RTÉ interruptions while the station closes its DAB service

RTÉ Radio is announcing these days that it is carrying out technical work at its Three Rock transmitter and is advising people in the Dublin area served by Three Rock that there will be interruption to service and they should retune into the Kippure transmitter.

On April 1 RTÉ discontinued broadcasting on its DAB system.

This month German radio magazine Das Magazin has an editorial on the move over to DAB+. It points out how slow the changeover from FM to DAB is taking and says that all cars since the end of 2020 must be fitted with DAB radios.

What exactly is RTÉ doing by closing down its DAB transmission, which has been available for a number of years in the Dublin, Cork and Limerick areas?

And there has been little or no news coverage on this topic.

The unbelievable easiness of a revolution

Last evening ARD, German television  showed a wonderful film about a group of young people, tired and disappointed with life in the former GDR.

The protest began with an environmental aspect, with the young people objecting to the solution in the rive Pleise in Leipzig. They met in a Protestant church in the city. At first the minister objected to their political overtures.

They were all young, some of them still in school. Some went to jail on trumped up charges.

In the end their enthusiasm, their idealism, their youthfulness won out and defeated an old worn-out establishment that had nothing more, nothing new to offer the people.

Watching it, it was impossible not to think in sadness of the state of churches today in Ireland.

Arms of the poor are being bypassed in favour of the rich

This is a startling reality.

People living in high- and upper middle-income countries represent 83 percent of all those who have received Covid vaccination.

A mere 0.2 per cent of Covid vaccines have been administered in low-income countries.

From the moral high ground to the ditch

This week’s Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

In November 2018 I stopped driving my 00 Toyota Corolla. In 14 years it had never once let me down. 

During the previous 12 months I had clocked up less than 700 kilometres. When it came to insuring it on the first day in December I gave it a miss and the car was parked up outside my door for a number of months before a friend of mine collected it and brought it down to West Kerry. The plan was that I would use it when I was down in the summer but that never materialised. I’m told it’s in good running order and the perfect car to drive to Sunday Mass.

I managed fine without the car, that is until Covid descended on us. Over the last year I have been a little nervous about using public transport.

I decided I needed a car and bought one in February.

Since the Christmas lockdown I have been unable to go hill-walking so every Saturday afternoon I have gone for an approximately 10 kilometre urban walk with a friend. We’ve had great walks and I have learned interesting aspects about nearby buildings, roads and bridges.

Saturday, April 17 was the first day I had the opportunity to drive the new car more than five kilometres from my home.

The plan was to walk around the two lakes at Bohernabreena, which is just a few short kilometres outside Tallaght. En route I collected my walking friend.

It was a stunning day. But my worst worries were confirmed. There was not a space to be had in the small car park. We drove off, planning to head up around the side of the lakes and out on over the 

Featherbed and over towards Kippure for a walk.  

We were on an extremely narrow road. A car with a larger than life L plate comes against us. It is not a question of being on the other side of the road as there is only one side to this laneway.

The L driver is hesitant to retreat so I decide I better reverse. 

Everything about my car is new to me. I’m nervous. The handbrake is an electric button, which I haven’t yet managed to master. My friend jumps out of the car and guides my reversing. As I’m slowly reversing, the cars in front and behind begin to build up. Three big motorbikes come towards me, one of the bikers gives me a dirty look, which doesn’t help.

I’m hugging the ditch until I hug it too closely and hear that scratching sound. Nothing to do but drive the car forward and out of the ditch before reversing again. Ever so slowly I inch backwards until I find a space where I can allow the oncoming traffic to pass. 

Am I glad to see them all head off into the sunset.

I decide not to get out and see if I had marked the car. My friend assures me it is a very slight scratch. I have enough of traffic and driving. I turn the car around and drive home.

Isn’t it extraordinary I never missed a Saturday walk since Christmas and the first Saturday I can use the car I have to abandon my walk. 

There’s a moral somewhere in that story.

At least when I had no car I felt I was on some sort high moral ground instead of the ditch.

€1.48 trillion spend on weapons while Covid surges

There was a fire in an Iraqi hospital at the weekend, which caters for Covid patients.

At least 29 people were killed in the fire.

The Indian hospital system is unable to cope with the current Covid surge.

And the Indian story is being replicated in other countries around the world.

Has it dawned on any of us the billions we spend on weapons of destruction?

The money that has been wasted on weaponry in Iraq is a scandal. India is a world nuclear power.

