ACP statement on referendum on Eighth Amendment

Below is the ACP statement on the upcoming Eighth Amendment.

In the midst of the debate and discussion in our country about the forthcoming referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, we, the leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests, issue the following statement.

As an association representing Catholic priests we fully endorse the Catholic teaching that all human life, from beginning to end, is sacred, and that every human person shares in the fundamental right to life.

We are also aware, and are constantly reminded in our ministry, that human life is complex, throwing up situations that are more often grey than black and white and that demand from us a sensitive, non-judgemental, pastoral approach. Also, as leadership of an association made up of men who are unmarried and without children of our own, we are not best placed to be in any way dogmatic on this issue.

We do not wish to tell anyone how they should vote. But we encourage both ourselves and any citizens who may be interested in our viewpoint, to do the best we can to acquaint ourselves with exactly what we are being asked to vote for, and what the possible consequences of our vote may be. 

Having done that to the best of our ability, and following it with the, often painful and difficult, task of consulting our conscience, let us cast our vote.

A vote cast in accordance with each person’s conscience, whatever the result, deserves the respect of all.

There is undoubtedly a moral content to this referendum, but as with many other issues, there are also social, political and pastoral dimensions. For that reason we are concerned that some Catholic parishes are allowing their pulpits to be used by campaigners during Mass. 

As there are, among faithful, Church-going Catholics, a great variety of opinions on this vote, we believe this is inappropriate and insensitive and will be regarded by some as an abuse of the Eucharist.

We believe it would be better if this practice ceased for the rest of the campaign.

We wish the Irish people well in this immensely important decision awaiting all of us. The leadership of the Association of Catholic Priests will have no further engagement in this debate.

Catholic Church does not do 'open discussion'

There is at present a row going on among the German bishops about a newly agreed handout on Communion for inter-church couples.

A group of German bishops were in Rome on May 3 to discuss the handout.

The bishop of Münster Felix Genn writes:

"I can understand that [the signatories] are troubled by questions of conscience but I am not happy about the way they expressed their objections.

"I would have wished for an open discussion before the letter was sent"

Does Bishop Genn not realise that the Catholic Church does not do 'open discussion'?

Worldwide  boss of the Dominican Order Bruno Cadoré visited the Irish province of the Order in March.

He subsequently wrote a letter criticising the lack of communication within the province.

Does Fr Cadoré not realise that the Irish Dominicans do not do 'open discussion?

________________

German philosopher Karl Marx was born 200 years ago today in Trier in the Kingdom of Prussia.

He studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Jena.

Marx was a distant relation of the German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine.

Anti-Semitic priest to give a blessing in Retzbach

This story appears in the current issue of The Tablet.

It is a shocking tale.

Eichstätt is a renowned right-wing diocese, with many of its priests placing great stress on pious practices.

This phenomenon is happening across the church at present.

No mention of how much alcohol they may have consumed. Alcohol abuse is part of the cocktail of the reality that is right-wing priesthood. Maybe the odd brawl too.

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, has cancelled his visit to the Fatima Apostolate celebration at Retzbach in the Würzburg diocese on 13 May, because a newly ordained priest with an anti-semitic past will be giving a blessing at the High Mass Cardinal Koch was to have presided over.

The new 30-year-old priest was one of three seminarians at Würzburg who made international headlines in 2013 when they were found guilty and expelled for celebrating Nazi rituals in beer halls and making anti-semitic jokes at fraternity meetings. 

An external commission called in by Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg and Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann of Würzburg, who shared responsibility for the seminary at the time, came to the decision to expel them. The commission found the seminarians guilty of telling “completely unacceptable and unbearable jokes about concentration camps” and both bishops said their behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable”.

The new priest, whose name has not been disclosed to date, then applied to and was accepted by the seminary in Eichstätt. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Hanke in June last year (2017) and duly ordained priest earlier this month.

The president of the Central Council of German Jews sharply criticised Bishops Hanke’s decision in the German media. “The good relationship and cooperation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community in Germany have been harmed by this decision,” he said on Bavarian radio at the time. 

Bishop Hanke defended it saying it was an “act of mercy”. The chairman of the external commission, former judge Norbert Baumann, who had found the man guilty in 2013, deplored the fact that the commission had not been consulted.

The new priest was duly ordained this year. Hanke said he had given him a second chance. “Coming to terms with the past most certainly demands justice but mercy is also called for when people change their lives,” he emphasised. The priest had undergone psychotherapy and regretted his past, Hanke said and recalled that the Church did “not ordain saints but ordinary men”.

