Catholic Bishop of Raphoe Dr Philip Boyce had claimed the Catholic
Church is being attacked by the arrows of a secular and Godless culture.
And he added that it was also rocked from the inside by the sins and crimes of priests and consecrated people.
An
independent review of diocesan files relating to child abuse
allegations against priests is nearing completion in the bishop's
diocese.
The Donegal bishop promised to publish the findings of
the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church,
when he receives them next month.
He told worshippers at the
Novena at the Marian shrine in Knock, Co Mayo over the weekend that
they were living through a testing moment of history and a spiritual
dark night now engulfs the Church.
But the bishop urged Catholics to act ‘’hopefully and with patience’’ and said the church would rise again.
What kind of church does the Bishop think may - or should - rise again ? The reports give no clue that he even mentioned that key point. Or that he considered any possible link between any *godless* aspects of today's Ireland and the impact of the kind of church he and his fellow Bishops have led, or at least ruled, for so long. Or that at least some of the *godless* might be rejecting a very false version of god. Or does the Psalmist's line *a humble, contrite heart* apply only to individuals but never to those, like the Bench of Bishops, who held such totally unchallenged sway for so long - and in both society and church ?
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