I wrote something on this blog and I wrote it in great anger. Why?
When I received the order of tonsure, the then archbishop of Dublin was meant to cut my hair in a symbolic way. At the time I had long curly hair and that man grabbed my hair in a savage fashion and cut it like a savage.
I can still remember walking back from the altar feeling very strange. His behaviour and action was that of a man with serious difficulties. It probably was 1972 or 1973 and he was the archbishop of Dublin.
Of course it was not acceptable bahaviour.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Close down clerical church
And what hqappens now when every other dioceses is investigqted?
It is the main item in most European media this evening.
This is shocking. Maybe what is most shocking is that it may well be the clerical church is still not listening.
It is the main item in most European media this evening.
This is shocking. Maybe what is most shocking is that it may well be the clerical church is still not listening.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
New rail timetable
Irish Rail introduces a new timetable on Monday, December 1.
The majority of Cork Dublin, Dublin Cork trains will now be stopping at every gate. The reason for this seems to be due to a reduction in the number of trains between Limerick and Dublin.
The 20.00 ex Dublin Cork with connections for Limerick and Kerry has been withdrawn.
In the evening, trains to Kerry are at 17.05, which is a direct train and the last train with a Kerry connection is at 19.00.
The 05.25 ex Tralee train has the new departure time of 05.20. With a connection in Mallow, this train arrives in Dublin Heuston at 09.00.
The new Hazelhatch Dublin new track is due for opening.
The majority of Cork Dublin, Dublin Cork trains will now be stopping at every gate. The reason for this seems to be due to a reduction in the number of trains between Limerick and Dublin.
The 20.00 ex Dublin Cork with connections for Limerick and Kerry has been withdrawn.
In the evening, trains to Kerry are at 17.05, which is a direct train and the last train with a Kerry connection is at 19.00.
The 05.25 ex Tralee train has the new departure time of 05.20. With a connection in Mallow, this train arrives in Dublin Heuston at 09.00.
The new Hazelhatch Dublin new track is due for opening.
Beware of all titles
There are two reports in today's Irish newspapers concerning abuse. One is of a priest, who abused a boy in Cavan. The other is of a former Christian Brother, who abused 19 schoolboys between 1967 and 1968.
This is all terrible 'stuff'. But are there serious questions being asked as to why and how it happened/happens?
The former Christian Brother was 14 when he joined the congregation. That cannot have been right and proper then and it cannot be right and proper now.
Does the Catholic Church still run 'junior seminaries' in any part of the world? Yes, seemingly it does, including India. If it does, is this 'right and proper'.
And then this coming Thursday the report on the Dublin archdiocese will be published.
It is important to remember this is just one Irish diocese.
How can anyone ever take a person in authority with any sense of credibility. We give people 'authority' and then, no matter what happens, there is the great temptation to behave in a sycophantic manner towards them.
To think that bishops, provincials etc were and are treated with such obeisance. We look on in horror and shock when we see religious and political leaders treated as 'semi-gods' in other cultures and parts of the world. What have and do we do?
But it is worth noting that so many of the sycophants laugh and deride the very figures of authority to whom they give lip service, but behind their backs of course. In secret and under the cover of anonymity. Especially the church, needs to examine its culture of secrecy and yes, anonymity too.
The custom and practice of bishops wearing rings and crosses may well seem somewhat defiant after Thursday's report. Once we give titles to people we begin to head down a slippery slope.
There is also a report in today's newspaper about a Chinese dissident who has been jailed by the authorities.
No matter what the system that prevails is it always the same class of people who manage to take power and control and then justify themselves, whatever the price? It's done one way in democracies, another in dictatorships and another way in theocracies. But always the same type of person. And the poor people suffer.
This is all terrible 'stuff'. But are there serious questions being asked as to why and how it happened/happens?
The former Christian Brother was 14 when he joined the congregation. That cannot have been right and proper then and it cannot be right and proper now.
Does the Catholic Church still run 'junior seminaries' in any part of the world? Yes, seemingly it does, including India. If it does, is this 'right and proper'.
And then this coming Thursday the report on the Dublin archdiocese will be published.
It is important to remember this is just one Irish diocese.
How can anyone ever take a person in authority with any sense of credibility. We give people 'authority' and then, no matter what happens, there is the great temptation to behave in a sycophantic manner towards them.
To think that bishops, provincials etc were and are treated with such obeisance. We look on in horror and shock when we see religious and political leaders treated as 'semi-gods' in other cultures and parts of the world. What have and do we do?
But it is worth noting that so many of the sycophants laugh and deride the very figures of authority to whom they give lip service, but behind their backs of course. In secret and under the cover of anonymity. Especially the church, needs to examine its culture of secrecy and yes, anonymity too.
The custom and practice of bishops wearing rings and crosses may well seem somewhat defiant after Thursday's report. Once we give titles to people we begin to head down a slippery slope.
There is also a report in today's newspaper about a Chinese dissident who has been jailed by the authorities.
No matter what the system that prevails is it always the same class of people who manage to take power and control and then justify themselves, whatever the price? It's done one way in democracies, another in dictatorships and another way in theocracies. But always the same type of person. And the poor people suffer.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The art of air-brushing
In yesterday's Irish Times Mary Raftery wrote a piece about Australian orphanages and the role the Irish played in them. It does not paint a kind picture of the Irish clerical church - yet again.
What is it at all? There must be some underlying reason why so many clerics have behaved in such a manner and then the institutional church tries to air brush it all.
It seems the church is still doing that. Of course all organisations have built-in mechanisms to protect themselves but should it not be different with church?
What actually happens when a group of men or women come to live together, telling the world that they are living celibate lives?
Sexuality for most people can involve problems and difficulties. What must happen in religious communities where many men and women become profoundly sick and dysfunctional. What happens in the diocesan church when men simply cannot cope with the burden that they have been asked to carry? And add to that the reality that some men and women in religious communities and diocesan priests are not challenged by their work. The work ethic and the realistion that one does not have to earn their bread can be a festering sore.
At least Bishop Willie Walsh gives hope to the many people who believe there is something systemically wrong with the church at present. As does Patrick Hederman OSB.
Silence, clever ways of putting people down, pseudo sophisticated intellectual mind games are not a way to deal with what is going on in the church at present.
Is there a need for imaginative leadership right now, people who will be open and honest?
It's time to move away from the culture of talking out of both sides of the mouth at the same time and being honest, open and truthful with each other and ourselves.
What is it at all? There must be some underlying reason why so many clerics have behaved in such a manner and then the institutional church tries to air brush it all.
It seems the church is still doing that. Of course all organisations have built-in mechanisms to protect themselves but should it not be different with church?
What actually happens when a group of men or women come to live together, telling the world that they are living celibate lives?
Sexuality for most people can involve problems and difficulties. What must happen in religious communities where many men and women become profoundly sick and dysfunctional. What happens in the diocesan church when men simply cannot cope with the burden that they have been asked to carry? And add to that the reality that some men and women in religious communities and diocesan priests are not challenged by their work. The work ethic and the realistion that one does not have to earn their bread can be a festering sore.
At least Bishop Willie Walsh gives hope to the many people who believe there is something systemically wrong with the church at present. As does Patrick Hederman OSB.
Silence, clever ways of putting people down, pseudo sophisticated intellectual mind games are not a way to deal with what is going on in the church at present.
Is there a need for imaginative leadership right now, people who will be open and honest?
It's time to move away from the culture of talking out of both sides of the mouth at the same time and being honest, open and truthful with each other and ourselves.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
'Thick-headed, self-opionated and sexist'
The article below appears in today's Irish Times. John Littleton works at the Priory Institute.
Mark Patrick Hederman's comment is worth noting.
Exploring what it means to be a Catholic in Ireland today
SOME TIME ago, John Littleton and I decided that the next step in our attempts to map the evolution of contemporary Irish Catholicism would be to get people to share their experience of what being Catholic means to them, how it shaped their thinking, and enriched or impoverished their lives.
It was no easy task to get 22 individuals from various walks of Irish life to commit to such a task. For many, Catholicism was something they took for granted, something they were not accustomed to thinking about in any profound manner. They had been born into the Catholic faith, were introduced to its rituals and practices and then either stayed within the fold or left.
So what are the main characteristics of this new book? Well, our desire was to get as broad a cross-section of opinion as possible, an ambition we achieved reasonably well. The largest single group of contributors consists of priests, who, not surprisingly, have a particular interest in the topic.
Similarly, journalists feature prominently, but again these are people who are accustomed to putting forward opinions in written and oral form. We were acutely conscious of gender balance, but unfortunately did not quite manage an equal divide on this occasion. However, the women contributors display great honesty and passion and some raise serious questions about how they feel at times disenfranchised within the institutional church and alienated by a patriarchal hierarchy.
