Patrick Counihan
Irish Central
April 17, 2012
Irish priests are at war with the Vatican again after attempts to silence a second rebel cleric.
Veteran Marist priest Fr Sean Fagan has been ordered to stop writing and commentating in public.
The 84-year-old has been reprimanded by the church after he had called for an inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in all Irish dioceses.
His order has also bought all remaining copies of a theological book written by Fr Fagan who was required to give an undertaking not to write again.
The latest move came after Fr Fagan publicly advocated allowing women and married men to be ordained as priests.
The Association of Catholic Priests has condemned the moves to silence Fr Fagan, just days after another rebel priest was ordered to return to his monastery after his newspaper column was pulled by the Church.
ACP spokesman Fr Sean McDonagh told the Irish Independent that the silencing of Fr Fagan is ‘just outrageous’.
Fr McDonagh added: “The church is throwing a fatwa at the priest. Some of the church’s recent actions are like a return to the Inquisition.
“This isn’t the time for heresy hunting. Fr Fagan’s writings were clear, well written and interesting. He wants to start a conversation about the church’s views on sexuality.
“I believe that the silencing of priests by the Vatican is out of a desire for control rather than because of sincerely held belief or intelligent argument.”
The Irish Bishops have refused to comment to the Irish Independent on the story.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Obedience to law or to scripture?
Phylis Zagano
National Catholic Reporter
April 11, 2012
Now it's Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schönborn who's wading in hot water. Seems he and a group of Austrian priests and deacons got a full blast of papal steam on Holy Thursday.
The shrill Roman whistle sounded: No women or married men will be ordained.
Goodness, what's a 67-year-old prince of the church (and son of a count) to do? After all, Schönborn was a student of Joseph Ratzinger in Regensburg, Germany. He taught dogmatic theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He was a member of the International Theological Commission. He oversaw the creation of the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Now Schönborn's former professor, the pope, chastised the Austrians (not directly, of course) in the middle of Holy Thursday. Benedict also sent a letter to Schönborn. Do you think it might be about women?
Schönborn has tangled with Benedict before. In 2009, as the Austrian bishops were ending emergency meetings called by the pope, the cardinal handed Benedict XVI a petition. Called an "initiative of the faithful," it asked for married priests (both men to be ordained and those who left to marry) and for ordination of women as deacons. Since then, the Austrian Priest's Initiative, representing 15 percent of Austrian clergy, broadened the demands. And, by the way, 87,000 Austrian Catholics have formally resigned from the church.
The Pfarrer Initiative, as it is also called, goes far beyond Schönborn's earlier requests, but Austria has been simmering with reform ideas for a long time as Rome watched. In 2001, three Vatican offices directed a terse four paragraph "Notification" (a document roughly on the level of parking regulations) at the Austrian bishops, telling them not to train women as deacons. The Vatican's argument: We do not want to ordain them. One of the Curia's signers was Joseph Ratzinger.
............
In the late 1990s, the Austrian bishops -- and perhaps some German bishops -- were actually training women for the diaconate. When the "Notification" landed at their episcopal doorsteps, they acquiesced, sending the women away. Wonder what happened?
Ever hear of Roman Catholic Womenpriests? The Danube Seven? A year after the "Notification," these natives of Austria and Germany were off on a riverboat being ordained as priests by an illegal bishop in an illegal ceremony. By 2003, they were excommunicated -- for breaking the law.
........
Full article at the National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
April 11, 2012
Now it's Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schönborn who's wading in hot water. Seems he and a group of Austrian priests and deacons got a full blast of papal steam on Holy Thursday.
The shrill Roman whistle sounded: No women or married men will be ordained.
Goodness, what's a 67-year-old prince of the church (and son of a count) to do? After all, Schönborn was a student of Joseph Ratzinger in Regensburg, Germany. He taught dogmatic theology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He was a member of the International Theological Commission. He oversaw the creation of the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Now Schönborn's former professor, the pope, chastised the Austrians (not directly, of course) in the middle of Holy Thursday. Benedict also sent a letter to Schönborn. Do you think it might be about women?
