In solidarity with LGBTQ+ to honour June as Pride Month our Homepage banner features the Rainbow colours.
In solidarity with LGBTQ+ to honour June as Pride Month our Homepage banner features the Rainbow colours.
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Bishops’ Letter to the ACP
We have decided to put this letter on the website, since it gives a context and explains our Press Statement; and members have been asking us for it.
Alan Hilliard’s ‘Dipping Into Life’ online book launch Mon 21 June @ 7.00pm
The launch of Dipping Into Life Messenger Publications invites you to join us for the ONLINE BOOK LAUNCH of Dipping Into Life 40 Reflections for a Fragile Faith By Alan…
The Problems with Celibacy
Fr Peter Daly wrote recently in the National Catholic Reporter about problems he sees that arise as a result of the church’s position on mandatory celibacy for priests of the Latin Rite.
“Celibacy is not essential to Catholic priesthood. It is only mandated in two of the 24 “autonomous churches” in communion with Rome; the Latin Rite and the Ethiopian Rite….. At least seven popes were married…..There was even a father and son pope combination, Pope Hormisdas (514-523) who was father to Pope Silverius, (536-537)…..Today we have many married priests in the Roman (Latin) Rite who have come to us from the Anglican or Lutheran traditions. ….. If they can be married, why not others?
The practice and teaching of the church on priestly celibacy has been inconsistent and incoherent. But, most important of all, Jesus did not mandate celibacy.”
Prague: Synod Update: The unity of the Church can only be understood in relation to diversity
Presiding the Holy Mass in Prague Cathedral, attended also by delegates of the Czech National Stage of the synodal process, Cardinal Mario Grech discussed in his homily the relationship between unity and…
Audio: Prof Michael Conway, Maynooth on MWR’s Faith Alive programme
Rev. Prof. Michael A Conway, Professor in Faith and Culture, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, speaking with Monica Morley on Midwest Radio’s Faith Alive programme on Sun 6 Feb 2022. Mayo-born Fr…
Brendan Hoban: People-led parishes are the only way forward
Western People 1.8.2023 There was a famous parish once with a famous priest. A hands-on man, he ticked all the boxes of expectation that his parishioners could possibly have hoped…
God’s way of loving is the only licensed teacher of human sexuality. God’s passion created ours. If we are afraid of our sexuality, we are afraid of God. Richard Rohr
Every Blessing of Peace Joy and Unity in the Holy Spirit to all our LGBTQ+
Brothers and Sisters during this month of celebration of Pride 🙏
Does anyone remember when June was called ‘the Month of the Sacred Heart’?
(Web editor: Commentary on yesterday’s readings:
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
God’s love made visible
This feast rejoices in God’s constant love for his “sheep,” just like the shepherd who tends his flocks. Jesus goes further, with his parable of the lost sheep, to show the Father’s tireless search for our salvation. Based on the “Heart of Jesus” as a symbol of love, the Church strongly promotes devotion to Christ as the incarnate love of God. A key text in St. Luke is about God the Shepherd who, on losing one stray sheep, leaves the other ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it. Later, in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus transfers this Shepherd imagery to his own life’s work. He himself became the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep. This developing awareness that Jesus is the visible manifestation of God’s love in our world gradually led to an explicit homage to the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of God’s love for us.
We find the first clear signs of a focus upon the Sacred Heart in the early middle ages, in the fervour of Cistercian monasticism. But it became a widespread popular devotion in the 17th century, largely owing to the preaching of St Jean Eudes (1602-1680). It gained greater impetus through the visionary Margaret Mary Alacoque in the convent of Rue de Bac (Paris), whose intense devotion to the Heart of Jesus urged her to “spread the treasures of His goodness,” convinced that He had chosen her especially for this work.
Still, requests to Rome to officially recognize the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were turned down, until in 1765, the papacy allowed the Feast to the Sacred Heart to be celebrated in France. A century later, Pope Pius IX extended the Feast to the universal Church, with emphasis on the need for reparation for sins and abuses whether personal or social. Today, the devotion to the Sacred Heart underlines the centrality of Divine love, encouraging all to trust in God’s overflowing benevolence towards the world He has made.)
