The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis – lecture by Gerry O’Hanlon sj
HOWTH PARISH REFORM AND RENEWAL GROUP
will meet on Monday 05 November in
St. Columbanus Hall, Howth,
at 8.00pm.
Fr. Gerry O’Hanlon SJ will speak on his latest book
‘The Quiet Revolution of Pope Francis’
Fr. Gerry is a theologian and author of many books, including ‘Theology in the public square’ and ‘A new vision for the Catholic Church’ and is currently Social Theologian with the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.
Commenting on his latest book Dermot Lane observes ‘This is not an armchair theology but one chiselled out of engaging with diverse groups’ and ‘heeding the prophetic voice of the Bishop of Rome’.
Michael Kirwan SJ describes the book as ‘the missing piece of the jigsaw’ and a ‘wise, critical but hopeful diagnosis that offers the glimpse of a longed for sea-change for the church’.
ALL WELCOME
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Quiet-Revolution-FINAL-Gerry-OHanlon.pdf” title=”The Quiet Revolution FINAL Gerry O’Hanlon”]
Well that was good news on my birthday. Someone trying to resonate with what Pope Francis has been trying to accomplish world wide is a friend indeed. I refuse to talk to people about religion at this stage – the programming has been too fierce. Forgiveness doesn’t come easily to some – they constantly search for a scapegoat.
I’ve been trying to assemble a missing piece of the municipal jigsaw – something perhaps Pope Francis would see as admirable volunteerism. That volunteerism has me in a developers space where solutions to plastics pollution is only but a few automation away. Economist Jeremy Rifkin has been speaking about this to bankers for quite some time. I’ve been in the space three years making friends and developing solutions/fund raisers/platforms.
It is great to see Archbishop Scicluna and Fr Hans Zoller assigned as two of the four people responsible for drawing up the programme of topics to be addressed in the February meetings.
Archbishop Scicluna states in the article;
The pope realizes that “this is a global issue, it is not a case of geographical or cultural criteria, rather it is a global issue which the church would want to approach with a united front, with respect for the different cultures but with a united resolve and with people being on the same page on it.”
“Accountability is part of stewardship,” the archbishop stated. “Stewardship is not only accountability to God and to our conscience, but also to our community
He doesn’t think the February meeting “is going to enter into the details of such reforms of canon law” but he expects that “there will be an important input that will start a process that may actually get a reform of canon law.”
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/11/23/exclusive-archbishop-scicluna-says-february-meeting-start-global-approach-fighting
Thank you Frances , this is indeed good news. I can’t let go of those chilling words at the Synod of Youth(if i remember correctly) by some bishops who stated that child abuse did not exist in their churches and countries, it was a western world problem..how terribly convenient for them.. its very difficult as a parent to think of these men in positions of power.. and as we are now a missionary country , will they now send us their “men without sin” as we sent them ours in the past..? We can no longer be sheep that readily and naively trust in institutions and their representatives, religious or secular.
I remember reading one of AB Diarmuid Martin’s homily’s many years ago regarding alms-giving for Lent.He lamented that in the present day it was important not only to do good deeds but also “to be seen” to do good deeds.
He was right,he always appears to have a good eye on the ball in play.
However, it is now vital that this country’s bishops amongst others are seen to play their part in reforming and renewing our Church and being transparent in their efforts.
I find the use of the word “hope” in the link you shared is such a useful get-out clause.. it’s time to move beyond “hoping” and into the “doing” phase, and quickly. It is definitely a move in the right direction of course!
Yes Phil. The hierarchy in the developing countries do not see the need to make child safe guarding measures a prority as they think there are more important issues to be addressing.
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2018/11/25/february-abuse-summit-will-have-to-navigate-waters-of-a-global-church/
It’s shocking to think that they have to be forced into making it a priority.
I agree Frances. We have a leadership team at the very top of our organisation with a vision and they take decisive steps to ensure
as much as possible that we all work to the same core values regardless of how diverse the company is. We are all accountable for our behaviour and there are consequences for bad behaviour which spans all cultures across many different countries. The core values were gathered from our global community.
Our one Church which is of course much much bigger but has leaders who can set a vision (beyond the obvious one !) of accountability which can hold people in authority to account for their action/inaction. It is now a different world than past papacies but feels very fragile as Pope Francis becomes older. The idea that a bishop has to resign rather than being sacked when proven guilty of child abuse is so offensive and is one problem that has such an easy solution when the will is there.. we will see if the will is there .. I am so hurt that other people think I/we support a paedophile ring/organisation as nothing is seen to be done by the hierarchy, and my hurt is nothing compared to that of the victims/survivors and indeed all those who do good work in God’s name..
This Feb. meeting is so important on so may levels.
There is an interesting view of AB. D Martin’s approach to dealing with child abuse in an accompanying article also from Crux (link below) vs the synodal approach.
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2018/11/23/how-to-read-overlooking-omalley-to-plan-rome-abuse-summit/