US Dominicans call for non- violent intervention in Syria

The content below is taken from the website of the Dominican Order, Santa Sabina, Rome.

 A letter from Chris Eggleton, OP, Provincial of the Province of St. Martin de Porres, USA, to the friars of the province, inviting all Dominicans to fast for peace in Syria and the region. With his indulgence, I share it with you.

============

Dear Brothers,

This afternoon I celebrated a Mass for Peace and Non-Violence in Syria and in the whole of the Region. The use of any weapons, including chemicals, of any nation against its own citizens must cease but not by initiating more violence.  Resolving the conflicts in and around the nation of Syria requires urgent and direct intervention by non-violent means.

Pope Francis, hosting Jordan's King Abdullah, II at the Vatican, spoke about their agreement that using arms is not the solution to the enormous and deadly strife in Syria.  Francis also emphasized  the need for "dialogue and negotiation."  This means that the use of missile strikes from air, land or sea from any nation, including our United States, is not an option that should sit on the table.

For the Eucharist, I used the Common:  For Refugees and Exiles.  There are approximately 2.5 million people (just under the population of Arkansas) who have fled their beloved homeland of Syria and are living on the edge.  They are hungry for food and for hope.  There are also another four million people inside Syria who are hungry for the same.

We Dominicans are beggars.  I encourage us to fast and to pray for peace in this region and that no nation will take up missiles or other violent means to resolve the conflicts.  Along with others during the civil war in El Salvador (1980-1992) Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gomez, under the cloud of constant death threats, courageously and publicly preached non-violence.  He said:  "A fast is any action that promotes peace and justice."

There are editorials that can be written, congresspersons, senators and our president that can be contacted to advise the ways of non-violent means to achieve accords, and ultimately peace and a return of exiles to their homeland.  There are prayers of the faithful to be written and included in the liturgies.  

There are numerous means afforded to us to beg for the Gospel truths of peace, justice and reconciliation.  We are (friars) preachers saavy to the ways of entering the minds and hearts of others.  Let's be creative and preach for non-violence, for healing and for peace!

Fraternally yours in Christ and through the intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace and Dominic, Preacher of Grace,

Fr. Christopher T. Eggleton, O.P.

(30 August 2013)

Pope Francis' peace plea

Pope Francis calls for peace arguing against a military intervention in Syria.

Last night on BBC's Newsnight the former Soviet leader Michail Gorbatchev gave a brilliant interview pleading that Obama and Putin talk. He spoke of how rhe media is always looking for sensational news.

Wise words from a great man.

Tony Flannery and Brendan Hoban speak strong words

Strong words in yesterday's Irish Times by Frs Tony Flannery and Brendan Hoban.

Tony Flannery believes that the Vatican's silencing of him last year was really about dismantling the Association of Catholic Priests, of which he is a co-founder.

At the Humbert School in Ballina last weekend the Redemptorist priest  said that the great weapon of the (Roman) curia is secrecy; the great weapon of all oppressors.

His book 'A Question of Conscience' is to be published on Thursday, September 12.

Brendan Hoban is critical of the papal nuncio in the appointment of new bishops in Ireland.

Fr Hoban points out that "in recent months, five new bishops have been appointed to dioceses other than their own."

"Archbishop Brown, it seems, spent very little time in parish work and he has no formal training as a papal nuncio, in that he was catapulted out of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith into diplomatic service by Pope Benedict, as Rome's answer to the dysfunctional Irish Catholic Church.

"I'm not too sure with these two disabilities plus the inevitable problem of appreciating the nuances of a different culture that such crucial decision-making should be placed effectively in his exclusive hands," Fr Hoban said.

Dublin to Iran on a bicycle and not one single puncture

Sometime back in March or April Dean McMenamin, who had spent some time working as an intern in Concern Worldwide, announced he planned to cycle to India.

