection of Jesus, we pray that the journey to full unity may soon be complete.
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The leadership team of the ACP have issued a strong response to comments made about the state of the catholic church in Ireland by Archbishop Eamon Martin. They say that the Archbishop’s ‘ad limina” comments ‘bear little relationship to the realities of Irish Church life today’.
They have also commented on the letter received from the Irish bishops’ conference. The letter is seen as an attempt to ‘pull the plug’ on engagement with the ACP and ‘to still the voice of an association that represents over a third of Irish priests (1000-plus) who are prepared to name important and difficult truths at a critical time for the Irish Church.’
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