Archbishop Farrell: “God’s compassion moved in Francis’ life and brought healing and comfort to those he encountered.”

Address by Archbishop Dermot Farrell in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, for a ceremony to mark 8^th centenary of the approval of Franciscan Rule. The ceremony was attended by Franciscans from all the foundations: Capuchins, OFM and Female branches.

Address by Archbishop Farrell

My friends, as we celebrate the 800^th anniversary of the Franciscan Rule by Pope Honorius III in late November 1223, I would like to give the first word to Minister General, Massimo Fusarelli OFM, who prays that, “this centenary may nourish a generous recommitment to walk in the footsteps of Christ so we [Franciscans] rediscover the form of the gospel lived as brothers and sisters … We must learn to always start anew, like Francis, who at the end of his life said to the friars: ‘I have done my part, may Christ teach you yours.’ Let’s start again, brothers and sisters.”

“Let us start again!” “Let us start anew!” (Homily, Feast of Saint Francis, 2023)

Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.

So the late Brendan Kennelly ended his poem, “Begin.”  

The Christian faith is radically bound with beginnings: “In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God.” says Saint John in the opening words of his Gospel. “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ,” says Saint Mark. “I will arise, and I will go to my Father, and I will say …” is the new beginning for the Prodigal Son … “My son was dead and is alive again….” says his Father, “he was lost and is found.” Life begins again. “Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord.” “Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again!” (John 8:10–11) Life begins again.

A New Beginning in Christ

Christ comes to offer us a new beginning.  Not a beginning in a vacuum, not a beginning as if we had no past, but a beginning out of where we are.  We all need this beginning.  Every person – at some point in their lives – needs to embrace that new start.  

Where did Francis’ journey after Christ begin? Perhaps it began when he began to see that there were those with greater needs than his. You know the story of his running after the beggar.  Something cracked, something gave way, something new broke through. You know how it unfolded … So began his circuitous journey of “keeping the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, of living in obedience, without anything of his own, and in chastity” as it says in the “extreme synthesis” at the beginning of the Rule.

The Centrality of the Gospel in Francis’ Call and in his Life 

So overflowing with the gospel was his first Rule, that when Francis brought it to Pope Innocent III for approval (in 1209), the Pope looked at it and said, “This is no Rule.  This is just the gospel.”  History does not record Francis reply. But for Francis, we do not need any other Rule except the gospel. This centrality of the gospel in the life of Francis cannot be overstated. In the words of Pope Francis, “Saint Francis is in love with Jesus Christ and, in order to follow him, he is not afraid to make a fool of himself but goes forward. The source of his whole experience is gospel faith” (31 October 2022). Francis radically follows the example of Christ by his abandoning of everything, and embracing the poorest and the abandoned. Because the “marrow of the gospel” had entered his life, Francis could see Christ in the sick and the poverty-stricken who were ostracised from society. His love for God in working for God. His life was love in action.  His was a faith that did justice. Generations of Franciscan women and men have breathed new life into Francis’s way.

Francis’ Witness to Compassion and its Power 

The key to Francis’ transformation from self-absorption to self-giving, his secret of making wholes out of the scattered fragments of life, was compassion. He learned compassion as the art of healing broken hearts by collecting the tears of the forgotten, the frightened, and the lonely in his hands and holding the wounded as his family. From the myriad of stories, it is clear that God’s compassion moved in Francis’ life and brought healing and comfort to those he encountered. In freedom he chose to be there for others in their suffering and pain.  He was able to leave his own desires aside which allowed him to enter into lives lessened by suffering.  Francis entered the world of the stranger and made the stranger into a sister and brother. He learned to love what was weak and fragile, and he learned to care for what the world discarded. In a world where cries of harshness and self-interest seem to grow louder and louder, the gentleness and compassion of Francis offers a vital counter-witness. 

Peace will come by being with people, not by shutting them out. Like Francis, we too must discover for ourselves how ‘mercy and faithfulness’ can meet, how ‘justice and peace [can] embrace’ (see Psalm 84). Only then can we authentically propose to our world, the mystery of peace.  May compassion be the force that drives our intercession.