While working in Concern he sat at the desk next to mine. He is a young man, slight in build. When he announced his plans to cycle to India I suggested he try cycling around Ireland as a practice run. At this stage Dean did not own a bicycle. On purchase of the bicycle he invited me to see it and check it over. I still thought the idea of cycling to India was 'mad'. His parents too were worried.

Yesterday I received an email form Paul Lawlor in Tehran telling me that Dean had arrived safe and sound in the capital city of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

It really is incredible.

Before leaving on his new bicycle I promised I would ask the Dominicans in Iran and India if he could avail of their hospitality.

Paul Lawlor, an Irish Dominican from Tralee, kindly agreed to help in whatever way he could.

Congratulations Dean and well done. Something I often thought about doing but never did. Not yet.

Dublin to Iran and not yet a puncture.

A tall quiet man calls to the Dominicans in Walberberg

The tall man who called to
the Dominicans in Walberberg.

In the 1960s a tall man called to the Dominicans in Walberberg on the Rhein in Germany. It was a sleepy Sunday afternoon. The man asked to see a Dominican priest, Basilius Streithoven, who was a friend of his. He was shown into a parlour inside the hall door.

Nothing happened after 10 minutes. He was still waiting in the room 30 minutes later. He stayed an hour and then decided to leave.

The following day he telephoned his Dominican friend to tell him what had happened. The Dominican was apologetic, embarrassed too. The man, who had answered the door of the priory, forgot to tell Fr Basilius Streithoven that there had been a visitor for him.

The man who called to the door in Walberberg that day had come from Rhöndorf on the Rhein.

His house today in Rhöndorf is a museum. It had been built by the famous former Mayor of Cologne as a refuge from the Nazis.

The man who called that day to Walberberg was the then German Chancellor Dr Konrad Adenauer.

Derek Scally is reporting on the upcoming Federal election in Germany in this week's Irish Times. His piece today is about Adeanuer. Of course Derek would never have heard of the Walberberg incident.

A house divided.......

The letter below appears in this week's Kerryman newspaper.

Sir,

In a week when your correspondent Fr Michael Commane takes another swipe at what he considers trends among young clerics to wear their clerical habits in public and to praise the New Missal, we read in the national and international press that his fellow Dominican Fr Gerald(sic) Dunne is castigating Irish bishops for their seeming lack of enthusiasm for vocation promotion.

Unlike Fr Commane, Fr Dunne has a formidable reputation in Ireland for his recruitment of energetic and bright young Irish men to the Dominican way of life. For my own part I had the joy of observing many of these young Dominicans, suitably and proudly attired in their distinctive robes, in action at last year's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

Surely Fr Commane realises that a house divided is unlikely to attract vocations. Is that what he wants?

Sincerely,
Alan Whelan,
Beaufort,
Co Kerry

Nonsense from the pulpit

A priest in Ireland in his sermon on Sunday said anyone who did not believe in God was a fool.

Is there any mechanism in the Catholic Church whereby a priest can be handed his P45 for unprofessional behaviour?

Liturgy at its best in Donnybrook today

The Monsignor Devlin sermon at the funeral Mass of Seamus Heaney today was a theological masterpiece. Clever too.

Well worth streaming.

Merkel puts in a competent television performance

Early television analysis of the Merkel Steinbrück duel show the Chancellor a nose ahead of the challenger.

A loyal friend of the Dominicans in Tallaght dies

Andy Mulvaney died this morning. His wife Celine died two weeks ago.

I first met Andy in Tallaght in 1969. I was a young Dominican student and Andy was the postman, who delivered the mail in the village. He lived in Newtown, which was considered 'old Tallaght'.

He was a small man, at the time unmarried. A great talker. Interested in football and horses. Always a yarn from him and genuinely interested in people. He had a special loyalty to the Dominicans, a loyalty that would stay with him to the last day of his life.

He married Celine in his late 40s. She was 10 years his junior. He often mentioned her name to me and in a joking fashion would pretend to blame her for the loss of his freedom.

