Fifteen people, including two bishops, prominent theologians, people working in creative areas of ministry, and Catholic writers and broadcasters, have written to Pope Francis and to the Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, asking for an open discussion about the procedures of the Congregation and calling for approaches that respect human rights and the need for free speech, pluralism, transparency and accountability within the church community.
They also say that the CDF “acts in ways that are out of keeping with contemporary concepts of human rights, accountability and transparency that the world expects from the Christian community and which the Catholic Church demands from secular organizations.”
Brendan Hoban in his weekly column in the Western People reflects on his 43 years in ministry in the light of the influence successive papacies have had on church.
‘as hope gradually died a long and difficult death and Rome eventually began to implode, a few years ago the cardinals came to the obvious conclusion that the Curia in Rome had to be reformed, rowing back in the general direction of the Council of Trent had failed and that the vision of Vatican Two was worth a second look.
Unexpectedly Francis emerged from the shadows……….’
Following the Annual General Meeting of the ACP some concerns of members, as expressed in resolutions passed at the meeting, were communicated on 01 December 2015 by letter to the bishops’ conference.
On 05 April 2016 a response was received and the text of their letter is attached.
The proposed meeting is a welcome development that one hopes will not be just a ‘once off’ but will lead to what Pope Francis says he always advises, “Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!”
Seamus Ahearne shares two personal letters he wrote to the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, about the nuncio’s refusal to accept an invitation from the ACP to meet with us.
“You will meet the formal church in your work. People will dress up. All the Liturgies will be done beautifully. You will be invited to a celebrating Church. I would suggest that the church you need to meet is the one on the ground; the informal one; the broken one; the hurting one; the one where most people have walked away; the one where lives are messed up totally.”
“Your job is much too important for you to opt out of hearing the views of a very serious and passionate group – the ACP. How can you shape the Church in Ireland if you are dismissive of the experience of those who know the scene best?”
Tony Flannery gives his thoughts on the election campaign.
“please, whoever is elected, put your personal ambitions to one side, and don’t think only of your local area, but rather of the good of the country as a whole, and give us a government that will, in so far as it is possible, govern with wisdom and discernment, and for the good of all the people. And most of all, stop shouting at each other, and try to listen instead!.”
Seamus Ahearne shares his reflections on a week of murder and funerals, politicians’ promises and one pope’s anger and another pope’s letters, and sadly more deaths.
But in it all we were taken ‘yet again to a mountain top and experienced that awesome presence of God and the dullness and dreariness of daily news was overwhelmed by grace and goodness.’
Brendan Hoban, in his Western People column, counsels against the temptation of directing people how to vote in referendum or general election. “Been there, done that in the last two centuries. It made little sense then. It makes even less now.”
“Telling people from the pulpit what to do in respect of a constitutional referendum or, even implicitly, who to vote for (or not to vote for) would do incredible damage not just to the cause espoused but to the Catholic Church”
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.”
Report on a recent meeting of the Leadership of the ACP.
Tony Flannery, on his own blog, reflects on his experience of the past four years.
“I tell myself I have coped reasonably well….
I think it has also served to strengthen my views on the urgent need for reform in the Church…
I believed the process they (the Vatican) engaged in with me was seriously unjust and abusive…
His (Pope Francis) coming brought a great ray of light and hope for the Church, and lifted my spirits also…
But there are times when the reality of this enormous upheaval in my life hits me, and I feel oppressed by it…
Some of the things that tend to make me angry:
– The total indifference shown by the Irish bishops to the sanctioning of myself and five other Irish priests.
– Bishop Crean’s banning of my invitation to speak in Killeagh … did hurt me …
– the opposition to Pope Francis by very senior figures in the Church…
I have great support from my family and close friends, which of course is crucial. There is also a wide body of people who give me encouragement. “
Sean McDonagh reminds us that climate change is a moral problem for all Christians. Promoting the Christian message and its implications for climate change connects in real ways with people of all ages and backgrounds.