In Francis the Mystery of God is at Work 

The mystery of peace brings into the view the very mystery of Francis’ life.  I say this, because, when we consider what has been wrought through the Poverello, and its fruitfulness, we begin to see mystery of God at work.  Think of his boldness – his parrhēsia (see 2Cor 3:12–18) – his confidence in Christ, his embrace of Christ’s way, and his closeness to the Crucified One and his woundedness.  Think of what he has inspired!  Think of what he has inspired in you!  Who brought you into the Franciscan family, and who animates your Franciscan life but Francis?  And not just for Franciscans: who would have thought that eight hundred years after his death, the Church’s first Jesuit pope would choose the name Francis?  Or that this Jesuit pope, in Laudato Sì, his very first encyclical, would give Francis’ oneness with all creation, a horizon and a profile no-one could ever have imagined.  Our future – and the future of this planet, our common home – depends on facing up to our ecological responsibility both globally and locally.

None of this is Saint Francis’s doing!  Francis would not have sought such a profile.  No!  It is Another who is at work.  And the One who was at work in Francis, is at work in the Church, and is at work among us and within us.  The Spirit, the Lord of Life, is at work in our hearts, and at work in our work, and at work in our world.  Here, Saint Francis witnesses to a profound mystery: that God works in us and through us for the sake of his little ones in ways we can never imagine. “Blessed are the meek…” In our time, when the Church must discover anew the weakness and poverty of Christ (see 1Cor 1:25 and 2Cor 8:9), may the mystery of what God is doing through Francis, console us, inspire us, and give us strength for our mission.

Francis and the Call of the Young 

There is one final aspect of Francis I wish to put before you: his youth.  When his call to poverty and to a radical following of Christ began to manifest itself (around 1205 AD), Francis was about 24.  He was a young man.  Let us not forget that important things can happen in the lives of the young.  These are different important things to the important things that happen to us when we’re in our 60s and 70s, but they are important nonetheless.  Young adults, in their idealism and energy, need to hear the gospel in its freshness and in it radicalness.  And they need people who embody the freshness and power of the gospel in healthy ways.  They need big saints, not strange, fear-filled piety. “The world will always need those who, with a humble, beautiful, and joyful life, know how to bring a word that reaches the heart,” said the Patriarch of Jerusalem, your confrere, Cardinal Pizzaballa in a recent interview (see OFM Fraternitas, 4 October 2023: page 4).

Young people need today’s Francis’s and Clares to put flesh on God’s future for us in all its paradox and possibility.  Let us not be naïve—this is hard but vital work!  May we be courageous in this!

May the Most High glorious God, enlighten the darkness of our hearts. Give us right faith, sure hope and perfect charity. Fill us with understanding and knowledge that we may fulfil the Lord’s command.”   (Prayer of Saint Francis before the Crucifix)

Belgium: Church Statistics for 2022 Are Concerning

In Belgium, as in a number of European countries, Church statistics are in a steady decline. 

The annual report published by the Church in this country (for 2022) shows that, overall, Sunday attendance has dropped by 40% since 2017. 

This phenomenon was accelerated by the public health crisis, but, despite a post-pandemic recovery, the numbers have not succeeded in picking up again.

Sacramental Life

The level of Sunday religious practice in Belgium dropped in a spectacular way in comparison with the state of things before the COVID pandemic. 

Although the lifting of restrictions in 2022 permitted the halt of that drop, Sunday Mass presence is still 40% less than that of 2017, according to a study published this month.

In raw numbers, there were 286,393 practicing Catholics counted in 2017 - on the 3^rd Sunday of October - but only 172,968 in 2022 - a count made on the same Sunday, which creates a decrease of 40%, which is truly enormous for a gap of six years.

Baptisms, confirmations, and marriages are also in clear decline, but less important.

Between 2021 and 2022, the number of baptisms rose 17%, but compared to 2017, they dropped 15%. 

The number of marriages rose 72% from one year to the next, due to the ceremonies which couldn’t be celebrated during the years of the public health crisis. 

Compared to 2017, there was also a drop of 12%. As for confirmations, they dropped by 21% over six years.

Personal and Structural

If we compare the numbers of 2022 to those of 2017, the data is devastating. In six years, the Church lost 915 diocesan priests - a loss of 33%: a third. As for the number of religious clergy, that “only” dropped by 22%.

Despite that, the number of people who consider themselves Catholic remains relatively stable (-5%), representing half of the Belgian population. 

