Similar Posts

Rushing back to the past

Blog
1 Comment

Seamus Ahearne and his congregation find inspiration in the sporting figures of the past week and get a little distracted by royalty.
He wonders because the newly appointed Irish soccer team manager Mick McCarthy is back. “He once was the past. Now he is the future.” With regard to church Seamus tells us “We cannot get lost in the past. The past has to be distilled. The best has to be retained. The packaging can be discarded.”

3 Comments

  1. Roy Donovan says:

    Disappointing that Dermot Farrell still has such a fixed patriarchal view of women in regard to priesthood and that ‘certain pillars’ can’t be changed. He shows a lack of understanding of the movement in the early church that shut out the role of women that Jesus had opened up in his ministry. We need the ‘Syrophoenician woman’ who changed the mindset/ worldview of Jesus to work on Dermot and so many others who have such ‘fixed/ unchangeable’ perspectives.

    Reply
  2. Paddy Ferry says:

    Roy, I am at the moment reading “Women Remembered. Jesus’ Female Disciples” by Helen Bond and Joan Taylor, both Professors of Christian Origins. Helen lectures at New College here at Edinburgh University and she has previously spoken on this subject at our Edinburgh Newman Association.

    This book confirms absolutely that, as you say: “He shows a lack of understanding of the movement in the early church that shut out the role of women that Jesus had opened up in his ministry.”

    The section on Mary may prove difficult for some of our flock as the presence of her other children is taken for granted —indeed for all of us who pray our belief in the “ever-virgin” every time we attend Mass.
    We have discussed this in the past on this site to no great conclusion.

    Reply
  3. Joe O'Leary says:

    The stonewalling of the hierarchy is becoming a joke. Seeing women priests in action (and seeing same-sex couples thrive) one is convinced beyond argument that the church attitude to women (as to LGBT folk) is baseless.

    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 (email will not be published).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.