Across the world we see pictures every evening of old, outdated dirty hospital equipment.

Isn’t it time the world made a decision to spend money on keeping people alive, and keeping them alive in a manner in keeping with human dignity, rather than keeping them in poverty and killing them. 

Global spending on weapons reached record levels last year despite the economic ravages of the coronavirus with China, where the pandemic  began, leading the arms race in Asia by a considerable margin.

Research carried out by The International Institute for Strategic Studies  (IISS) shows that the amount spent on defence  globally went up to  €1.48 trillion, a rise of almost four per cent in real terms over 2019. 

Boris Johnson - a ‘vacuum of integrity'

Dominic Grieve was Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. He was an MP from 1997 to 2019.

Grieve was a staunch EU supporter and lost his seat in 2019 when he stood as an independent candidate for Beaconsfield, where he had been sitting MP since 1997.

On Dominic Cummings blistering attack on UK prime minister Boris Johnson, Grieve described Johnson on a BBC radio 4 news programme yesterday as ‘a vacuum of integrity’.

It is brilliant. And when we meet such people, people we suspect to be dishonest, crooked, malevolent this description of Grieve's makes such perfect sense. 

The real meaning of service

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

I’m writing this column on a stunning April day. Summer beckons. 

Over two million people in Ireland have been vaccinated. New life is at a fledgling moment. Blossoms make their first appearance of the year, reminding us to be gentle with our environment.  

Sheep give birth and the newborn lambs are gambolling in the fields. 

Tomorrow’s Gospel of the Good Shepherd  (John 10: 11 - 18) throws a welcome light on the strange time in which we are living.

I have seen first-hand over the last 12 months the dedicated service of hospital staff and how they have come through as good shepherds during this Covid crisis. Their work is replicated across the country.

In the first reading in tomorrow’s liturgy (Acts 4: 8 - 12) Peter – exuberant about Jesus rising from the dead and filled with the Holy Spirit –  tells the rulers and elders that they should not be surprised how kind he and his companions are. Their kindness knows no bounds. They manage to cure a cripple but quickly point out that it is through the power of Jesus Christ that they do it.

The Gospel is the story of the Good Shepherd, the person who lays down his life for his sheep. We are all called to be Good Shepherds.

During Holy Week I was ‘surfing’ religious sites and came across a saying from  Fr Leo Trese, born 1902 - died 1970, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit. He said this: “The only epitaph a priest should want on his headstone is that he was kind.’ Fr Trese’s life spanned great events including two world wars. 

Every generation sees changes. We in Ireland have seen major changes over the last 50 years, including significant changes in our attitudes towards our faith. The church is in crisis. But maybe the church of its nature needs to be in a state of crisis?

There are many facets to this crisis of faith. There is a palpable division within Christian communities. There are serious divisions within sacramental priesthood. There is a growing polarisation, which manifests itself when it comes to discussion on the celebration of the sacraments. Some young priests see their older colleagues as having let down the church  and are now attempting to return to a pre-Vatican II era. That can only lead to further division and failure.

In the second reading from the First Letter to St John (3: 1 - 2) we are told we are all God’s children. All Christians are part of the priesthood of the baptised.

People with different opinions and ideas must  speak to one another, in a spirit of openness and respect.

What’s the job of the priest? To live and speak about the Gospel? But isn’t that the task of all baptised Christians?

Priesthood has to do more than that, to give service, a service that entails nudging people towards God. The priest does this through the celebration of the sacraments with specific emphasis on the Eucharist, where he acts in the person of Christ. But the sacraments should be  celebrated in a way that make sense to the Christian community. 

In last week’s Gospel (Luke 24: 35 - 48) Christ’s  disciples recognised him in the breaking of bread. Has the Eucharist a similar significance for us? Sacraments link the human with the divine. 

There is urgent need for dialogue, for a forum where all baptised people can talk openly and honestly and respectfully  about their search and journey towards God. The kindness of St Peter and his companions must play an important part in the life of every Christian and suffuse our dealings with each other. 

One of the striking characteristics of Peter and his companions, who act in the person of Christ, was their kindness in bringing comfort and healing to the sick. 

The Good Shepherd, the Christ-like figure at the back of the queue might well play a far more significant role than we acknowledge. 

The Good Shepherd embodies the real meaning of service. When we encounter faith-filled service we know we have been privileged to witness the un-showy  work of the Good Shepherd. And we encounter it in so many different forms, places and settings.