It was only through the media that the diocese of Würzburg heard that the new priest would be giving his first blessing at the High Mass which Cardinal Koch was to have presided over. Auxiliary Bishop Ulrich Boom of Würzburg immediately contacted Cardinal Koch, as he feared that if Koch appeared together with the new priest that would further damage the Church’s relationship with Judaism. 

Whereupon Koch replied that “under the given circumstances I can unfortunately not take part in the Fatima celebrations in Retzbach on 13 May”.

Marilyn Monroe at her best

Clever words from Marilyn Monroe 

"I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. 

"I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. 

"But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

Arboreal beauty

In the garden of St Luke's Hospital, Rathgar yesterday.

And all thanks to the great work that's done by the gardener.

SURRENDER DAY IN BERLIN

Seventy three years ago today the Soviet Union announced that Berlin had surrendered to the Red Army.

On May 2, 1945 German General Helmuth Weidling surrendered to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov and ordered all German soldiers to lay down their arms to the Red Army.

SPRING FEVER

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Heading out the door on Monday I noticed the wellington boots in the hall and so too the snow grips.

Back in January I loaned my car to a friend home on holidays from Norway and in return he gave me a pair of snow grips. I looked at them, laughed and put them away thinking to myself, what in heaven’s name would I be doing with them.

When Emma came up against the Beast from the East was I glad to have my snow grips. Running about in the snow, I was silently thanking my friend for his ‘silly gift’.

It’s hard to believe that it’s a short 60 days since our snow encounter.

It’s been a long hard cold and wet winter. Farmers are still experiencing the effects of the inclement weather. Visitors from the US last week were slow to believe me when I explained that we have had to import fodder from the UK.

Winter weather seems to have dissipated. We suddenly jumped from winter to summer, but we all know shedding clothes in the Irish climate is always dangerous.

I still remember my mother telling us ‘never cast a clout till May is out’. It seems a many mothers gave such advice to their children.

Of course we all throw off the coats and jumpers at the first hint of sun but there’s wisdom in the adage.

‘Irish summer’ is close to an oxymoron. No, that’s not fair. We can get great days.

We should make it a priority to enjoy any hint of good weather and that means getting out and about whenever possible.

I walked through St Stephen’s Green with my American visitors last week. They were in awe of the place and commented on what a magnificent facility right in the heart of the city.

We moan and groan about many things. It’s spring, so I’m going to make it my business to notice all the good things we have right in front of our eyes.

Wherever you live in Ireland, there’s a park, a garden, a river, a lake, a field, a tree right beside you. 

Did you ever stand still and notice the wonder and beauty of nature, the constantly changing sky?

The sounds, the smells, the sights that surround us especially in spring should be a delight to our senses. And we need to grow aware of the nature that is around us and appreciate it.

Last Sunday I walked around the reservoir at Bohernabreena, which is just at the edge of Tallaght. We did the full walk in less than two hours. A place of beauty.

It’s so easy to stay indoors and brood. Fresh air and physical exercise must be one of the best healing powers available to us. Letting soil filter through our hands when out gardening has a remarkable calming influence.

We talk about far-away hills being green but if we could only get into our heads the beauty and wonder that is staring us in the face.

It’s strange how we take things for granted, especially all that is good and beautiful.

Since cutting the grass a few days ago I have noticed a robin hovering about every day since. It is almost talking to me.

‘It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!’ Mark Twain

 

RUSSIAN TELEVISION on TRUMP/MACRON

Russian Television came up with a clever catchline on the Trump Macron relationship last evening.

'Countries that bomb together bond together.' 

On this day, April 30, 1945 Soliders of the Soviet Army raised the Red Flag on top of the Reichstag.

On the same day Hitler and his bride of two days took their own lives.

A LOT OF MONEY FOR THE BOSS

Retired Anglo Irish Bank chairman, Sean Fitzpatrick told the High Court that he had a €22 million pension fund from the bank when he retired.

He and his wife Catriona took €5m of that out in cash and used it to help fund investments.

A FAITH JOURNEY IN COMMUNITY

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

In these days of the Easter season the readings at Mass are constantly reminding us of the important role that community plays in the life of the Christian. We also get glimpses of how God the Father is related to God the Son. 

That might sound Iike some sort of theological nicety but everything to do wth God nudges us to thinking about the importance of community.