Schönborn has tangled with Benedict before. In 2009, as the Austrian bishops were ending emergency meetings called by the pope, the cardinal handed Benedict XVI a petition. Called an "initiative of the faithful," it asked for married priests (both men to be ordained and those who left to marry) and for ordination of women as deacons. Since then, the Austrian Priest's Initiative, representing 15 percent of Austrian clergy, broadened the demands. And, by the way, 87,000 Austrian Catholics have formally resigned from the church.
The Pfarrer Initiative, as it is also called, goes far beyond Schönborn's earlier requests, but Austria has been simmering with reform ideas for a long time as Rome watched. In 2001, three Vatican offices directed a terse four paragraph "Notification" (a document roughly on the level of parking regulations) at the Austrian bishops, telling them not to train women as deacons. The Vatican's argument: We do not want to ordain them. One of the Curia's signers was Joseph Ratzinger.
............
In the late 1990s, the Austrian bishops -- and perhaps some German bishops -- were actually training women for the diaconate. When the "Notification" landed at their episcopal doorsteps, they acquiesced, sending the women away. Wonder what happened?
Ever hear of Roman Catholic Womenpriests? The Danube Seven? A year after the "Notification," these natives of Austria and Germany were off on a riverboat being ordained as priests by an illegal bishop in an illegal ceremony. By 2003, they were excommunicated -- for breaking the law.
........
Full article at the National Catholic Reporter
Sunday, April 8, 2012
theologian claims there is 'ominous divide' in church
Patsy McGarry
Irish Times
April 8, 2012
AS CONTROVERSY over the silencing by the Vatican of Redemptorist priests Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Gerard Moloney grows, an Augustinian priest has written about “an ominous division” in the Catholic Church.
Theologian Fr Gabriel Daly has said “one party is now in control and is presenting its views as ‘the teaching of the church’.”
He continued: “Its more voluble members dismiss those who differ from it as ‘a la carte Catholics’ – a witless enough phrase in a legitimately diverse church.”
Fr Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, has had his monthly column with Reality, the Redemptorists’ monthly magazine, discontinued at Vatican direction, while Fr Moloney, the magazine’s editor, can no longer write on certain issues.
Both priests hold liberal views on contraception, celibacy and women priests.
..................
Aided “by secrecy and the unchallenged exercise of power, the Curia has established effective control over the whole church”. Fr Daly observed that “there is little or no concern for those faithful Catholics who are quietly appalled by what is happening. They are seen as simply wrong,” he said.
...................
Meanwhile a slew of priests have publicly asserted their support for Fr Flannery and Fr Moloney in comments on the Association of Catholic Priests website.
Full article at the
Irish Times
April 8, 2012
AS CONTROVERSY over the silencing by the Vatican of Redemptorist priests Fr Tony Flannery and Fr Gerard Moloney grows, an Augustinian priest has written about “an ominous division” in the Catholic Church.
Theologian Fr Gabriel Daly has said “one party is now in control and is presenting its views as ‘the teaching of the church’.”
He continued: “Its more voluble members dismiss those who differ from it as ‘a la carte Catholics’ – a witless enough phrase in a legitimately diverse church.”
Fr Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, has had his monthly column with Reality, the Redemptorists’ monthly magazine, discontinued at Vatican direction, while Fr Moloney, the magazine’s editor, can no longer write on certain issues.
Both priests hold liberal views on contraception, celibacy and women priests.
..................
Aided “by secrecy and the unchallenged exercise of power, the Curia has established effective control over the whole church”. Fr Daly observed that “there is little or no concern for those faithful Catholics who are quietly appalled by what is happening. They are seen as simply wrong,” he said.
...................
Meanwhile a slew of priests have publicly asserted their support for Fr Flannery and Fr Moloney in comments on the Association of Catholic Priests website.
