The Irish Lifers

On Thursday evening RTE One screened 'The Lifers'. It is the story of three Irish people working in Brazil, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan. Two priests and one sister.

Pat Murray, a Loreto sister, who taught in a number of Loreto schools in Dublin before going to South Sudan, spoke of the extreme poverty in the newly formed South Sudan.

The sister and two priests exemplified the real worth of what it means to be a sister, priest ot brother. And put the likes of me to shame. It also puts in perspective so much church behaviour.

The programme was part-funded by Denis O'Brien.

Bishop of Ros Cré

New bishop of Dresden-Meissen, Heiner Koch, is titular bishop of Ros Cré.

Russia celebrates a great day

Major parade today in Moscow to celebrate the victory of February 2, 1943. An old T 34, which served in Stalingrad was rolled out for the parade.

And just for the day, the city reverted to its former name of Stalingrad.

In the evening Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a large gathering of people in the city where he spoke about the bravery and unity of all those who fought on the Volga.

Media silence on famous day

It seems there is not a word today in the Irish media to recall or commemorate the day 70 years ago that Field Marshal Paulus surrendered to the Soviet Army in Stalingrad/Volgograd.

Probably the most significant day in destroying Germany and freeing Europe of such evil.

That there is no media coverage is another example how all media tend to 'write in packs'.

We always think our way is best

The piece below is the Thinking Anew column in today's Irish Times.

By Michael Commane
The hostage-taking at the In Amenes gas facility in Algeria attracted the word’s media attention. While Western leaders blamed the attack on terrorists, there was an undertow among Western commentators that the rescue operation by the Algerian authorities was somewhat ham-fisted. It seemed as if far too many innocent lives were lost during the rescue operation.

However Tom Cloonan, a former Irish army officer and security expert has commented that the number of innocent lives lost in Algeria was proportionately less than the number of innocent people lost in the siege at the Iranian embassy in London in 1980. Mr Cloonan pointed out that, at the time, the Western world considered the London rescue operation to be an example of how such operations should be conducted.

His comments set me thinking about how we all surround ourselves with a world we think is right and good. And to confirm that idea, only this week at work, I heard a colleague say that her county in Ireland was the best place in the country. Of course she was half-joking. With last year’s All-Ireland victory it was understandable why she was tempted to say what she said. We all do that sort of thing. Could we survive at all if we did not have competition and rivalry?

However, when one group of people, when a society, a people, a country believe that they are better and do things better than others just because of who they are, surely we are entering very dangerous territory.

In tomorrow’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners that there is a universality about the Word of God and that people would be making a terrible mistake to think that they know which people God is going to favour.

At first, when he expressed ideas that they liked, and with which they agreed, he was the “flavour of the month”, but once he moved away from their stereotypical way of thinking, they wanted to take him out and throw him over the cliff.

Jesus sees exactly what is happening and says to them: “No prophet is honoured in his own country.” (Luke 4: 24)

We are bound and tempered by our surroundings, the schools we attend, the places where we work, the countries in which we live. It is the challenge of a lifetime never to become hostage to our surroundings or the times in which we live. The Dominican saint Thomas Aquinas suggests that when someone speaks we should be more concerned with what is said than the person saying it.

It has been one of the great spin-offs of modern travel that people get to experience other cultures in remote places and in doing so realise that the people living there are not demons. How many people spend time in far flung countries and come home so enthused with what they have seen and learned?

As a young man, for years I heard, read and saw on television that the people of Vietnam were capable of doing the most evil of things. They did but so too did their attackers. These days people come back from Vietnam singing the praises of the country and the charm of its people.

It’s dangerous to say we are special because we are Irish or British or American. We believe we are special because each one of us is unique. As Christians we believe that each one of us has been made in the image and likeness of God. We believe that the Word of God has universal meaning throughout history and is not exclusively bestowed on any one group or society.

Far too much wrong, far too much mayhem has been caused in the world in the false belief that ‘we’ are stronger and better and superior to ‘them’.

Those listening to Jesus grew indignant to what he was saying and their solution was “to throw him down the hill”. (Luke 4: 29)

Of course that is never the solution; it wasn’t then and isn’t now.

