Reform of the Irish Church

At the risk of being labelled a ‘heretic’ or ‘schismatic’ Brendan Butler of We Are Church takes up the issue of the ordination of women

Brendan Hoban reflects on the implications of declining clergy numbers in his west-of-Ireland diocese and sees clustering of parishes as only a short-term solution.

Maura Adshead wrote on what being a Catholic means to her. This article appeared in the Irish Examiner of 21 June 21 under the heading ‘Why we need to tackle question of what it is to be a Catholic’. Maura Adshead is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick.

An anonymous parishioner in an Irish parish describes the frustrating experience of attempting to get dialogue going in her local parish. The author, who is known to the ACP leadership team, asked for anonymity in case her parish would be identified. She would be interested to know if others have had similar experiences and if there is an answer to her predicament.

In his address to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin speaks on the theme of ‘The Church in the Modern World’.  He gives us further insights into his understanding of the notion of ‘dialogue’ , both within the Church and with the ‘world’.

Fr James Martin SJ posted this ‘Prayer for Frustrated Catholics’ on 6 June 2012 on the group blog of America magazine:

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=5169

(posted here by Pádraig McCarthy)

Pádraig McCarthy collates comments on the Irish Times series on ‘Catholicism Now’ in the week beginning 2 June.

He writes: ‘So far,  I’ve found nothing surprising, except where they’ve got it wrong. Here are a few comments, maybe useful if it comes up in discussion. The Irish Times is not good at accepting and publishing corrections. Your relevant comments welcome. — Pádraig McCarthy.

This article provdes an interesting angle on the recent silencing and disciplining of priests by the Vatican.  Sean is suggesting that, rather than strengthening Vatican authority, these actions are actually weakening it.

Brian, an Irishman and former Redemptorist, sent us this excellent reflection on the situation Cardinal Brady finds himself in;  and he suggests a way out.

Fr Declan Kelly is a Parish Priest in the diocese of Clonfert who is currently on sabbatical.  We thank him for sending us this interesting historical perspective on current issues in the Irish Church.

This article was published in the Belfast Telegraph.  It is an interesting reflection on the situation Cardinal Brady finds himself in, and what the author thinks he should do.

See what you think

This is a very interesting short piece sent to us by Des O’Donnell OMI.  It show that the U.S. bishops were open to discussing the sort of issues that Irish Priests are now being silenced and censored for; indeed they were prepared to go much further.

Jo O’Sullivan has put pen to paper again for us, and she looks at one possible vision of the future of the Church, what might happen if all those who think differently to the Magisterium on certain issues have either left or been driven out.