BUFFETED by a succession of scandals, the latest of which involves the Diocese of Cloyne and Bishop Magee, and lacking decisive leadership and pastoral vision, the Irish Catholic Church now urgently needs a national synod.Bearing in mind the recent warning from the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, that people’s patience with the church is “not everlasting”, it is surely time for the bishops to, collectively, take their courage in their hands and initiate a national consultation.
Over the past 20 years many Catholics have indeed lost confidence in the church, as Archbishop Martin emphasised.
That’s now a given.
The question, therefore, becomes what to do about it.
The hand-wringing must stop.
As a prelude to a national assembly or national synod, the time has come to begin a national consultation on a diocese by diocese basis.
If that were to start now, the national synod could take place prior to the Eucharistic Congress to be held in Dublin in 2012.
The idea of a consultation leading to a national assembly or a synod is not new.
Last August the former Northern Ireland ombudsman Nuala O‘Loan said Ireland’s Catholic bishops needed to arrive at an agreement on an island-wide basis on the issues facing the future of the Catholic Church here.
Her proposal received the immediate backing of Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe, who said he would have “no difficulty with a national assembly if people thought it would be worthwhile”.
There is only one way to find out. But the project will be doomed to frustration if the Bishops feel they must first go cap-in-hand to Rome seeking official ‘permission’ for the entire process. It is surely time for a display of Celtic or Hibernian Catholicism.
Strangely enough, a blueprint that might well serve as a DIY guide for the Irish bishops is contained in a new novel from an acclaimed American writer on religious affairs.
Robert Blair Kaiser covered the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) for TIME magazine, and went on subsequently to cover religion for the New York Times and Newsweek.
Now, in a novel entitled Cardinal Mahony, Kaiser dramatises a valiant attempt by Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles to radically transform the American Catholic Church, so that it might serve as a redemptive model for the global church.
He determines to abandon the model of the church enshrined in the Code of Canon Law and to embrace the church of “the people of God” (one of the pivotal insights of Vatican II).
At one stage, the fictional Cardinal Mahony realises that his best chance of winning support for his radical plan is to get it backed by a National Synod representative of the entire American Church.
The cardinal is understandably hesitant, knowing that Rome will never sanction such an assembly.
When he outlines his fears to a retired bishop, the latter utters the following response: “The US bishops don’t need the Vatican’s permission to do what they need to do in America. All they need is balls. But few US bishops have them”.
Given the need for such a synod in Ireland, one could easily substitute “few Irish bishops” for “few US bishops” and not lose a wink of sleep.
It is exactly what the late Fr Joe Dunn had in mind back in 1994 when he wrote a book entitled No Lions in the Hierarchy, using, of course, strictly non-anatomical language.
Many disillusioned Catholics have already lost patience with the church here.
A national assembly could be the beginning of the way back, but it must have a genuine Irish agenda, not a Vatican-sanitised one.
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(Source: LN)
"Over the past 20 years many Catholics have indeed lost confidence in the church, as Archbishop Martin emphasised."
ReplyDeleteThe above quote from this article is of course true but how will things ever improve when Archbishop Martin keeps his head buried in the sand when the laity complain and he does not listen or care.
He lives in his Palace or gilded cage and enjoys the photo ops that many local Parish Priests also love but try to resolve real problems created by his clergy for real people - does he care or DO ANYTHING? NO, NADA, ZIP.
His snout (sorry that is an insult to pigs!!) is probably buried in his books preparing his next homily to go on the Diocesan website while those around him appeal for assistance to right wrongs but he ignores them.
If there is an opening in Rome Your Grace hurry back there - you are a waste of space in Ireland.
Can't agree with Disillusioned Catholic that Archbishop Martin is a waste of space. He was a breath of fresh air after his predecessor who only opened his mouth to exchange feet and came within hours of have street protests demanding his removal. At least Martin can give a tv interview without giving the impression that it is the last place on earth he wants to be, unlike his fellow bishops.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how effective he is as an administrator but no doubt his insistence on having a parish council in every parish has put a few old-style PP's noses out of joint. No harm there at all.
If Martin is a waste of space, his fellow bishops are black holes.
His idea of a Parish Council in every Parish WAS a good one.
ReplyDeleteBUT as with all things it depends on the Parish, the Parish Priest and the backbone of those in the Parish Council.
When you get a Parish where the Parish Priest is a bully and disbanded the first Parish Council to get rid of a Parish Council member because he had no legal way of doing it other than disband the council and sign everyone up again except that member then it is an abuse of power. When same Parish Priest ONLY invites those to join that HE wants there that is also an abuse of power and an abuse of why the Councils were set up in the first place. There is no democracy just yes men and women on such Councils. Even though they are all yes men and women there is one or two even more highly favoured in the Council who have their intimate little meetings with the PP and agree the entire running of the Parish so that when the next meeting comes around all is signed sealed and delivered and presented to the Council in such a way by a manipulating Parish Priest who is trained in psychology to manipulate people that they end up thinking the ideas are their own and so they run along with them.
In this regard the Church is no better off with a Parish Council like this.
When you are thrown out of the Council as above for NO REASON other than on a whim of the PP you have no right of appeal to anyone. You can go to a Bishop whom you rightly refer to as a BLACK HOLE and he does not want to know. He rudely says do you want me to let the PP rule the Parish as he sees fit or put you there to run it (you being a female so that is a slap in the face to start with!!!) He then says from the depth of the black hole that the Council members make the decisions so they should decide and that is a second slap in the face when the set up is above they have no power, no democracy only follow their corrupt leader the Parish Priest.
Everything in the Parish is signed and agreed by him and him alone with the help of his two most trusted females who have been running the Parish long before he came and who are glad to share (slightly) the limelight with him.
What a mockery to have a Parish Council like this. One of the trusted females had to resign at end of term, man elected died after his election and never got to serve on even one meeting and PP put his trusted female back in again WITHOUT ANOTHER ELECTION. Now that is what he called democracy and nobody said boo to him.
It is time for PP's like him to be booted out of Parishes. He thinks he is god.
I agree Diarmuid Martin loves the celebrity can hold his own on tv and in interviews. It is part of the glamour of his job. Said PP is exactly cut from the same cloth, he loves the adoration of his FANS and the almost weekly photo ops in the local paper. Vanity of vanities.
They both need to cop on and do their jobs.