The use of upper case letters for certain nouns is unfortunate. And one would imagine a document written for the Irish church would recognise regional spelling practice.
On the other hand, this time of trial has also brought to light the continuing vitality of the Irish people’s faith. The Visitators have noted the exemplary way in which many Bishops, priests and Religious live out their vocation, the human and spiritual bonds among the faithful at a time of crisis, the deep faith of many men and women, a remarkable level of lay involvement in the structures of child protection, and the heartfelt commitment shown by Bishops and Religious Superiors in their task of serving the Christian community.
These are just some of the signs of hope that the Visitators have identified, alongside the various difficulties, in the life of the Church in Ireland. It is vitally important that, at a point in history marked by rapid cultural and social transformation, all the components of the Church in Ireland hear in the first place a renewed call to communion: communion among the Bishops themselves and with the Successor of Peter; communion between diocesan Bishops and their clergy; communion between Pastors and lay persons; and communion between diocesan structures and communities of consecrated life - communion that is not attained merely through human agreements or strategies, but above all by listening humbly to God’s Word and to what the Holy Spirit gives and asks of the Church in our day. Only a united Church can be an effective witness to Christ in the world.
On religious congregations, the report found that all religious institutes should perform an audit of their personnel files, if such an audit has not yet been carried out.
What exactly does this mean? Have individual memebrs of religious communities access to their personal files?
Does the sentiment mean that there is need for a greater honesty and openness within congregations? Does it mean there is about to be a genuine effort to banish the culture of 'secrecy' and 'inuendo'?
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It is interesting to note that the document is a summary, not the full report. The devil will be in the details. What does authentic priestly identity mean? How is this connected to conformity to the Church's Magisterium? Who is going to conduct the review of the training given to teachers of religion? How is the tendency toward holding theological opinions at variance with the Magisterium to be addressed? Does the reference to dissent from fundamental teachings imply that one may legitimately dissent from teaching which is not fundamental? If so, what are these teachings?
Sadly, this summary says little but will undoubtedly be used to enforce Rome's view of how thigs should be. More of moving deckchairs on the Titanic.
Is it all just one big fraud?
It now seems that the full extensive reports will not be available to the public but are for Roman eyes only.
Is it right that people outside Ireland can do an examination of aspects of Irish life and then not make the findings available to those concerned and involved?
It becomes more and more confusing.
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