The title of the talks is: Repairing a Damaged Church
1. March 3rd: (Monday): Caherconlish, Co. Limerick. (Millennium Centre)
2. March 12th (Wednesday): Ballinasloe (Gullane’s Hotel)
3. March 19th: (Wednesday): Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow: (Church of Ireland School)
4. March 25th: (Tuesday) Sligo (Clarion Hotel)
5. April 2nd: (Wednesday) Dublin (Stillorgan Park Hotel)
The talks normally begin at 8.00pm.
Frank Gregg reacts to an EWTN discussion on Sister Faustina and asks how the loving God could have made the hell they discussed
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Statement of the Association of Catholic Priests welcoming the proposed visit of Pope Francis
Soline Humbert brings to our attention a presentation by Sr Jeannine Gramick from 2000 about a document, relevant to the issue of silencing, that was produced by the Second General Assembly of the 1971 Synod of Bishops. Entitled Justice in the World . . .It says: “The Church recognizes everyone’s right to suitable freedom of expression and thought. This includes the right of everyone to be heard in a spirit of dialogue which preserves a legitimate diversity within the Church” (JW 44).
Soline says ‘the importance of this document exceeds the importance of any document produced by a Vatican dicastery because it bears the weight of the world’s bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome. This fact should be noted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [CDF], which has silenced theologians and pastoral workers even after Vatican II. A higher authority than the CDF has validated free expression and public debate on controversial theological issues.”
With the appointment of a ‘Commission of Study on the Diaconate of Women’ by Pope Francis there might be a temptation to suspend the debate on the issue until they publish a report. However as Vatican commissions tend to be very long running affairs it is necessary and good that the debate continues in all local churches.
Judith Valence writing in America Magazine gives a very interesting account of how the issue is perceived in Chicago.
“Maureen Garvey often serves alongside her husband, Deacon Kevin Garvey at their parish ……. ‘We had the exact same training, two nights a week, one weekend a month, summer internships,” she says of her husband’s formation studies. “I wrote every paper he wrote. The only thing that was different was on the day of ordination, I had tears in my eyes when all the guys were called up [to the altar] and they left their wives sitting in the pews’ “
Gabriel Daly attended the funeral of Seán Fagan and has now penned some thoughts on Seán’s funeral and ‘the suffering and injustice inflicted on him by the leaders of his own church.’
‘The presence of a bishop at Seán’s funeral would have been a golden occasion to express metanoia and the readiness to respond more sensitively to the the message of the Gospel. It would have meant so much to his family.’
‘It cannot be said too often that peace, unity and friendship in the church do not depend on agreement about matters that do not belong to the essence of the faith. What the Gospel prescribes is willingness to live together in peace, friendship and respect for ideas and attitudes that one cannot share, and finally, if possible, even to be open to the desirability of reform. …….
Pope Francis is leading with words of mercy and healing. Why are we not following?’
Gabriel Daly is author of ‘The Church always in need of Reform’, Dominican Publications, www.dominicanpublications.com