Full article at the
Association of Catholic Priests co-founder silenced by CDF
Catholic Ireland
April 9, 2012
The Catholic lay group, We are Church Ireland, has expressed outrage at the news that a prominent Irish Redemptorist priest has been silenced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On Thursday, Fr Tony Flannery, one of the co-founders of the Association of Catholic Priests, which represents over 800 Irish clergy, confirmed to the media that he is being investigated by the Vatican over his liberal views on issues such as clerical celibacy and women priests.
A second Irish Redemptorist, Fr Gerard Moloney, who is editor of the well-known religious monthly, Reality, is also reported to have been silenced over his liberal views and is no longer permitted to write on particular issues in the magazine. Fr Flannery’s column in Reality, which has featured for the last fourteen years, has been discontinued.
In a statement, We are Church Ireland said its members were, “appalled” at the silencing of Fr Flannery from the expression of his theological views. They also called on Irish Catholics to support him at this time.
The group, which was established this year, said it was not the first time Irish theologians have been silenced and they referred in their statement to moves two years ago against Capuchin, Fr Owen O’Sullivan, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), after he published an article in The Furrow magazine arguing for a more supportive attitude towards homosexuality.
Describing the CDF move against Fr Flannery as an, “infringement of the rights of Catholics to dissent from man-made canon laws of the Church,” We are Church Ireland urged his fellow priests to, “publicly express their solidarity with their silenced brother priest,” in order to circumvent further moves against him.
A spokesperson for the group said it is, “a critical time in the Catholic Church,” as both the apostolic visitation report and Pope Benedict’s Holy Thursday homily were, “trying to bring our Church back into rigid authoritarian centralised structures where all dissent is dealt with in a ruthless manner.”
Read entire article at Catholic Ireland News
April 9, 2012
The Catholic lay group, We are Church Ireland, has expressed outrage at the news that a prominent Irish Redemptorist priest has been silenced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On Thursday, Fr Tony Flannery, one of the co-founders of the Association of Catholic Priests, which represents over 800 Irish clergy, confirmed to the media that he is being investigated by the Vatican over his liberal views on issues such as clerical celibacy and women priests.
A second Irish Redemptorist, Fr Gerard Moloney, who is editor of the well-known religious monthly, Reality, is also reported to have been silenced over his liberal views and is no longer permitted to write on particular issues in the magazine. Fr Flannery’s column in Reality, which has featured for the last fourteen years, has been discontinued.
In a statement, We are Church Ireland said its members were, “appalled” at the silencing of Fr Flannery from the expression of his theological views. They also called on Irish Catholics to support him at this time.
The group, which was established this year, said it was not the first time Irish theologians have been silenced and they referred in their statement to moves two years ago against Capuchin, Fr Owen O’Sullivan, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), after he published an article in The Furrow magazine arguing for a more supportive attitude towards homosexuality.
Describing the CDF move against Fr Flannery as an, “infringement of the rights of Catholics to dissent from man-made canon laws of the Church,” We are Church Ireland urged his fellow priests to, “publicly express their solidarity with their silenced brother priest,” in order to circumvent further moves against him.
A spokesperson for the group said it is, “a critical time in the Catholic Church,” as both the apostolic visitation report and Pope Benedict’s Holy Thursday homily were, “trying to bring our Church back into rigid authoritarian centralised structures where all dissent is dealt with in a ruthless manner.”
Read entire article at Catholic Ireland News
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Lay organizations criticise Vatican investigation
RTE News (Ireland)
April 6, 2012
Two Catholic lay organizations and a number of prominent priests have criticized the Vatican's investigation of the Redemptorist author, Fr Tony Flannery, for his liberal views.
Full article at RTE News
April 6, 2012
Two Catholic lay organizations and a number of prominent priests have criticized the Vatican's investigation of the Redemptorist author, Fr Tony Flannery, for his liberal views.
Referring to Pope Benedict's recent visit to Cuba, a leading member of the Association of Catholic Priests said Pope Benedict XVI could not ask the Cuban leadership to permit freedom of expression if he does not respect it within the Church.