Chancellor Merkel warns against the elites

"The rise of National Socialism was possible because the elites and parts of German society particiapted, but above all, because most in Germany tolerated this rise," words spoken by Angela Merkel on Wednesday at the opening of a new exhibition, 'Berlin 1933 - Path to Dictatorship'.

The exhibition opening coincided with the 80 anniversary of the coming to power of Adolf Hitler.

Frau Merkel went on to say how it took the Nazis just six months after taking office to dismantle the Weimar Republic's democratic structures.

"Human rights and freedom don't defend themselves. A society with a human face needs people to have respect and responsibility for each other and who are ready to accept criticism," she said.

The German Chancellor mentioned the elites.

Krupp supplied the ammunition. Mercedes presented Hitler with a new car every year. The pharmaceutical companies Bayer, BASF and Hoechst are new post war names for IG Farben. IG Farben provided the gas for the concentration camps.

That Frau Merkel used the word 'elites' is significant.

How easilty we team people into winners and losers. For some absurd reason the 'winners' always get preferential treatment, the 'losers' dismissed and shunned.

It is worth noting that 70 years ago tomorrow, against all the odds, against the belief of Mercedes, IG Farben ( Bayer, Hoechst, BASF) the so-called losers accepted the unconditional surrender of Paulus' Sixth Army on the Volga.

The 'losers', Hitler's 'inferior beings', had routed Germany's 'elite' army.

Maybe the moral for all of us is always and ever to be on our guard against elites, whoever they are wherever they may appear. They can be so slick and cunning.

For far too long the West has underplayed the heroic victory of the Soviet Army in Stalingrad/Volgograd.

On February 3, 1943 under the genius of Marshal General Gerogii Zhukov world history was changed.

It took another two full years for the Germans to realise that the 'losers' were the 'winners'.

A story with a worrying political hint

Even before results come back from the lab, the story of Clare Daly's apprehension on suspicion of drink driving by the Garda is on every newspaper in the country.

Last month in the Dáil the north Dublin socialist Independent TD named a judge as one of those who alledgedly benefited from the quashing of penalty points by a garda officer.

Is there need to consider this a worrying development?

A comment on the Roman Missal

A young woman, who has been reading the Roman Missal, that was introduced in late 2011, writes the following:

How can they expect people to listen to ramblings like this?

“For in him you have made a new covenant with your people, so that as you have redeemed man and woman by the mystery of Christ's Death and Resurrection, so in Christ you might make them partakers of divine nature and joint heirs with him of heavenly glory.”

How is anyone to understand? ”partaker of divine nature and joint heirs”

Draining people of blood for soldiers

Reguarly the German Red Cross would arrive at Auschwitz and take blood from the prisoners.

Anyone who has ever donated blood is aware how carfully and kindly donors are treated. The maximum that is taken at any one time is a pint or its metric equivalent.

In the German camps they drained the people of blood, people who were already starving.

The blood was then used for transfusions for the soldiers on the front. This pracitce was especially carried out during the battle at Stalingrad.

How can the Germans ever try to use the argument that the Wehrmacht was a 'different animal' than the SS? They were using blood drained from people in places such as Auschwitz, Belsen, Buchenwald, Oranienburg et al.

Germans fighting over sexism

A new all-German controversy has been sparked off by comments published by a journalist in Stern magazine about senior FDP politician Rainer Brüderle.

The reporter writes that in an interview she conducted with Brüderle in 2012 he made sexist comments to her.

It's now the talk of Germany and the political classes in Berlin.

It has moved away from the FDP politician to a debate about how sexism reigns in all facets of German life.

Turning out to be a great discussion.

Sexism in the institutional church?

World Holocaust Day

Today is World Holocaust Day. All member States of the United Nations are invited to set this day aside as a special day of remembrance for those who suffered under the tyranny of Nazi Germany.

It was on January 27 1945 that the Soviet Army liberated those still alive at Auschwitz Birkenau.

It is it's wrong but it's its priests

Why is it that so many publications with a church background or influence use the spelling 'organize' when all Irish newspapers and the majority of publications sourced in Ireland spell it 'organise'? Ireland uses 'ise' and not 'ize'.

