Gerry O’Connor CSsR and ACP Leadership Weekly Sunday Homily

2 Comments

1. This strikes a welcome note for me – but do we need to stop using the same word – ‘pride’ – for two utterly different attitudes – self-respect on the one hand and egotism (or ‘superiorism’) on the other?

   Perfectly compatible with respect for others, self-respect is utterly different from egotism which is always a search for acknowledged superiority and is therefore born not of self-respect but of anxiety about one’s own status and need for the flattery of others.

   Everyone probably remembers a certain world leader elbowing his way to the front row of a photo-op for heads of state at a NATO conference in Brussels on May 25th, 2017. It was the most vivid demonstration of status anxiety and neediness I have ever seen – on the part of someone who would have earned far more respect by staying graciously in the second row, confident that his height alone would make him visible.

   Well done Gerry for getting to grips with this task of disentangling these ‘affects’ – especially at a time when the superiorism that tarnished too much of Irish Catholicism in the 20th century has been flattened by decades of scandal and loss of prestige. This is part of the ‘rethinking’ (i.e. repentance) that is needed to restore our self-respect in the inverted pyramid that the Irish church needs to become – based upon the dignity of service rather than the arrogance of power. There is a greater game afoot than the (no doubt) noble pastime of Gaelic football?

   This distinction of ‘just’ from ‘sinful’ pride is grist to the mill of the ‘conversion’ we are undoubtedly undergoing, driven as much by circumstances as by conscious intent.

   Is ‘sin’ even mainly about egotism rather than sexuality – as suggested also by a remark of Pope Francis in December 2021, when asked about the admission by a French archbishop to an affair with an adult woman: “… the sins of the flesh are not the most serious. The gravest sins are those that are more angelic: pride, hatred. These are graver.”

   Surely the ‘pride’ he was referring to then was that of those he called ‘fixated’ on sexuality and determined to undermine Amoris Laetitia on the grounds of its compassionate discernment on divorce and the Eucharist. That ‘pride’ too was not the self-respect that is perfectly compatible with respect for others. There was precious little respect in the verbal assault launched by then Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano on Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in August 2018. The vindictiveness was all too obvious.

   Given the danger posed by the ongoing rise of chauvinistic Christian nationalism, the nailing of sinful pride should surely be a preaching priority? (The Catechism is seriously underpowered on this theme.)

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2. Sean in (1) makes a key point “the dignity of service rather than the arrogance of power” and this is very necessary in the Church going forward. A simple example, in a cluster of five parishes all the Saturday Vigil Masses have been suspended for the Summer. The Vigil and Sunday Masses are official Masses for the whole parish, weekday Masses are devotional in nature. It is clear that so many parish clergy need some respite but the needs of the laity should also be considered. An arrangement is needed to balance the needs of the clergy and the parishoners. The balance might be achieved by suspending some weekday masses leaving the Vigil Masses in place.

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