However, the number of parishes also dwindled (-6%).

Among the positive points, we must note an increase in pilgrimages in 2022. The four principal Marian shrines of Belgium - Banneux, Beauraing, Oostakker, and Scherpenheuvel - received a total of 1.27 million visitors in 2022.

Another positive point is that the number of “debaptism” requests clearly diminished between 2021 (5,237) and 2022 (1,270). 

In Belgium, when a Catholic asks to leave the Church, it is noted in the margin of the baptism register.

Lessons Not Learned

Unfortunately, the commentary given about this situation by the authors of the annual report is more than disappointing. 

It focuses on the national synthesis of the synodal process and on the criticisms that it could emphasize: “a feeling of injustice is highlighted regarding the place of women in the Church,” we read in this report.

Elsewhere it says: “The young people wish that the Church would relate to her time. [...] The credibility of the Church as an organization is questioned: she is perceived as outmoded, rigid, and a stranger to the world.” 

The annual report concluded that “the Church is in a true examination of its mode of operation.”

With such trends, unfortunately the statistics are not likely to immediately improve.

Nun aims to mobilize 100,000 sisters in India in fight against human trafficking

An Indian nun who recently received a global honor for her efforts to combat human trafficking has called upon the estimated 100,000 religious sisters in her vast nation to join the fight, saying that by so doing “we could save many lives.”

Sister Seli Thomas, a member of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Krishnagar, West Bengal, made the call during a Nov. 24-26 meeting of Amrat Talitha Kum India, a network of religious sisters involved in anti-trafficking efforts.

“Amrat,” which stands for Asian Movement of Women Religious Against Human Trafficking, and which also represents a Hindi term for life-giving water, was founded in 2009 by Sister Jyoti Pinto of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany. It’s part of the global Talitha Kum alliance, which is sponsored by the International Unions of Superiors General (UISG), a Rome-based federation of leaders of women’s religious orders.

“More than 100,000 religious sisters are in India, according to the statistics shown during the session,” Seli said. That figure is in line with estimates from the Georgetown-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which estimates that India has more nuns than any other country in the world, with Italy and the United States rounding out the top three.

“If we all could work together under Amrat for the anti-trafficking through our own ministry, we could save many lives from being trafficked,” Seli said.

Seli recently was among three recipients of the inaugural Sisters Anti-Trafficking Awards (SATA) in London Oct. 31, bestowed by Arise, an anti-slavery NGO, the UISG, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. She also received a “Common Good Award” at the Amrat gathering.

“Amrat is a movement, so let’s be united to hear the cry of the women and children trafficked. In our own communities, in our own place of work like in our schools, hospitals, in our centers let’s spread the awareness of human trafficking,” Seli said.

Sister Prema Chowallur of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod, who serves the transgender community, described the Amrat summit as “very unique, as the number was large and those who present were very enthusiastic and eager to learn from one another.”

According to organizers, the event drew 170 nuns representing 80 different congregations.

“Importantly, this meeting was to motivate more women religious across India to take up this challenging ministry,” Chowallur told Crux. “Besides this, [it aimed] to capacitate the sisters with different skills to address ground level realities on the issue. This meeting also helped the members to create a strong bond between the network members.”

Sister Crina Cardozo from Goa said that “the capacity-building program enkindled in me the fire to work for this cause,” while Sister Beena from Gujarat region said Amrat is an important platform for sisters to share their anxieties, especially when they go for rescue operations.

“There are many challenges that come on our way, let that be our opportunity to save someone’s life,” Seli said.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, 27.6 million people were in forced labor in 2021, with 17.3 million are exploited in the private sector, 6.3 million in forced commercial sexual exploitation, and 3.9 million in forced labor imposed by the state.

More broadly, the same organizations estimate that 49.6 million people were in “modern slavery” in 2021, combining data both for forced labor and forced marriages.

In India, the Global Slavery Index estimates that 8 million people in India, including children and teenagers, live in forms of modern slavery, where violence, coercion and deception are used to exploit people.