For example, the poet and writer Mary O’Donnell, in a contribution that mirrors the opinions of other contributors, both male and female, takes issue with the church’s “undimmed interference in the biological lives of women, its obsession with human sexuality, its inability to accommodate the views of adults whose approach to life was not an exact match of the official template”. Yet she also feels that a religious imagination is intimately connected to her sense of self as writer/artist.
In the current atmosphere, with the horrific revelations of the Ryan report fresh in our minds, and the findings of the investigation into the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese about to be made public, it is clearly not an easy time to be a Catholic in Ireland.
One might therefore expect a book like this to be tinged with pessimism and bitterness. However, this is not the case.
Even someone like Colm O'Gorman, the victim of horrific abuse at the hands of Fr Seán Fortune, still remembers the comfort of seeing the Sacred Heart picture in the kitchen of his home, with the “flickering red light beneath the image of Christ, who exposed his heart surrounded by thorns, a symbol of divine love for humanity”.
Problems with aspects of church teaching do not prevent many from appreciating the beauty of its ceremonies and architecture and the consolation offered by its message of unconditional love for God and one’s neighbour. Irish Catholic editor Garry OSullivan sums up his approach in the following manner: “Being a Catholic means being a liberal, a conservative, a progressive, a traditionalist, a heathen, a Jew and a Greek.”
Former editor of The Irish Times Conor Brady acknowledges his love for “the immense variety of spiritual richness that Catholicism offers”, while Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke finds huge solace every time she contemplates the beatitudes.
Mark Patrick Hederman, abbot of Glenstal Abbey, hopes that the Holy Spirit may “change the church from being the fragmented, self-opinionated, thick-headed, sexist, male-dominated organisation”, to one day become “the transparent image of the God it was meant to be serving”.
It is important that Irish society comes to grips with the vast consequences the decline of the power of the Catholic Church brings in its wake. We should not write its epitaph without first trying to evaluate what exactly it embodies.
Hopefully this book will go some way towards doing just that.
Eamon Maher, director, Franco-Irish studies centre in Tallaght IT, is co-editor with John Littleton of What Being Catholic Means to Me (Columba Press, €14.95)
Mark Patrick Hederman's comment is worth noting.
Exploring what it means to be a Catholic in Ireland today
SOME TIME ago, John Littleton and I decided that the next step in our attempts to map the evolution of contemporary Irish Catholicism would be to get people to share their experience of what being Catholic means to them, how it shaped their thinking, and enriched or impoverished their lives.
It was no easy task to get 22 individuals from various walks of Irish life to commit to such a task. For many, Catholicism was something they took for granted, something they were not accustomed to thinking about in any profound manner. They had been born into the Catholic faith, were introduced to its rituals and practices and then either stayed within the fold or left.
So what are the main characteristics of this new book? Well, our desire was to get as broad a cross-section of opinion as possible, an ambition we achieved reasonably well. The largest single group of contributors consists of priests, who, not surprisingly, have a particular interest in the topic.
Similarly, journalists feature prominently, but again these are people who are accustomed to putting forward opinions in written and oral form. We were acutely conscious of gender balance, but unfortunately did not quite manage an equal divide on this occasion. However, the women contributors display great honesty and passion and some raise serious questions about how they feel at times disenfranchised within the institutional church and alienated by a patriarchal hierarchy.
For example, the poet and writer Mary O’Donnell, in a contribution that mirrors the opinions of other contributors, both male and female, takes issue with the church’s “undimmed interference in the biological lives of women, its obsession with human sexuality, its inability to accommodate the views of adults whose approach to life was not an exact match of the official template”. Yet she also feels that a religious imagination is intimately connected to her sense of self as writer/artist.
In the current atmosphere, with the horrific revelations of the Ryan report fresh in our minds, and the findings of the investigation into the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese about to be made public, it is clearly not an easy time to be a Catholic in Ireland.
One might therefore expect a book like this to be tinged with pessimism and bitterness. However, this is not the case.
Even someone like Colm O'Gorman, the victim of horrific abuse at the hands of Fr Seán Fortune, still remembers the comfort of seeing the Sacred Heart picture in the kitchen of his home, with the “flickering red light beneath the image of Christ, who exposed his heart surrounded by thorns, a symbol of divine love for humanity”.
Problems with aspects of church teaching do not prevent many from appreciating the beauty of its ceremonies and architecture and the consolation offered by its message of unconditional love for God and one’s neighbour. Irish Catholic editor Garry OSullivan sums up his approach in the following manner: “Being a Catholic means being a liberal, a conservative, a progressive, a traditionalist, a heathen, a Jew and a Greek.”
Former editor of The Irish Times Conor Brady acknowledges his love for “the immense variety of spiritual richness that Catholicism offers”, while Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke finds huge solace every time she contemplates the beatitudes.
Mark Patrick Hederman, abbot of Glenstal Abbey, hopes that the Holy Spirit may “change the church from being the fragmented, self-opinionated, thick-headed, sexist, male-dominated organisation”, to one day become “the transparent image of the God it was meant to be serving”.
It is important that Irish society comes to grips with the vast consequences the decline of the power of the Catholic Church brings in its wake. We should not write its epitaph without first trying to evaluate what exactly it embodies.
Hopefully this book will go some way towards doing just that.
Eamon Maher, director, Franco-Irish studies centre in Tallaght IT, is co-editor with John Littleton of What Being Catholic Means to Me (Columba Press, €14.95)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A place of horror in a Berlin suburb
Anyone who has visited the former Stasi prison in Berlin Hohenschoenhausen, must put their hands to their heads and say, how could and should this have happened.
It is an appalling statement of man's inhumanity to man. But what is most worrying for me is that in whimsical moments I often gave some sort of 'praise' to the former GDR. Hohenschoenhausen is all one needs to prove definitively that the GDR was an evil and corrupt state.
If one looks at a pre 1990 map of Berlin there is no mention of the prison.
A place of such terrible terror and horror and secrecy too is yet another clear proof of the importance of a free press, with all its limitations and abuses.
How did the German people let this happen. Between 1933 and 1989 there was Buchenwald, Dachau et al and then Hohenschoenhausen, Bautzen et al.
Anyone who visits Berlin should go on pilgrimage to Hohenschoenhausen and see for themselves what the SED Government did to their people, did to the brightest and the best. Did the young physics student at Berlin University, Angela Merkel, know about this place of horror? Did the Irish Government know anything about it?
Where are all the senior people who ran this horror camp?
What explicitley did the cardinal bishop of Berlin say about Hohenschoenhausen? Indeed, the Catholic Church did oppose the regime but why were they not knocking at the doors of this evil place day and night?
The women and men who were inmates should be greatly honoured and admired.
It is an appalling statement of man's inhumanity to man. But what is most worrying for me is that in whimsical moments I often gave some sort of 'praise' to the former GDR. Hohenschoenhausen is all one needs to prove definitively that the GDR was an evil and corrupt state.
If one looks at a pre 1990 map of Berlin there is no mention of the prison.
A place of such terrible terror and horror and secrecy too is yet another clear proof of the importance of a free press, with all its limitations and abuses.
How did the German people let this happen. Between 1933 and 1989 there was Buchenwald, Dachau et al and then Hohenschoenhausen, Bautzen et al.
Anyone who visits Berlin should go on pilgrimage to Hohenschoenhausen and see for themselves what the SED Government did to their people, did to the brightest and the best. Did the young physics student at Berlin University, Angela Merkel, know about this place of horror? Did the Irish Government know anything about it?
Where are all the senior people who ran this horror camp?
What explicitley did the cardinal bishop of Berlin say about Hohenschoenhausen? Indeed, the Catholic Church did oppose the regime but why were they not knocking at the doors of this evil place day and night?
The women and men who were inmates should be greatly honoured and admired.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Perfect occasion for senior politicians and civil servants to apologise to Irish people
What a difference it would make if some senior politician or civil servant came forward and apologised for the bufoonery for which they were responsible.
This weekend heads of government meet in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Wall. Imagine if our leaders decided to forego the celebration and explan to the Irish people and EU that they are ashamed of themselves and the errors they made. Before they begin to cut the money from the poorest of the poor, surely they are obliged to admit their own terrible mistakes.
And our civil servants, where have they been? They are treated with great respect. We have been forever told that they are the 'real government'. Was there no one there who was not brave enough to say inside the estabishment that the bufoonery should stop?
It was the ordinary people in East Germany who knocked down the Wall. It had little to do with high civil servants and politicians.
Is it time for the Irish to take to the streets? If only we could take the example of the East Germans and take to the streets in peace and respect. But the great worry now must be that it could turn to violence.
This weekend heads of government meet in Berlin to celebrate the fall of the Wall. Imagine if our leaders decided to forego the celebration and explan to the Irish people and EU that they are ashamed of themselves and the errors they made. Before they begin to cut the money from the poorest of the poor, surely they are obliged to admit their own terrible mistakes.
And our civil servants, where have they been? They are treated with great respect. We have been forever told that they are the 'real government'. Was there no one there who was not brave enough to say inside the estabishment that the bufoonery should stop?
