RITE & REASON: I REMEMBER it well: September 2010 – in Dublin and with time to kill, I took a stroll down Grafton Street.
In the lovely St Teresa’s Carmelite church, I joined the rest of the congregation for midday Mass.
At Communion, I whispered to the celebrant whether we could sing the Salve Regina . He politely declined. Surprisingly, he later announced to the fairly full congregation that such a request had been made; he was reconsidering. He asked us to adjudicate – “Will we sing it?”
With my loud encouragement, we belted out this wonderful Marian hymn. Afterwards, several members of the congregation approached to thank me for my contribution, but one in particular stood out. A lady declared with utmost conviction, “That’s what we need in the church – real men like you.”
She articulated well a widespread frustration to “reclaim” the church – frustration at the absence of real leadership from the hierarchy in clerical abuse management and in Catholic school patronage; at the worrying decline of Mariology; and at the lack of robust advocacy of genuine church interests and its vital role in a more secular Irish society.
Take for example the church’s response to the vindictive Vatican embassy closure. Although Cardinal Brady spoke out in protest, you’d hardly have noticed. “Strange” was Dr Martin’s feeble reaction – that from the most important Catholic cleric in the Republic and in Ireland’s biggest diocese; and from the remaining 25 brother-bishops, a deafening silence – zilch! Not a real man among the lot of them.
Now real men lead where others always follow, real men inspire, real men aren’t afraid to face up to their failings and difficulties. But neither are they prepared to compromise or surrender their important principles one iota – just look at the response to a small bit of leadership in the example above.
And that’s the problem, the Irish hierarchy – and who could blame them sometimes – has lost its way and is exhausted from all the scandals. The current system is completely stale: it isn’t coping and nor will it. Is it any wonder the majority of Irish Catholics are so frustrated, with attendances and contributions down?
The lady in question was subconsciously referring, of course, to all men in the church, not merely laymen, and that’s where “reclamation” must come from: all real men and women too, laity as well as clergy of every seniority and background, working together. The task is far too onerous to be properly managed by clergy acting alone.
And real men and women of the laity, for their part, must do their “bit” and not be shy and leave it all up to the clergy.
Restructuring and reform of the church in Ireland – urgently needed – could achieve this goal. There are 26 Catholic dioceses, including four archdioceses for a Catholic population of four to five million. Compare that to Germany with 75 dioceses for a population of 25-30 million Catholics, which would approximate to 182 dioceses by Irish standards, or seven Irish dioceses by German standards.
Twenty-six dioceses for our Catholic population is grossly excessive; far too small and diluted to enable a critical mass of lay representation, be efficiently managed or enable compact dialogue, relations and supervision from Rome.
Five dioceses – all archdioceses including Dublin – plus corporate-style management would suffice. Why not an operational management composed of clergy and laity, and a supervisory board chaired by an archbishop, with a lay chief executive and non-voting board members drawn from a representative combination of clergy and laity, including a Vatican-appointed member with veto prerogative?
Such a model could deliver dynamic, confident, real leadership, real laity representation, efficient judgment, decision-making, problem-solving, major economies of scale, and much-needed oversight from Rome of day-to-day matters.
It would strengthen that ultramontane link to the church of St Peter so cherished by all the Catholic faithful – and put the Roman back into the Irish Catholic Church.
Dr Patrick O’Brien is a consultant psychiatrist and management consultant in private practice in Birmingham, England