It is easy to get fed up listening to priests and journalists

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

While working with Concern Worldwide I attended a conference in Dublin where former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, the then President Michael D Higgins and former US president Bill Clinton spoke. All three are fine speakers but the one who stole the show for me was Bill Clinton.

It was September 2018. He spoke during that dead hour immediately after lunch. I remember listening attentively to him and indeed, felt he was specifically speaking to me. He has that skill.

If you asked me now, eight years later, what he said, I have not a clue, nor do I remember a word any of the three speakers said. But I remember that it was a Concern Worldwide conference, whose job it is to support developing countries. 

Similarly, listening once to the late Dr AJF (Tony)  O’Reilly; the moment he opened his lips I was enthralled by him. And again I have no idea what he said that evening. I do remember it was at a book launch.

Dominicans put the letters OP after their name; it stands for Order of Preachers. It sounds grand and fancy.

Pope Francis often had a sideswipe at priests for their poor sermons, he also criticised them for talking too long.

It’s an extraordinary privilege a priest has to be able to stand up in front of people and talk to them.

But maybe priests are akin to journalists, no matter how good they are, you eventually simply get fed up with them.

Maybe I’m intolerant but I can honestly say it is not too often I walk out of a church impressed or inspired by the words I hear. I have no idea how many times I have found myself screaming to myself, pleading with the priest to shut up.

I don’t like the word preaching. There’s a patronising tone to it.

There’s a funny side to everything. I celebrated Mass on Easter Sunday with a small group of elderly religious sisters. I’d never been there before and was somewhat nervous. I prepared what I was going to say after the Gospel.

During the Mass there was little or no reaction from the sisters; I thought they were deep in prayer and probably too polite to show any outward experience of how they were feeling.

Over a cup of coffee after Mass I learned most of the women were hard of hearing.

The moral of that story is anytime anyone is talking they should make it their business to know something about the people to whom they are speaking. 

And in many ways that touches Pope Francis’ ideas on synodality. It’s the concept that the church has to develop better relationships within its communities. It’s a great idea but I keep thinking the hierarchical church in Ireland deep down is afraid of any such ‘crazy ideas’.

There is an entrenched pomposity, a type of arrogance that is evident in the clerical state. Pope Francis had serious issues with clericalism. It appears Pope Leo has too. As it is the Easter Season it’s fitting to cry, Alleluia.

And by the way, Mass can be celebrated as sacredly and devoutly in English or in any language. What’s special about Latin? Elitism, religious snobbery? Maybe

Alleluia.

Donald Trump hurls his usual invective at Pope Leo

It’s been on every television screen, in every newspaper, the story of President Donald Trump criticising Pope Leo. using unseemly language, as is his style.

Late last evening JD Vance advised Pope Leo to stick with matters of morality; the old chestnut. It really is the last straw in the cupboard of the White House.

Pope Leo who is on a visit to Algeria says he does not fear Trump. Pope Leo says he is not a politician and it’s his job to preach a message of peace.

Below is the story as told by the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/13/donald-trump-pope-leo?CMP=share_btn_url

A clarification on Tom Brodie’s leaving the Irish Dominicans

The text below also appears under the post  'More thoughts on the late Tom Brodie, former Dominican’, published on Wednesday, April 8. 

The piece below is written by Vivian Boland, who served for a number of years as an assistant to the Master of the Order. He is a theologian, author and teacher.

This blog cherishes dialogue and open discussion. 

Vivian Boland’s clarification:

"In fairness to all involved: it is not correct that Tom Brodie was 'summarily dismissed' from the Order by a 'committee of experts’. 

"On the publication of his book there were conversations between Tom and at least two commissions of the brothers. 

"One was appointed by the Irish province and when it found against his book he appealed to the Master of the Order, as was his right. 

"The Master established another, international, commission to review the situation and the decision of the Irish province. That commission also found against Tom's book, judging the views it put forward to be unfounded. 

"The same judgement came from the theologians and biblical scholars who contributed to a special issue of Doctrine & Life which considered his arguments. 

"Neither commission had the authority, nor did either attempt, to dismiss Tom from the Order. It is true that he could no longer preach or teach in the name of the Order or of the Church and he decided then to request laicisation. 