It was the ordinary people in East Germany who knocked down the Wall. It had little to do with high civil servants and politicians.
Is it time for the Irish to take to the streets? If only we could take the example of the East Germans and take to the streets in peace and respect. But the great worry now must be that it could turn to violence.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Barriers went up 20 years ago
On Monday, November 9, 1989, East Berliners crossed from east to west. NVA troops at Bornholmer Strasse, Heinrich Heine Strasse, Friedrich Strasse and all the other crossing points in Berlin simply lifted the barriers and the rest is history.
Erich Honecker cast a vote against himself at a plenary session of the Politburo. He later died in South America of Cancer. His story is one of pity and sadness. As a young man he objected to Hitler and paid the price. He was obviously a man of courage and principle, yet for decades he managed and controlled a totalitarian police state.
His wife Margo, once Education Minister in the GDR lives in South America and last week said that many people in the former GDR miss the 'old ways'. This from a woman who shopped on a weekly basis in West Berlin's KDW, a woman who was greatly disliked by the public and by those who worked close to her.
In 1955 Anglela Kasner, now Merkel, moved from Hamburg to Templin in the GDR with her family. Her father was pastor and moved from west to east. Angela was the brightest in her class, studied physics at Leipzig and Berlin. She was particularly good at Russian and was often seen learning her Russian vocabulary waiting at the bus stop for her school bus. She joined the FDJ (Free German Youth) and won a special scholarship for her excellence in the Russian language.
"She was a local leader of the Free German Youth, a Communist youth organisation akin to the Soviet Komsomol. Although Merkel seems reluctant to speak about it these days, she was in charge of agitation and propaganda for the young Communists at the Academy. It was quite an achievement for the pastor's daughter. Merkel earned her masters in physics in 1986.
"It was impossible to be a pastor in the GDR without being in contact with the State Secret Police.
"There were a very few exceptions to the rule. Pastor Kasner became a leading member of the Weissensee Work Group, a “brotherhood of priests” who cooperated with the State authorities. The State Secret Police controlled the activities of the group. The atmosphere in Angela's house was undoubtedly political.
"Later Merkel has repeatedly said that the membership in the Communist youth organisation was a must for those who wanted to study at the university in the GDR. Even if her “agitation and propaganda” stint was a political maneuver, it shows Merkel's ability to adjust to the circumstances. Perhaps her membership in the Communist youth organisation was just a career requirement though she never did anything to challenge the regime of the GDR," Pravda wrote.
Angela Merkel became the first woman to head the German government
In 1985 this writer was stopped at Invaliden Strasse from bringing his bicycle into the East. Have often wondered where that border guard is today. On another occasion in Weimar in 1988, this time on my bike I was stopped by police for going through a red light - did it twice before being stopped. The quick remark was difficult to resist and I told the Volks Polizist that I thought red meant forwards in the GDR. He did not think it funny and took my passport.
At the time I was attending a course and was in the country as a guest of the State so I managed through the university of Weimar to get back my passport but with a fine. In those days people from 'capitalist states' were obliged to change their money at a one to one rate, although the mighty German Mark was equal to 11 GDR Marks on the black market. I had originally changed my money on the black market but so as to get my passport back I had to show proof to the police that I had changed my money 'legally'.
We had a problem, but a solution too. I asked a student on the course from the Soviet Union if she would give me a 'gift' in GDR currency, which she kindly did. It was a nervous few hours. I handed over my GDR currency and thanked my Coviet fellow student.
What would Angela Merkel have thought of it all back then?
Erich Honecker cast a vote against himself at a plenary session of the Politburo. He later died in South America of Cancer. His story is one of pity and sadness. As a young man he objected to Hitler and paid the price. He was obviously a man of courage and principle, yet for decades he managed and controlled a totalitarian police state.
His wife Margo, once Education Minister in the GDR lives in South America and last week said that many people in the former GDR miss the 'old ways'. This from a woman who shopped on a weekly basis in West Berlin's KDW, a woman who was greatly disliked by the public and by those who worked close to her.
In 1955 Anglela Kasner, now Merkel, moved from Hamburg to Templin in the GDR with her family. Her father was pastor and moved from west to east. Angela was the brightest in her class, studied physics at Leipzig and Berlin. She was particularly good at Russian and was often seen learning her Russian vocabulary waiting at the bus stop for her school bus. She joined the FDJ (Free German Youth) and won a special scholarship for her excellence in the Russian language.
"She was a local leader of the Free German Youth, a Communist youth organisation akin to the Soviet Komsomol. Although Merkel seems reluctant to speak about it these days, she was in charge of agitation and propaganda for the young Communists at the Academy. It was quite an achievement for the pastor's daughter. Merkel earned her masters in physics in 1986.
"It was impossible to be a pastor in the GDR without being in contact with the State Secret Police.
"There were a very few exceptions to the rule. Pastor Kasner became a leading member of the Weissensee Work Group, a “brotherhood of priests” who cooperated with the State authorities. The State Secret Police controlled the activities of the group. The atmosphere in Angela's house was undoubtedly political.
"Later Merkel has repeatedly said that the membership in the Communist youth organisation was a must for those who wanted to study at the university in the GDR. Even if her “agitation and propaganda” stint was a political maneuver, it shows Merkel's ability to adjust to the circumstances. Perhaps her membership in the Communist youth organisation was just a career requirement though she never did anything to challenge the regime of the GDR," Pravda wrote.
Angela Merkel became the first woman to head the German government
In 1985 this writer was stopped at Invaliden Strasse from bringing his bicycle into the East. Have often wondered where that border guard is today. On another occasion in Weimar in 1988, this time on my bike I was stopped by police for going through a red light - did it twice before being stopped. The quick remark was difficult to resist and I told the Volks Polizist that I thought red meant forwards in the GDR. He did not think it funny and took my passport.
At the time I was attending a course and was in the country as a guest of the State so I managed through the university of Weimar to get back my passport but with a fine. In those days people from 'capitalist states' were obliged to change their money at a one to one rate, although the mighty German Mark was equal to 11 GDR Marks on the black market. I had originally changed my money on the black market but so as to get my passport back I had to show proof to the police that I had changed my money 'legally'.
We had a problem, but a solution too. I asked a student on the course from the Soviet Union if she would give me a 'gift' in GDR currency, which she kindly did. It was a nervous few hours. I handed over my GDR currency and thanked my Coviet fellow student.
What would Angela Merkel have thought of it all back then?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Manna from heaven for media
It is possible that the Joe Coleman story will turn into a great embarrassment and annoyance for the Catholic Church.
It's an occasion where any ordinary person must feel a sense of sympathy and concern for Archbishop Neary.
In the past the moving statue phenomenon has happened at roadside grottoes. Is this the first time that the 'roadshow' has moved to a church?
Broadcaster Joe Duffy had clairvoyant Joe Coleman on his radio show on Monday. Many people called in and also on the show was the manager of the Knock shrine, Pat Lavelle.
Joe Coleman on the Joe Duffy programme referred to Padre Pio and Joan of Arc.
Middle class 'sophisticated' catholics will put their hands to their heads and laugh or cry. Superstitious people will talk about it and look for 'something'. The clerical class will be divided. There will be those who will dismiss it as a load of nonsense and there will be those who will say that anything that brings people to pray is of value.
But for the media it is manna from heaven. It has all the ingredients of being a great story. It has the mix of curiosity, large crowds, religion, fantastic story. It is Fr Ted in 'real time'.
All the time in the background is the 'money ingredient'. If the church makes money at Knock, then why question the bona fides of a clairvoyant? And money is a big issue in church affairs. The recent High Court challenge re Mass cards may in many respects be the tip of the iceberg.
People angry with the church could well look at the 'organisation' and ask and wonder what is the story to its trillions.
The late John O'Gorman OP, whose anniversary it is today, once wisely observed that fellow academics had commented to him that the Achilles heel of the church was not the 'sex issue' but rather 'money'.
Truly it is all a great conundrum. How often has the Word of God been peddled with the world of money hovering in the background. That world can be extremely sophisticated, articulate and organised. It can also be extremely cheap, tricky and silly sounding.
The Joe Coleman story may well run and run.
It's an occasion where any ordinary person must feel a sense of sympathy and concern for Archbishop Neary.
In the past the moving statue phenomenon has happened at roadside grottoes. Is this the first time that the 'roadshow' has moved to a church?
Broadcaster Joe Duffy had clairvoyant Joe Coleman on his radio show on Monday. Many people called in and also on the show was the manager of the Knock shrine, Pat Lavelle.
Joe Coleman on the Joe Duffy programme referred to Padre Pio and Joan of Arc.
Middle class 'sophisticated' catholics will put their hands to their heads and laugh or cry. Superstitious people will talk about it and look for 'something'. The clerical class will be divided. There will be those who will dismiss it as a load of nonsense and there will be those who will say that anything that brings people to pray is of value.
But for the media it is manna from heaven. It has all the ingredients of being a great story. It has the mix of curiosity, large crowds, religion, fantastic story. It is Fr Ted in 'real time'.