Approximately three months ago he was diagnosed to be seriously ill with cancer. A friend and colleague of mine told me he had been hospitalised. Since that time I have been a regular visitor to his bedside. There I met his wife for the first time. And what a lady. The care she took of him. Clean pyjamas every day. And all those little things that people who love do.

I was able to tell her I knew him since 1969 but as I left Tallaght in 1974 we had only been in contact sporadically in the intervening years.

Back in 1969 we'd often talk about horses. Lester Piggott won the Derby on Nijinsky the following summer. Forty-three years later it came back to me that Andy had said that I was the best tipster he ever knew. I'm sure he meant to say, 'Commane was the best trickster he ever knew'.

Seemingly every time he met my colleague friend he would ask for me. He must have been my only fan.

In these last days I have been greatly moved to see what a holy man he was. Last Sunday when I arrived in his room he was visibly weak. He had difficulty moving his finger from one bead to the next on his Rosary.

A parishioner told me that when serving the 08.00 Mass in the Priory church in Tallaght, which he attended daily, when he would see someone coming into the church during Mass he would wave down to them.

At the funeral Mass of Damien Byrne, a former Master of the Order and a ardent Manchester United fan, Andy asked could he place a Manchester United jersey on the coffin. His request was refused by the prior at the time, the late Gus Doherty.

Andy had to wait many years to be made a permanent postman as he had not passed the required Irish exam for the job.

Christianity worked for Andy. He was a holy man. He was a good and great person.

It has been a privilege to have known Andy and had I not joined the Dominicans most likely I would never have met and got to know the man.

Andy was in his 83rd year.

His funeral Mass is in Tallaght on Tuesday in the Priory church he so much loved.

On leaving Kiltipper Nursing Home this morning, where Andy's remains were lying in repose, I recognised this elderly man walking towards the entrance.

It was former taoiseach Liam Cosgrave. We spoke to one another. His wife is a resident in the nursing home.

He told me he has been 80 years attending Mass in the Dominican Priory in Tallaght.

He is 93 and what a gentle smile on his face.

I noted he was carrying a bag. Probably doing exactly what Celine had been doing for Andy. Love.

Germany's next Chancellor fights it out on TV

German television ARD is screening a 90 minute debate this evening between Chancellor Angela Merkel and SPD Chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrück.

Merkel and Steinbrück are being interviewed by four moderators.

Merkel was the discovery of Helmut Kohl. The Wall was hardly down when he made her his Family Minister.

Steinbrück was Finance Minister in the Grand Coalition and plays chess with Helmut Schmidt.

The Federal elections take place on Sunday, September 22. Current polls show the CDU/CSU coalition in the lead.

Gospel values and clerical titles

In tomorrow's Gospel we read:

"When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat."

Yesterday I called to a church in south Dublin and saw a title and name over a confessional box. It said:

"Very Revd Fr ...... "

Occasional Scribbles gains new readers

Today for the first time in the six year history of this blog it had a higher readership in the United States of America than in Ireland.

In August it was read in 172 cities around the world.

Highest readership today was registered in the US, Ireland, The Russian Federation and Germany.

RTE Radio presenter makes shoddy comment

The following is a quotation from the presenter of RTE's Drivetime programme today:

"A Master's degree in Catholic Apologetics, that's a new one on me."

As the presenter made the comment she laughed.

A parishioner with an MA in Catholic Apologetics had objected to a Brendan Grace concert taking place in his parish church in Wexford.

The issue was being discussed on the programme.

The programme was presented by Audrey Carville.

Shoddy radio.

What to do when leadership is inept

What does one do when she/he genuinely believes that the leadership of the orgnisation to which she/he belongs is inept?

ATM scam which may have cost banks a lot of money

Two serving gardaí have been accused of an alleged ATM scam.

The scam goes like this. A bank customer goes to the ATM and requests €300. There is a device on the machine that if the money is not removed within a certain time the machine retrieves the money.

