Friday, March 31, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 31 March

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
In today’s Gospel reading we hear how Jesus’ teaching began to attract the attention of the authorities in Jerusalem who wanted to arrest him and put him to death. 

Jesus decides to avoid this threat and continue his ministry in Galilee because “his time had not yet come”.

This passage serves as a beautiful reminder of God’s plan for his creation. We may sometimes feel eager to move on to the next stage in our lives or unsure what step to take next. It is only with careful prayer and discernment that we may understand what God wants for us and when our own time has come.

Hearing about the many dangers Jesus faced during his ministry shows that the life of a Christian is not always an easy or peaceful one, and that there will be hardships to face. 

The Gospel reminds us that there are still people across the globe who are made to suffer for their religious beliefs, such as the many Christians who continue to be subject to persecution in the Middle East.

It is our calling as followers of Christ to show compassion to those who are fleeing war and persecution and to fight such injustice wherever we encounter it, for when we turn a blind eye to those in need it is Jesus himself who we ignore.

Pray

God our refuge, we pray for those who are persecuted for their faith. We pray there may be an end to their suffering. Help us to see your face amongst those who seek refuge from persecution, and give us the courage to help end this injustice. Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 30 March

They have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice.

Exodus 32:7-14
What do I worship? Do I even stop to think about all the ‘stuff’ that has become so important in my life, in my thoughts, my words or my deeds? 

Gold or life? More employment, more wealth, or the protection of our beautiful world and the environment which brings life? 

This was the struggle in El Salvador where those who want to profit from the industry can offer a convincing argument for mining; that is of course if human life itself is considered less important than the generation of wealth. 

The destitution of the land when resources are exhausted has been overlooked. The destroyed and polluted environment would not be conducive to human, animal or plant life.

Moses must have been exhausted, defending his people who gave up on God and turned to idols. God who is mercy listened to him and they were saved. We pray for the governments of countries exhausted and overwhelmed by the pressures of those who unscrupulously wish to exploit God’s beautiful creation.

When the going gets tough who or what idol do we turn to? Do we seek to understand the Lord more fully, perhaps taking time to read the Bible?

Pray

Lord, we pray we will seek and find the Jesus you sent us as the way to eternal life. Your son who you sent as the way because you so loved the world. Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 29 March

The hour is here already when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and all who hear it will live. 

John 5:17-30
Do I hear the Lord’s voice? 

Do I open my eyes to see the Risen Jesus bringing God into my life every day? 

Is my heart on fire with a passion to bring life to others? 

Or do I sometimes myself feel abandoned by the Lord? 

Do I find it hard to shout for joy?

Pray

God of gentleness, who never forgets me, help me to remember that Jesus is the way to heaven, to you. 

In the tough times when I feel overwhelmed and find it hard to hear you, help me to remember that you are with me. 

Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 28 March

We shall not fear though the earth should rock, though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.  

Psalm 45: 2-3, 5-6, 8-9. R. v.8
The rain streams down the glass window pane, deterring me from walking the dog yet at the same time watering the earth and bringing forth new life.  

The Lord irrigates my soul, washing out doubt and disbelief, planting faith and hope. 

When I feel sick with the news of God’s world being desecrated by war and creation being ripped apart, I pray I may feel the water of life flowing through me. 

When it feels like the mountains are falling, may I remember that the Lord will be my refuge and my strength. 

Pray

Eternal God, I know that if I open my eyes to the beauty around me, I feel more encouraged to play my part in protecting and nourishing your earth. 

I give thanks for those who work on the land, dependent on your rainfall, appreciating the beauty of your world. 

I pray for those who desecrate the earth, that they might come to realise the dreadful destruction they are causing. 

Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 27 March

Go home, your son will live. 

John 4:43-54
“Go home,” Jesus said, “your son will live”. 

What joy, what gladness must have filled the man’s heart as sorrows became mercies gratefully embraced in the new life of his son. 
  
I reflect on my journey home to new life. ‘Home is where the heart is’ we see on posters. Where is my heart? 

Is it held in Jesus’ embrace as I too lavish love on others? Is it bursting with gratitude for the gifts abounding in my everyday life? Or is it too heavy and laden by rejection and fear, too full of pain to let love in or out?   

We hold in our hearts today all those who are longing to return home.

Pray

God, shelter of all, we thank you for the miracle of life you give. 

We thank you for today when we think of the compassion we have been shown, by a friend, neighbour or colleague. 