All the time in the background is the 'money ingredient'. If the church makes money at Knock, then why question the bona fides of a clairvoyant? And money is a big issue in church affairs. The recent High Court challenge re Mass cards may in many respects be the tip of the iceberg.
People angry with the church could well look at the 'organisation' and ask and wonder what is the story to its trillions.
The late John O'Gorman OP, whose anniversary it is today, once wisely observed that fellow academics had commented to him that the Achilles heel of the church was not the 'sex issue' but rather 'money'.
Truly it is all a great conundrum. How often has the Word of God been peddled with the world of money hovering in the background. That world can be extremely sophisticated, articulate and organised. It can also be extremely cheap, tricky and silly sounding.
The Joe Coleman story may well run and run.
Getting there
Significant progress is being made on tracing who wrote the two anonymous comments to this blog. As already reported, the Gardai have been informed. Computer expertise has been sought and three IP addresses will be sent to the Gardai. Legal advice has also been given.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Police notified
This blog has received two anonymous inappropriate and libellous emails. The police have been notified.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pending report to be horrific
Below is an article by Patsy McGarry on the report on the Dublin archdiocese due for publication this week.
Is it possible for the clerical state to reform itself? There are far too many signs at hand to suggest it is not happening. Indeed, the increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life may well be an ominous sign of the failure of any sort of root and branch change.
Travel around the country and read some of the newsletters/parish bulletins that are being produced. There is a palpable arrogance suggesting that priests 'know' the mind of God.
And there is still an attitude which is quite common which suggests the 'media' is against the 'church'.
Will there ever be an open and real discussion on priesthood, what it can do to people?
Cover-ups exposed in Dublin report will shock most
RITE AND REASON: The Dublin Archdiocese report will have a profound impact on the Catholic Church’s authority in Ireland, writes PATSY McGARRY
OVER COMING days we are likely to witness something definitive where the Catholic Church in Ireland is concerned. Publication of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report is expected to confirm much, but it will shock even more.
This shock factor is unlikely to be centred on the abuse stories involved, or on their scale.
Following the Ryan report last May, it might be said that the Irish public has become almost inured to such depravity. But it is the scale of the cover-up in Dublin and the moral audacity of senior clergy involved which is likely to shock most of all.
Words such as “immoral” and “amoral” are expected to be on round-the-clock call among descriptions of the activities of the Dublin church authorities.
Indeed, stronger language may be employed as it becomes clear that the Catholic Church in Dublin operated a jurisdiction within a jurisdiction based on one consistent rule: protect the institution at all costs.
Those costs included the exposure, and indeed sacrifice, of vulnerable children, again and again, to predatory abusers.
There has been nothing like this Dublin inquiry, anywhere, before. The Ferns inquiry, which is nearest in character to Dublin, involved 26 priests and two bishops. The Dublin inquiry has involved a sample of 46 priests and 19 bishops, including four archbishops.
From what is known, its findings are damning. Bishops in Dublin moved priest abusers around from parish to parish, again and again, in most instances informing no one in the parishes, even its priests, of the newcomer’s proclivities.
In most such instances, too, they moved the abuser priests into poorer, working-class areas, where people were more trusting and less likely to ask questions and where, as elsewhere, it was the children of the most devout who were taken advantage of.
At one time it is known, for instance, that three such abuser priests were posted to one working-class parish on Dublin’s northside. In another Dublin northside parish, the presbytery was shared by one priest child abuser, a second priest and the latter’s mistress.
Nowhere before has Catholic Church authority been held to account on such a scale by a statutory body, on any issue. The irony that this should happen in Ireland will not be lost on many.
The likely exposure of a moral vacuum at the heart of Catholic Church authority in Ireland’s largest diocese will have a wider resonance. It will make it difficult to accept that this was a feature peculiar to the Catholic Church in Dublin or in Ireland.
The impact of the findings for the Catholic Church’s authority on this island are likely to be profound. The immediate effect of such large-scale betrayal will be renewed and radical focus on the role of bishops as patrons where Catholic primary schools in Ireland are concerned.
But that is not all. Its implications for the future of the clerical church in Ireland are grim.
We saw yesterday that the Bishop of Kerry, Most Rev Bill Murphy, has warned that “it is no exaggeration to say that, in the coming years, the church in Ireland will not survive without a committed and involved laity”.
He continued that it was “very likely” that by late next year some parishes in the Kerry diocese will be without a resident priest. And that is now.
Although there has been a rise in the number of first-year seminarians at Maynooth this year, it is the exception which underlines a rapid fall-off in vocations to the Catholic priesthood. There is no reason to believe that the Dublin report will halt that trend.
We are witnessing an unseemly end to a form of Catholicism which has been dominant in Ireland since shortly after the Famine. The Dublin report is likely to hasten that decline considerably.
That this has been brought about by the church authorities themselves, more than any outside influence, is another lesson in the consequences of abusing power.
It is, too, another powerful illustration of the corruption towards which such unchecked power leads.
Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs Correspondent
Is it possible for the clerical state to reform itself? There are far too many signs at hand to suggest it is not happening. Indeed, the increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life may well be an ominous sign of the failure of any sort of root and branch change.
Travel around the country and read some of the newsletters/parish bulletins that are being produced. There is a palpable arrogance suggesting that priests 'know' the mind of God.
And there is still an attitude which is quite common which suggests the 'media' is against the 'church'.
Will there ever be an open and real discussion on priesthood, what it can do to people?
Cover-ups exposed in Dublin report will shock most
RITE AND REASON: The Dublin Archdiocese report will have a profound impact on the Catholic Church’s authority in Ireland, writes PATSY McGARRY
OVER COMING days we are likely to witness something definitive where the Catholic Church in Ireland is concerned. Publication of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report is expected to confirm much, but it will shock even more.
This shock factor is unlikely to be centred on the abuse stories involved, or on their scale.
Following the Ryan report last May, it might be said that the Irish public has become almost inured to such depravity. But it is the scale of the cover-up in Dublin and the moral audacity of senior clergy involved which is likely to shock most of all.
Words such as “immoral” and “amoral” are expected to be on round-the-clock call among descriptions of the activities of the Dublin church authorities.
Indeed, stronger language may be employed as it becomes clear that the Catholic Church in Dublin operated a jurisdiction within a jurisdiction based on one consistent rule: protect the institution at all costs.
Those costs included the exposure, and indeed sacrifice, of vulnerable children, again and again, to predatory abusers.
There has been nothing like this Dublin inquiry, anywhere, before. The Ferns inquiry, which is nearest in character to Dublin, involved 26 priests and two bishops. The Dublin inquiry has involved a sample of 46 priests and 19 bishops, including four archbishops.
From what is known, its findings are damning. Bishops in Dublin moved priest abusers around from parish to parish, again and again, in most instances informing no one in the parishes, even its priests, of the newcomer’s proclivities.
In most such instances, too, they moved the abuser priests into poorer, working-class areas, where people were more trusting and less likely to ask questions and where, as elsewhere, it was the children of the most devout who were taken advantage of.
At one time it is known, for instance, that three such abuser priests were posted to one working-class parish on Dublin’s northside. In another Dublin northside parish, the presbytery was shared by one priest child abuser, a second priest and the latter’s mistress.
Nowhere before has Catholic Church authority been held to account on such a scale by a statutory body, on any issue. The irony that this should happen in Ireland will not be lost on many.
The likely exposure of a moral vacuum at the heart of Catholic Church authority in Ireland’s largest diocese will have a wider resonance. It will make it difficult to accept that this was a feature peculiar to the Catholic Church in Dublin or in Ireland.
The impact of the findings for the Catholic Church’s authority on this island are likely to be profound. The immediate effect of such large-scale betrayal will be renewed and radical focus on the role of bishops as patrons where Catholic primary schools in Ireland are concerned.
But that is not all. Its implications for the future of the clerical church in Ireland are grim.
We saw yesterday that the Bishop of Kerry, Most Rev Bill Murphy, has warned that “it is no exaggeration to say that, in the coming years, the church in Ireland will not survive without a committed and involved laity”.
He continued that it was “very likely” that by late next year some parishes in the Kerry diocese will be without a resident priest. And that is now.
Although there has been a rise in the number of first-year seminarians at Maynooth this year, it is the exception which underlines a rapid fall-off in vocations to the Catholic priesthood. There is no reason to believe that the Dublin report will halt that trend.
We are witnessing an unseemly end to a form of Catholicism which has been dominant in Ireland since shortly after the Famine. The Dublin report is likely to hasten that decline considerably.
That this has been brought about by the church authorities themselves, more than any outside influence, is another lesson in the consequences of abusing power.
It is, too, another powerful illustration of the corruption towards which such unchecked power leads.
Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
From Wir sind das Volk to Wir sind ein Volk
Twenty years ago this week Erich Honnecker was in the last days as secretary of the SED. On October 18,1989 he was replaced by Egon Krenz. He too would quickly bite the dust.
