'Irish church not listening to Pope Francis'

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

Michael Commane

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) organised four regional meetings ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland.

The theme of the meetings was: ‘What do we need to say to Pope Francis about the Irish church?’

I attended the eastern meeting, which was held on Wednesday, July 18 in the DCU St Patrick’s Campus.

Brendan Hoban, a priest of the Killala diocese and a founding member of the ACP gave a 10-minute talk at the Dublin meeting before opening it to the floor and inviting people to verbalise what they would say to Pope Francis about the Irish church if they met him on the street.

People were encouraged to speak openly and honestly.

A summary of each meeting is being prepared and a press release will be issued with the main topics highlighted.

A synopsis of what was said at the four meetings will be forwarded to Pope Francis.

In his introductory remarks Fr Hoban asked why the Irish church was not listening to Pope Francis.

He pointed out that the Irish church was in a crisis and at such a time it was opportune for people to share their hopes and dreams, indeed, they had a duty of loyalty to the Gospel.

Fr Hoban said that the current leadership in the Irish Catholic Church does not encourage people to speak and that sometimes their voices are resented.

He stressed how we are living in changing times. He finds it interesting that Pope Francis and the people want the same kind of church.

Brendan referred to a recent survey carried out in the Killala diocese, in which 69 per cent of respondents are in favour of women priests, 81 per cent would like to see married priests and men who had resigned from priesthood should be invited to return to ministry should they so wish.

He told the meeting there are between 15 and 20 men studying in Maynooth for priesthood and that the archdiocese of Dublin, with over one million Catholics in name, has three men studying for priesthood.

He believes that in the midst of these huge problems there are reasons for hope.

The questions people had for Pope Francis from the floor were as varied and as disparate as imaginable. Some interesting, some wise, and there were one or two people who wanted to make statements.

It did strike me that the church is a wide panoply of people. But it was evident from the meeting that many people are angry and in pain and that there is no real platform to deal with that pain and anger.

The old world is disintegrating in front of our eyes, something that has positive and negative aspects, but is there an Irish church leader, who is seriously addressing the current crisis?

Brendan Hoban on the ACP website cogently writes:

‘Part of the problem we have in the Irish Catholic Church is that little respect was given to the critical voices that time and again warned against the icebergs stalking our voyage. A lack of vision, a failure in leadership and an inability to cope with the complexities of a changing world meant that the uncritical voices, especially those that echoed official thinking, were given an inordinate influence in the last few decades. And anyone who didn’t subscribe to the old conservatism was taken out in some shape or form. As it was in the beginning . . . was the way it would always be.’

Wise words. I hope Pope Francis hears them.