“The month of June does not need to be ‘reclaimed’ for the Sacred Heart.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus beats for all humanity, for every LGBTQ+ person, with a love that will never cease.”
https://www.blackcatholicmessenger.com/the-sacred-heart-beats-for-lgbt-catholics/
I don’t mean to sound complaining, but…
Where is the black lives matter icon?
where is the women’s rights banner?
Where is the slogan for world’s education and health rights?
Where is the no slavery or no human traffic banner?
Where is the slogan for the poor and the neglected?
Nothing against what is posted, but I’m just asking simple questions:
If we want to be inclusive let’s include everyone.
By the way it would be wonderful if at every liturgical season you could post an icon about it.
Thank you for your consideration!
Manolette Varlan
Is is sad that the ACP has chosen to display the LGBT civil rights movement flag instead of promoting the Sacred Heart in the month of June.
It is sad that although Galatians says “We are all one in Christ”, despite the fact that the word “Catholic” means universal and the Cross does not discriminate against a single person, the ACP are still intent on pleasing the people with politically correct symbols instead of using religious symbols to bring its flock to Christ.
What does this action serve us? A distraction. Rather than calling us to be strong Catholics, the ACP would distract us with political movements.
With priests like this, no wonder the Church’s congregation continues to hemorrhage. No wonder there is nobody my age (28) interested in what they have to say. Does the ACP not ask themselves “What are we doing wrong?”. Have they never spoken to a young Catholic and asked them why their friends don’t go to Mass?
A piece of advice towards the ACP and its founders – stop wasting everyone’s time with your politics. Instead call us to action. Like Gandalf called Bilbo Baggins, call us to the adventure of fighting the dragon and attaining the gold. Call us to be strong Catholics. Call us to God.
In solidarity of LGBTQ+. I think this is a wonderful gesture by the ACP which I wholeheartedly support. Excellent!
So sad to see Priests fall for the globalist LGBTQ+ lobby, who’s purpose directly contradicts God.
Multiple Genders, “gender neutral”, trans, pansexuality….
The final battle between God and the enemy will be over the family according to St Lucia, the priests supporting this are supporting the wrong side.
Yes the church needs to support gay people in carrying their cross but explicitly state the need to be chaste.
I posed a question in the comments section of your 21 May item titled
“ACP letter to Bishops: Need for Conversation on the Pastoral Outreach to Gay Catholics”
Sadly I didn’t receive any replies. Maybe now that people have a month to focus on the issue…
I asked whether there is general agreement here that even if Church teaching was changed in relation to homosexuality we wouldn’t expect it to produce any growth in numbers in the Church?
Or are there ACP members willing to claim it would?
Do most people now accept the lesson from what has happened with the more liberal branches of Protestantism?
As I said previously, I totally understand that there are other reasons why you might want to see a change in Church teaching but I’m just interested in this point on which I think we may be in agreement.
Great to hear from a young confident Catholic like yourself James. Maybe you came here from the link to this article that was posted on Catholic Arena?
Back up there @2 on June 12 I attempted a brief tongue-in-cheek rhetorical question, replete with irony or so I thought. It seems to have been reinterpreted as a request for information about the origins of the devotional symbolism which once dominated our lives and our kitchens.
I am now embarrassed to see that my ironic suggestion that maybe the ACP doesn’t need to hitch its symbolic hobby-horse to the latest rainbow bandwagon makes me a fellow-traveller of James@5, Rónán@7 and Ger@8. Certainly not my intention.
In solidarity with LGBTQ+ to honour June as Pride Month.
James@5, you ask the question have our priests in the ACP never spoken to young people and their friends and asked them why they don’t go to mass.
Well, I am not a priest but I have and do discuss with young people and their friends –young people in my own home –not just what now lies behind the fact they no longer go to mass but, more generally, their overall negativity towards our church.