If the customer removes just €100 and leaves the €200 in the ATM, the ATM takes back the €200 but the machine presumes it has taken back all €300.

The customer goes along to the bank, explains that she or he forgot to take the money and the bank credits the account with all €300.

How much money have banks lost on this scam?

More to cigarettes than the tobacco plant

Custom and Excise officials apprehend a woman for allegedly selling cigarettes in Dublin's Moore Street.

The case goes to court. The judge asks the woman if she had been selling cigarettes on a certain date in Moore Street. She denies the charge.

The judge asks her if she had been shouting the word 'tobacco' on the street.

She explains: 'Judge, I saw my sister on the street and was trying to get her attention. She smokes heavily and so she has the nickname 'tobacco' and I was simply shouting her nickname."

The case was dismissed in the Dublin District Court.

The Eucharist is an occasion of inspiration

The piece below is this week's column in INM's regional newspapers in Ireland.

Michael Commane
A Dominican in his 80s said to me during the summer that when he was a young priest older Dominicans accused his generation of being far too radical and rebellious. “And guess what Michael, today the young Dominicans are accusing my generation of being far too radical and rebellious. Isn’t it strange how things have turned out,” he smiled.

It certainly set me thinking, especially about being a member of a religious order and being a priest.

I can still recall a conversation between my elderly father and a distant cousin of mine. At the time I was working as a journalist in The Kerryman and the cousin asked my Dad what sort of a priest was I working in a newspaper. Dad’s reply was brilliant: “What’s the difference between working as a school teacher and working as a journalist?” A great reply and was I proud of my Dad that day.

For over the last 16 years I have been working as a journalist, either in a newspaper or in a press office. I greatly enjoy the work. I have also spent many years teaching. Since moving to journalism I have been living away from a Dominican priory and living on my own.

Indeed, I greatly appreciate the freedom that the Dominicans have afforded me.

My knowledge of church has been tempered by and from the experiences I have had as a Dominican. But I have also had glimpses of other models.

Whether I like it or not there is now a tendency among younger clerics to return to an ‘old-style’ church. I have seen young priests out searching for pre conciliar Mass vestments.

I have seen young priests stick their thumb and index fingers together celebrating Mass. I hear priests praise the new Missal. I hear priests requesting to wear their religious habit in public. I hear priests condemn the world and greatly criticise the media as if it were the work of the devil.

I hear priests saying that they know best. I hear priests laying down the law.

In the last few months I have officiated at a number of weddings of colleagues.

Without exception I have met people of great goodness and genuine faith. Every single one of these people wanted to be sacramentally married.

Of course it’s not as it was when I was growing up in Dublin in the 1960s. And thank God for that. The memories are bleak.

Sometimes I think that clerics have some sort of propensity to shove ideas down the necks of people; it’s their way or no way.

No priest, no church owns God.

Surely it is an essential prerequisite for a priest to be interested in people, not in a patronising, judgemental way but as a fellow fragile traveller in this confused and meandering world of ours.

In the last few weeks there has been public discussion about eulogies at funeral Masses.

Of course it’s important that the Sacrament be celebrated in a holy and dignified manner. I’d love to hear bishops and religious superiors talking out loud to their priests as how to celebrate Mass in a dignified and meaningful way. And that includes improving the quality of our preaching.

The liturgy, as we have had it for the last 40 years can be celebrated in a profoundly holy and dignified manner, in a way that connects with the people who are praying with us.

The Eucharist is the perfect place to inspire people. For the Eucharist to be real there has to be a genuine and loving communion between peoples.

Is that how you felt the last time you left church after Mass?

BBC Radio 4's Sunday service

ANYONE who listens to BBC Radio 4 on a Sunday morning and compares it with what RTE Radio One offers at the same time must be left in no doubt of the terrible quality of the service offered by the Irish station.