Tomorrow’s Gospel is a timely reminder for us to thank all those who have helped and shepherded us to get through these, the strangest of times. 

Fr Martin Bormann with Dominican connections

On this day, April 23, 1945 Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advised Hitler that the telegram sent by Hermann Göring to Hitler asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich was treasonous. 

Bormann died by suicide as the Red Army advanced on Berlin Mitte. His body was later found at Lehrter Rail Station, where now stands Berlin’s Main Rail station

Martin Bormann’s son, called Martin Adolf, converted to Catholicism, joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and was ordained a priest in 1958.  He spent some time working in the Belgian Congo. He also taught in an Austrian boarding school.

In 1969 he had a near fatal road accident. As a result of that accident he met Dominican Sister Cordelia, whom he married in 1971.

In 2011 Bormann was accused by a former pupil of raping him. Bormann was suffering from dementia and no case was taken against him. Other former pupils accused him of physical violence.

Bormann died in 2013 in Herdecke in North Rhine Westfalia.

The three of them

After a difficult day to come out the main door of the hospital to see this. What’s

to be said or done?

And they were so cheeky about everything. They took no notice of anyone near them. People tried to separate them, no chance.

Nature.

Today is Earth Day.  https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2021/

The East German car called after Martin Luther

The Irish Times of Tuesday carried an article by theologian Gessa Thiessen titled ‘Luther was willing to die for his belief in God'.

In the piece she quotes from his famous speech at the Diet of Worms. The last sentence in that speech goes: “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen’.

That has sometimes been translated as: “Here I stand; I can go no further.’

During the life of the German Democratic Republic the two most popular cars were the Trabant and the Wartburg, the Wartburg being the more ‘luxurious’ of the two.

The Wartburg was built in Eisenach, which is near the Wartburg castle where Martin Luther translated the Bible.

One of the tools the East Germans had for surviving and turning a blind eye to their government was to make jokes about their poor standard of living. 

They nicknamed the Wartburg ‘The Martin Luther Wagen’ because just as Luther could no no further, the Wartburg too could go no further. In other words its best-known attribute was to break down.

Council gloves that proved the perfect fit

This week’s Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

I keep saying it, it’s the small things that make the difference. And so often we can be oblivious to them.

Jesuit priest Peter McVerry was interviewed on the Tommy Tiernan Show on Easter Saturday. At one stage during the interview Tommy asked Peter what advice would he give when one encounters someone begging on the street. Peter McVerry made an interesting point. He said that even if we don’t want to part with any of our money, any time we pass someone begging we should make a point of saying hello to them.

Being pleasant never goes amiss.

Some days earlier I had an eye test at 8.30am. It was one of those extremely cold days. It was a five kilometre cycle from house to destination and unwisely I had never thought of taking a pair of gloves with me.

It was freezing. In fact it was quite extraordinary. I  seldom if ever wear gloves even in deep winter and yet on this morning in early April my fingers were numb. 

Just as I parked my bicycle outside the shop I met a council worker pushing one of those electric rubbish carts. He was wearing standard safety gloves for the job. The cheeky person that I am I asked him if he might have a spare pair as my hands were freezing. He went to the trouble of looking in the different compartments of the cart, unfortunately he could find nothing. But he was so nice and friendly.

We had a chat about the cold day. And we both agreed that it was most unseasonable weather.

We had parted company and I was a few metres away when he called me back. He found a pair of disposable plastic gloves in his pocket and offered them to me. He said they would do the job as they were waxed. I was delighted with myself as I had another five kilometre cycle to work so the gloves would do the job.

Sitting in the waiting room for my eye test I could not believe how cold my fingers still were.

I appreciated my new disposable wax gloves. Okay, I can hear you say that the man should not have given me the gloves as they were the property of the council. Correct and technically speaking I should not have taken them. But really is that the world we want to live in? 

It might be the world of good practice and propriety but really is it not a tad draconian?

I still remember in philosophy class fadó fadó the lecturer introducing us to the word epikeia. It’s that principle in ethics which says that a law can be broken to achieve a greater good. My refuse cleaner knew his philosophy.

Some days later I told a council worker the story of the gloves. He smiled and told me he often gives gloves on cold mornings to homeless people when he passes them in on the street.

I was back thinking of what Peter McVerry had said on the Tommy Tiernan Show.

