This concluding paragraph from a review of "The Irish College, Rome, and Its World" [Catholic Historical Review 2009/4] may interest readers.
The most startling statements are made in the chapter on the college and Vatican II. Michael Smith, the present bishop of Meath, who was a student during this period, offers some very frank insights into the Irish hierarchy of the time. He states that the Irish bishops did not expect the Council to last long nor make any impact on the life of the Church, said very little at the Council itself and did not try to communicate what was happening, did not seek briefings from theologians nor from other bishops, had a minimal relationship with the Irish journalists assigned to the Council, and only encountered their fellow Irish-born bishops at a dinner toward the end of the Council.
The letter of the Council came to Ireland, but not the spirit. The Irish College is no longer full of Irish seminarians.
[Fergus O'Donoghue S.J.
Irish Jesuit Archives, Dublin]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Featured Post
An RTE interview impossible to understand
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland yesterday there was an item on Ryanair paying an extra bonus to staff who ‘catch’ passenger attempting to carry o...
-
The story below is from The Irish Times of yesterday. The article is written by Arthur Beesley. On face value this is a shocking story and i...
-
This is written by Episcopalian priest Andrew Thayer, rector at Trinity Church, New Orleans. I t was published in The New York Times. On Su...
-
Dominican priest Leo Donovan died in Kiltipper Woods Care Centre, Tallaght on Saturday morning, February 17. Leo had been over two years in ...
No comments:
Post a Comment