Merkel says she was too much a gossip to be in Stasi

IN a newspaper interview German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she was once approached by the Stasi, the East German secret police, to work for them. She told them she was an inveterate gossip and unable to hold her tongue. The Stasi never called again.

Neverthelss, Merkel obtained a place at the Humboldt University in Berlin to study physics. Before that she was  a member of the FDJ, Freie Deutsche Jugend, where she held a leadership position. The FDJ was the youth brigade of the ruling SED.

Ireland drinks €6.36 billion of grog every year

Last year Irish people in Ireland spent €6.36 billion on alcohol.

Spending on alcohol has increased each year since 2009.

It is estimated alcohol-related harm costs Ireland €3.7 billion a year.

Three people die every day from alcohol-related illness.

At last the airport for the united city

It was announced today that Germania will be the frst airline to use the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport in the south east of the city and close to the historic suburb of Karlshorst.

This November Germania will move from Tegel to Berlin Brandenburg.

The new airport has been bedevilled with glitches and was due to have been opened last year and then again an opening date earlier this year had to be cancelled.

The aiport is in Schönefeld close to Berlin's second airport, which was formerly the main airport for East Berlin.

The opening of Berlin Brandenburg will be the final step in the restructuring of the city on the Spree as the German capital.

When fully operational Tegel will be closed. Tempelhof was closed three years ago.

And it so happens that the CEO of the Airport Authority is Mr Hartmut Mehdorn, who was CEO of German Rail when the magnificent new Berlin Main Station was opened on the site of the former Lehrter Rail Station.

Up until 1945 Lehrter Bahnhof was the main Berlin rail station for trains travelling to and from north Germany, including Hamburg.

Today ICEs travel between the two cities. Journey time is 90 minutes.

The new Berlin Brandenburg Airport will have a main station on the campus with direct connections to all major German cities.

Next year German ICEs will be linking Stuttgart, Frankfurt-am-Main and Mannheim with London.

A 'sophisticated' mighty army cashes in on a vulnerable fragile youth

Anyone who reads the story of Bradley Manning in today's Guardian is left with no option but to cry for the man.

And who cashed in on his vulnerability? The United States Army.

Yesterday Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail.

In the Snowden affair one of the code names given to one of the telephony companies was/is Blarney.

It's seems you can have your cake and eat it too

It is striking how clerics and clerical organisations criticise the media. Yet when the media publishes something 'positive' about them these same clerics and clerical organisations disseminate the media comment far and wide as 'proof' or 'verification' for what they are doing.

Surely there is an issue of logic or consistency here.

Clever comment from wise Dominican priest

Interesting comment from a Dominican priest now in his 80s.

"When we were young Dominicans we were considered by the older men to be rebels and far too radical and now when we are old Dominicans we are considered by the younger men to be rebels and far too radical."

The very best at our doorstep and for free

The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.

Michael Commane



Mangerton Mountain looking down on Glencappul.



The sky was overcast in West Kerry on the morning of Saturday August 3. But we had decided the night before unless the weather was awful we would go ahead with our planned climb of Mangerton in South Kerry.

There were five of us travelling from West Kerry and we had arranged to meet up with another family outside Killarney.

There was a torrential downpour on the drive to Killarney but we kept going.

The skies cleared and sometime after 10 o’clock seven children and four adults began the climb of Mangerton.

The sky looked ominous and I was greatly regretting not having brought rain gear with me. A half an hour into our walk the heavens opened and I got drenched. Clown that I am. I was the only one without rain gear. I tried sheltering behind a rock but of course it didn’t work and I got drenched to the skin. And while I was sheltering the rest of the group marched on.

It was the only rain of the day. I walked on and caught up with the group. Dried out too.

Mangerton is 839 metres high and just like every mountain in the world, the sensation of getting to the top is pure joy. And the views too. Below us was Lough Leane. We could see right over to Mullaghanish in Cork.

The first to get to the top were three children and they ran the last few metres. To see them race those last short few metres would do anyone’s heart good.

