One must take pity on Cardinal Seán Brady who has found himself now in receipt of legal letters due to the lack of control over clergy within his domain up north.It seems that some clergy took exception to other clergy (of the same denomination let it be noted) being in their areas offering to be of service to those in requirement of specific pastoral needs.
This caused great upset to the local clergy that they went to the pulpit and derided and condemned the clergy concerned (forgetting of course that there does not exist any such privilege of the pulpit) and indeed caused great upset to some of their congregation.
However, the clergy did not stop there and even got in touch with certain public hostelries in an attempt to prevent any further pastoral ministry by their religious brethren. They succeeded but it has now resulted in them being notified by a solicitor that their actions, deeds and words have now been noted and they are on notice.
The letters of warning had to be issued to the following persons:
Cardinal Seán BRADY - Armagh
Bishop Seamus HEGARTY - Derry
Fr. Andrew DOLAN - Magherafelt, Derry
Fr. Seamus RICE - Coalisland, Tyrone
Fr. Garreth CAMPBELL - Cookstown, Tyrone
Fr. John CARIGAN - Maghera, Derry
With the exception of Fr CAMPBELL and Cardinal BRADY, the responses from the legal representatives of those who replied were nothing short of typical template style reply of accepting no responsibility for one's actions whilst issuing rather veiled threats. Nothing new there then when it comes to protecting the status of the RC in Ireland...for God's sake have we learned nothing after all the recent legal happenings?
That Fr. CAMPBELL has not replied is interesting in itself, or perhaps it is down to the fact that there are several people willing to go witness against him and his aforementioned colleagues who thought wrongly they had privilege of the pulpit.
Interesting times ahead and certainly attempts to silence those who perhaps have more to teach us - if we are willing to learn rather than issuing threats - will ultimately fail as has been proven time and again and shall continue to so do.
Cardinal BRADY, maybe now is the time for you to listen and speak with your clergy and not issue edicts and perhaps we will become more open and welcoming of those who may seem to be on a road different to us but when examined a little closer, it may be that they are on the same road but perhaps are driving there as opposed to dragging their feet.
We all await your response to the legal missive and when responding, please do so on all our behalf in a tone with nothing short of compassion and Christianity.
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