In tomorrow's Gospel  (John 15: 1 - 8) Jesus presents himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches. A tree without branches and leaves is impoverished.

Part of the reason for the current worldwide instability is that many people feel alienated and forgotten. They believe that the elites of the world ignore them and their plight. In turn they direct their anger and resentment towards the governing classes. 

That is understandable. No one wants to be talked-down to, no one wants to be patronsed. And that so, especially in a time of instant information.

In its essence the word church means belonging to the Lord. Those who 'belong to the Lord' form the community of believers.

It is sadly true that the word church these days has a negative ring to it. When people encounter the word church they tend to think of bishops and priests with an unfortunate record of keeping the truth from people. 

In that reading the 'official church' decided what news would be good for 'laity'. Such arrogance and appalling behaviour has brought the word church into disrepute. What a shame, when church is all about a living community, a community, a coming together of people, who believe in good news, a good news that leads to resurrection.

Everything about the readings tomorrow and indeed during the Easter season stress that believers in Christ support one another. The Christian experience is best encountered in community.

Pope Francis in 'Gaudete et Exsultate' 'Rejoice and be Glad' writes: "Growth in holiness is a journey in community, side by side with others."

The institutional church has in many ways become a hierarchical monster that can so easily become a haven for clerical careerists and those who want to run away and hide from society. When baptised people criticise the  church of their birth they have genuine reasons for doing so.

That can change. Over the last few weeks my eyes have been opened to a font of faith, holiness and knowledge that is right in front of our eyes and has been ignored.

It happened more or less by accident. At the beginning of Lent I organised for people, who come to an early morning Mass, to say a short few words about their faith journey after the Gospel reading. One day each week during Lent someone spoke briefly during Mass. What we heard was compelling and spoke to the heart of the listener.

This proved such a success that I decided to continue with the practice after Lent with a slight change. What's happening now is that one day during the week someone gives an insight into the Gospel of the day. Again, it is quite remarkable to listen to the insight of those who have come to join in the celebration of the Eucharist. 

Certainly, what I hear on that one day every week helps me on my faith journey. It is impressive and always clear and articulate. So far, I have not heard an unwise word spoken, no nonsense, no sign of cliché and not the slightest hint of spewing out the party line. It is always prepared, and as clear as day that the words are genuine and spoken with conviction and faith.

This little step-by-step practice has been a real eye opener to me as to how we can help one another in our faith.

Elsewhere in his latest writing, Pope Francis says: "This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures."

All organisations run the risk of becoming top heavy.

Every community is of its nature made up of all its parts. If any one group throws its weight around it is inevitable that the whole community will suffer.

Is such a reality not staring us in the face when it comes to Mother Church?

In the second reading tomorrow (1 John 3: 18- 24) we read that one of God's commandments is that 'we love one another as he told us to'. And that is always done in the context of community, of a living church, as a coming together of a people of faith.

CROATIAN BISHOPS AND 'GENDER THEORY'

The piece below appears in The Tablet of April 21.

What does this mean? Seems absurd as it appears. Confusing too.

"Croatia's Catholic bishops' conference has urged their government to reject a Council of Europe convention combatting violence against women, claiming its 'ideological elements' reflect 'gender theory' and are incompatible with Christian teaching.

" 'To vote to ratify [the 2011 Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence] will open the door to something contrary to human createdness, the natural law and the fundamental values of Christian faith and culture,' the bishops said."

WHY TRUMP IS MASTER OF THE AWKWARD FEEL

Interesting piece from yesterday's Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/shortcuts/2018/apr/25/the-art-of-the-feel-why-trump-is-master-of-the-awkward-greeting?CMP=share_btn_link

HOW NOT TO WIN FRIENDS

This flyer was distributed at the Dominican church, Pope's Quay, Cork last weekend.

A masterpiece in how not to win friends.

Forgetting the poor quality English, the tone is totally contrary to the gospel of mercy peached by John Paul II and especially Pope Francis. 

Arrogant and self-righteous too.

CHURCHES AND HELL-FIRE

This week's Independent News & Media column.

Michael Commane

‘Come Sunday’ was released on Netflix on Sunday April 15.

The film is about Bishop Carlton Pearson.

Pearson is an African-American Christian preacher, who ran one of the busiest fundamentalist-style churches in Tulsa Oklahoma.

During the early 1990s he attracted over 6,000 people to his services. 

While attending the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa he came under the influence of tele-evangelist Oral Roberts, who was greatly impressed by Pearson. 