A kind word, a kind act never goes astray. And think also of the great marketing job those two council workers did. At least for me, their kindness far surpassed any slick marketing campaigns or expensive advertising.

Disaster headlines can be seductive

Pat Leahy in his column in The Irish Times on Saturday wrote:

“The lure of disaster headlines is great but it pays to pause, consider the context and take a breath before making decisions or pronouncements."

A day in the life

On this day in 1941 the President of Ireland was born. Eight years later, 1949 also on April 18 Ireland was declared a republic.

On April 18, 1964 Scottish historian Niall Ferguson was born.

German-American engineer and physicist Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955

Today is International Day for Monuments and Sites.

Tempus fugit.

Russia sends troops west during historic days

On this day, April 17, 1945 the Soviet Army made its final push on Berlin.

They attacked from the south and the east, encircling the city after successful battles at Halbe and on the Seelow Heights.

On Hitler's birthday, April 20 Georgi Zhukov's First Belorussian Front began to shell the city centre.

On April 23 Helmuth Weidling took charge of all German forces in Berlin.

On April 25 the Red Army joined up with the US Army at Torgau on the Rive Elbe.

The Red Army lost 100,000 troops in the Battle of Berlin. German casualties are unknown.

Is it a coincidence that Russia has in these days sent over 80,000 troops to Crimea and the Ukrainian border?

Priest favours Xi Jinping over Micheál Martin

Below is a link to a Mass celebrated yesterday in the Dominican church in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

In the sermon the celebrant, Fr John Harris says the Irish Government treats the Catholic Church in a more draconian way than the Chinese government under the leadership of Xi Jinping treats Chinese Catholics.

Is this a first for Micheál Martin to be compared in such terms to Xi Jinping?

Is it Covid that is making people say strange things? Probably not.

https://youtu.be/njSvkUmHjAo

John Allen speaks kind words about Ratzinger and Küng

This is an interesting piece by Catholic observer John Allen.

It includes pieces on Pope Benedict and Hans Küng.

Pope Benedict is 94 today.

https://youtu.be/LyQAnHuag38

A worrying error on new Dublnbikes app

Dublinbikes have launched a new app.

But there is at least one major fault with the app, which causes great worry and concern to Dublinbike users.

In the My Usage Statistic it gives details of one's usage. But the facts, figures and details are all incorrect. It shows the times and duration of your usage. These statistics are all incorrect.

Dublinbikes is aware of this error and continues to leave the app available. It should be corrected immediately.

A customer could easily think that their card has been cloned and that they are paying for a service they have not used.

Any attempt to phone Dublinbikes is a torturous experience.

A number of the new battery assisted bikes are now available at all stations.

It will be interesting to see will the new battery- operated bikes be successful.

The picture above shows one of the new battery assisted Dublinbikes.

"Little England has always been for the little people"

The Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole had an interesting piece in his paper yesterday.

He writes about Prince Philip and how he was in fact a rootless cosmopolitan, about which the culture warriors of the right have ignored.

He "reminds the reader how during the Brexit debate the then prime minister Theresa May attacked those who "have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road."

O'Toole retells how May warned the electorate "if you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere."

He explains how the story around Prince Philip allows us to see how bogus the whole anti-elitist, anti-cosmopolitan, anti-European, anti-immigrant discourse around Brexit really is.

A powerful final sentence: "Little England has always been for the little people."

Ominous signs coming out of China

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

On April Fool’s Day I read a report in a national newspaper about RTÉ reporter Yvonne Murray packing her bags and leaving China. Unfortunately it was anything but an April Fool’s joke. Instead it is a true story that I for one find extremely frightening and should cause the world great concern.

For over a year or so Yvonne has appeared on our television screens reporting from China and giving first-hand accounts and analysis of what might have happened at Wuhan where Covid-19 first reared its ugly head.

Her husband is well known BBC correspondent John Sudworth.

The couple, who have been living in China for nine years left the country at the end of March and are now living in the nearby island of Taiwan.

They left the People’s Republic of China because they were getting concerned about their safety.

It was becoming more and more difficult for them to renew their visas and then the day they left home to go to the airport to travel to Taiwan they said they were followed all the way to the airport by Chinese security services.

Mainland China claims ‘ownership’ of Taiwan which is also known as the Republic of China. Since 1971 the United Nations recognises Mainland China and today most of the big powers have diplomatic relations with Mainland China and no embassies in Taiwan. The Holy See is one of a small number of countries who continue to have an embassy in Taiwan.

