Reform of the Irish Church

Mary O. Vallely queries the exclusion of women from the permanent diaconate. She believes the Catholic Church has failed to address the vast untapped resource of women, particularly the religious sisters and single women.

Seán O Conaill argues that clergy-inspired shame over the phenomenon of sexuality has brought about the magisterium’s blindness to the effects of clerical abuse of children.

Jesús Bastante of the Spanish newspaper, El Público, reported in 2011 that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith  had opened a process against Basque theologian José Antonio Pagola. Pagola’s book Jesus: An Historical Approximation is available from Convivium Press. This is an English translation of Bastante’s article

Paddy Byrne, the youngest priest of Kildare and Leighlin diocese, writes of his experiences (first published in the Carlow Nationalist)

Brendan Hoban writes of lay funeral presiders being commissioned in Liverpool and lay-led Communion services taking the place — two responses to a shortage of priests that is becoming drastic in these islands (published with acknowledgement to the Western People).

Thanks to the National Catholic Reporter, we are glad to be able to bring the full text of Cardinal Martini’s interview.  We in the ACP believe that this is an enormously significant statement, coming from a man of such learning, distinction and spirituality; and the circumstances of the interview make it, in a sense, his last will and testament to the Church. It gives us encouragement and hope in the positions we have adopted.

This reflection on the need for love in our Church has been sent to us by a former priest in England, Paul Burns.

Here Sean raises interesting questions about the impact of the last twenty years or so on the faith of Irish Mothers.  We are grateful to Sean for raising important questions for discussion on our website.

Following on from Jo O’Sullivan’s piece, this is a further reflection on the Katie Taylor phenomenon;  and this one comes from a man in Bray, Aidan ffrench.  He raises some interesting questions.

Any effort at new evangelisation or renewal of faith in the Roman Catholic Church is doomed to failure unless there is a radical shift to address the dysfunctional magisterial teachings on sexuality.

This came in as a comment on Sean OConaill’ s piece;  but I thought it deserves to be put as a post of its own.  It is very good.

“In the Catholic Church it has often seemed that a sin of the flesh was the only sin, and obedience the only virtue.”  This observation by Yves Congar still seems…

This is a provocative piece from the National Catholic Reporter.  As always, comments will be welcome. Would you agree of disagree?