Séamus Ahearne: ALCATRAZ AND THE CONCLAVE
ALCATRAZ:
‘Escape from Alcatraz ‘(1979) with Clint Eastwood, impressed many, and was a successful film. Seemingly, it aired recently on a South Florida PBS Station. Within hours, the Donald had his next big idea: Reopen Alcatraz. Might he be a very suitable candidate as the first resident? He has the credentials of being lawless! He described those who could be perfect inmates.
THE FLATFOOTERS:
Donald is rather scatter-brained. His blunderbuss behaviour could find scope on that island. He has too many fellow travellers who are flatfooted in their understanding of life; of politics; of economics; of international relationships. (Not too dissimilar to many in Religion). Now if they were all congregated on Alcatraz, they could learn to be more focused in their thinking.
CONCLAVE:
Our Cardinals will go into Conclave tomorrow. They will be isolated on their own Alcatraz. I haven’t seen the film ‘Conclave’ and have no wish to see it. But these men will be locked in, and cut off from the world. They will live without their phones and their contacts. They have a serious job of work to do.
MANOEUVRING:
Much has been written and even more has been surmised, on what political manoeuvring is going on, and will go on. The Holy Spirit will be busy. Too much has been made of the appointments of so many by Francis. Was he looking for like-minded people? Surely his main attention was to spread the message, and the personnel, to the outside peripheries. To the margins. He wanted the Church to be The Catholic Church and not the Roman Catholic Church. His work in creating the Cardinals made his intentions perfectly clear. His consistent message was – for all of us to go out to the margins. To get away from the solid and the rigid. To leave the formalities. To be adventurous. To stretch the muscles of faith. To be Liturgically adventurous. (For priests) To dump our clericalism. To stop being predictable and solemn. To use the imagination of faith. To be poets of faith rather than prosaic and ‘flat-footed’ like the Trump brigade.
PRAYING:
Our praying surely has to be for someone, with the directness of Francis; the simplicity of Francis; the bluntness of Francis; the determination of Francis; the thick skin of Francis; the toughness of Francis; the outwardness of Francis; the playfulness of Francis; the brazenness of Francis; the joy of Francis; the responsiveness of Francis and not reactionary.
JOB DESCRIPTION OF A BISHOP:
I often think now of the bishops who are appointed. They have to be very strong and unwilling to be cowered by the muck that will be thrown at them. They have to be able to be very tough and determined. They cannot allow themselves be consumed by the burden of administration. They have to be very bold to handle all the manure shovelled on top of them. They have to be pastoral. There have to avoid the Office Theologians who come up with fine plans but aren’t immersed in the ‘applied theology’ that happens out in the field of faith. They have to accept, and realise that the ‘workers’ in the field know a little bit, and need to be listened to. They must have a sense of fun and not be overawed with Holy Talk and Church language.
All of the above and more applies to the new Pope.
Seamus Ahearne osa
6th May 2025.