Sources say that the Vatican began investigating Father Tony Flannery two months ago. He has been prevented from contributing his monthly column to the "Reality" magazine. And his order, the Redemptorists, have been told to scrutinize both the Magazine and its editor, Fr Gerry Moloney's, output.
Cardinal William Levada's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has not explained its moves publicly, but for years Fr Flannery has opposed the Church's ban on artificial contraception and obligatory priestly celibacy.
Full article at RTE News
Signs of the times: blind obedience against well formed conscience
Signs of the times? On the one hand, the hierarchy wants to equate unquestioning obedience to authority as the mark of genuine Christianity .......
Disobedience is not a way to renew the church, Pope tells dissident priests
Andrea Tornelli
Vatican Insider
April 5, 2012
his homily said during this morning’s chrismal mass in St. Peter’s, Benedict XVI referred explicitly to the appeal by dissenting Austrian priests for reforms and the possibility for women to be ordained to the priesthood. Speaking of a priest’s “faithfulness to Christ” and the difficulties in achieving this, “given the often dramatic situation in the Church today,” the Pope said: “A group of priests in a European Country recently published an appeal for disobedience, which should even ignore definitive decisions set out in the Magisterium – for example on the question of women’s ordination. The Blessed Pope John Paul II had made a definitive statement on the subject, saying that the Church had received no authorisation from the Lord on this matter.”
“Is disobedience a way of renewing the Church?” Ratzinger asked himself. “We want to believe the authors of this appeal - he added - when they claim that they are motivated by their concern for the Church; that they are adamant that the slowness of Institutions should be dealt with by taking drastic measures to open up new paths – so that the Church can keep up with the pace of today’s world. But is disobedience really the way forward? Is it possible to perceive, in this, elements of faithfulness to Christ - which is the prerequisite for real renewal - or is it just a desperate push for something to be done, for the Church to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas?”
Full article at Vatican Insider
On the other hand, the sensus fidelum of the faithful is otherwise, for example :
Pittsburgh Priests to bishop: listen to laity on contraception
Joshua J. McElwee
National Catholic Reporter
April 5, 2012
Several priests of the Pittsburgh diocese have met with Bishop David Zubik -- the prelate who said in January that the Obama administration's mandate regarding coverage of contraceptives in health care plans told Catholics, "To Hell with you" -- telling him his stance on the issue was alienating women and creating "a lot of anger" among laypeople.
The meeting took place in mid-March between four priests and the bishop and lasted about two hours. NCR learned of the meeting Monday through a fax sent from the Association of Pittsburgh Priests, an area group known to accept women and married men into its ranks.
The meeting was "cordial" and Zubik "took the time" to listen to many of the priests' views, Fr. Neil McCaulley, one of the four priests, told NCR in a telephone interview. He also said the bishop had agreed to meet in the future with groups of women and laypeople to hear their views on the matter.
Speaking to NCR on Tuesday, Zubik said the meeting was amicable and that he wanted to meet with the priests because "it's important for me to be able to respond" to their concerns.
The bishop also said he is open to meeting with laypeople. "I think that as many people as possible need to hear from me" on the issue, he said.
full story at National Catholic Reporter
and
Fbi tactics used against Irish priests according to superior
Irish Central News
April 6, 2012
Irish liberal priests are being subjected to FBI Edgar Hoover like tactics says Fr Adrian Egan, the head of the Redemptorist Order in Limerick.
His comments came after The Vatican stated they were investigating fellow Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery for his liberal views on issues such as female priests and his criticism of the church sex scandal.
In a defiant show of public support for his "friend and colleague", Fr Egan said he was "hugely disappointed", "dismayed", "flabbergasted, shocked and amazed" at the move by the Vatican.
"I'm speaking on my own behalf and not for the Redemptorist order. I see nothing to be gained from silencing Tony. It doesn't sit well in today's culture and it doesn't benefit anyone. He (Tony) is articulating what he is hearing on the coal-face from ordinary people."
"The reality, too, is that, there are people sitting in churches on a daily basis that are almost listening to hear you express an opinion that might be seen as dissenting and they will report you.
