Can the God of love be involved in any type of warfare?

It takes all shapes and sizes to form any community, organisation, and that applies to all the various churches too.

Most Christian churches in the western world are currently in crisis.  

Last week American priest Mike Schmitz spoke at the National Stadium. It attracted a certain section of society but what have his words to say to the vast majority of Irish people?

The temptation to return to a former vocabulary and style is not going to work and it is not healthy.

The idea of running an event for Father and Son runs counter to the times in which we are living. Is the Catholic Church not man-centred enough?

A woman who saw this ad yesterday commented with one word: 'toxic'.

An organisation with the name 'The Angelic Warfare Confraternity' is alien to the modern ear. Can the God that the Vatican Council and Popes Leo and Francis speak about be a player in a war? When I think of war I think of two World Wars, the Vietnam War. The word Warfare sounds awful. Anyway, using the words confraternity and warfare in the one sentence is surely an oxymoron.

It's not popular or easy to criticise projects in an organisation where one belongs. But a time comes in everyone's life where they have to speak what they believe and think, and hope too. Indeed, it's profoundly sad that so many people within the church, who are uneasy with what is happening, are so silent.

The Dominican Order has been renowned for centuries in preaching and living the Word of  God in a language and style in a contemporary manner. But there have been times when it got it wrong and very wrong.

All part of the history of the Order. It is also the Dominican tradition that people can speak their mind, something that is respected and treasured. Truth is the motto of the Dominican Order.

_______________

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

- Martin Niemöller