While on the subject, it is embarrasing to note publications with church background confusing the neuter form of the possessive adjective with the abbreviation that is made through using the neuter form of the personal pronoun and the third person singular of the verb to be.

All classes of priests seem to make the error, including bishops, canons, vocation directors. Or should that be vocations director? The Irish Times goes for 'trade unions but most dictionaries prefer trades union.

Eddie Hobbs on The Saturday Show on RTE One this evening, when speaking about a group of people said; "the whole gambit".

And these people can wield such power and authority, sound and look so suave.

Is it all spoof and nonsense just as their use of language is?

The war in Vietnam

RTE One's Drivetime on Friday mentioned the end of the Vietnam War. Did the programme not say it was 40 years since it ended? Hostilities in Vietnam ended in 1975.

In 1975 the author of this blog kept the chronicle of the Dominican community in San Clemente, Rome.

On the day of the announcement of the end of the war, he wrote in the chronicle how Vietnam had been liberated and freed of a foreign aggressor.

In the following days he took part in street demonstrations celebrating the end of hostilities.

Robust railway row

One quarter of all commuter rail traffic in Germany is now operated by non-Deutsche Bahn companies.

The private railways are campaigning for the removal of the DB logo from all rail stations in Federal Germany.

An opportunity to recall a terrible savagery

This coming Sunday, January 27, is World Holocaust Day.

Justice and Defence Minister Alan Shatter is speaking at a remembrance service in Dublin

Tony Flannery on Pat Kenny Show

On RTE Radio One's Pat Kenny Show today, Fr Tony Flannery was interviewed.

The 63-year-old Redemptorist spoke about his current position and his relationship with the Vatican.

He came across as a humble and intelligent man, who genuinely believes what he is saying. His words were compelling.

In the interview he pointed out that any correspondence he has had from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has been written on note paper which has had no formal official information as from where the letter has come.

Tony Flanner is a brother of Frank Flannery, the well-know Fine Gael strategist.

Stalin's Order of the Day, January 25, 1943

Below is Stalin's Order of the Day on January 25, 1943 to troops of the Soviet Army.

I congratulate the Red Army men, commanders and political workers of the South-Western, Southern, Don, North Caucasian, Voronezh, Kalinin, Volkhov and Leningrad fronts on their victory over the German-fascist invaders and their allies—the Rumanians, Italians and Hungarians—at Stalingrad, on the Don, in the North Caucasus, at Voronezh, in the Velikie Luki area and south of Lake Ladoga.

I thank the Command and the glorious troops who have routed the Hitlerite armies at the approaches to Stalingrad, who have broken the blockade of Leningrad and liberated from the German invaders the towns of Kantemirovka, Belovodsk, Morozovsky, Millerovo, Starobelsk, Kotelnikovo, Zimovniki, Elista, Salsk, Mozdok, Nalchik, Mineralniye Vody, Pyatigorsk, Stavropol, Armavir, Valuiki, Rossosh, Ostrogozhsk, Velikie Luki, Schluesselburg, Voronezh and many other towns and thousands of populated places.

Forward to the rout of the German invaders and their expulsion from the boundaries of our Motherland!

J. Stalin
Supreme Commander-in-Chief
Moscow January 25, 1943

Impassioned appeal to help Mali

This evening on the Anna Will German TV show Christof Wackernagle made an impassioned appeal to the German Government to send Bundeswehr troops to assist the French Army in Mali.

Wackernagel, who is an artist, is a former RAF operative and has for many years turned his back on all forms of violence. But he now believes that the people of Mali need immediate help to protect their country against outside aggressors.

Wackernagel has spent a number of years living in Mali.

Columnist Harding on Bishop Jones

Michael Harding's column in today's Irish Times makes for an interesting read.

Those who saw Bishop of Elphin Christopher Jones read his paper at the hearings in the Senate will be in a position to cross check what Harding writes in today's paper.

There are those who will say it is not a matter of photogenics, rather a question of searching for the truth.

It gets complicated.