"It's a little bit back like maybe in the Hoover days in America, where there are kind of agents all around the place that are willing to lift a phone, or write a letter, to a local bishop or the Vatican, and say, 'so and so did this', and it may be of the most minor thing, and yet, they can be taken seriously."
Egan said: "I want to be able to articulate what I feel and what I think about. We are now celebrating Holy Week this week and, in many ways, Jesus was a victim of those who wanted to silence him . . . They wanted rid of him.
"There is a sense of that here -- this is not how you deal with people who you disagree with," Fr Egan added.
"He certainly has my support and I'd be surprised if he doesn't have the support of the vast majority of his colleagues and of the congregation."
Read more: Irish Central
Disobedience is not a way to renew the church, Pope tells dissident priests
Andrea Tornelli
Vatican Insider
April 5, 2012
his homily said during this morning’s chrismal mass in St. Peter’s, Benedict XVI referred explicitly to the appeal by dissenting Austrian priests for reforms and the possibility for women to be ordained to the priesthood. Speaking of a priest’s “faithfulness to Christ” and the difficulties in achieving this, “given the often dramatic situation in the Church today,” the Pope said: “A group of priests in a European Country recently published an appeal for disobedience, which should even ignore definitive decisions set out in the Magisterium – for example on the question of women’s ordination. The Blessed Pope John Paul II had made a definitive statement on the subject, saying that the Church had received no authorisation from the Lord on this matter.”
“Is disobedience a way of renewing the Church?” Ratzinger asked himself. “We want to believe the authors of this appeal - he added - when they claim that they are motivated by their concern for the Church; that they are adamant that the slowness of Institutions should be dealt with by taking drastic measures to open up new paths – so that the Church can keep up with the pace of today’s world. But is disobedience really the way forward? Is it possible to perceive, in this, elements of faithfulness to Christ - which is the prerequisite for real renewal - or is it just a desperate push for something to be done, for the Church to be transformed according to our wishes and ideas?”
Full article at Vatican Insider
On the other hand, the sensus fidelum of the faithful is otherwise, for example :
Pittsburgh Priests to bishop: listen to laity on contraception
Joshua J. McElwee
National Catholic Reporter
April 5, 2012
Several priests of the Pittsburgh diocese have met with Bishop David Zubik -- the prelate who said in January that the Obama administration's mandate regarding coverage of contraceptives in health care plans told Catholics, "To Hell with you" -- telling him his stance on the issue was alienating women and creating "a lot of anger" among laypeople.
The meeting took place in mid-March between four priests and the bishop and lasted about two hours. NCR learned of the meeting Monday through a fax sent from the Association of Pittsburgh Priests, an area group known to accept women and married men into its ranks.
The meeting was "cordial" and Zubik "took the time" to listen to many of the priests' views, Fr. Neil McCaulley, one of the four priests, told NCR in a telephone interview. He also said the bishop had agreed to meet in the future with groups of women and laypeople to hear their views on the matter.
Speaking to NCR on Tuesday, Zubik said the meeting was amicable and that he wanted to meet with the priests because "it's important for me to be able to respond" to their concerns.
The bishop also said he is open to meeting with laypeople. "I think that as many people as possible need to hear from me" on the issue, he said.
full story at National Catholic Reporter
and
Fbi tactics used against Irish priests according to superior
Irish Central News
April 6, 2012
Irish liberal priests are being subjected to FBI Edgar Hoover like tactics says Fr Adrian Egan, the head of the Redemptorist Order in Limerick.
His comments came after The Vatican stated they were investigating fellow Redemptorist Father Tony Flannery for his liberal views on issues such as female priests and his criticism of the church sex scandal.
In a defiant show of public support for his "friend and colleague", Fr Egan said he was "hugely disappointed", "dismayed", "flabbergasted, shocked and amazed" at the move by the Vatican.