“Deirdre Duff, a student who spoke about climate change at the end of Mass, believes that Laudato Si is an incredible document which could not only help save our planet but which could also bring young people back to the Church. ‘I’ll admit that I used to be pretty bad for going to Mass, I’d only go once or twice a month. Then I went to Mass the Sunday after ‘Laudato Si’ was released and I haven’t missed Sunday Mass since. I realised that the Church did actually had an awful lot to teach me…I realised how awful I’d been to God’s creation and to His poorest people who were suffering from my actions in other parts of the world…it just woke me up! Then I simultaneously got to know and love both God and God’s creation in a way I had never had done before.”
Notice and
Agenda of Annual General Meeting
Seamus Ahearne wrote this in response to the post ‘De-centralisation and the selection of bishops’.
It deserves its own space and as usual Seamus challenges us in a gentle way to expand our horizons.
“We don’t have to protect God. God is used to our mess. Let’s take hold of the vision from Rome and apply it locally.”
Seamus Ahearne writes about the necessity of the ACP.
“I think the ACP exists not just to make noise or to be prophetic but to add ballast and communion to the collective in ministry. We are at breaking point as priests. We will fall apart if we stay apart.”
” the ACP is to reach out and call attention to the tiredness and to the ageing of the diocesan priests. What is the support structure for them? Creating clusters and adding on more work to do cannot be the answer. Creative and imaginative ideas are necessary (as Francis said). We cannot go on as we are.”
“The ACP isn’t just a vehicle for the journalists to use or an association of renegades. The ACP cannot be about the big noisy issues – nor can we forever be fighting big causes. It is the essentials of faith that are our interests and the ordinary issues of day to day life.”
Jesuit Thomas Reese writes a fairly gloomy report in NCR on the possible outcome of the synod.
“The bishops are currently trapped in the old theology they learned in the seminary. They are afraid of new ideas and are not consulting with theological experts who could show them other options. As a result, it is unlikely that new pastoral approaches will be coming forth from this synod.”
“Never in my lifetime have I heard of bishops and cardinals being so disrespectful of a pope, challenging his organization of this synod, even a few referring to him as a Protestant and threatening a fractured church if he goes against their wishes.”
The U.S. Secret Service kept Pope Francis safe during his recent travels in the U.S.A., even if some think their methods a little over enthusiastic for a man who prefers to travel in a small Fiat rather than an armoured SUV.
Seamus Ahearne suggests that maybe we now need to protect him from our need for a jamboree by expecting him to attend the Congress on the Family for 2018.
Seamus thinks Francis’ time is precious and “I would much prefer that we respect the age of Pope Francis and conserve his energy and reduce his trips abroad. We should be caring for him and protecting him …We need to keep him at home and let him do as much as he can, in enlivening the Church.”
Brendan Hoban, writing in his column in the Western People, gives his reaction to Bishop Crean recently forcing a Pastoral Council to withdraw an invitation to Tony Flannery to speak in a local community hall.
“It has brought the Irish Catholic Church once more into disrepute in that it showed that other voices have no place in it, even if Pope Francis encourages them in the wider Church. It insulted Tony Flannery …… it shows once again that the people are ahead of the priests, the priests are ahead of the bishops and the bishops, caught in the nineteenth century, are either out of touch or in abject denial.”
Phyllis Zagano in an article in the National Catholic Reporter gives a very interesting analysis of recent developments concerning the questions of re-admitting women to the order of deacon and that of ordaining married men to the order of priest.
Could it be that two Irish Bishops may give a lead to the universal church on these issues?
Seamus Ahearne, in his usual style, anchors us in the reality that is church in Ireland in 2015; a church where the hot button issue/culture/liturgical wars so beloved by some are just irrelevant to many people.
“Evangelisation happens on the streets, in the shops, in the schools, at the door, in the community and especially in the homes. We are interpreting experiences. We are the learners. We are the outsiders. Evangelisation is about humility. When we realise how little we know and how fragile we are now in a culture that doesn’t know our God or our Church; we can relax and learn. The God we used to preach/celebrate really wasn’t always a loving, real and immediate God either. We were in control. Now we are at a loss. But that too is alright. We are old but aren’t dead yet; we can learn if we are prepared to.”
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