We thank you for the grace to be compassionate to others. 

May we be inspired to fight injustice with your word and your love coursing through us. 

Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 26 March - 4th Sunday of Lent

I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see.

John 9:1-14
In healing the man born blind, Jesus reveals himself as the light of the world. 

The Jews and Pharisees doubt that this could have really happened. 

They cannot see that this is a sign. 

Jesus responds by saying he has come into the world in order to carry out the work of God.

We are called to carry out God’s work in the world and to be examples of love and mercy. 

If somebody filmed your day, would your faith be evident in the way that you live?

Pray

Lord, I pray you may bless me with strength, that I will feel your love. Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 25 March - the Annunciation of the Lord

For nothing is impossible to God.

Luke 1:26-38
This is one of my favourite Bible passages. How great is our God that nothing is impossible!

When the Angel Gabriel appears, Mary is at first afraid. However after hearing the good news that she is to become the mother of the Son of God, she places her trust in the Lord as his servant.

Like many, I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the huge tasks which lie ahead of me. At times like that, I find it calming to remember the verse above and Romans 8:31 – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In the papal document, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis helpfully proposes that “Every morning, on rising, we reaffirm before God our decision to be faithful, come what may in the course of the day. And all of us, before going to sleep, hope to wake up and continue this adventure, trusting in the Lord’s help” (#319).

Like Mary, may we come to trust in the Lord’s help, even when times are difficult.

Pray

Praise be to you Lord, through which nothing is impossible. Amen. 

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 24 March

Which is the first of all the commandments?
Mark 12:28-34
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus prioritises the commandments saying, first love God, and second, love your neighbour. “There is no commandment greater than these.”

Today is designated by the UN as International Day For The Right To The Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations And For The Dignity Of Victims. 

It commemorates the murder of Blessed Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador who was killed at the altar on 24 March 1980 whilst celebrating Mass. He was proclaimed a martyr in 2015 – killed out of hatred for the faith – because his love for God and for neighbour would not permit him to stay silent when confronted with the injustices of poverty and violent oppression of the poor in El Salvador.

During his three years as archbishop, from 1977 to 1980, he did not waver in denouncing the human rights abuses he was witnessing. He spoke out always from a strong theological base, and informed by his daily contact with the people. Sadly, following his death the violence escalated into a civil war that would eventually claim the lives of 70,000 people. 

Living life with meaning

Peace accords were signed 25 years ago, but many people in El Salvador continue living with the pain of losing their loved ones. Miriam was shot in a massacre in 1981. She survived, but she lost many relatives during the war.

“They killed 50 members of my family. Every day they are with me. Every time I go to where my sister died, I talk to her and ask her to give me strength because she died in hope. She left an 11 month old son who is now a grown man.” Miriam has found a way to understand her own survival: “God gave me a life to live with meaning. If you do nothing with your life, your life serves no purpose. I am committed to God and these martyrs who died valiantly.” 

So Miriam in her way lives out these two great commandments: “God gave me my life back so now I have to work for the families of the victims.” 

She quietly labours to ensure those who died in the civil war are not forgotten, and those who survive may receive the benefits available to them as war-wounded. She is involved in exhumations of massacre sites, so that remains of victims can be returned to their next of kin, and the crime against them scientifically documented. 

On the 24th of every month, she organises a commemorative event for the victims in her municipality. “There is a whole lot of work to be done. There is so much pain and deep love.”

Pray for peace

Loving God, today we remember the many people killed or displaced by conflicts around the world. Knowing that peace is not simply the absence of fighting, we pray for the survivors of conflicts and for those working to ensure that truth and justice may be the foundations for lasting peace and reconciliation. Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 23 March

Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Jeremiah 7:23-28
In this passage from Jeremiah, God’s people do not listen to the voice of the Lord but instead follow the dictates of their own hearts.

In today’s society we are constantly connected: to emails, to phones, to the radio, to television, to music. 

We live busy lives, balancing work with making time for family and for friends, constantly rushing from one thing to the next. 

Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’ refers to this as ‘rapidification’, a more intensified pace of life and work.

With all of this going on, how good are we at setting aside time to listen to God’s voice? You can hear something by accident but we cannot listen by accident. To listen we need to be attentive and present, it takes energy and time.

Pray

Lord, I pray for stillness and peace so that I may see your beauty around me. Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Lent calendar prayer and reflection for 22 March

Do not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart all the days of your life; rather, tell them to your children and to your children’s children.