The Holy See is currently in negotiations with the Beijing government in setting up diplomatic relations. In 2018 the Vatican and the Chinese government did a deal on the appointment of bishops in China. 

The story of the Catholic Church in China is complicated and right now the Vatican’s top diplomat Cardinal Pietro Parolin is in delicate negotiations with Beijing. Indeed, he has many critics within the church for his diplomatic overtures towards the Communist government in China.

Xi Jinping has been president of the People’s Republic since 2013 and in 2018 the Chinese legislature reappointed Xi as president but on this occasion there is no time limit to his period of power. 

He’s China’s strong man.

Since 2015 the government in Beijing has interned over one million Uighers. The Uighers are Chinese Muslims who mainly live in the northwest of the country. 

Beijing claims all that they are doing is trying to put a stop to Islamist terrorism and the camps are places of re-education. The Uighers, opposition Chinese journalists and their counterparts in the West claim the camps are more akin to concentration camps.  The stories coming out of the camps do not make for pleasant reading.

It would seem that China is becoming an ever more secret and dark place.

It has reneged on the agreement it made with the UK over the governance of Hong Kong.

These days it is making loud noises about its claims on Taiwan. Indeed, it can’t be long before it makes moves on its neighbouring island.

How long will it be before Yvonne Murray and her family will have to pack their bags and move yet again?

Johnson’s lies and inaction offer no help in Northern Ireland

This piece by Jonathan Powell is one of the best pieces yet written on the current violence in Northern Ireland.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/11/boris-johnson-posturing-has-put-northern-ireland-fragile-peace-at-grave-risk

Live simply and love generously

"Live simply, love generously"

Peter McVerry, Jesuit priest who works with and for the homeless in Dublin.

The comment was made on RTÉ's Tommy Tiernan Show on Saturday evening.

Killenaule woman makes history at Aintree

As Minella Times was being led into the winner's enclosure at Aintree yesterday, having won the Grand National, winning jockey Rachael Blacmore was asked a question about being the first woman to win the race replied smilingly: " I don't feel male or female, not even human. This is just unbelievable."

Later in an interview, together with trainer Henry De Bromhead, she said when she was a child she never imagined sh'e get a ride in this race. "This is the race that captures every young person."

"Jumping the second last I was thinking I'm still going well here. I slightly let myself think it might happen but you have to cross the line too.

"It is an unimaginable feeling, you can't even get close to dreaming about it."

Winning trainer Henry de Bromhead gave Rachael her great praise, adding with a laugh: "She might become a bit of a prima donna.

Just before she headed off for her next race, Rachel said: "I can't believe I'm Rachael Blackmore. I never thought this would be possible for me."

When asked what advice she would give young girls, she said: "Keep your dreams big."

It makes no sense to say the media is truly free

This comment was posted in response to a blog on The Future of the Media Commission on March 10. It deserves mention.

In 1960 AJ Liebling wrote that the freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. 

Freedom of the press, as we normally understand it, does not guarantee access of the public to the press, nor the truth of what is written or said. 

The reality is that the press is not truly free. The media tend to be in thrall to their owners or shareholders. 

Business interests are consistently reflected in the choices media make when reporting. 

There is scant coverage of poverty. In fact, celebrities garner far more coverage than the poor or homeless. 

We have no guarantee that society will be well served by the press. Look at tabloid journalism in the UK, or Murdoch’s media empire in Australia, or the political cesspit that is AM radio in the USA. 

These are all perversions of what a free press ought to be, yet their outputs are consumed daily by millions.

Ireland has already headed down the path of “infotainment” and so-called “reality tv”. Neither promises us much for the future.

Investigation into behaviour of Polish Dominican priest

This is a link to an article in the current issue of Crux.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2021/04/dominicans-in-poland-launch-investigation-of-abusive-priest/

RTÉ hands out licence payers' money in defamation case

According to a report in yesterday's media RTÉ has paid in excess of €150,000 to Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire in settlement of a defamation case.

The Cork South Central TD took High Court action against the State broadcaster last summer following comments made about him on the Joe Duffy Liveline programme.

In another case RTÉ agreed to pay €20,000 to a charity for comments they made  about the murder of Lyra McKee.

Before Monday evening's Prime Time there was much razzmatazz about the new format of the programme. The set was confusing and far too busy. What did anyone learn from the show?