"But he was not dismissed from the Order, nothing was done 'summarily', and 'committees of experts' were not involved at any stage with the question of his membership of the Order."

A Poem for Second Sunday of Easter

                 Encountering Judas - Gillian Hick

 As the week of Easter liturgies draws to a close,

As the women, faithful and unwavering to the end, linger in their liminal space,

As the Apostles, having hastily departed, slowly regroup,

As Jesus meets them on The road to Emmaus,

I can’t help but wonder,

What about Judas?

 

In the Gospels,

They conveniently wrote him out.

According to Mathew, he hung himself.

In the Acts, his blood spilled in Akeldama.

And Matthias was quickly shuffled in to conceal the empty chair at the table.

But still I wonder,

What about Judas?

 

In a magnificent painting depicting the Last Supper,

Jesus sits surrounded by his chosen people -

The eleven, mimicking him, with hands held piously to heart and heads encircled by a holy halo.

Only Judas stands back,

Behind Our Lords left shoulder,

No hand to heart, no holy halo.

Skulking,

Lurking.

Excluded and separate.

And I wonder,

What about Judas?

 

Judas too had been called and chosen,

Just like each one of us.

And did we not also cry ‘crucify him’ of Our Lord when his message of unconditional love and forgiveness challenged our own identity and self-righteousness?

Have we not, each one of us, washed our hands, as Pontious Pilate did, when we look away from the homeless man on the street, lost in a haze of the abandonment of addiction?

Have we not cried out for ‘the other’ to be stripped and whipped and led away when we can not recognise ourselves in them?

Or perhaps the self we see in ‘the other’ is so close to our own darkness that we need to quickly and definitively push it away where it can no longer threaten or challenge our own identity?

Our own sense of worthiness and belonging?

And so I wonder,

What about Judas?

In crucifying Judas, do we not also crucify the one who loved him into being?

 

In his dying moments, Jesus gave us the message of eternal life.

‘Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing’.

This message belongs to each one of us.

We ‘know not what we are doing’ when we exclude the other,

When we exclude our own inner leper,

When we frantically push our own self-righteousness to the front of the picture and hide away our Judas shadow.

And yet he forgives us.

But what about Judas?

 

Without Judas taking his place at the table,

The picture can never be complete.

This is the resurrection.

When all are included.

Each one of us, made in the image and likeness of God.

Each one of us loved into being.

Each one of us forgiven.

Each one of us,

Although we may not know or understand,

An integral part of creation.

Even Judas.

The international fuel crisis made worse for all of us

Strange times in Ireland. The flying of the Irish flag is not a good optic. The misuse of the national flag can cause alienation and can easily become a symbol of anger.

Some of those speaking for the protestors are expressing worrying and concerning sentiments.

Price of fuel all over the world has gone through the roof because of the actions of the US and Israel.

It is accepted that Russia is interfering malevolently across Europe in order to cause discontent among the population. Right now they are hard at work in Hungary supporting Viktor Orbán win Sunday’s election. 

US vice president JD Vance was in the country earlier this week offering election support to Orbán; an outrageous development in international affairs.

No doubt Russian media will exploit the Irish blockade; such chaos must bring great joy to Vladimir Putin. 

It’s not hyperbolic to suggest the people at the embassy on Orwell Road might be playing their hand in the chaos.

Author Paul Lynch in his book Prophet Song might well be telling a story that is not too far away for this little republic. The prize winning book comes highly recommended, if not disturbing.

It was the US and UK who destroyed democracy in Iran

On this day, April 9, 1972 United States B-52s resumed bombing North Vietnam, it was the first time since 1967 that the B-52s were used.

Three years later the people of Vietnam freed themselves of the invading army.

Approximately 1.2 million Vietnamese were killed and 58,000 US soldiers.

It was the Americans and British who ousted a democratically elected prime minister in Iran in the 1950s.

What the Americans are now doing in Iran will never be forgotten by the people of Iran. It’s also a possibility that the Trump bombing will unite the Iranians.

Trump's bombs can never kill the spirit of the people of Iran.

More thoughts on the late Tom Brodie, former Dominican

Below is a comment sent to this blog in recent days. It is also posted under the obit to Tom Brodie. 

It appears as it could easily be missed and it is worth a read. It is a pity the writer does not give their name. I can imagine a number of Dominicans will know who it is and I believe I too know the writer.