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Today’s readings refer to the establishment of the basic principles of how God wishes us to live well and wisely. Moses leads the people of Israel to the promised land, and then in the Gospel, Jesus affirms the commandments (Matthew 5:17-19).

We often consider the ten commandments as a guide to how we should live as individuals, but Moses and Jesus were setting the foundations for whole communities, so they also speak of how as societies we should interact.

Indigenous peoples in Laudato Si'

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis refers to the plight of indigenous peoples around the world whose homelands are being damaged by developments in global industry and agriculture, and by extension by our consumer choices.  As their lands are affected, so are they.  “For them, land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God and from their ancestors who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values” (#146).

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, a Yanomami indigenous leader in Brazil and CAFOD partner, reflects on the impact of illegal mining on his people in the Amazon over many years. He says, “40,000 illegal miners entered Yanomami land in the 1980s. The illegal miners destroyed the water streams, the river. They brought in diseases. They left [mercury] in Yanomami land. And you cannot get rid of the diseases. After, we managed to have the Yanomami land officially recognised [in 1992]. But illegal miners continue to invade the land that has been recognised as ours.”

Pray

Spirit of God, inspire us to speak from our hearts and proclaim your goodness to the ends of the earth. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

March - Prayer to St Joseph


O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.

Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us.

IRL : Bishop Casey, Annie Murphy... and TV moment that changed Ireland forever

Bishop Casey, Annie Murphy... and TV ...
Annie Murphy was tough, unrepentant and fought her corner... Damian Corless reflects on the woman who had a son, Peter with Bishop Eamonn Casey, who died this past week, and who gave the Republic a massive shock to the system from which it never recovered. 

There's one soundbite that invariably gets trotted out whenever the Bishop Eamonn Casey affair resurfaces. 

It's from an infamous episode of RTE's Late Late Show of April 1993 when Casey's former lover Annie Murphy was subjected to a relentless Spanish Inquisition by the studio audience and the host, Gay Byrne.

Attempting to close a harsh interrogation on a fluffy note, Gaybo put it to his wearied guest: "If your son is half as good a man as is his father, he won't be doing too bad."

"I'm not so bad either, Mr Byrne," she countered with an icy glare, before walking off the set.

That's the bit everyone remembers, but minutes earlier there was another exchange which revealed even more about where Catholic Ireland's head was at as the secular world threatened to swallow it up.

As her Late Late ordeal ground on, Murphy had been accused of spinning a web of mistruths by friends and supporters of the popular Bishop Casey, a fun-loving Flash Harry who was the living embodiment of a people person.

The long-estranged mother of his adult son Peter came across as anything but a people person, and towards the end of a mostly hostile cross-examination by Gay and the audience, she had become understandably surly. 

When a contributor stated that Murphy's account of one liaison was contradicted by diocesan records, she pointed out that the written records could easily be "doctored". 

The very suggestion drew gasps of indignation.

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Some of the more outlandish criticisms reflected a desperate grasping at straws. 

One contributor remarked: "You did wash your hair a lot." 

 Another had gone to the trouble of checking Met Eireann's records to establish that there had not been a full moon on a particular night some 20 years earlier, when Murphy's new tell-all book said there had been. 

Fighting her corner, Murphy reminded her inquisitors that "every man has a dark side". 

She told them: "Don't forget, Eamonn harangued me and bothered me" to give up her child for adoption.

Letting his duty to play Devil's Advocate get the better of his obligations as moderator, Gay responded: "He would say he was doing that, Murphy, because he didn't have faith in your capacity to look after the child. That's what he would say."

"And so I should never have another child?" she replied evenly.

"I'm only telling you what he would say."

"And how do you know that?"

"I just know that."

Momentarily wrong-footed, Gay then asked the defining question of the entire shooting gallery.

"Is he Eamonn's child?"

It was an incredible thing to even think of asking, given that almost a year earlier, after the scandal first broke in May 1992, Casey had admitted that Peter was his son, together with the fact that he'd siphoned off some $100,000 of church funds to pay for Peter's upkeep and education.

The truth was that Gaybo - following his famed intuition for tapping into the mood of his audience - was reflecting a conservative Catholic Middle Ireland in crisis and in deep denial.

The early 1990s were an in-between time. 

We all know how that decade turned into arguably the most magical, progressive and fun-filled period in all of Irish history. 