Ex-Vatican editor calls Pope ‘catastrophe’ on anti-Semitism, ‘fake’ on women

A former editor of a women’s insert to the Vatican newspaper, and a well-known journalist and historian in Italy, has defined Pope Francis as “a catastrophe,” among other things because of an alleged failure to confront anti-Semitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Francis “limits himself to generic phrases on anti-Semitism, refusing to align the Catholic Church in an unequivocal way against anti-Semitism in all the forms with which it’s presenting itself. This is what Pope Francis should have done, and he hasn’t done it,” said Lucetta Scaraffia in a new interview with the Italian edition of the “Huffington Post.”

Scaraffia, who founded the “Women Church World” insert in L’Osservatore Romano in 2012 and edited it until she resigned in 2019 over what she claimed were efforts to muzzle her attempt to spotlight the abuse of nuns in the Church, also asserted that Francis’s ambition to mediate the war in Ukraine has been a “failure,” and accused the pope of ignoring both the suffering of Iranian women and of Armenians in their conflict with Azerbaijan.

“He’s a pope who hates the values of the West,” Scaraffia said. “The fact that he’s anti-Western, and, above all, anti-American, becomes more evident all the time.”

Scaraffia also referred to Francis’s campaign to promote the role of women in the Vatican as “fake,” asserting that he’s promoted only “obedient” and “smiling” sisters, and criticized his handling of the case of ex-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, accused of the serial abuse of nuns over a 30-year period.

A longtime professor of contemporary history at Rome’s La Sapienza University, Scaraffia, 75, also has served as a member of Italy’s national bioethics committee and a consultor to the former Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

The following are excerpts from the interview with Scaraffia, which was conducted by Giulia Belardelli, in a Crux translation. It began with a question about confusion generated on Wednesday when a group of Palestinians said the pope had used the word “genocide” to describe the war in Gaza, a claim a Vatican spokesman denied.

Professor Scaraffia, what’s behind this confusion?

There’s always the usual ambiguity, which is preferred over the sort of moral and spiritual position a pope ought to take. Jesus said, ‘Let your yes be yes, and your no be no,” not ‘let it be fifty-fifty.’ We know why the pope acts this way, and he says it continually: He hopes to be able to play the role of mediator … But to become one you have to be accepted by both parties, otherwise you absolutely can’t mediate. That’s a fact the pope doesn’t want to accept.

Why doesn’t he want to accept it?

Because this pope tends to be a bit self-referential. He continues to act this way because he thinks it contributes to his positive image. It’s true of both wars, the one in Ukraine and that of Israel. Regarding Ukraine, his total impotence is evident from the business of the stolen children … In all this time, the pope hasn’t succeeded in returning a single child … His effort at mediation has been a failure.

And if we move to the war in Israel, the problem becomes even worse.

Because what’s at stake is anti-Semitism?

The Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7 was carried out with the cry ‘Let’s kill the Jews,’ and we all saw it. This has reopened the problem of anti-Semitism in all of Europe and the whole world, and it’s a problem that affects the Church very deeply.

The Church found itself in deep trouble during the Second World War for not having defended the Jewish situation with sufficient vigor. Then it made amends, completely renewing the theology of the Jews with the Second Vatican Council. Above all, it removed the completely erroneous idea that Christians are the new Israel, the new elect people.

This fundamental aspect of theology has been completely forgotten by Pope Francis, who limits himself to generic phrases on anti-Semitism, refusing to align the Catholic Church in an unequivocal way against anti-Semitism in all the forms with which it’s presenting itself. This is what Pope Francis should have done, and he hasn’t done it.

[Scaraffia then asserts that Francis has engaged in “risky” overtures to Islam.]

For example, the document on human fraternity signed in 2019 with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb?

Exactly. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar is an anti-Semite who doesn’t hesitate to say so every two minutes. He confirmed it after the Hamas attack on Israel, saying he stood with Hamas against the Jews. [The joint document] is something the pope never should have done. If nothing else, after the latest anti-Semitic stance of the Imam of Al-Azhar, he should have admitted to having made a mistake.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s preparing to meet [Al-Tayyeb] in Dubai during a conference on climate. Maybe, who knows, he’ll even embrace him because they agree on the climate. We know this much: The pope is more committed on the environment than on anti-Semitism. To me, anti-Semitism seems infinitely more urgent for the Catholic Church.

Would you define Francis as an anti-Western pope?

