Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A house divided.......

The letter below appears in this week's Kerryman newspaper.

Sir,

In a week when your correspondent Fr Michael Commane takes another swipe at what he considers trends among young clerics to wear their clerical habits in public and to praise the New Missal, we read in the national and international press that his fellow Dominican Fr Gerald(sic) Dunne is castigating Irish bishops for their seeming lack of enthusiasm for vocation promotion.

Unlike Fr Commane, Fr Dunne has a formidable reputation in Ireland for his recruitment of energetic and bright young Irish men to the Dominican way of life. For my own part I had the joy of observing many of these young Dominicans, suitably and proudly attired in their distinctive robes, in action at last year's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

Surely Fr Commane realises that a house divided is unlikely to attract vocations. Is that what he wants?

Sincerely,
Alan Whelan,
Beaufort,
Co Kerry

4 comments:

Michael Commane said...

When I was a young student priest in Rome it was often pointed out to me that I should take a leaf out of the book of the young Legionaries of Christ. They all looked so holy and were ever so pious and orthodox too. And all those wonderful black clothes.
Wasn't I the lucky man to pay no heed to that advice.
The world at last knows about their founder.
Yes we are divided and I make no secret about it.

Anonymous said...

And I agree. Two of my family friends became Legionaries. I had my massive reservations at the time...and I proved right, but so what? I also had reservations when I visted OP's on Parish Retreat Days in Tallaght....perhaps also right! Perhaps, not. I was later to employ former Tallaght OP students for teaching posts...and they proved first class.

My two former Drimnagh family friends are now both bishops and making major contributions to the Church. One still a LC; his brother, an archbishop in Texas, no longer a LC....but still a great pastor.

Michael Commane said...

With whom do You agree?

Michael Commane said...

Of course we are divided. Anyone who listened to the MF Show on RTE Radio One this morning is forced to realise how divided the Catholic Church is. Surely no-one expects everyone in the church to sing from the same hymn sheet.
The reality, life on the ground, is thankfully not what one reads and sees on simplistic websites.

Websites of organisations, whether private companies, State organisations, religious orders are of their nature advertisements/propaganda. Some of them are well done, others done in an appalling fashion.

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