But a quarter-century ago, the Celtic Tiger was just one possible (and highly unlikely) future that had yet to be written.

The signs were there, however. 

From the outside, it really did look as if the Republic of Ireland was finally taking its place amongst the mature and modern nations of the earth. 

U2 was its pride and joy, straddling the globe as the biggest band in the world.

 That roving carnival known as Jack's Army were the toast of Europe, making new friends everywhere as the best goodwill ambassadors money couldn't buy. 

All across the Republic, urban district councillors were falling over themselves to propose the freedom of their cities, towns and hamlets for Bono, Jack Charlton, Roddy Doyle or the with-it President Mary Robinson.

But that was only half the picture. 

Buoyed by resounding victories in the abortion and divorce referenda of the previous decade, Catholic Ireland was beginning to feel that while it had won two notable battles, it was in danger of losing the war of attrition with the forces of liberalism. 

Through a matter of timing, and her determination to stand up for herself, Annie Murphy found herself cast as the bete noire of Catholic Middle Ireland.

Weeks before the Casey scandal exploded, traditionalists were knocked back by the X Case, when the Supreme Court rolled back part of the absolute ban on abortion which had seemed locked down by the referendum of 1983. 

The court ruled that an underage rape victim could travel to England to have an abortion, overturning a High Court ruling that the girl must be detained in Ireland until the birth of her child. 

For many conservatives, this was the thin edge of the wedge, and the ruling brought rival groups on to the streets.

Vowing to turn back the liberal tide, a new hardline group styling themselves Youth Defence made name-calling and scuffling a regular feature of Saturday afternoons in Dublin's city centre in the year between Murphy's shock revelation and her Late Late appearance. 

Despite the vigorous and often shrill protests of Youth Defence, the Society For The Protection Of Unborn Children (SPUC) and the short-lived Christian Principles Party, new acts decriminalising homosexuality and liberalising condom sales would pass into law during Murphy's time in the spotlight.

The little victories for the traditionalists became ever smaller. 

There was some satisfaction when, after In Dublin magazine ran a feature on the pubs and nightclubs with condom vending machines, every single machine was ripped out in garda raids, but with the new law soon in place, the machines multiplied tenfold.

It wasn't just in Ireland that Murphy became a hate figure. A torrid reception on The Phil Donahue Show sparked a campaign of vilification across Catholic Irish-America. 

There, as here, she kicked down the façade of a spotless Church. She was by her own admission a crazy mixed-up fortysomething driven by anger, but she had a strong sense of what she was doing. 

She even admitted later that she'd hoped her tell-all book would have sold much better than it did. 

She was also acting, at least partly, under the influence of a second strong-minded lover, Arthur Pennell, who pushed her to chase Casey for money and to write her story.

Whatever the outside influences, it's clear from her conduct at the time and her later reflections, that Murphy did what she did to be truthful to herself. 

Just months after the American drove a stake into the heart of Church immunity, Sinead O'Connor racked things up several notches by ripping up a photo of the Pope on US TV and laying grave allegations of clerical child abuse cover-ups. 

It's a sign of those times that Rolling Stone rounded on the singer for "insulting the beliefs of her audience", while an interviewer from Time dismissed her allegations of clerical abuse and moved swiftly on to the next topic.

Despised by some, admired by others, Murphy delivered a shock to the system from which it would never recover.

IRL : Casey's real legacy is a society freed from dogma

Image result for Bishop CaseyEvery avalanche starts with a single stone. 

So it was with the Catholic Church in Ireland and Eamonn Casey was that stone.

Though his transgression - fathering a child and covering up the birth - was minor in the context of the many subsequent, horrifying, scandals that have rocked the church, it was no less significant in its impact.

The revelation that Casey - at the time the best known and most popular cleric in Ireland - had a child shook Catholic Ireland to its very core.

Younger readers - brought up in a world where Father Ted is a comedy staple - may find it hard to comprehend the impact the scandal had on Irish society.

While it is only 25 years ago, Ireland in 1992 was a very different place. 

Divorce wouldn't be legalised for another three years, homosexuality was still a criminal offence and there were still strict restrictions on contraception. 

This was all largely due to the omnipresent and overbearing influence of the church who still maintained their centuries old stranglehold over Irish society.

All that changed with the Casey revelations. 

The hypocrisy of the church was exposed in the full glare of the media and no longer could the clergy force themselves on the people as guardians of all that was right and proper. 