It was difficult to know exactly what Heath Minister Stephen Donnelly was trying to say with all the interruptions from Sarah McInerney.

The programme was worse than a damp squib.

RTÉ is a public service broadcaster.

Is the licence payer getting value for money?

It's relatively easy for RTÉ to pay out other people's money for defamation cases.

World renowned theologian Hans Küng dies in Tübingen

World-renowned theologian and church critic Hans Küng died on Tuesday in the German city of Tübingen. He was 92 years of age. He had been suffering from Parkinsons for a number of years.

Pope John XXIII appointed Küng an adviser at the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965) along with the then Joseph Ratzinger.

The president of the German Bishops Conference Georg Bätzing praised Küng as a recognised and combative researcher, who stood by his convictions.

The president of Baden-Württemberg, Green politician Winfried Kretschmann praised Küng for his work in dialoguing between religions and cultures.

He saw him as a guiding inspiration for many people, including himself and recognised his world-status in questions of faith, in matters concerning ethics.

Küng was born in Switzerland in 1928. He began his theological studies in Rome when he was 20. After a short period as a curate in Luzern he started out on his academic research in Münster.

In 1960 he was appointed a professor in Tübingen where he was to spend the rest of his life.

Tess, old and sick, recognised my voice

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column

Michael Commane

Over the years I have written many times in this column about Tess my Labrador. Indeed, in some ways I used this column as a quasi diary about her.

Regularly on a Saturday we would head off on a 20 kilometre walk. She would love it and seem never to tire.

Every weekday, winter and summer we were out walking in a nearby park before 6.30am. And then in the evening she’d be anxiously waiting for her evening walk.

I remember on one occasion going out to the shed one morning to take her for her walk and she was lying there unable to stand up and certainly she did not want to go for any walk. What had happened was that friends of mine had kept her for the weekend as 

I was away and unbeknownst to them she had managed to eat a large quantity of a chocolate cake. Chocolate and dogs don’t mix.

I managed to get Tess to the vet and fortunately she made a full recovery. She spent a few days with the vet and there were moments when I was very worried about her. 

But Tess was growing old and because I was out at work all day she was on her own. My friends who minded her anytime I was away felt I was being cruel leaving her all day on her own. Eventually they convinced me that she would be far happier and better looked after if she stayed with them. They live less than two kilometres from me. 

It has to be four years since she moved to her new residence. They are a married couple and the woman of the house had just retired so Tess had company all day. 

It was a moment of mixed feelings for me but I knew she would have the best of care.

And so she has. Last week she had a health scare so naturally I went down to see her. Yes, she is feeble. 

For a Labrador she is a great age. I think she could well be 14 or 15. When I knocked at the door Nora told me she was sleeping at the Aga. Because of Covid-19 I didn’t go into the house. And guess what, who appears from behind the door. Very slow on her feet, she had been through a few tough days, but in spite of old age and her illness, Tess had recognised my voice and the moment she saw me she sidled up to me, tail wagging. Tess came over and sat right down at me feet. I had come from work and was dressed accordingly. Tess was shedding her coat, it meant my trousers were covered in her hair. So what, I was ecstatic to see her and to know she had survived another narrow escape.

When I was growing up we always had a dog at home. Of course I remember their names. I cried my eyes  out when they died. In the last 20 years I have had two dogs. It really is amazing the bond that’s built up between a dog and a human.

I often heard my father say that if a human is kind to an animal, it’s most likely they’ll be kind to humans too. There’s much wisdom in that.

Marilyn Munroe’s quote is clever, it says a lot about both dogs and humans: ‘Dogs never bite me. Just humans.’ It’s something Tess never thought of doing.

Just before filing this column I checked in on Tess and she’s doing fine.

Is it time for Michael D Higgins to address the nation?

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took the unusual step to address the German people about Covid.

Could we not follow suit and maybe our President should address the people on the issue.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-president-makes-rare-national-plea-amid-covid-pandemic/a-57088869?maca=en-EMail-sharing

A sign of our Christian faith

One often hears people, especially priests, bemoan the state of faith in the country.

Are we less Christian than we were, say, 20, 30, 40 years ago?

Surely, it is close to impossible to answer that question.

On Palm Sunday in the hospital where I work a large quantity of blessed palm was left in the oratory.

By Good Friday it was all gone.

A blessed and happy Easter to all readers of this blog.

Listening on Good Friday to priests talking

The day after Good Friday.