He’s a pope who hates the values of the West. The fact that he’s anti-Western, and, above all, anti-American, becomes more evident all the time. In so doing, he forgets that the West is the lone part of the world that’s tried, even in limited and insufficient ways, to realize the values of the Church.

In a recent interview with La Stampa, the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut declared that ‘Pope Francis is discredited’ and defined him as ‘a catastrophe for the Church and for Europe.’ What do you think?

I think he’s a catastrophe for the Church in Europe and in the world. The Church no longer counts for anything, it doesn’t interest anyone. It’s become fodder for journalists, who talk about the pope as if he were an influencer.

Acting like an influencer, has he given up playing a moral role?

He’s given up what it should mean to be the pope. He’s become an aspiring diplomat, which is a role he can’t even play … The consequences are extremely serious: A collapse of the Church, and of the people who follow it. It’s a curious thing that Pope Francis is much more appreciated among non-Catholics, who, however, aren’t at all thinking about becoming Catholics.

Beyond the two wars, are there other international questions where the pope should have intervened and hasn’t?

The Iranian women: For him, it’s as if they don’t exist. It’s the same thing for the Armenians: Despite being Catholic Christians, he doesn’t want to see them.

Is something concrete changing in the way the Church works? There’s talk of a reform of the conclave that would allow the participation of women and laity … is this all sizzle and no steak?

Regarding the role of women in the Church, Pope Francis is doing absolutely nothing. It’s all fake. The women who’ve arrived in Vatican positions are women chosen by the clergy, extremely obedient, who won’t change anything … they pick obedient sisters who smile all the time.

The one thing Francis could have done was to establish the diaconate for women, and he hasn’t done it. He created a commission that produced a document, which was then made secret. Now, he’s creating another commission. You know better than I do that when you have commission after commission, it’s because you want to kill time.

Can the Church play a role in confronting violence against women?

The Church should not speak on this subject, for a very simple reason: The Catholic world is full of abuses against religious women that it keeps hidden.

Is this another failure you attribute to Pope Francis?

Absolutely yes. It’s a subject Pope Francis hasn’t even taken into consideration. Indeed, he protects abusers such as Rupnik. Facing this epidemic of femicides, it’s better that they keep quiet.

It’s impossible to ignore Pope Francis’s growing Jewish problem (Opinion)

 

When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, the forecast among those invested in Jewish-Catholic dialogue generally was rosy. 

The new pope brought considerable background to the relationship, given that Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America and the sixth largest outside Israel – indeed, the first kosher McDonalds outside Israel was located in a Buenos Aires shopping center.

As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future pontiff cultivated close relations with Jews, most prominently Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, with whom he coauthored the book “On Heaven and Earth.”

Since his election that outreach has continued, featuring visits to Israel in 2014 and the Roman synagogue in 2016, as well as regular audiences and meetings with Jewish leaders in the Vatican and frequent statements of concern about anti-Semitism, most recently in a Nov. 1 interview with Italian television.

“Unfortunately, anti-Semitism remains hidden. You can see it, for example, in young people, here and there,” the pope said. “It is not always enough to see the Holocaust they committed in the Second World War, these six million killed, enslaved …  I won’t be able to explain it and I have no explanations, it’s a fact that I see and I don’t like.”

And yet, the fact of the matter is that Pope Francis long has had a Jewish problem, and it’s come to the fore anew amid the current war in Gaza.

To some extent, the issue is political, having to do with the instinctive sympathy history’s first pope from the developing world feels for the Palestinian cause.

On that 2014 trip to the Holy Land, for instance, Francis made an impromptu stop to pray at the separation wall in Bethlehem, under a piece of graffiti that read “Free Palestine,” in what many Israelis regarded as a bit of agit-prop.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas immediately promised to create a postage stamp commemorating the moment, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the pontiff to make an unscheduled visit the next day to a memorial for Israeli victims of terrorism.

In June 2015, the Vatican signed its first-ever treaty with what it officially recognized as the “State of Palestine,” another move that irritated many Israelis.

The fact that Francis delayed meeting a group of family members of Israeli hostages, an encounter originally requested in October but denied on the grounds that he was too busy with the Synod of Bishops, until he could also see on the same day a group of relatives of people from Gaza affected by the war, created the latest frisson in terms of his perceived pro-Palestinian tilt.