Now, these are young people, roughly your age, James, who were brought up in the faith in an exemplary way. They received the sacraments of childhood and youth; they were altar servers and they then progressed to serve in music ministry.They are now very ethical, socially conscience young people who, for example, have worked on a voluntary basis in homeless projects here in Edinburgh. I am hoping their christian upbringing is, in some way, responsible for their mature caring and ethical attitudes today.
They are now, also, intelligent, well educated university graduates who, I am pleased to say, have had the courage to think for themselves despite the brainwashing they received from their parents throughout their early lives. I was a university graduate for 30 years before I acquired the courage to think for myself in matters relating to the faith I learned as a child.
So, why the negative attitude towards the church. My two oldest children are girls –young women now– and you would think that our church’s institutionalised misogyny — perhaps that is too strong a word, lets call it a failure to recognise gender equality –would be the main reason for their negativity. Or, the accumulation of scandals of one kind or another over the years. But, it’s not. It is the institutionalised homophobia. Though not homosexual themselves they have friends who are and, so, they are appalled that our church –their church — would insult and denigrate their friends with labels like “intrinsically disordered ..” and “.. with more or less a strong tendency towards an intrinsic moral evil”. They regard all that as vile nonsense as all reasonable people should.
If they were to read some of the comments on this current thread they would be seriously appalled and rightly so.
Rónán@ 7, I think that is one of the most appalling posts –if not, infact, the most appalling post — ever to appear on this site. The fact that there are still people like you out there with such antediluvian ideas demonstrates the wisdom of the ACP in honouring June as Pride Month by featuring the Rainbow colours on it’s Homepage Banner. Really shameful, Rónán !
Eddie@9, I am relieved. For a moment I wasn’t quite sure where you were.
Also, thank you for your history of the development of the theology of the Sacred Heart.
Soline and I had a brief conversation this time last year on the subject of the Sacred Heart. I may have shocked her by saying that I thought Mary McAleese’s famous words — “Codology masquerading as theology” might also be appropriate in this case.
Now, I say this as someone who spent the first 18 years of my life, every morning and every night infact, on my knees in front of the picture of the Sacred Heart saying my prayers in our old kitchen/living room at home in Keadue. There were 3 pictures, the Sacred Heart, the Little Flower and Bernadette kneeling before an image of our Lady in Lourdes. I had a set list of prayers –all in my head — for them all. Infact, there was a fourth picture, of Pope John XXIII on another wall of the room. I had no prayers for John.
However, in the famous words of the late Brian Lenihan Sen, on mature reflection, I now think Mary’s words might well be appropriate here.
John@1, your repeating Richard Rohr’s words reminded me of the late Prof. Anthony Clare and his piece in the Sunday Independent many years ago now in which he stated, matter of fact, that our sexuality is the primary font of our humanity. And, if you cannot accept your sexuality you have a real problem.
When I remember this I also remember Fr. Donald Cozzens’ wonderful book, surely the modern classic on the priesthood, The Changing Face of the Priesthood. Chapter 2 deals exclusively with integrity and the importance of personal integrity. If you haven’t got personal integrity you have nothing was his conclusion.
During that recent Zoom meeting with Fr. James Alison I was very impressed with the integrity shown by you, John, Ed Hone and others. I have long admired Joe O’Leary’s integrity.
Ger@8, since Joe mentioned that you are using a nom de plume I am inclined not to engage with you. I accept you may well have a very genuine reason for not revealing your true identity but I hope you can understand that I would prefer to know exactly with whom I am conversing.
Paddy@10. Please check my original comment@2 above. It was a single brief question, somewhat tongue-in-cheek as I explained @9 which our Moderator/Web Editor took as a request for info on the Sacred Heart Devotion. The rest of Comment2 in italics is not mine.
However, to paraphrase your oft-quoted McAleeseism (our very own form of Mariolatry), one man’s new-found ideology may be another’s codology. Rainbow symbolism has been much abused ever since the rain stopped in Genesis 9.
Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is at the same theological level as devotion to his Body and Blood. It adores the mystery of the Incarnation and the Passion of Christ.
@Paddy. Leaving aside the irony of not being allowed my own name in a month when people are even being encouraged to pick whatever sex they want to be…
And at the risk of being ignored again…
Thanks for your generous account of how your daughters feel about the Church’s handling of LGB issues. It comes over as strikingly authentic.
Rational argument is not going to change anyone’s view on this subject – neither those of us who believe homosexuality to be intrinsically disordered or those who believe the Church harbours “institutionalised homophobia”.
Instead, rather than try to argue, I have just found it useful as a conversation starter to raise the question of why the same opprobium is not directed at the followers of Islam. Who are as open, if not more so, to charges of “misogyny” and “homophobia”.
I have found the conversation that then follows usually reveals the homophobia charge as being a vehicle for a more general anti Catholicism inherited from our culture.
The anti Catholic attitude comes first – and hence the lack of interest in Islam.
But there are going to be a lot of different responses.
Maybe you might explore that with your daughters?
Sounds like whatever differences you have there’s a very good relationship there. And a lot of love.
This Islam whataboutism is a jaded talking point. It’s quite false that LGBT advocates ignore Islamic homophobia. How often have we seen that horrific images of gay teens being hanged in Iran?
It’s also false to say that anti-Catholicism fuels critique of the Church’s frozen atttitude on LGBT issues, rather than the latter generating the former (as empirical research shows again and again). And the reason the Church rather than Islam is the chief target of indignation is obvious: the Church is us, and the church affects us (and our children) in a way that Islam does not.
Also , Ger, your complaint about not being allowed to use a pseudonym (couched in another anti-trans talking point) is a complaint about the rules of this website. It’s not very polite. For good reasons, the ACP decided not to post anonymous comments long ago. If you want to see the full horror of what anonymity breeds, have a look at “bishop” Buckley’s site.
In solidarity with LGBTQ+
A report in this week’s Tablet tells us that a primary school in Co. Wicklow, Lacken National School, has said it will not use Flourish, the relationships and sexual education programme (RSE) developed by the Irish bishops’ conference because it discriminates against LGBTQ+ people.This follows protests by parents of children attending the school.
The parents’ letter to the school’s board of management expressed the view that it is discriminatory to LGBTQ+ children and families and it does not correspond with the view of the state. (Report in the Irish Times).
Thank God, enlightened Ireland is alive and well and living in Co. Wicklow!
And, once again, well done ACP.
@Joe That’s my name. Can we drop this?
I’d be interested in learning about the empirical research that shows (even once) that opposition to the Church’s LGB views is what fuels the anti Catholicism and not the other way round. Or even how empirical research could prove such a hypothesis.
Whataboutery is usually used to avoid engaging in a discussion. I’m about the opposite. And I’m delighted the question appears to have started a conversation between us, Joe.
Your answer is very similar to most of the initial responses I encounter.
The criticism of Islam you cite involves muslims in Iran.
You then say we are justified in focusing our criticism on the Church because “the Church is us”.
It is really worthwhile unpacking that statement. Who is “us”? What us are we talking about?
The people whose opinion about Church teaching concerns you don’t see themselves as Church members. The us that includes them is us a society. And you obviously think of Irish society as including Irish muslims.
So the questions of misogyny and ‘homophobia’ in the Islamic community are not really something *we* can avoid.
I was having this conversation with someone (in their twenties) a couple of weeks ago.
Their response was that we criticise the Church but not Islam because we are used to knocking our own. It’s what we do in Ireland.
Our contemporary culture is every bit as anti anything identifiably Irish as it is anti Catholic.
It doesn’t seem like either prejudice is defensible or that either prejudice would be lessened by changing Church teaching.
P.S. I commend your courage in spending any time in ‘bishop’ Buckley’s comments section. I hope you haven’t done it too often.