For the first time the people and the press began to openly question the church, its inner workings and the policies it espoused that had helped keep Irish society in the dark ages compared to the rest of the western world.

The Casey scandal - which seems utterly inconsequential in the context of clerical child rape and dead babies in slurry pits - transformed how we think about the church in Ireland.

For that, perhaps, we owe Bishop Casey a debt of gratitude. 

It may not be the legacy he would have desired but it is a legacy that helped change Irish society for the better.

IRL : Diarmaid Ferriter: Bishop Casey – activist and sexist hypocrite

Bishop Eamonn Casey at the papal youth Mass in Galway in 1979. Photograph: Peter ThursfieldAlong with his mitre, Bishop Eamonn Casey wore many other hats during his career. 

He was said to have been perturbed when appointed a young bishop of Kerry in 1969, probably worried about how he would combine what was expected of a prince of the Catholic Church with his favoured style of the broth of a boy. 

He found a way to manage that, toeing the line when needed – “One cannot pick and choose when it comes to the church’s teaching,” he insisted – but also becoming a political thorn in many sides by consistently giving meaning to one of his favourite contentions: “One powerful single voice is more important and effective than a number of voices, each of which is in competition with the other for both the public purse and public attention.” 

Much good came of that voice. In 1971, he masterminded a national collection in support of Irish welfare centres in Britain that raised £280,000 in a single day. 

This type of fundraising was convenient for governments that were reluctant to take any responsibility for the Irish abroad, it being noted in 1975 by the minister for foreign affairs that emigrant welfare work was “mainly a Catholic Church effort”. 

It was thus decided State funding was not justified and, in response, Casey excoriated the government.

Social justice

When not championing emigrant welfare he was vocal about poverty, suggesting in 1971 that “even a respectable church” had to speak out on social justice. 

As chairman of Trocáire from 1973, he was again a frequent critic of governments. He insisted in 1977 that the government “was not genuinely committed to aiding the development of the third world” and that official aid was “paltry”.

In 1978, Alex Tarbett, the executive director of Concern, wrote a private letter to taoiseach Jack Lynch expressing concern at Casey’s “rather intemperate attack on your government... I presume that you do know that Bishop Casey’s political feelings would not be disposed towards Fianna Fáil. ” 

In 1979, Casey denounced the government’s “meagre” response to the Indo-Chinese crisis and its slowness to act, calling on it to accept more refugees.

Such was his profile and ego that he was often lampooned. 

Hibernia magazine reported in 1974 that “since being made Bishop of Kerry, Casey has built up a reputation for fast cars and frequent absences from his diocese; a child in catechism class once said that the difference between God and Bishop Casey is that while God is everywhere, Bishop Casey is everywhere except in Kerry”.

By that stage, of course, he had other things on his mind; he had met Annie Murphy the previous year. In the 1993 book Forbidden Fruit, Murphy recalled their lovemaking: “There stood the bishop, my love, without clerical collar or crucifix or ring, without covering of any kind. The great showman had unwrapped himself . . . He stood before me, his only uniform the common flesh of humanity . . . I witnessed a great hunger. This was an Irish famine of the flesh.” 

More importantly, he subsequently fathered a son, Peter, with Murphy and tried unsuccessfully to pressure her into giving him up for adoption: “He is not my son. He’s entirely yours now,” he told her. 

Murphy was forced to spend time at the St Patrick’s mother-and-baby home in Dublin. 

Murphy remembered “there were smirking pictures of Mary who had got a child without you-know-what and life-sized bleeding statues of the Sacred Heart . . . One heavily pregnant girl was on her knees shining the already shiny corridor tiles . . . Eamonn began again with his demand that I give Peter up.”

Compartmentalised

Casey had a remarkable ability to compartmentalise, and alongside his noble and productive social agitation, his sexism and profound hypocrisy persisted. 

In 1975 he was vocal about the importance of Cherish, the organisation established to support unmarried mothers whose chairperson, Maura O’Dea, estimated there was a 60 per cent rejection rate by the families of Irish women who were pregnant outside of marriage. 

Casey became a patron of Cherish, and had this to say about the problem of rejected unmarried mothers in his address to the organisation’s 1975 conference: “If the parents could only be got to act in a sympathetic and responsible manner, the hurt to many an unmarried mother and her child could be greatly lessened. The bitterness resulting from rejection has caused permanent damage to many a girl. 