With no churches open to the public in the State, Good Friday was an ideal occasion to surf church webcams.

Whether or not a good idea, difficult to say. Plenty of reasons to lose one's faith and some moments of inspiration.

I heard a priest talk about misappropriating words. What might that mean? It might be he was trying to sound profound. Maybe profundity and silliness are much closer than we realise.

Below are two links. In each a Catholic priest is talking.

One priest is intemperate, the other priest seems to speak wise words.

Some quotes from each of the men:

"Eternity is a very long time."

"Dialogue is not the answer."

"If he wins I blame the bishops."

"Sacrilege, it just makes me sick."

"Experience is the best school but the fees are high."

"You are mature when you know you are not."

One of the priests quoted from Fr Leo Trese, born in 1902 and a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

"The only epitaph a priest should want on his headstone is that he was kind."

If you watch the two links you will quickly know which priest is saying what.

One thing is certain priests are an eclectic bunch.

https://youtu.be/Yu3N-FmCTWs

https://youtu.be/FP1mrE7lGwI

One billion people get a taste of Kerry Group

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And it all began in Kerry. Kerry Group HQ is in Princes's Street, Tralee.

Archbishop Farrell sets up task force to examine diocese

Below is the sermon preached by Archbishop Dermot Farrell at the Chrism Mass, celebrated today, Holy Thursday in the Pro Cathedral.

I extend a warm welcome all those priests and lay faithful who are participating by webcam with us in the celebration of our Chrism Mass. “The spirit of the Lord is given us … to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken, to proclaim liberty to captives … and comfort to all who mourn” (Isa 61:1–2).  

In this tumultuous year, these words of the prophet Isaiah, resonate not just with the charism of priesthood, but even more deeply with our people in this very difficult time—so filled with worry and threat, living—maybe trying to survive—in the shadow of death.  This circumstance—with its weariness and lack of liberty, but also with the generosity, courage, and hope shown by so many—should not prevent us from being in communion with one another through God’s Word and Spirit.  We may be at home, but we are not alone. Although we are physically separated from each other, we are one in Christ, as we join together in celebration of the deepest mysteries of our faith … and indeed of the precious life God gives us.

 

On Tuesday evening the country learned of the Government’s strategy regarding the return to public worship. I think we all understand the worrying context in which the decision was made.  It is clearly a matter of concern that the reported level of Covid-19 infection has stayed well above what had been expected, while the pace of vaccination has been much slower than promised.

 

I welcome the announcement of the increase in the number of family members who can attend the funeral Mass of their loved one, although it is not clear why this measure has been delayed for one month.

 

However, I will continue to emphasise to Government the importance of the earliest possible return to the public worship, and that the easing of restrictions must not be subordinated to powerful commercial interests, even those considered “non-essential.”  

There will be further direct engagement with Government to ensure that specific positive consideration is given to public worship by the end of April.  The significant care with which any re-opening of churches for public worship will be approached by Church authorities is well attested. 

Furthermore, the vulnerability of many of those attending Mass is not lost upon those of us in ministry. My call for easing of restrictions on public worship is based on a fair process for the reopening of society as conditions permit. 

 

Jesus began his public ministry by making his own the mission of the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me … to bring the good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison, to comfort all who mourn” (Isa 61:1–2).  This passage speaks plainly to us.  We too are called and sent by the Lord to share this same mission. We know this. It is not always before our eyes, but we know it.

 

We are sent out to heal and to comfort, to set free and to reconcile, to raise up and make glad, and to be a proclaimer of the Gospel, a minister of reconciliation and of liberation, in the world that is sometimes cynical, which in many respects is undergoing rapid and continual evolution.

 

When Jesus spoke, people who considered themselves authentically religious, forcefully rejected him.  The same can happen when we are concerned by, and critique certain aspects of how life unfolds in our society and culture.  And life is threatened in so many dimensions—from its most fragile and intimate, to its most global: we remember that the very survival of our planet is under increasing threat.  

To become effective ministers in the hands of the Lord for the sake of all, we must summon up the courage to confront our fear and speak the word of God to the culture as Jesus did in his day.  Without the “hand-in-hand sacraments” of the Word and the Eucharist to nourish us and challenge us, what has the Church to offer our contemporaries?