Bloodshed had been avoided at the last moment at the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. The head of police had asked Berlin for instructions. Berlin remained silent.
It was the last days of the GDR.
The openness,transparency and honesty of all that happened at the church in Leipzig stands out in stark contrast to all that was hidden, anonymous and nasty about the Stasi.
Bloodshed had been avoided at the last moment at the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. The head of police had asked Berlin for instructions. Berlin remained silent.
It was the last days of the GDR.
The openness,transparency and honesty of all that happened at the church in Leipzig stands out in stark contrast to all that was hidden, anonymous and nasty about the Stasi.
Canterbury versus Doncaster
Below is a report of what the Archbishop of Canterbury said at Southwark Cathedral. It appears in today's Irish Times.
In the current issue of Alive! the new Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, is reported as saying, "I'm not green and I'm not conned by global warning".
The editor of Alive! is constantly arguing that the media has a 'liberal' agenda.
Would it be more correct to say that Alive! has an agenda that panders to misfits.
The thoughtfulness and gentleness of the Archbishop of Canterbury surely are more attractive and meaningful, and maybe even Christian, than the words of the new Mayor of Doncaster.
Alive! seems to be filled with cheap shots. It is a nasty publication.
PEOPLE SHOULD use the climate change crisis as an opportunity to become human again, setting aside the addictive and self-destructive behaviour that has damaged their souls, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in London yesterday.
Dr Rowan Williams told an audience at Southwark Cathedral that people had allowed themselves to become “addicted to fantasies about prosperity and growth, dreams of wealth without risk and profit without cost”.
The consequences of such a lifestyle meant the human soul was “one of the foremost casualties of environmental degradation”.
“Many of the things which have moved us towards ecological disaster have been distortions of who and what we are and their overall effect has been to isolate us from the reality we’re part of. Our response to this crisis needs to be, in the most basic sense, a reality check,” Dr Williams said.
“We need to keep up pressure on national governments; there are questions only they can answer about the investment of national resources. We need equally to keep up pressure on ourselves and to learn how to work better as civic agents.”
Earlier this year Dr Williams said God was not a “safety net” that would guarantee a happy ending and human pillaging of the world’s resources meant the planet was facing a “whole range of doomsday prospects” that exceeded the results of global warming. Humanity faced being “choked, drowned or starved” by its own stupidity, he said, and he compared those who challenged the reality of climate change to the courtiers who flattered King Canute, until he proved he could not command the waves by going to the seashore and trying to do so. – (Guardian news service)
In the current issue of Alive! the new Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies, is reported as saying, "I'm not green and I'm not conned by global warning".
The editor of Alive! is constantly arguing that the media has a 'liberal' agenda.
Would it be more correct to say that Alive! has an agenda that panders to misfits.
The thoughtfulness and gentleness of the Archbishop of Canterbury surely are more attractive and meaningful, and maybe even Christian, than the words of the new Mayor of Doncaster.
Alive! seems to be filled with cheap shots. It is a nasty publication.
PEOPLE SHOULD use the climate change crisis as an opportunity to become human again, setting aside the addictive and self-destructive behaviour that has damaged their souls, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in London yesterday.
Dr Rowan Williams told an audience at Southwark Cathedral that people had allowed themselves to become “addicted to fantasies about prosperity and growth, dreams of wealth without risk and profit without cost”.
The consequences of such a lifestyle meant the human soul was “one of the foremost casualties of environmental degradation”.
“Many of the things which have moved us towards ecological disaster have been distortions of who and what we are and their overall effect has been to isolate us from the reality we’re part of. Our response to this crisis needs to be, in the most basic sense, a reality check,” Dr Williams said.
“We need to keep up pressure on national governments; there are questions only they can answer about the investment of national resources. We need equally to keep up pressure on ourselves and to learn how to work better as civic agents.”
Earlier this year Dr Williams said God was not a “safety net” that would guarantee a happy ending and human pillaging of the world’s resources meant the planet was facing a “whole range of doomsday prospects” that exceeded the results of global warming. Humanity faced being “choked, drowned or starved” by its own stupidity, he said, and he compared those who challenged the reality of climate change to the courtiers who flattered King Canute, until he proved he could not command the waves by going to the seashore and trying to do so. – (Guardian news service)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Newspaper yarns
The story below is the result of a clairvoyant, who has been contacting newspapers about 'visions' he is experiencing.
The newspapers are enjoying the fun and naturally it is a a great yarn.
Is this where Irish Catholicism finds itself?
Thousands wait for Knock apparition
THOUSANDS GATHERED at Knock Shrine, Co Mayo, yesterday hoping to see an
apparition of Our Lady.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1012/1224256437842.html
The newspapers are enjoying the fun and naturally it is a a great yarn.
Is this where Irish Catholicism finds itself?
Thousands wait for Knock apparition
THOUSANDS GATHERED at Knock Shrine, Co Mayo, yesterday hoping to see an
apparition of Our Lady.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1012/1224256437842.html
Overheard on the Luas
Overheard on the Luas today.
Two students with 'mid-Atlantic' accents talking about the experience of studying in Dublin, the advantages of having coffee bars nearby and the general good value of food and beer available to students.
The conversation changed to the Air Corps accident on the Galway Mayo border on Monday evening. One of the two students began to chuckle and laugh at the event. Someone on the Luas reminded them that two men had been killed in the accident. One of the students replied, "I was not talking to you."
The Green Line Luas was crowded. Not a word from anyone except from the man who challenged the comment.
The student did reply that he was not talking to the man. Can you have a private, out loud conversation on a packed Luas?
Two students with 'mid-Atlantic' accents talking about the experience of studying in Dublin, the advantages of having coffee bars nearby and the general good value of food and beer available to students.
The conversation changed to the Air Corps accident on the Galway Mayo border on Monday evening. One of the two students began to chuckle and laugh at the event. Someone on the Luas reminded them that two men had been killed in the accident. One of the students replied, "I was not talking to you."
The Green Line Luas was crowded. Not a word from anyone except from the man who challenged the comment.
The student did reply that he was not talking to the man. Can you have a private, out loud conversation on a packed Luas?
Irish bishops at Council
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]
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]
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Two German Dominicans
A German television station in a two series programme has profiled two Dominicans. One, Georg Severin, has left the Dominicans to marry a woman and Rufus Keller remains a Dominican.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Stasi operatives sent packing
During all those meetings in the Leipzig church and the events that led up to the fall of the wall, it is most unlikely that Pastor Führer would ever have been anonymous or called himself 'P O'Neill'.
No doubt the Stasi operatives were anonymous with codenames and hidden identities.
There is a profound sadness and emptiness about people, who hide behind anonymity. There is a hopelessness about it.
Why does it happen so often within church organisations?
No doubt the Stasi operatives were anonymous with codenames and hidden identities.
There is a profound sadness and emptiness about people, who hide behind anonymity. There is a hopelessness about it.
Why does it happen so often within church organisations?
The miracle of October 7, 1989 in Leipzig
Article below appears in today's Irish Times - great piece about how a seed is sown
Remembering how the fall of the Wall began in a Leipzig church
LITTLE CHANGES within the walls of Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche, the 12th-century Romanesque church of St Nicholas.
The walls here remember Johann Sebastian Bach’s premiere of the Johannes Passion on Good Friday in 1724 – and they remember the night 20 years ago when 2,000 people, excited and terrified, gathered here to do something extraordinary.
After 40 years in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a four-decade lock-in of daily humiliations and falsified elections, they refused to be intimidated any longer.
Clutching their courage in their candles, they filed out of the church and began to march. It started a chain reaction that, exactly one month later, toppled the hated Berlin Wall.
“Without October 9th in Leipzig, there would not have been a November 9th in Berlin, I’m sure of that,” says Bettina Schuster, a 40-something woman with long brown hair and kind eyes, sitting calmly in the church where it all began 20 years ago.
“I had a young son, I was a teacher, I really shouldn’t have come here but I just felt I had to.
“It felt so great to finally speak openly about our frustrations, to listen to others. There was a feeling of security and peace here, even though there were police outside allowed to shoot if necessary.”
The long road to 1989 began in 1981 as peace prayer evenings organised by the Nikolaikirche’s pastor Christian Führer in 1981 in response to Cold War arms race.
The group had connections to Vaclav Havel in Prague and Solidarity in Gdansk, but was crippled by public apathy. Five years in, the Monday night gatherings were attracting just four people.
“I was ready to give up but one of the people attending said, ‘If we give up, then there is no hope any more’,” remembers Pastor Führer, then as now a lively, spiky-haired man, instantly recognisable in his jeans and denim waistcoat.
“Then I remembered the parable of the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds that can still grow to provide shelter for many.”
He carried on into what had become the era of perestroika in the Soviet Union. In East Berlin, the elderly Politburo was in denial about the need for reforms. In Leipzig, the pastor could sense the longing for change.