Their innocence, their fun, their goodness was simply fantastic. And their fitness and agility too. One little girl ran up and down that mountain with such speed and she is the mighty age of eight.

We came down a slightly different route, which was somewhat more difficult.
Usually when coming down a mountain I am inclined to say little – unusual for me - so as to conserve my energy. I’m tired too.

On this occasion for the last half hour or so I was accompanied by nine-year-old Maurice, who talked non-stop about school, football, his Mam and Dad and his sisters. I was mesmerised with his energy. He was not one bit tired.



Okay, it was not like the weather earlier in the summer but it was fine and it was a fantastic day.

Everything about the day was great: the thrill of climbing, the camaraderie, the adventure, the sights and the challenge too.

A few days later I walked from the West Kerry village of Castlegregory to Camp, which is approximately 12 kilometres. I walked the complete route along the sea.

This time my companion was Tess, my dog. We had a great time. It’s a walk that can only be done when the tide is out and even with the tide out we had to circumnavigate a river and paddle through a stream.

It took about three hours. The views were spectacular. There was a cargo boat waiting for full tide to go into Fenit Harbour.

The water was as calm as it gets, warm too. Sometimes, walking on the sand with runners on, then other times paddling in that balmy water. Tess enjoying every moment of it.

On a walk like that it’s always good to have some sort of end in view. On this occasion I called to visit a woman in a nursing home. She is 98, still reads without glasses and when I called she was knitting something for a grandchild.

It really is difficult in words to convey the extraordinariness of such occasions. The peace that it creates. The thrills, the challenge, the excitement of making it all the way. The awareness or realisation of being so fortunate to be able to do such things.

And all on our doorstep.

Appreciate the now and thank God for such graces.

Untying the knots in the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio

The current issue of The Tablet carries extracts from a new book by Paul Vallely on Pope Francis. The article is titled "He's a person who's caused a lot of problems'. It is written by the author of the book, Paul Vallely.

The future Pope Francis was perceived by some Jesuits as divisive when he was their provincial in Argentina. The book argues how Jorge Mario Bergoglio alienated many of his confreres with his conservatism and hostility to liberation theology.

Vallely quotes a serving Jesuit provincial: "He is well-trained and very capable, but is surrounded by this personality cult which is extremely divisive. He has an aura of spirituality which he uses to obtain power. It will be a catastrophe for the church to have someone like him in the Apostolic See."

The article concludes explaining how Bergoglio was moved to Cordoba.

"But there a remarkable transformation occurred, which was the beginning of the long transition from conservative authoritarian to humble pope of the poor."

Elsewhere it is alleged that within hours of Bergoglio's election as pope an instruction went out from Jesuit curia in Rome ordering Jesuits around the world to be prudent in their recollections and keep to themselves any unhappy memories they had of the new pope.

Next week in The Tablet: what changed Bergoglio.

'Pope Francis: untying the knots' by Paul Vallely, published by Bloomsbury, £12.99.

The eulogy debate trundles on

Noel Whelan wrote an opinion piece in yesterday's Irish Times in response to Bishop Michael Smith's comments on the practice of eulogies at Mass.

The article contained sentiments caninily similar to those expressed by the late Dominican priest Paul Hynes, who died in 1986.

Makes no sense to silence dissenting voices

Below is the Thinking Anew column in today's Irish Times

Michael Commane
"He is unquestionably disheartening people by talking like this."

Any idea who might have said this and who was being talked about?

Surely it's the advice given by ordinary decent people, telling their listeners not to heed the words of the 'trouble maker'.

It's the sort of 'advice' that is always wheeled out to 'warn' people not to listen or pay any attention to someone who may be expressing an opinion or idea that might well upset the status quo.

The quotation above is slightly “doctored” to hide its historical context. Here it is as it was written.