There’s also a theological dimension to the angst Francis has generated in Jewish circles, including his frequently disparaging references to the “Pharisees.”

Such vocabulary led to a 2017 accusation by Italian RabbiGiuseppe Laras, the former chief rabbi of Milan and president emeritus of the Italian Rabbinical Assembly, who accused the pontiff of indirectly promoting a revival of Marcionism, an ancient heresy that contrasted the spiteful and vindictive God of Judaism with the loving and merciful God of Christianity.

“One need think only of the law of ‘an eye for an eye’ recently evoked by the pope carelessly and mistakenly…[recalling] anti-Judaism on the Christian side,” Laras wrote.

In a similar vein, controversy erupted after an August 2021 comment by Francis to the effect that the Jewish Torah does not “give life.”

“It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it,” the pope said, adding, “Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”

At the time, Rabbi Rason Arussi, Chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for dialogue with the Holy See, and Rabbi David Sandmel, Vice-Chair of the New York-based International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, both wrote letters to the Vatican seeking clarification, forcing Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Vatican’s top official for relations with Judaism, to scramble to put out the fire.

It’s not that anyone suspects Francis of repudiating the theological advances in Catholic understanding since 1965’s Nostra Aetate, the document of the Second Vatican Council on relations with Judaism. It’s rather that appropriating those insights, and translating them into both his rhetoric and his pastoral agenda, sometimes just don’t seem that much of a priority.

Moreover, there’s a perception that Francis’s campaign to build bridges with Islam sometimes comes at the expense of solidarity with Jews.

That point recently was voiced by Lucetta Scaraffia, former editor of a women’s insert to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, who complained about the pope’s budding relationship with the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo despite what she described as his tendency to make anti-Semitic remarks “every two minutes.”

These three sources of tension – the politics of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the theological approach to Judaism, and the inter-faith balancing act vis-à-vis Islam — are all coming to a head amid the current conflagration.

The criticism of the pope’s response to the Gaza war started almost immediately. In mid-October, for example, the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, the son of a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz, asserted that Francis “is now totally discredited” for his failure to clearly face the reality of Islamic-inspired terrorism, and “represents a catastrophe for the church and for Europe.”

This past week, a public statement from the Council of the Assembly of Rabbis in Italy reflected frustration in Jewish circles after the pontiff essentially accused both sides in the Gaza conflict of “terrorism.”

In so doing, the rabbis asserted, Francis placed “innocent people torn from their families on the same level as people detained often for very serious acts of terrorism.”

The rabbis wondered aloud what the point has been of decades of Jewish-Catholic dialogue when, in a time of need, what Jews get from the pope isn’t solidarity but “diplomatic acrobatics, balancing acts and icy equidistance, which is certainly distance but is not fair.”

Aides to the pope quickly dismissed the criticism, but it’s unlikely to disappear just because senior Vatican diplomats describe it as unwarranted.

The letter from the rabbis followed an earlier plea from a group of Jewish leaders in Catholic-Jewish dialogue, asking that the pope act as “a beacon of moral and conceptual clarity amid an ocean of disinformation, distortion and deceit” by distinguishing Hamas’s attacks “from the civilian casualties” of Israel’s war, which they described as a “war of self-defense.”

Among the signatories to that letter was Rabbi David Meyer, who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, sponsored by Francis’s own Jesuit order.

It also followed a stinging essay in late October by the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, after Francis called for prayer for peace but without directly condemning the Hamas attacks that launched the war.

“Prayer can become an alibi for unburdening one’s conscience, for establishing inappropriate equidistance, for erasing moral evaluations,” Di Segni wrote.

To be clear, not that there’s no good news on the Jewish-Catholic front. In late October, for instance, the World Jewish Congress opened a “representative office to the Holy See” in Rome.

In general, an enormous infrastructure of dialogue has been built up over the almost 60 years since the issuance of Nostra Aetate and it’s deeply unlikely simply to crumble overnight, especially given that both sides in the Catholic-Jewish relationship have keen motives for not allowing that to happen.

Yet equally, it’s impossible to ignore the signs of growing tension.

Recently an Italian Jew named Vittorio Mascarini, who leads a Zionist organization in Italy, wrote in the Jewish News Syndicate: “If it continues to maintain its ambiguous position, the Holy See risks its entire relationship with Israel and world Jewry.”