People wanted to talk about free elections, their longing to travel freely, and his church became the safe haven for their discussion.
“The people had been silenced, by fear and the secret police, we provided a space for them to discuss taboo topics,” says Pastor Führer.
In 1988, he watched attendance at his Monday prayer meetings grow – eight, 80, 100.
The meetings got a shot in the arm on September 4th when a group of young people emerged from the Monday meeting to hold up a banner reading: “For an open life with free people.”
A West German television camera outside filmed the scene, including how a Stasi agent ran forward to snatch the banner. For the first time Germans, east and west, saw pictures from Leipzig. A week later, the Nikolaikirche was full.
Pastor Führer was jubilant but nervous: would the meetings remain calm as the pressure continued to build?
“I reminded people of the Sermon on the Mount – love your enemy – and hoped they would take this message of non-violence with them from the church.”
The critical turning point came on October 7th, 1989. In East Berlin, GDR leader Erich Honecker welcomed Mikhail Gorbachev for the 40th anniversary of the GDR, a last hurrah for the ailing Politburo chief and his regime.
In Leipzig, meanwhile, nervous policemen broke up the official anniversary events in the main shopping street with a baton charge.
“They surrounded us, moving in to hit us and drag people away,” remembers a tearful local woman Birgit Scheffel.
“Old people and children were trampled. Things were really on a knife-edge. We all wondered whether the next Monday demo would stay peaceful or turn bloody.”
By the evening of Monday, October 9th, nearly all churches in Leipzig had joined the demonstrations. Outside, the atmosphere was charged.
Stasi officers had been sent in as agents provocateurs to stir up trouble and justify a police intervention. Pastor Führer knew none of this but feared the worst as he emerged from the Nikolaikirche.
With an extraordinary 70,000 people behind him, the nervous pastor led the march around the Leipzig ring road.
Faces illuminated in candlelight, they chanted for freedom: “Freiheit! Freiheit! Freiheit!” To their amazement, they completed a circuit and returned, unhindered, to the Nikolaikirche.
“I was so overwhelmed that I was incapable of thinking anything except that, because the police had not intervened, the GDR was no longer the same as it had been,” remembers Pastor Führer.
Today, he has his own theories about why things remained peaceful.
The police were prepared for everything, a police officer told him later, but not for candles and prayers. Frantic calls from Leipzig to Berlin seeking permission to intervene went unanswered.
Two decades on, Pastor Führer has retired from the Nikolaikirche. As the official anniversary machine grinds into life in Berlin, he is happy to retell the other story of 1989: about the revolution that came from his church in Leipzig.
“For most of these people, after the Nazis and the communists, Jesus never existed,” he said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that they understood perfectly his message of peace.”
Remembering how the fall of the Wall began in a Leipzig church
LITTLE CHANGES within the walls of Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche, the 12th-century Romanesque church of St Nicholas.
The walls here remember Johann Sebastian Bach’s premiere of the Johannes Passion on Good Friday in 1724 – and they remember the night 20 years ago when 2,000 people, excited and terrified, gathered here to do something extraordinary.
After 40 years in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a four-decade lock-in of daily humiliations and falsified elections, they refused to be intimidated any longer.
Clutching their courage in their candles, they filed out of the church and began to march. It started a chain reaction that, exactly one month later, toppled the hated Berlin Wall.
“Without October 9th in Leipzig, there would not have been a November 9th in Berlin, I’m sure of that,” says Bettina Schuster, a 40-something woman with long brown hair and kind eyes, sitting calmly in the church where it all began 20 years ago.
“I had a young son, I was a teacher, I really shouldn’t have come here but I just felt I had to.
“It felt so great to finally speak openly about our frustrations, to listen to others. There was a feeling of security and peace here, even though there were police outside allowed to shoot if necessary.”
The long road to 1989 began in 1981 as peace prayer evenings organised by the Nikolaikirche’s pastor Christian Führer in 1981 in response to Cold War arms race.
The group had connections to Vaclav Havel in Prague and Solidarity in Gdansk, but was crippled by public apathy. Five years in, the Monday night gatherings were attracting just four people.
“I was ready to give up but one of the people attending said, ‘If we give up, then there is no hope any more’,” remembers Pastor Führer, then as now a lively, spiky-haired man, instantly recognisable in his jeans and denim waistcoat.
“Then I remembered the parable of the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds that can still grow to provide shelter for many.”
He carried on into what had become the era of perestroika in the Soviet Union. In East Berlin, the elderly Politburo was in denial about the need for reforms. In Leipzig, the pastor could sense the longing for change.
People wanted to talk about free elections, their longing to travel freely, and his church became the safe haven for their discussion.
“The people had been silenced, by fear and the secret police, we provided a space for them to discuss taboo topics,” says Pastor Führer.
In 1988, he watched attendance at his Monday prayer meetings grow – eight, 80, 100.
The meetings got a shot in the arm on September 4th when a group of young people emerged from the Monday meeting to hold up a banner reading: “For an open life with free people.”
A West German television camera outside filmed the scene, including how a Stasi agent ran forward to snatch the banner. For the first time Germans, east and west, saw pictures from Leipzig. A week later, the Nikolaikirche was full.
Pastor Führer was jubilant but nervous: would the meetings remain calm as the pressure continued to build?
“I reminded people of the Sermon on the Mount – love your enemy – and hoped they would take this message of non-violence with them from the church.”
The critical turning point came on October 7th, 1989. In East Berlin, GDR leader Erich Honecker welcomed Mikhail Gorbachev for the 40th anniversary of the GDR, a last hurrah for the ailing Politburo chief and his regime.
In Leipzig, meanwhile, nervous policemen broke up the official anniversary events in the main shopping street with a baton charge.
“They surrounded us, moving in to hit us and drag people away,” remembers a tearful local woman Birgit Scheffel.
“Old people and children were trampled. Things were really on a knife-edge. We all wondered whether the next Monday demo would stay peaceful or turn bloody.”
By the evening of Monday, October 9th, nearly all churches in Leipzig had joined the demonstrations. Outside, the atmosphere was charged.
Stasi officers had been sent in as agents provocateurs to stir up trouble and justify a police intervention. Pastor Führer knew none of this but feared the worst as he emerged from the Nikolaikirche.
With an extraordinary 70,000 people behind him, the nervous pastor led the march around the Leipzig ring road.
Faces illuminated in candlelight, they chanted for freedom: “Freiheit! Freiheit! Freiheit!” To their amazement, they completed a circuit and returned, unhindered, to the Nikolaikirche.
“I was so overwhelmed that I was incapable of thinking anything except that, because the police had not intervened, the GDR was no longer the same as it had been,” remembers Pastor Führer.
Today, he has his own theories about why things remained peaceful.
The police were prepared for everything, a police officer told him later, but not for candles and prayers. Frantic calls from Leipzig to Berlin seeking permission to intervene went unanswered.
Two decades on, Pastor Führer has retired from the Nikolaikirche. As the official anniversary machine grinds into life in Berlin, he is happy to retell the other story of 1989: about the revolution that came from his church in Leipzig.
“For most of these people, after the Nazis and the communists, Jesus never existed,” he said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that they understood perfectly his message of peace.”
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Inaccurate and offensive comments
What is it about marriage and matters related to sexuality that seem to give a significant number of priests a drive and mission that is palpable in its ferocity?
In a parish newsletter this week a priest devotes three columns to the Sunday Gospel. The Gospel on Sunday was about divorce.
In the piece, the priest writes: “Two people ‘married’ by a judge are not married in the eyes of God.” How the priest can see into God’s eyes is surely confusing.
Catholic theology and the law of the church clearly says that a marriage between two non-baptised people in a registry office is a valid marriage. Is what the priest is saying contrary to Catholic teaching?
The tone of the three columns is not helpful and no doubt has the potential of alienating many good people who are in ‘irregular relationships’
In that same newsletter there is a note about a 'Novena of life'. A sentence runs “Abortion has turned the womb into a tomb and women into killers.”
Again such a comment has the potential of hurting many people who are genuinely in search of God.
A similar tone was evident among a number of priests in the run up to the Lisbon vote.
In a parish newsletter this week a priest devotes three columns to the Sunday Gospel. The Gospel on Sunday was about divorce.
In the piece, the priest writes: “Two people ‘married’ by a judge are not married in the eyes of God.” How the priest can see into God’s eyes is surely confusing.
Catholic theology and the law of the church clearly says that a marriage between two non-baptised people in a registry office is a valid marriage. Is what the priest is saying contrary to Catholic teaching?
The tone of the three columns is not helpful and no doubt has the potential of alienating many good people who are in ‘irregular relationships’
In that same newsletter there is a note about a 'Novena of life'. A sentence runs “Abortion has turned the womb into a tomb and women into killers.”
Again such a comment has the potential of hurting many people who are genuinely in search of God.
A similar tone was evident among a number of priests in the run up to the Lisbon vote.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Anonymous ad in today's Irish Independent
On page 8 of today's Irish Independent there is an advert advising people to vote No in tomorrow's Lisbon referendum.