 

Let us not forget that the Church throughout its 2,000-year history has always had to cope with new conditions and new challenges.  Responding effectively to this rapidly changing culture is a new challenge for the Church in Dublin.   While there are indeed many challenges facing us right now, we should not be despondent or lose hope as we pastorally respond to a much more culturally diverse society.  However, only an effective exercise of synodality—and by this I mean a mode of being Church where people and clergy exercise collaborative leadership and co-responsibility by journeying together and gathering in assembly, listening to each other and to the Spirit—within the Church can help us read the signs of the times today and interpret them in the light of the gospel which is an essential task for the Church in a diocese at any particular time (See Gaudium et spes, 4).  

 

All of us who care about the life the gospel offers are called to real engagement with people in our parishes, with their problems and struggles, with their contradictions and their values, with the opportunities and difficulties.  Like Jesus, we simply cannot be detached from our people.   

Our years ministering will be years of suffering for and with other people. Like Jesus, we will love others only if we walk with them in the valley of darkness—the dark valley of sickness, and the dark valley of moral dilemmas. “The evils of our world—and those of the Church—must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervour.  Let us look upon them as challenges which can help us to grow.  … Our faith is challenged to discern how wine can come from water and how wheat can grow in the midst of weeds” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 84). 

 

There may be no roadmap for our engagement with parish communities, but as priests, deacons, religious and laity it is necessary to have the courage of witness, to choose the uphill path of the new pastoral mind-set and not to take the downhill path of the sound pastoral strategies of the past. To turn to Pope Francis, “people who have not yet received the Gospel message do not live only in non-Western continents; they live everywhere, particularly in vast urban concentrations that call for a specific pastoral outreach. In big cities, we need other ‘maps’, other paradigms, which can help us reposition our ways of thinking and our attitudes…” (Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia, 21st December, 2019).  

 

Sometimes as clergy we overlook the fact that the laity too are called to share in the mission and ministry of the church.  The ordained ministry does not exhaust or monopolise this ministry, for it is the Church as a whole that is ‘ministerial’ and all its members share in that responsibility.  Parish by parish we need to encourage the active incorporation of all the baptised in the life and responsibilities of the Church. “Making a synodal Church a reality is an indispensable precondition for a new missionary energy that will involve the entire People of God” (The International Theological Commission, “Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church”, 9).  

Every member of the Church, starting with the young, will participate in the synodal practice that henceforth will be part of the life of the Church.  Clergy must try to walk together with women and men with ever greater enthusiasm and without thinking that we already have the best answer or all the answers.  We must try to draw on many people and listen to many voices.  Such an approach requires both humility and courage, to recognise that one cannot do everything on one’s own.

 

The Church in Dublin faces challenges which require immediate action, not least to prepare a recovery from the severe impact of the pandemic. We are called to undertake a journey of regeneration confident that, “the future does have a name, and its name is Hope...the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow” (Pope Francis, TED Conference, 26 April 2017). 

 

To advance analysis and encourage dialogue and engagement, I established a Task Force on a Church for the Dublin of Tomorrow, under the title Building Hope.  Composed of clergy, religious and laypeople, the Task Force will prepare an assessment of the needs of the people of the Archdiocese of Dublin as we emerge from the Covid-19 crisis. In the light of that analysis, I am asking the Task Force to prepare an approach to a pastoral strategy that supports parish communities of faith to undertake a radical renewal, looking to the future with creativity. 

 

I want the Task Force to stimulate reflection and creative thinking across the whole community, in parishes and in organisations committed to the well-being of the people, to guide a process of dialogue which will continue as we develop and implement our plans for the future.

 

To assist the Task Force, I am also establishing an expert panel in the areas of the economic, social and pastoral situation in Dublin, and the trends which will shape our situation over the next 25 years.   Their advice will help us to consider the views and priorities of the many organisations delivering services to the people of Dublin. 

 

I have asked the Task Force to complete its work by the end of the Summer. There is an urgency, and this cannot be an endless process. It will give us all a basis for moving forward together with hope, confident that the Spirit is with those who respond to the call to follow the One who is the Lord of tomorrow as well as today.

 

As we renew the priestly promises of our ordination, we pray that we will realise that we are chosen, anointed and sent to minister to all the people in our pastoral care.  We are not alone, however, as “the Risen Jesus accompanies us on our way and enables us to recognize him, as the disciples of Emmaus did, ‘in the breaking of the bread’ (Luke 24:35).  May he find us watchful, ready to recognize his face and run to our brothers and sisters with the good news: ‘We have seen the Lord!’” (John 20:25) (Saint Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, par 59).