WAC Zoom Thurs 18 April @ 7.30pm with Bishop Brendan Leahy
The Zoom will be in three parts:
Free admission – to register click on the link:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/synod-2024-tickets-861425405577?aff=oddtdtcreator
Chris McDonnell writing in the Catholic Times on Friday 06 July comments on the shattering of the ‘American Dream’.
“The current argument in the US is not between Democrats and Republicans; it is between decency and autocracy.”
“”It is a time when the Christian voice of compassion and care must be strong in defence of those who have little, whose strength is insufficient to meet the challenge that they face.”
Two articles that remind us of the huge responsibility there is on all church members to ensure they are not risking life or health when re-opening after lockdowns.
An Irish Times story about a Dublin church being forced to close after ignoring regulations also covers the comment by Archbishop Martin of Dublin about the need to respect the sacrifices made by so many.
“The current public health policy has required sacrifice on the part of all of us. People have accepted that. I think of those who have had to bury a loved one without the normal process of grieving, with funeral rites limited to a bare minimum. We must show respect for those whose sacrifice has been greatest.
Public health policy will only work when its proposals and sequencing are fully respected by all. There is no room for self-dispensation from or self-interpretation of the norms. Jumping the queue by individuals or communities puts everyone at risk”
In another article
Michael J. O’Loughlin of americamagazine.org interviews a man we have become familiar with on our TV news programmes, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
““There have been situations in multiple countries where the source of the cluster was a church service,” he said. “That’s the reason why we gotta be so careful about that.”
As a result, even if churches are open, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions should consider staying home, “because they really are at high risk,” he said. “It would be so tragic for someone who just comes to a place of worship, gets sick themselves, or gets infected and brings it home to an elderly person who might have a compromising comorbidity, and the person gets seriously ill and dies.”
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It is great to have an opportunity to listen to another Irish bishop speak on Synod 2024 and maybe on the process of synodality as envisaged by pope Francis. Sadly, at the beginning of this month the death was announced of Gerhard Lohfink (2 April). Writing in 2013 he had this to say about the role of synods (in general) and the pastor, bishop, and pope.
“[In the same way,] a bishop today must represent the will of God. ‘whether the time is favorable or unfavorable’ (2Tim4.2), even against resistance in the local church itself. An official structure that is set up in such a way that the majority can decide the truth by vote is absolutely unbiblical. That is why in the Roman Catholic Church the synodal principle, which plays an important role (consider, for example, the election of a pope), is always augmented by the personal principle. The final assent to or dissent from decisions reached by a synod belongs to the pastor or the bishop or the pope. They are obliged to uphold the truth of the Gospel, the truth of the tradition, but they must listen with the greatest intensity to the ‘counsel’ they receive.” cf. No Irrelevant Jesus – On Jesus and the Church Today p.135.
I just add: having the ‘counsellors’ – the People of God actually at one’s elbows in the room is a start, but only so. As in the upper-room, knowing, cherishing, and accepting whose breath is on us needs an awareness and acknowledgement first of their presence. But for this exercise on the 18 April – ZOOM is ok!