It will have to go down in the history of advertising as one of the most bizarre. But it is terribly funny.
Amazing lines in it. It tells us Tá Dia Láidir. It talks about infected water in Galway in 2007 and a Freemason-determined EU Parliament.
It is hilarious. But what is disturbing and worrying about it is that it is anonymous and most likely has many sympathisers within the clerical church. It really is scary.
Should a national newspaper carry an anonymous advertisement?
Is the ad blasphemous?
It will have to go down in the history of advertising as one of the most bizarre. But it is terribly funny.
Amazing lines in it. It tells us Tá Dia Láidir. It talks about infected water in Galway in 2007 and a Freemason-determined EU Parliament.
It is hilarious. But what is disturbing and worrying about it is that it is anonymous and most likely has many sympathisers within the clerical church. It really is scary.
Should a national newspaper carry an anonymous advertisement?
Is the ad blasphemous?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tribunal says sister should be reinstated
The Irish Employment Appeals Tribunal has upheld the case of a Presentation Sister who refused to leave her teaching post after being instructed to do so by her superior.
The comment from the bishop's office is interesting as is the term from the woman's superior to the Presentation Sister, "missioning you to a period of rest".
Where does the hierarchical church think up the vocabulary of subterfuge?
It is an interesting judgement.
Vatican answers criticisms
Article below appears in The Guardian.
Up to five per cent of priests found guilty of illegal behaviour. Is that an acceptable figure? What about the priests who are never discovered?
Is the Vatican in this piece admitting that a significant number of its priests are gay?
This might well be a prophetic moment.
Maybe the Vatican might learn from the openness and honesty of current German political life where the Mayor of Berlin is openly gay. And most probably the next German Foreign Minister will be Guido Westerwelle of FDP, who is also openly gay.
The problem with the Catholic Church appears to be its unwillingness to admit what is in fact a reality. It means so many priests are dishonest about their sexual orientation. And so begins the world of 'cover up' and a language and style that is far removed from what is real, true and honest. It is linked to the world of anonymity, which is so alive and 'thriving' in the Irish Catholic Church.
Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican
Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent, and Anushka Asthana
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 September 2009 22.41 BST
The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.
In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.
The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.
He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.
He added that sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbours, and male children were quite often guilty of sexual molestation of other children.
The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."
The statement concluded: "As the Catholic church has been busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it."
The Holy See launched its counter–attack after an international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Keith Porteous Wood, accused it of covering up child abuse and being in breach of several articles under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Porteous Wood said the Holy See had not contradicted any of his accusations. "The many thousands of victims of abuse deserve the international community to hold the Vatican to account, something it has been unwilling to do, so far. Both states and children's organisations must unite to pressurise the Vatican to open its files, change its procedures worldwide, and report suspected abusers to civil authorities."
Representatives from other religions were dismayed by the Holy See's attempts to distance itself from controversy by pointing the finger at other faiths.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, head of the New York Board of Rabbis, said: "Comparative tragedy is a dangerous path on which to travel. All of us need to look within our own communities. Child abuse is sinful and shameful and we must expel them immediately from our midst."
A spokesman for the US Episcopal Church said measures for the prevention of sexual misconduct and the safeguarding of children had been in place for years.
Of all the world religions, Roman Catholicism has been hardest hit by sex abuse scandals. In the US, churches have paid more than $2bn (£1.25bn) in compensation to victims. In Ireland, reports into clerical sexual abuse have rocked both the Catholic hierarchy and the state.
The Ryan Report, published last May, revealed that beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children. A nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls, while government inspectors failed to stop the abuse.
Up to five per cent of priests found guilty of illegal behaviour. Is that an acceptable figure? What about the priests who are never discovered?
Is the Vatican in this piece admitting that a significant number of its priests are gay?
This might well be a prophetic moment.
Maybe the Vatican might learn from the openness and honesty of current German political life where the Mayor of Berlin is openly gay. And most probably the next German Foreign Minister will be Guido Westerwelle of FDP, who is also openly gay.
The problem with the Catholic Church appears to be its unwillingness to admit what is in fact a reality. It means so many priests are dishonest about their sexual orientation. And so begins the world of 'cover up' and a language and style that is far removed from what is real, true and honest. It is linked to the world of anonymity, which is so alive and 'thriving' in the Irish Catholic Church.
Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican
Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent, and Anushka Asthana
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 September 2009 22.41 BST
The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.
In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.
The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.
He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.
He added that sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbours, and male children were quite often guilty of sexual molestation of other children.
The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."
The statement concluded: "As the Catholic church has been busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it."
The Holy See launched its counter–attack after an international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Keith Porteous Wood, accused it of covering up child abuse and being in breach of several articles under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Porteous Wood said the Holy See had not contradicted any of his accusations. "The many thousands of victims of abuse deserve the international community to hold the Vatican to account, something it has been unwilling to do, so far. Both states and children's organisations must unite to pressurise the Vatican to open its files, change its procedures worldwide, and report suspected abusers to civil authorities."
Representatives from other religions were dismayed by the Holy See's attempts to distance itself from controversy by pointing the finger at other faiths.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, head of the New York Board of Rabbis, said: "Comparative tragedy is a dangerous path on which to travel. All of us need to look within our own communities. Child abuse is sinful and shameful and we must expel them immediately from our midst."
A spokesman for the US Episcopal Church said measures for the prevention of sexual misconduct and the safeguarding of children had been in place for years.
Of all the world religions, Roman Catholicism has been hardest hit by sex abuse scandals. In the US, churches have paid more than $2bn (£1.25bn) in compensation to victims. In Ireland, reports into clerical sexual abuse have rocked both the Catholic hierarchy and the state.
The Ryan Report, published last May, revealed that beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children. A nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls, while government inspectors failed to stop the abuse.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Church run fee-paying schools
There is an article in today’s Irish Times about fee-paying schools. The piece is written by Orlaith Carmody, who has sent her three sons to Jesuit run Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare.
It’s the old chestnut about fee-paying schools. But maybe there is more to that discussion right now as we are in economic meltdown.
It is universally recognised that the Jesuits run great schools. I have taught in a Jesuit run school. I have also taught in a Dominican run school. I have seen first hand the job of work that is done.
But are there not serious questions to be asked about the idea of the Catholic Church running schools for the children of parents who happen to have the money to afford them?
The Catholic Church does not pay tax on any of the money it collects through donations. It does not pay Capital Gains Tax or Inheritance Tax as it is a registered charity. That in effect means that any project it runs is subsidised by the State. Charity status of its nature means that it is a charity and the purpose of ‘charities’ it would seem, is to help and give assistance to the less well off.
Fee-paying schools can never be termed ‘charities’ so surely there must be a dilemma in the entire current structuring.
If part of the mission of the Church is to be on the side of the poor and marginalised how then can it feel at ease running schools that attract the children of parents who can afford to pay?
It is a complicated and emotive issue but nonetheless a real problem. If the Church closed down all its fee- paying schools in the morning, they would be replaced by private companies.
Also, does it mean that the Church in some way or other helps create a divide in Irish society between ‘ them and us’? And is that not ironic, considering these fee-paying schools are subsidised because of charity status?
The State pays the slaries of teachers in fee-paying schools. Recently they changed the pupil teacher ratio in State-run schools from 18 pupils per teacher to 19. In fee-paying schools it was changed to one teacher for every 20 pupils.
It’s the old chestnut about fee-paying schools. But maybe there is more to that discussion right now as we are in economic meltdown.
It is universally recognised that the Jesuits run great schools. I have taught in a Jesuit run school. I have also taught in a Dominican run school. I have seen first hand the job of work that is done.
But are there not serious questions to be asked about the idea of the Catholic Church running schools for the children of parents who happen to have the money to afford them?
The Catholic Church does not pay tax on any of the money it collects through donations. It does not pay Capital Gains Tax or Inheritance Tax as it is a registered charity. That in effect means that any project it runs is subsidised by the State. Charity status of its nature means that it is a charity and the purpose of ‘charities’ it would seem, is to help and give assistance to the less well off.
Fee-paying schools can never be termed ‘charities’ so surely there must be a dilemma in the entire current structuring.
If part of the mission of the Church is to be on the side of the poor and marginalised how then can it feel at ease running schools that attract the children of parents who can afford to pay?
It is a complicated and emotive issue but nonetheless a real problem. If the Church closed down all its fee- paying schools in the morning, they would be replaced by private companies.
Also, does it mean that the Church in some way or other helps create a divide in Irish society between ‘ them and us’? And is that not ironic, considering these fee-paying schools are subsidised because of charity status?
The State pays the slaries of teachers in fee-paying schools. Recently they changed the pupil teacher ratio in State-run schools from 18 pupils per teacher to 19. In fee-paying schools it was changed to one teacher for every 20 pupils.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Inappropriate anonymous material
Over the last few weeks a number of comments have arrived at this blog. The language was at first not recognisable. It transpired they were written in Japanese.