"Like Tom Brodie, I too was born in 1940 agus leis céil ordained July 10, 1966 at Clonliffe College chapel on Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra. I knew him very well as a dedicated and diligent fellow-student and subsequently on the Trinidad mission, where he was energetic and enthusiastic in unfurling the riches of Sacred Scripture for his students at the Seminary of St John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. 

“That he was summarily dismissed from the Order by 'a committee of experts' has me thinking; they (the committee) may have taken Ronald Knox's 'Enthusiasm' a little too much to heart. 

"I remember Knox's book and his characterisation of heresy as ‘enthusiasm' from the time it was read aloud in the Tallaght Priory refectory during meals in the 1960s - as was the practice then. 

"I value the previous comment by Mary D Hudson: 'Then I lost track of him. I’m so grateful to learn his last years were not spent alone.' 

"At the time of Tom's dismissal, I was visiting in the Limerick-Galway area and hoping to touch base with him but was unable to find where he was staying. I too lost track of him. At times like this I miss fr Jordan O'Brien's Far & Near newsletters of long ago. 

"Thank you, Michael, for keeping the diaspora in the loop on Irish Dominican happenings and much more. Beannachtaí Ná Cásca ort."

It’s the era of the trickster and three-card trick merchant

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

We live in the strangest of times and I can’t help thinking that it’s the era of the trickster and the flash salesman or woman.

Some weeks ago now I discovered on RTÉ news that there had been a malfunction with some of the new super duper ESB meters. The following day I checked my account to discover I had one of those meters. It meant it was showing that I had used exorbitant amounts of electricity in one day; nothing could have been further from the truth. I contacted ESB. Received two reply emails, PR jargon. 

When I pointed out to them that I would have preferred to have heard directly from the company than from the media they had nothing consequential to say. 

Some weeks later I logged on to the digital version of my daily newspaper, a note popped up  telling me it was not available. I called the newspaper and was told that the digital version was no longer part of my package. They explained that my package included the delivery of the newspaper to my home Fridays and Saturdays, but the digital version was a complimentary add-on.

It must be four or five years since a salesman knocked at my door asking me was I interested in subscribing to the newspaper. We chatted and I agreed to purchase. I understood the deal to be home delivery on Fridays and Saturdays, and digital version every day. There was no mention of the word complimentary.

It turns out, that unbeknownst to me, the digital aspect was complimentary. But to make it even more annoying they cancelled it without notifying me. 

When I pointed this out on the phone the agent, who was professional and pleasant, told me they were calling everyone to explain it to them but that they had not yet got around to calling me. And this from a newspaper that prides itself on being the paper of record.

I was flabbergasted and let him know how I felt. In the end we did a deal, whereby my digital newspaper has been restored and I still receive a hard copy of the newspaper on Fridays and Saturdays, indeed, I may be getting the full package at a cheaper rate than I was originally paying.

But it’s all the haggling and hassling that I have to do that simply exhausts and annoys me.

In recent days I’ve heard experts on radio advising people to shop around for cheaper private health insurance. 

Similar story with car insurance, one phone call, tell them you are going to change to another company and suddenly €50 might be knocked off your premium. What about the quiet, shy retiring person who would never think of making that call. 

Trump’s book ‘The Art of the Deal’ co-written with Tony Schwartz in 1987 is a handbook on how to become a trickster, a sort of up-market three-card trick merchant.

It seems to be the norm across all society these days.

Has loyalty lost its standing; is there any sort of moral code guiding us through these troubled times?

I keep asking myself is it all a scam, one big joke.

But it’s the season of Easter; I have hope.

Irish Rail stations and Stations of the Cross

The quiz below is clever and well worth doing. Someone jokingly said they did not know the answer to the question on the Stations of the Cross. 

The person took them seriously and asked: ‘How many are there?'

 Quiz: How much do you know about train stations? https://jrnl.ie/7000725

The foulmouthed draft dodger makes more vile threats

 The foulmouthed language from the US president tells the world exactly who he is. Compare his vulgarity and crudity with the culture and wonder of Iranian history.

The lives that are being lost, the buildings and homes being destroyed, all at the command of a draft dodger.