"These leading men accordingly spoke to the king. 'Let this man be put to death: he is unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and all the people too, by talking like this. The fellow does not have the welfare of this people at heart so much as its ruin.' " (Jeremiah 38: 4)

Of course we can always find the relevant quotation whether in the Bible or the Quran to suit our activities no matter how crazy they are.

Nevertheless this jumped out at me when I was looking at the texts, which will be read in churches tomorrow.

The quotation from the Prophet Jeremiah was written close to three thousand years ago. To put it in context, Jeremiah is approximately a thousand years younger than the human remains, that were found in Cashel Bog in County Laois two years ago.

Most likely Jeremiah was born near Jerusalem about 646 BC. He lived through the tragic years of the ruin of the kingdom of Judah.

So whatever way we look at it, it is a long time ago and what mesmerised me about the quotation was how apt and relevant it still is today.

Those words could be used by a US president, a British prime minister, a pope, a trade union leader, a CEO of a multi national corporation, by a party leader, anyone in a position of authority, whether legitimate or not.

Not so long ago a taoiseach warned people of the perils of talking down the economy. And today politicians warn us to be quiet as we prepare to return to the financial markets.

The words spoken about Jeremiah are the sort of words used by the powerful to keep people under them, the masses, the proletariate, whatever you want to call them, in control, keep them quiet and submissive. They were words used in an attempt to keep the Prophet Jeremiah quiet and they are the words used today to keep 'trouble makers' quiet.

Those words will be read in churches around the world tomorrow. The words read in church are read to inspire us, to make us think, to invite us to question the status quo and force us to parse every word that we hear from those in authority.

And then we come home from church and are expected almost to bow our heads and accept all the words and ideas we hear from authority, whether State or church. Any signs of the slightest insubordination or free- thinking and those words spoken by the leading men to the king about Jeremiah will be addressed to us.

At the MacGill Summer School this year Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy spoke about the reality of being a back bencher and how he has to kowtow to the party whip.

He criticised how independent action is discouraged and dissent severely punished. Then again, if he were a government minister, would he express such ideas?

We seem to live in times of shocking 'orthodoxy' where the slightest move away from the 'leadership' involves castigation and disapproval. Today authority seems to be centralised in such an unhealthy way that people can easily feel alienated. And that's the case in church and State.

Systems that invoke the party whip and excommunication surely have lost aspects of their credibility. Silencing dissenting voices is never the answer. One is reminded of people like Mandela and Solzhenitsyn.

When Barack Obama first appeared on the scene he was loved and admired because of his willingness to question the status quo. That aura, that mystique has gone and we seem to be left with some sort of automaton, who does exactly what is expected of him.

Imagine the hope that could be generated if Pope Francis decided to re-examine the case of the Irish priests who have incurred censure for reasons of their theological thinking and public utterances.

Jeremiah came under the cosh of the ruling authority close to 3,000 years ago. Today we honour and admire him, indeed he is put forward as a 'role model'

But what about the 'trouble makers' of today'?

Does anything ever change?

Goethe on Catholicism

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of Germany's great writers, described the history of Catholicism as a hotchpotch of errors and violence.

He was born in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1749 and died in Weimar in 1832, where he is buried.

The former GDR authorities made much play on his association with Weimar, which is in the territory of the former GDR.

Advertisements that don't make sense

Yesterday's Irish national newspapers carried a large Bank of Ireland advertisement.

The ad headline ran: " Notification to Bank of Ireland Customers".

The sub head was: "SEPA Changes to Current Account and Credit Card Terms and Conditions."

The ad was addressed to personal and business customers.

Not once in the ad did Bank of Ireland explain to their readers/customers what 'SEPA' means.

Also yesterday TV3 ran an ad for its autumn schedule. Someone is holding a poster which reads: "Your fired".

Yesterday the Irish Times reporting on the deathof former FF minister Paddy Power, wrote: " His son Sean was a former Fianna Fáil TD....".

Why not: "His son Sean is a former...."?