The material was not appropriate for this blog. It was also anonymous.
The material was not appropriate for this blog. It was also anonymous.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Whether to dress up or dress down
On the blog of the English Dominicans this week there is an article on the virtue of modesty. The writer deals with various aspects of women's dress.
Immediately below that article there are more than ten pictures of young men dressing up in the Dominican habit.
Immediately below that article there are more than ten pictures of young men dressing up in the Dominican habit.
It's all bicycles in Dublin
Over 6,000 people availed of the new Dublin bike scheme last week.
Today at the Grantham Street bicycle bay all 20 bicycles were out and about.
The scheme seems to be proving a runaway success.
A one year subscription costs €10. It can be obtained by logging on to www.dublinbikes.ie.
The first 30 minutes is free.
A pity they do not have bays at Heuston and Connolly Stations. Against that, it is not advisable to take a bike if you have a specific deadline. Say you arrive at your destination bay and all 20 slots are engaged? Where then do you leave the bike?
With the dublinbikes.ie scheme and the tax back scheme if you buy a bike through your employer there are many extra bicycles on the roads in Dublin.
Unfortunately some of the arrogant style 'gentlemen' who drive flash cars seem to have moved over to pedal power. They are as annoying on bicycles as they are in cars. And more dangerous.
Today at the Grantham Street bicycle bay all 20 bicycles were out and about.
The scheme seems to be proving a runaway success.
A one year subscription costs €10. It can be obtained by logging on to www.dublinbikes.ie.
The first 30 minutes is free.
A pity they do not have bays at Heuston and Connolly Stations. Against that, it is not advisable to take a bike if you have a specific deadline. Say you arrive at your destination bay and all 20 slots are engaged? Where then do you leave the bike?
With the dublinbikes.ie scheme and the tax back scheme if you buy a bike through your employer there are many extra bicycles on the roads in Dublin.
Unfortunately some of the arrogant style 'gentlemen' who drive flash cars seem to have moved over to pedal power. They are as annoying on bicycles as they are in cars. And more dangerous.
Jesuit find in Melbourne
The artilce below is in today's IrishTimes. Something most uplifting about it.
Why a priest in Melbourne received Michael Collins's last letter
DESMOND O'GRADY
What may be the final letter written by Michael Collins has turned up in Melbourne, along with several other relics of Irish history. But who was Collins writing to?
YOU WOULDN’T expect a missing piece of the puzzle about Michael Collins’s last days to surface in Australia. But that is what has happened, thanks to Brenda Niall, who has written The Riddle of Father Hackett, a biography of an Irish Jesuit, Fr William Hackett, who spent the second part of his life in Australia having been sent into exile because of his political activism.
As part of her research, Niall sent the Melbourne Jesuits searching for some letters that had been known to have gone missing after Hackett’s death in 1954. In a suburban garage, the present Jesuit archivist Michael Head SJ found a collection that had been hidden for half a century. In it was a letter from Michael Collins, probably the last he wrote, acknowledging a note Hackett had left for him and saying he was sorry to have missed seeing Hackett that day. The letter was dated the day before Collins was ambushed and shot.
What was Fr Hackett, a Dublin Jesuit, doing at Collins’s headquarters in Cork on August 21st, 1922? Niall speculates that he was possibly trying to arrange a peace meeting between Collins and Éamon de Valera.
Few if any Irish Jesuits at that time were willing to side with de Valera and Childers against the Treaty with Britain. But Fr Hackett was the son of an unrepentant Parnellite, and his family did not agree with the Catholic bishops’ line on the civil strife.
Fr Hackett was friendly with Pearse and MacDonagh, leaders of the Easter Rising, and became an activist after 1916.
Part of his story is recorded in other letters discovered in Jesuit archives in Melbourne – letters from Éamon de Valera, Robert Barton, who signed the Treaty but later opposed it, and also from the controversial Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne, who campaigned for the Irish cause in Australia, the US and in England, where the authorities prevented him from landing in his native Ireland. About 50 letters from members of Childers family also came to light during Niall’s research, as well as a journal of the civil war period.
Often riding long distances on his bicycle, Hackett provided pastoral care for the rebels, but trod a very fine line between the pastoral and the political.
The Irish Jesuit leadership allowed him a free hand for years, but eventually seems to have become wary of his activities. In 1922 he was sent to Australia for motives that are not altogether clear. He accepted his unwelcome posting for the good of Ireland, the Jesuits and his soul.
Fr Hackett had a rich life in Melbourne as a teacher, as a maverick headmaster of Xavier College, as founder of the Catholic Library in the heart of Melbourne, and as mentor to a generation of Catholics who have influenced Australian social and cultural life.
He was a people person, always worried that he was an intellectual lightweight, but he convinced many Catholics that they should not just pray and pay but take ideas and books seriously.
Fr Hackett was also friendly with the Liberal prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, which was as politically incorrect as could be in the eyes of most Australian Catholics of Irish background. Fr Hackett seems to have prompted Menzies’s visit to de Valera in Ireland in 1941, which angered Churchill but gave the Australian a new slant on Irish neutrality.
In her biography, Brenda Niall is able to bring him to life in Melbourne partly because he was a friend of her doctor father and regularly visited the Niall home.
One of Hackett’s endearing traits was his humour, which did not desert him even at the end of his life. After being knocked down and fatally injured by a taxi when crossing a Melbourne street at night, before he died he is said to have remarked: “I never thought I’d have a taxi to take me to heaven.”
The Riddle of Father Hackett by Brenda Niall is published by the National Library of Australia
Why a priest in Melbourne received Michael Collins's last letter
DESMOND O'GRADY
What may be the final letter written by Michael Collins has turned up in Melbourne, along with several other relics of Irish history. But who was Collins writing to?
YOU WOULDN’T expect a missing piece of the puzzle about Michael Collins’s last days to surface in Australia. But that is what has happened, thanks to Brenda Niall, who has written The Riddle of Father Hackett, a biography of an Irish Jesuit, Fr William Hackett, who spent the second part of his life in Australia having been sent into exile because of his political activism.
As part of her research, Niall sent the Melbourne Jesuits searching for some letters that had been known to have gone missing after Hackett’s death in 1954. In a suburban garage, the present Jesuit archivist Michael Head SJ found a collection that had been hidden for half a century. In it was a letter from Michael Collins, probably the last he wrote, acknowledging a note Hackett had left for him and saying he was sorry to have missed seeing Hackett that day. The letter was dated the day before Collins was ambushed and shot.
What was Fr Hackett, a Dublin Jesuit, doing at Collins’s headquarters in Cork on August 21st, 1922? Niall speculates that he was possibly trying to arrange a peace meeting between Collins and Éamon de Valera.
Few if any Irish Jesuits at that time were willing to side with de Valera and Childers against the Treaty with Britain. But Fr Hackett was the son of an unrepentant Parnellite, and his family did not agree with the Catholic bishops’ line on the civil strife.
Fr Hackett was friendly with Pearse and MacDonagh, leaders of the Easter Rising, and became an activist after 1916.
Part of his story is recorded in other letters discovered in Jesuit archives in Melbourne – letters from Éamon de Valera, Robert Barton, who signed the Treaty but later opposed it, and also from the controversial Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne, who campaigned for the Irish cause in Australia, the US and in England, where the authorities prevented him from landing in his native Ireland. About 50 letters from members of Childers family also came to light during Niall’s research, as well as a journal of the civil war period.
Often riding long distances on his bicycle, Hackett provided pastoral care for the rebels, but trod a very fine line between the pastoral and the political.
The Irish Jesuit leadership allowed him a free hand for years, but eventually seems to have become wary of his activities. In 1922 he was sent to Australia for motives that are not altogether clear. He accepted his unwelcome posting for the good of Ireland, the Jesuits and his soul.
Fr Hackett had a rich life in Melbourne as a teacher, as a maverick headmaster of Xavier College, as founder of the Catholic Library in the heart of Melbourne, and as mentor to a generation of Catholics who have influenced Australian social and cultural life.
He was a people person, always worried that he was an intellectual lightweight, but he convinced many Catholics that they should not just pray and pay but take ideas and books seriously.
Fr Hackett was also friendly with the Liberal prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, which was as politically incorrect as could be in the eyes of most Australian Catholics of Irish background. Fr Hackett seems to have prompted Menzies’s visit to de Valera in Ireland in 1941, which angered Churchill but gave the Australian a new slant on Irish neutrality.
In her biography, Brenda Niall is able to bring him to life in Melbourne partly because he was a friend of her doctor father and regularly visited the Niall home.
One of Hackett’s endearing traits was his humour, which did not desert him even at the end of his life. After being knocked down and fatally injured by a taxi when crossing a Melbourne street at night, before he died he is said to have remarked: “I never thought I’d have a taxi to take me to heaven.”
The Riddle of Father Hackett by Brenda Niall is published by the National Library of Australia
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