The war in Gaza has already taken an enormous toll. For Francis, who clearly aspires to be a peace-maker, it undoubtedly would be especially agonizing should his relationship with Jews and Judaism end up being among the casualties.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell urges people to challenge ‘casual remarks that spread cynicism’ following Dublin riots

The leader of the Catholic Church in Dublin has expressed his dismay and concern over the “shocking events” that unfolded on the streets of the capital on Thursday, warning it is “a moment of truth for our city and for Irish society more broadly”.

In a statement, Archbishop Dermot Farrell said people are not “helpless in the face of what we have witnessed” and he urged them not to be “passive” but to challenge “casual remarks that spread cynicism and prejudice”.

“We have seen with our own eyes how violence puts everyone - especially the vulnerable and the innocent - in mortal danger,” he said, and he prayed for the victims of the “horrific assault” on Parnell Square, for their families, for the school staff, and the children of Scoil Mhuire.

A five-year-old girl who was one of three children stabbed in the attack remains in a critical condition and the carer who sought to shield the children remains in a serious condition in hospital.

Archbishop Farrell gave thanks for the “courage and decisiveness” of those who acted so promptly with “such selflessness” to disable the attacker and for the skill of the emergency services and the Gardaí.

In a reference to Thursday evening’s rioting and looting, he said “we have seen its power to draw people in and consume them in a spiral of hatred and wanton destruction”.

Dr Farrell said this violence can “very markedly erode the ethos of peace and safety that usually characterises our lives together”.

While some “feel bewildered and anxious” by what occurred, he appealed to them not to allow themselves to be “cowed or intimidated” by those “who seek to coerce us” but to challenge the misinformation that seeks to sow doubt, suspicion, resentment and fear.

“We can challenge the casual remarks that spread cynicism and prejudice,” the church leader emphasised and he urged people to “reach out in solidarity and friendship to those who have made their homes among us, but who are being targeted with words of hate and gestures that are filled with hostility and derision”.

“Let us not forget the invaluable contribution so many make to our economy and society. Let us not take for granted the vibrant gifts of faith and witness which they bring to our parish communities,” he said.

Separately, the chair of Dublin City Interfaith Forum, Archbishop Michael Jackson, said members of the interfaith group were “shocked by the horrendous attack on our young children and adults” and the “orchestrated public disorder” which followed which was “stoked by hate and far–right rhetoric online and on our streets” and sought to “sow hatred and division in our community”.

The interfaith group appealed for a way to be found to move on from the “hate–filled rhetoric and actions” to making Dublin “a welcoming city, a city of kindness”.

Parishes avail of grants for minor local investments and major capital projects

Managing the building, alteration, conservation and maintenance of places of worship – a vital part of the Church’s patrimony – is of great importance to this and to future generations of our faith community. To effectively upkeep churches, grants are available from statutory bodies that are responsible for listed buildings.

According to Céire Sadlier, Grants Officer for the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, “I encourage any parish, or diocese, to make contact with me on ceire.sadlier@iecon.ie if they feel that they have a repair project that could qualify, whether small or large in nature. The options offered by both grants – the Historic Structures Fund and the Built Heritage Investment Scheme – have had a transformative effect on many local faith communities throughout the State. These grants are open for application to the local county council of the respective parish or diocese.”

A recent example is Saint Peter and Paul’s Church in Balbriggan, Archdiocese of Dublin, where the stained glass window was in severe need of repair. The lead had buckled and the wooden frame was completely rotten.  

However, thanks to a contribution of €40,000 received through the Historic Structures Fund, which is managed by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, this 180 year old sacred window was restored to its original beauty.

This ‘Historic Structures Fund’ is available to support investment in essential capital required to preserve the built heritage and thereby helping the owners and custodians of historic structures to safeguard their value into the future.  

See Historic Structures Fund applicant guide 2024 which is the guidance booklet for applicants.

Similarly – but for small scale projects –  the Department’s ‘Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS)’ provides funding to historic buildings in an effort to maintain these structures. The opportunity to apply for this scheme is open until mid-January 2024, with funding to be claimed within that calendar year. These grants range from €2,500 to €15,000. 

See Built Heritage Investment Scheme guidance 2024 which is the guidance booklet for applicants.