This Easter Pope Leo and Archbishop Mullaly in their first Easter liturgies have called on Trump and Putin to stop the violence, indeed, a day hardly passes without Pope Leo speaking out against the war in Iran. He has called on those who have unleashed violence to choose peace instead.

Happy and holy Easter to readers of Occasional Scribbles

Happy and blessed Easter to readers of Occasional Scribbles, which first saw the light of day in 2007 and yesterday had over nine thousand hits.

                      Resurrection

_Moyst with one drop of thy blood, my dry soule_
Shall (though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) bee
Freed by that drop, from being starv’d, hard, or foule,
And life, by this death abled, shall controule
Death, whom thy death slue; nor shall to mee
Feare of first or last death, bring miserie,
If in thy little booke my name thou enroule,
Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified,
But made that there, of which, and for which ’twas;
Nor can by other meanes be glorified.
May then sinnes sleep, and deaths soone from me passe,
That wak’t from both, I againe risen may

_Salute the last, and everlasting day_. 

                                                            - John Donne                             

The little boy from Chicago who becomes Leo XIV

Not in any disparaging or insulting way, this is very American but it is worth watching. After all, he is an American pope, the first, to boot. And to his credit speaks out strongly against the antics of the president of the US.

From time to time there are little nuggets in it that you may well find interesting.

It’s about the life and times of Bob Prevost, the boy from Chicago, who becomes Pope Leo XIV.

He has close links with the Augustinian Villanova University, as did the late Ronnie Delany.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-11/leo-from-chicago-the-documentary.html

Bits and pieces about Donald Trump and his antics

Most days Pope Leo speaks out in opposition to war and those who cause war. It’s disappointing that Irish media never refers to what Pope Leo is saying.

Has Pope Leo told US Maga bishops to say nothing?

Celebrating  Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday evening in the papal basilica of St John Lateran, Pope Leo told his brother priests that they are to serve the Lord by giving all of their lives to the people of God, and stressed that in this time of great brutality around the world, we, too, are to kneel alongside the oppressed and all in need.

Has anyone noticed how President Donald Trump is walking slower up and down those steps to Air Force One?

English writer Michael Morpurgo spoke out strongly on Channel 4 News last against the behaviour Donald Trump.

President Macron criticised the US president for changing his mind on a daily basis.

New rules in Germany allow fuel stations raise prices only once a day and that’s at midday.

That Trump should say the US will bomb Iran back to the Stone Age is proof  he is an ignorant and stupid man. But clever to identify and harness the anger in people.

Comment made about former Dominican priest Tom Brodie

This comment was made yesterday. It also appears under the obit for Tom Brodie. It is posted here as it might be missed:

Thanks for posting this. I met Tom, back in the early '80s, when he attended the Catholic Biblical Institute at St. Scholastica in Duluth MN. He was a good friend for years. Then I lost track of him. I’m so grateful to learn his last years were not spent alone.

Blessings!
Mary D. Hudson

And the women were there… - a poem for Holy Week

A poem by Gillian Hick. Gillian is chaplain in the Training Unit at Mountjoy Jail. She studied theology at the Priory Institute.

‘Many women were there also, looking on from a distance’  (Mt. 27:55).

In that liminal space of Holy Saturday, 

the women were there.

And it seems like nothing has changed.

The women are still watching and waiting in that endlessly enduring liminal space.

And maybe that’s how it was always meant to be.

In the liminal space – intimately connected to the before, and the after…

In the liminal space – where words and doctrines and dogma have no place…

In the liminal space – where everything is, was and ever shall be…

In the endless depth and length and breadth of that liminal space – a place to hold, to encounter, to bear witness –  to all that is sacred – all that has been – all that will be …

Encircling - ever before - ever after..

Endlessly integrating, weaving – guided by the seamless input of the Divine - following, in the apparent silence, the unheard whisper…

In the liminal space – hearing the untold truths lurking deep within a wounded soul…

Painstakingly, agonisingly – drawing forth what has been held back – in the liminal space that knows no judgement of what has been or what will be…

In the liminal space, it is the women who sit, silently - nourishing, caressing, holding the vast heartache as it emerges from the wounded soul.

For in the liminal space, the penance is not just to love, but to love more extravagantly - to open the gate for unconditional love to flow – in harmony – in unity -

                   through Him,

                   with Him

                   in Him

  As it is, as it was and as it ever shall be…