"I'm speaking on my own behalf and not for the Redemptorist order. I see nothing to be gained from silencing Tony. It doesn't sit well in today's culture and it doesn't benefit anyone. He (Tony) is articulating what he is hearing on the coal-face from ordinary people."
"The reality, too, is that, there are people sitting in churches on a daily basis that are almost listening to hear you express an opinion that might be seen as dissenting and they will report you.
"It's a little bit back like maybe in the Hoover days in America, where there are kind of agents all around the place that are willing to lift a phone, or write a letter, to a local bishop or the Vatican, and say, 'so and so did this', and it may be of the most minor thing, and yet, they can be taken seriously."
Egan said: "I want to be able to articulate what I feel and what I think about. We are now celebrating Holy Week this week and, in many ways, Jesus was a victim of those who wanted to silence him . . . They wanted rid of him.
"There is a sense of that here -- this is not how you deal with people who you disagree with," Fr Egan added.
"He certainly has my support and I'd be surprised if he doesn't have the support of the vast majority of his colleagues and of the congregation."
Read more: Irish Central
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The vatican is a "cold house" for liberal catholics
Fr. Kevin Hegerty
Mayo News (Ireland)
March 29, 2012
t has been ironically said that the three greatest lies in human history are “the cheque is in the post”, “of course I’ll still love you in the morning”, and “we’re from the head office, we are here to help you”.
So the Irish Catholic hierarchy must have felt some trepidation akin to that felt by teachers when a whole-school evaluation is in the offing, after Pope Benedict announced in March 2010 that he was sending apostolic visitors to Ireland to examine church institutions.
The announcement came in the wake of the publication of the Murphy Report in December 2009 after which the Pope had summoned the bishops to Rome to account for their stewardship.
The report was a devastating indictment of the archdiocese of Dublin. It revealed the horrifying extent of the sexual abuse of children by clerics in the diocese and multiple cover-ups by successive superiors.
The report was a culmination of over a decade of similar revelations that indicated there was something rotten at the heart of Irish Catholicism.
By 2009 the bishops were shell-shocked, beleaguered and divided. The impenetrable façade of public episcopal unanimity that had characterised the Irish hierarchy since the late 19th century had shattered like the scramble for life boats on the ‘Titanic’. It was every man for himself. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the church leader most trusted by abuse victims because of his passionate understanding of their pain seemed isolated from his colleagues.
In the leisurely manner that prevails in the Vatican it took a year for a team of apostolic visitors to be assembled and come to Ireland. They spent several weeks here last year, visiting church institutions and talking to individuals and groups.
Last Tuesday their report was published. Well, not really. It is disappointing that all we got is a seven-page summary. It is as if the report of the Mahon Tribunal was confined to an executive summary.
...........
For the church in Ireland this has been a steep learning curve whose summit has not yet been fully reached. There are still some clerics who claim privately that the crisis in the main is a creation of the liberal media.
There has however, been significant progress since the 1990s. Then the church’s response to sexual abuse cases was shrouded in secrecy and dominated by the paramount desire to protect the good name of the church. Anyone criticising this approach was seen as a disloyal fomenter of low morale among the clergy.
The visitors proposals for reform in the Irish church are couched in conservative terms, a return to the spiritual and theological cartography of the past. This is not surprising. Pope Benedict has a jaundiced view of the insights of the Second Vatican Council which pronounced an open and dialogical church. The visitors were chosen on the basis of orthodoxy rather than imagination.
They propose a return to the rigid and enclosed model of seminary training that existed up to the Second Vatican Council. Contact with the outside world is seen as a kind of contamination.
I believe that this is a retrograde step. Students for the priesthood in Ireland are now few in number. They are usually rigidly pious and theologically conservative. I reckon they require regular exposure to secular reality rather than incarceration in a spiritual ghetto even if that is where they prefer to be. Should these students be eventually ordained they will have to minister in a complex world, not an incense-filled cocoon.
The visitors have a cut at liberal Irish catholics for holding ”theological opinions at variance with the teaching of the Magisterium”. According to them we are not following the “authentic path” of church renewal.