The miracle of the European Union

On January 22, 1943, the starved, frozen, and exhausted Sixth Army began to collapse. A week later Hitler promoted Paulus to field marshal, and reminded him that no German field marshal was ever captured alive.

Paulus was captured the next day in a cellar in Stalingrad.

And then today in Berlin, Francois Hollande the President of France addressed the Bundestag. Earlier in the day he was received with full military honours by German President Joachim Gauck.

France and Germany were celebrating today in Berlin 50 years of friendship.

On January 22 1963 DeGaulle and Adenauer signed off on the France German friendship treaty.

Many of the German troops who were encircled by the 62nd Soviet Army in 1942/'43 had seen service in France in 1940/'42.

Regular readers

This blog is regularly read in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It has the busiest railway station in the world.

And then there is the anonymous setting (not set) where it is also read on an almost daily basis. Might that be the 'all powerful secret place'? Who knows, who ever knows?

Hans Fallada on a prison chaplain

A line from Hans Fallada's 'Once a jailbird'.

"The chaplain - there wasn't much to be said about him. He was already over 60. and had been in the jail for 40 years; the chilliest Pharisee on this chilly earth."

Climate change high up on agenda

Two words used in today's US presidential inauguration: Unalienable and irrepeatable.

Great presidential speech and then it all to finish with Beyoncé rendering of the United States national anthem.

A priest takes back his voice

Below is a piece written by Tony Flannery in today's Irish Times.

Three days after my 66th birthday I find myself forbidden to minister as a priest, with a threat of excommunication and dismissal from my congregation hanging over me. How did I find myself in this situation?

I joined the Redemptorist congregation in 1964 and was ordained 10 years later. That was the era of great openness in the Catholic Church. We believed in freedom of thought and of conscience, and that church teaching was not something to be imposed rigidly on the people we served – they were intelligent and educated, and could take responsibility for their lives.

As preachers we must try to present the message of Christ in a way and a language that spoke to the reality of people’s lives. This necessitated a willingness to listen to the people, to understand their hopes and joys, their struggles and fears.

Helping people to deal with the teaching on contraception during the 1970s was a great training ground. Just repeating the official line of Humanae Vitae was no help. During those years priests and people alike learned a lot about how to form their consciences and make mature decisions about all areas of their lives. As priests we learned more from people than they learned from us.

As the years went by we could all see that the teaching authority within the church was reverting to the more authoritarian style of ministry practised in the past. As authority became centralised in the Vatican once again, pressure came on priests of my generation to be more explicit and decisive in presenting church teaching: orthodoxy was now the imperative, and allowing people to think for themselves was seen as dangerous. There was no room for grey areas.

Reports to Rome
We became aware that there were people around the country who reported any slight deviation from the official stance by a priest, for example allowing a woman to read the gospel at Mass. Throughout the world, priests were being sanctioned, silenced and even dismissed because they would not toe the line.

In autumn 2010, I was one of a small group who set up the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP). This association was unique in that it was an independent body of clergy, a new phenomenon in the church, and one with which the authorities, in Ireland and the Vatican, were uncomfortable and didn’t know how to handle. The growth of the movement served to catapult me into a more prominent position, which brought me to the attention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

I had been writing for various religious magazines for more than 20 years without any problem. But suddenly last February I was informed by my Redemptorist superiors that I was in serious trouble over some things I had written. I was summoned to Rome, not to the Vatican, which to this day has not communicated with me directly, but to the head of the Redemptorists.

This was the beginning of what is now almost a year of tension, stress and difficult decision-making in my life. Initially my policy was to see if some compromise was possible, and it seemed in early summer this was a real possibility.

But I gradually became aware that the CDF continually raised the bar, until it got to the point where I could no longer negotiate. I was faced with a choice. Either I sign a statement, for publication, stating that I accepted teachings that I could not accept, or I would remain permanently banned from priestly ministry, and maybe face more serious sanctions. It is important to state clearly that these issues were not matters of fundamental teaching, but rather of church governance.

So now, at this hour of my life, I either put my name to a document that would be a lie, and would impugn my integrity and my conscience, or I face the reality of never again ministering as a priest. I have always believed in the church as the community of believers and as an essential element in promoting and nourishing the faith. I have enjoyed my years of preaching, the main work of Redemptorists, and never had any doubt that Christ’s message was one worth proclaiming.