“It is difficult to understand how the total rejection of their child . . . could be reconciled with Christian love and forgiveness . . . Instead of discriminating negatively against such an innocent person ought we not to consider the real handicap in the child’s life where the natural father is not there to fulfil his vital role in his child’s development in every level? Ought we not immediately agree that a child with such a disadvantage to be the ideal subject of positive discrimination? Ought it not be cherished more than the others?”

That was the busy Bishop Casey of the 1970s. 

You couldn’t make him up.

IRL : Why fifteen centuries after St Patrick first walked the earth, Christianity is still worth believing in (Opinion)

Image result for CHRISTIAN IRELANDBishop Eamonn Casey has received mostly positive coverage since his death earlier this week.

Part of the reason is the undoubted good work he did during most of his years in active ministry. 

But I think another reason is that his scandal pales when compared with what was to come. 

His scandal involved a consenting adult. 

The scandal was that he broke his vows and used diocesan funds to help his son.

I wonder what would happen if a similar scandal came to light today? 

It is the view of Pope Francis that if a priest fathers a child, he ought to leave his ministry and help raise his child. 

Would he have done that?

The scandals that later came to light were vastly worse than the one involving Bishop Eamonn Casey. 

They were crimes. 

Bishop Casey's hypocrisy didn't compare with the horror of sexually abusing a child.

There is no question, however, that the Bishop Casey scandal put a large crack in the previously pristine image many faithful Catholics had of priests.

The child abuse scandals shattered that image completely for lots of them. 

They entirely and completely toppled the priests, the religious, and the Church as a whole, from their pedestal. 

Now, we have the outcry over the Tuam Mother and Babies Home.

Earlier this week, I gave a talk at Curraheen parish in Cork. 

I spoke about why those of us who are still practising Catholics hang on despite everything.

I said that when people believe in something in itself, they will hang in there despite the scandals that might engulf it.

No one who likes football stops playing it, or supporting it, because of betting scandals, drug scandals, or sex scandals, including the recent revelations of the sex abuse of minors by football coaches in England. 

Instead, they seek to reform the running of football and make it better.

Naturally, you expect a higher standard of religion. 

But if religion means more than football, and obviously it does to its own adherents, that is all the more reason to hang on in there and seek reforms.

A better comparison might be with the UN. 

For its strongest supporters, the UN represents the dream of eventual peace and unity in the world, the universal reach of human rights law. 

The UN is every bit as universalist in its ambitions as Christianity.

But it has been beset by every possible scandal, including the sexual abuse of children by so-called 'peacekeepers'.

Do those people who believe in what the UN stands for walk away from it because of its many (and under-publicised) scandals? 

They don't. 

The best of them seek to reform it and make it better. The worst of them cover up the scandals, just like in the Church.

So, is there anything in the Church worth hanging in there for? 

Yes. And it can be summed up in two words: Jesus Christ.

In the final analysis, Christianity is only worthless if Jesus is worthless. And almost no one believes that.

The Church runs into trouble when it departs from his teachings and example. For example, why did it take to throwing stones at unmarried mothers with such gusto when Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"?

In a way, the very word 'Church' has become a problem. When people hear that word, they think of the institution, of the bishops and the priests and religious. Jesus is not the first thing that comes into their minds.

When people think of the institution first when they think of the Church, that is a major issue.

In the final analysis, what is the Church? It's not the institution. It is the community of the followers of Jesus. There are many such communities. That's why there are so many different churches, ranging from the Catholic Church to the Presbyterian Church and everything in between.

But they have something very important in common - whether they do it well, badly, or indifferently, they are all trying to follow Jesus.

To put it another way, Christians are hanging on in there because they can see the bigger picture.

They know what Christianity is supposed to be about - and it's not about the institution first and foremost, it's about a person, and that person is Jesus, who is admired even by many people who don't have a religious bone in their body.

Christianity has often taken a very authoritarian turn and succumbed to the punitive morality of the Pharisees, which Jesus forthrightly and repeatedly condemned.

It's not the only idea that has sometimes been hideously twisted out of shape. Think of socialism, for example.

At the same time, Christianity has inspired many people to live lives of great and heroic service to others, usually quietly and without notice.

This why, 15 centuries after St Patrick brought the faith to the whole of Ireland, it is still worth hanging on to.

It is why those of us who still remain Christian keep going - despite the scandals.