Holy Thursday

Loving Service

Thought for the day (from Fr. Kieran O’Mahony)

There is much more to the washing of the feet than an example of humble service. The act of loving service goes to the heart of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The “lifting up” in John’s Gospel is truly an act of loving service. The words at the start of this reading make that clear: Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. These words make it clear that whatever happens next points most deeply to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Can we accept such astonishing love from God?

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Women and the Diaconate

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We are indebted to Sharon Tighe-Mooney who has written this article for us about the very topical issue of women and the diaconate.
Sharon clearly outlines what has been the stumbling block for the hierarchy – “the fear that including women to any extent would lead to a call for admission to the priesthood”, … “Fear, which is signified by the prioritising of the preservation of the self, has been the dominant feature in the Vatican’s response, both to the exposure of its faults as well as to the challenges that are a normal part of the human evolutionary experience. That is why a perfectly reasonable proposition, to restore women to a formal ministry within their own church, has floundered.”

Is Catholicism now deemed to be old-fashioned, irrational, and unacceptable? Brendan Hoban asks in his weekly Western People column.

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In rejecting a version of Catholicism that diminished human freedom, led to outrageous scandal and that in retrospect is now seen to have diminished people and Church, Irish society seems intent on categorising religion and spirituality as unacceptable, irrelevant, even dangerous in a civilised society.

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  1. Joe O'Leary says:

    HOLY THURSDAY

    Tomorrow I am celebrating an adult baptism, which is something much more impressive than an infant one. Mary McAleese highlighted an aspect of baptism that we don’t often think of — that it obliges the baptized person to obey church law. But in the renewal of the baptismal promises we do not focus on that aspect either, but more on the general moral, spiritual, and credal aspect.

    Likewise, many priests seem to be chary of the renewal of priestly promises at the chrism mass. They might even feel it involves a form of moral blackmail. Here again we might differentiate between the canon law aspect and the moral and spiritual aspect. I hear Archbishop Eamonn Martin in a vocations promotion video refer to celibacy as ‘expressing one’s sexuality appropriately,’ something that sounds not too problematic, and something imposed by moral and spiritual sensibility rather than the letter of canon law. The promise of obedience likewise can be renewed in the sense of generous cooperation with the bishop rather than in terms of canon law.

    Reply

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