But to give up on freedom of thought, freedom of speech and most especially freedom of conscience is too high a price for me to pay to be allowed minister in today’s church.

Catholic identity
There are people who will say I should leave the Catholic Church and join another Christian church – one more suitable to my stance. Being a Catholic is central to my personal identity. I have tried to preach the gospel. No matter what sanctions the Vatican imposes on me I will continue, in whatever way I can, to try to bring about reform in the church and to make it again a place where all who want to follow Christ will be welcome. He made friends with the outcasts of society, and I will do whatever I can in my own small way to oppose the current Vatican trend of creating a church of condemnation rather than one of compassion.

I believe that the real aim of the CDF is to suppress the ACP – attempts have been made to clip the wings of the Austrian association. I hope and pray it will not succeed.

While I am dealing with these issues in my own life I believe it is appropriate for me to temporarily stand down from my position of leadership in the association. I will, however, remain an active member, and will be available to help in every way possible for the work of the ACP, which is bigger than any one person.

Finally, it could be asked why I am going public now having remained silent for a year. I need to take back my voice.

Interviewing a vulnerable woman

Some days have passed since RTE's Prime Time screened a section of its programme on crime in rural Ireland.

Prime Time's Miriam O'Callaghan travelled to Donegall and interviewed an elderly lady in her home. Some days earlier the woman's home had been burgled.

It was poor television where an elderly, fragile woman, who was at her most vulnerable, was 'used', most likely for television ratings.

And so far not a word of criticism of the clip on the Prime Time programme.

Close election in northern Germany

Exciting election count night in Hannover.

Today's election in Niedersachsen is proving a cliff-hanger.

An hour ago it seemed as if if would be a CDU FDP coalition as before but now it looks as if it could be an SPD Green victory.

Play it Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible

Hugh Linehan's piece on Guardian editor Alan Rusbrdiger in today's Irish Times Weekend Review is a great read

What the Soldaten did

"On the second day of the Polish war," recalled a Luftwaffe pilot named Pohl in conversation with a fellow prisoner of war, "I had to drop bombs on a station at Posen (now Poznan). Eight of the 16 bombs fell on the town, among the houses. I did not like that. On the third day I did not care a hoot and on the fourth day I was enjoying it. It was our before-breakfast amusement to chase single soldiers over the fields with (machine-gun) fire and to leave them lying there with a few bullets in their backs."

From 'Soldaten' by Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer.

Marlowe writes on 'saint' Obama

Irish Times US correspondent Lara Marlowe packs her bags and moves to Paris.

In today's paper she has a hagiography-style piece on Barack Obama. But it's lovely and a great read.

She'll be missed by many readers.

Good luck in Paris.

Changes to Tralee Dublin rail service

Worth flagging for Irish Rail passengers, who use the Tralee Dublin service.

The new timetable, which becomes operative on Monday shows a change on early morning services from Tralee.

The early morning 05.20 service has been cancelled. There is a 04.55 Monday only service, which arrives in Heuston at 08.30.

There is a new 05.55 Tuesday to Friday service, which arrives Heuston at 09.30.

The 07.20 direct service has been advanced to 07.00 and arrives in Dublin at 10.45.

Through the window of a Dublin bus

It was raining in Dublin today in the late afternoon.

On leaving my office I intended cycing home but the rain persuaded me to take the bus instead.

The Dublin Bus app is a modern-day magic.

Upstairs on the number 14 a past pupil spots me. He is studying law and French in Trinity. A nice fellow.

Two or three stops after he gets off the bus there is a loud bang. I look out the window and see a cyclist fall to the ground. A car had hit him and he was now writhing with pain on the ground. He may have been badly hurt.

Imagine it, two or three seconds earlier he was cycling away, probably coming from work and heading home to his family.

In seconds his world had changed, maybe for ever.

It seemed no one on the bus had seen it and certainly no one was interested, upset or concerned.

We are all seconds away from disaster. How fragile we are.

Had the rain not persuaded me to take the bus, where would I have been at that moment?