How can they know that? I think it an arrogant assumption. Liberal catholics, like myself, hope for a church that opens the priesthood to married men and women, that revises the position of contraception in “Humanae Vitae” and that reverses the harsh insensitivity of its teaching on homosexuality. Many of us have come to our views as a result of honest and honourable reflection. The Vatican is a “cold house” for us but we do expect respect for our freedom of conscience.
Sometimes it seems to me that the Vatican’s vision of an ideal Catholic community is an assembly of Rick Santurom lookalikes.
Full article at The Mayo News
Mayo News (Ireland)
March 29, 2012
t has been ironically said that the three greatest lies in human history are “the cheque is in the post”, “of course I’ll still love you in the morning”, and “we’re from the head office, we are here to help you”.
So the Irish Catholic hierarchy must have felt some trepidation akin to that felt by teachers when a whole-school evaluation is in the offing, after Pope Benedict announced in March 2010 that he was sending apostolic visitors to Ireland to examine church institutions.
The announcement came in the wake of the publication of the Murphy Report in December 2009 after which the Pope had summoned the bishops to Rome to account for their stewardship.
The report was a devastating indictment of the archdiocese of Dublin. It revealed the horrifying extent of the sexual abuse of children by clerics in the diocese and multiple cover-ups by successive superiors.
The report was a culmination of over a decade of similar revelations that indicated there was something rotten at the heart of Irish Catholicism.
By 2009 the bishops were shell-shocked, beleaguered and divided. The impenetrable façade of public episcopal unanimity that had characterised the Irish hierarchy since the late 19th century had shattered like the scramble for life boats on the ‘Titanic’. It was every man for himself. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the church leader most trusted by abuse victims because of his passionate understanding of their pain seemed isolated from his colleagues.
In the leisurely manner that prevails in the Vatican it took a year for a team of apostolic visitors to be assembled and come to Ireland. They spent several weeks here last year, visiting church institutions and talking to individuals and groups.
Last Tuesday their report was published. Well, not really. It is disappointing that all we got is a seven-page summary. It is as if the report of the Mahon Tribunal was confined to an executive summary.
...........
For the church in Ireland this has been a steep learning curve whose summit has not yet been fully reached. There are still some clerics who claim privately that the crisis in the main is a creation of the liberal media.
There has however, been significant progress since the 1990s. Then the church’s response to sexual abuse cases was shrouded in secrecy and dominated by the paramount desire to protect the good name of the church. Anyone criticising this approach was seen as a disloyal fomenter of low morale among the clergy.
The visitors proposals for reform in the Irish church are couched in conservative terms, a return to the spiritual and theological cartography of the past. This is not surprising. Pope Benedict has a jaundiced view of the insights of the Second Vatican Council which pronounced an open and dialogical church. The visitors were chosen on the basis of orthodoxy rather than imagination.
They propose a return to the rigid and enclosed model of seminary training that existed up to the Second Vatican Council. Contact with the outside world is seen as a kind of contamination.
I believe that this is a retrograde step. Students for the priesthood in Ireland are now few in number. They are usually rigidly pious and theologically conservative. I reckon they require regular exposure to secular reality rather than incarceration in a spiritual ghetto even if that is where they prefer to be. Should these students be eventually ordained they will have to minister in a complex world, not an incense-filled cocoon.
The visitors have a cut at liberal Irish catholics for holding ”theological opinions at variance with the teaching of the Magisterium”. According to them we are not following the “authentic path” of church renewal.
How can they know that? I think it an arrogant assumption. Liberal catholics, like myself, hope for a church that opens the priesthood to married men and women, that revises the position of contraception in “Humanae Vitae” and that reverses the harsh insensitivity of its teaching on homosexuality. Many of us have come to our views as a result of honest and honourable reflection. The Vatican is a “cold house” for us but we do expect respect for our freedom of conscience.
Sometimes it seems to me that the Vatican’s vision of an ideal Catholic community is an assembly of Rick Santurom lookalikes.
Full article at The Mayo News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)