Editor’s Choice

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.

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!”

Seamus Ahearne shares some thoughts on world and local events. Looking at such events Seamus challenges us; “how can we enlarge the discussion and reflection on life? How can we bring the poetry of God to our talk? How can the church move away from the nonsensical distractions and wake people up from the simplistic notions of Facebook and Twitter? I do fear that the world of politics is getting very small. We have also made God’s world small.”
Seamus reminds us of the accusation that has been levelled against us;’ “Your God is too small.” Small minds. Small people. Small faith has led us to this. I have a little theory.
A celibate bachelor clergy can become very linear in its outlook. The awkwardness of family life smashes all simple conclusions to problems. Acceptance of helplessness is the norm. I know that a celibate clergy gives us the chance to be very much family on a 24/7 schedule but something is still missing. The humour and humility of humanity can get diluted. We need chaos. The tidy and clear solutions to life are totally unreal.’

Tim Hazelwood, reflecting on his own experiences, questions the role and function of the ‘Council of Priests’ in dioceses.
Tim feels this is of particular relevance in light of the letter from the bishops to the ACP following a meeting last May.
Tim says that ‘My experience is that the Council of Priests does not want to deal with the concerns of priests…… For diocesan priests the council is irrelevant in our lives. We get on with it as best we can as the work and weight of expectation grows, dreading the next edict to come from the council or the diocesan office to add to our busy work schedule.’

Michael O’Loughlin writing in Americamagazine.org quotes Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane as saying “At times at the synod I heard voices that sounded very clear and certain but only because they never grappled with the real question or never dealt with the real facts”.
“So there’s a false clarity that comes because you don’t address reality, and there’s a false certainty that can come for the same reason.”
The pope, he said, is “bringing out into the very public setting of the papacy what any pastor does in his parish or diocese.”
Ultimately, individual believers have to discern where God is at work in their own lives—a process that doesn’t always lend itself to simple yes or no answers.

Seamus Ahearne reflects on Christmas.
“All of us can go there -To heaven and heaven is very close. It is when we let the fresh air of God into our minds, hearts and imaginations and don’t stop learning, listening and loitering. Dark minds, dull hearts, dreary imaginations make no room for open doors. An Open door – happens when we let a baby, (the helplessness and mystery of a baby), tell us, how God relies on us and needs us. (Christmas).”

Seamus Ahearne once again challenges us with his musings on the interaction, or lack of interaction, between our faith and modern culture.
“How can a tiring priesthood be pioneers of a new way of sensitising hearts, minds and imaginations? In a world devoted to celebrity culture and to tabloids and to Bake offs and to cheap politics – what hope is there for faith? Brexit and Trump are extremes of the crudity of our culture but they do infect us. Give me poetry. Give me art. Give me music. Give me the privileged half-door into the hearts of people. Give me God. May the colours of autumn stir our souls.”

How bishops are appointed remains a very topical item of interest. That the system of choosing bishops remains problematic and a cause of concern cannot be ignored.
Robert Mickens, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, gives his observations on the process in the light of remarks made by Pope Francis to newly appointed bishops.
“‪Francis says he wants to promote a healthy decentralization of the church. And it is hard to think of anything that currently is more centralized that Rome’s appointment of bishops around the world.”
“‪If Francis is right and the holy people of God really do have a “scent” — or God’s “nose” — for what is right and good in a bishop, then we must find a way to include them more fully in the selection process.”