Guide us please, dear Office-holders

Many of the faithful are waiting for some pastoral guidance from “those who are set above us, in the Lord.” In what was probably the first of his surviving letters, St Paul urges us to “respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess 4:12-13). We look to our bishops for inspirational leadership, for which we can indeed “esteem them in love because of their work”

Is it really possible that they cannot meet through a CONFERENCE phone-call, or better still, by VIDEO CONFERENCE, whether with WhatsApp, ZOOM or gotomeeting.com, and decide on a shared guidance on how to prayerfully celebrate the imminent Holy Week. Their lack of collective, collegial leadership on this subject seems like a dereliction of episcopal solidarity. What has happened to the idea and relevance of national episcopal conferences?

Even at this late stage, a unanimous message from the Irish Episcopal Conference would be a great help to laity and clergy alike. It would also be picked up by the media and could provide a spiritual uplift for many.

(Pat Rogers)

Similar Posts

3 Comments

  1. Thomas O'Loughlin says:

    Pat Rogers is not asking for the moon – he is not even asking permission to visit the moon – but for one of the basic requirements of those who see themselves as shepherds of the Lord’s flock. At a time when people are frightened, when people ask ‘where is God in all of this’ and sometimes come up with bizarre ‘answers’ – and indeed at a time when religious charlatans are making hay, these men who have in the past being only to speak as divine oracles, should make clear statements of collective prayer and concern, even if they do not feel themselves competent to make theological statements that might help people make sense of this crisis.

    Reply
  3. Paddy Ferry says:

    I think Mattie has nailed this beautifully in a previous post.

    “A much clearer statement would send a definite signal about the seriousness of this emergency. It’s strange in a way that a body like the bishops’ conference that would demand uniformity on so many unimportant issues have not a prepared uniformed stance in this case.”

    How true !

    Reply

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.