In 1997 Pearson was ordained a bishop in the Pentecostal Church.

He mixed with the great and the good, including Presidents Clinton and George W Bush. He was a popular television preacher and appeared as a guest on many TV programmes.

The church preaches a fundamental style religion. It talks a lot about hell and is strong on preaching against homosexuality and non- acceptance of LGBT people.

Having seen a film in 1994 on the genocide in Rwanda, Pearson began to have a change of mind about his church’s teaching that all non-Christians are condemned forever to hell. Today Pearson believes that hell is created on earth by human depravity and behaviour.

He ran into trouble with his bishop peers and in 2004 the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops judged him to be preaching heresy.

Award winning English actor Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the lead role of Carlton Pearson and Oral Roberts is played by Martin Sheen in the film.

One of the strongest images in the film, at least for me, is the viciousness of those who oppose Pearson’s views, especially on hell and homosexuality. But as Pearson quips: ‘If every gay person in our church just left or those who have an orientation or preference or an inclination, or a fantasy, we wouldn’t have a church.’

Like most films, ‘Come Sunday’ is dramatic, might tend towards hyperbole but it has a message for all religions.

Pearson’s questioning of hell reminds me of how Pope Francis recently ran into trouble about alleged comments he made on the same place.

When I hear people expressing harsh views in the name of God I am reminded of the lines from the Book of Wisdom: ‘You spare all things because all things are yours, Lord, lover of life, you whose imperishable spirit is in all.’ 

If the Catholic Church or, indeed for that matter, all Christian churches were to bar homosexuals how empty would the pews be? If the same churches were to banish homosexuals from ministry how depleted would be their numbers? I recently heard a priest say that it was his belief that the majority of those in ordained ministry in the Catholic Church are gay.

Everything to do with God can only be spoken or written on a large tapestry. When we are convinced we know the inner thoughts of God we enter dangerous territory. It’s important to remember that everything we say about God it said in terms of analogy.

Pope Francis in ‘Gaudete et Exsultate’, which was published earlier this month, writes: ‘When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they are not on the right road. They may well be false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. 

God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter him; the exact times and places of that encounter are not up to us. Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God’s transcendence.’

 

POOR LUAS DESIGN

The design of the Luas never ceases to amaze the passenger.

One of the cross rails impedes the view of the information sign.

How silly.

Or was it deigned for small people?

O'REILLY BACK IN TOWN

The piece below is from The Irish Times.

Sir Anthony O'Reilly, ever before he was titled, was a brilliant speaker. O'Reilly in his day, and maybe even still, is one of the greatest of public speakers.

A number of years ago he launched a book of a Dominican Sister, who worked with young people with disabilities.

He arrived significantly late for the event but less than a minute into his talk he had his audience in the palm of his hand. He was funny, sharp, simply brilliant.

____________

“You win and you lose, and if you don’t know how to lose you don’t know how to live,” said Tony O’Reilly in an address to friends and former team-mates at a gathering at the Old Belvedere Rugby Club in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, on Saturday afternoon for the opening of a new function room named in his honour.

The 81-year-old, on a rare trip home to Ireland from France, where he now lives, was in fine spirits and good health as he regaled club members with tales from his rugby-playing past.

They laughed as he shared an experience he had as he lined up to play for Ireland against Wales in an international more than 50 years ago. When an opponent gestured towards him in the tunnel before the match a team-mate asked who he was.

“He used to be Tony O’Reilly,” came the response, a withering reference to his failing prowess on the rugby pitch.

Fast forward five decades and Tony O’Reilly isn’t Tony O’Reilly any more. He is Sir Anthony O’Reilly, and on his first trip to Ireland in more than four years.

At the event, he did not address the controversy currently swirling around Independent News and Media (INM), of which he was once the majority shareholder, but his son Gavin, who resigned as chief executive of INM in 2012, told The Irish Times that his father had been keeping abreast of the developments in recent weeks.

Upcoming referendum

Many of the posters on the upcoming referendum are distatesful. Most likely negative and arrogant political advertising/electioneering alienates voters.

Reading some of the No posters one can't understand why they did not come up with a poster with "Protecting life from womb to tomb is the best bet'.

There's nothing clear and sure

Two quotes from Pope Francis' 'Gaudete et Exsultate' 'Rejoice and be Glad'

God's life is communicated to some in one way and to others in another way.

God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter him; the exact times and places of that encounter are not up to us. 

Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God’s transcendence.’

Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech

Today is the 50th anniversary of British politician Enoch Powell's controversial Rivers of Blood speech. Subsequently Ted Heath sacked him from the shadow cabinet.

An extract from the speech.

"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood.

"That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. 

"In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. 

"Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal."

Irish-German relations

Below is an editorial, which appeared in The Irish Times Yesterday.      

The question has to be asked is Ireland serious about German language teaching.

Look at the statistics and compare the number of schools that offer French compared to those that offer German. Why not teach German in primary schools?

Surely Ireland should have more consulate-representation in the strong farming states in Germany.

And have we any representation in any of the eastern federal states?          

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/ireland-and-germany-gaining-friends-and-influence-1.3464595#.WteKcgUbHU8.mailto                    

Trump's words 'degrade'

The piece below is an extract from an article The New Yorker yesterday by Adam Gopnik.

It's an interesting read.

"Trump’s words don’t debate or even discredit. They degrade and delegitimize.

"They’re insults so crude that it’s difficult to believe that anyone could find them persuasive, but that are clearly intended to appeal to a part of what is called the “base”—an unintentional, if somewhat Shakespearean, pun. 

"One miserable truth of humanity is that cruel impulses are easy to awaken in large numbers of people, if they’re told by those in power that those impulses are now acceptable, and the form that such permission takes is invariably a reawakening of the language of demonology."

Urgent need for improved cycling infrastructure

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

On Easter Sunday morning I bumped into 12-year-old Anne. She was cycling from Mass on her brand new bicycle to visit her grandmother, who was in hospital.

She was so proud of her new bicycle, which her parents had bought her for a gift a few days earlier. The smile on her face was striking.

She brought me back to when I was her age and I was cycling to and from school on safe roads.

Three days later I was in Galway on my way with a friend to West Kerry. We planned to leave shortly after breakfast. The conversation centred around how to drive from Galway city centre to the motorway. 

We were assured, with the school holidays, traffic would be much lighter and indeed we would get out of the city with relative ease in light traffic.

The week before the school holidays I noticed a two-kilometre traffic jam on the south side of Dublin at 08.00. During the first week of the Easter school holidays on that same road there was not a hint of a traffic build up, indeed there were three cars at the traffic lights.

It is always a topic of conversation in the workplace on the first day of school holidays how light the traffic is coming to work.

In the early 1960s there was a bus strike in Dublin and my mother allowed me, a 12-year-old, cycle to school. She was of a nervous disposition but back then it was safe for children to cycle on our roads.

Fast forward to today. Under no circumstance would my mother allow me cycle to school.

That a young person aged 12 or 13 cannot cycle on our roads because of the potential dangers is nothing less than a scandal. And that we have created such a mess and now take it for granted says a lot about how we think and behave.

Our roads and footpaths should be safe places for all who use them.

Currently there is a road safety ad running telling us that in 50km/h zones and under, vehicles should give cyclists a metre space and in zones over 50km/h that space is increased to 1.5 metres.

Of course cyclists misbehave on our roads and there should be zero tolerance towards those who break the law. The numbers of idiotic racing-style cyclists on our roads is annoying. But in my 63 years of cycling it has always been the car and truck that have caused me most grief.

It is insane that our roads are so dangerous that parents are afraid to let their children walk or cycle to school. 

Consequently, all during school terms we have traffic jams right across the country.

We have just spent €368 million plus building a transport system to ferry people in and out of Dublin city centre and we refuse to build an infrastructure so that people can cycle in and out of the city and around the country.

The schools are back in business after the Easter break and the morning traffic jams are snarling up our roads.

It means we are spending more on imported fuel and our children are huddled up in cars being ferried to school when they should be out on their bicycles or walking to school.

We are bombarded with information on the dangers of obesity, that children need to slim down.

It’s staring us in the face. Parents and children should feel safe cycling to and from school.

Let’s change things.

 

Bishop Carlton Pearson

Come Sunday was released on Netflix yesterday.

It tells the true story of Bishop Carlton Pearson, who is an evangelical preacher.

His preaching draws large attendances. But he has a change of mind and changes his views on damnation.

As a reult he is forced out of his church.

An  interesting man, an interesting film.

Syria: who to believe?

Last evening Russian Television reported that a number of the missiles targeting Syrian chemical sites were  intercepted.

President Trump praised the operation and said it was 'mission accomplished' and 'a perfectly executed strike'.

Who to believe?

US, UK and French aircraft were involved in Saturday's bombing in Syria. The Luftwaffe were not engaged in the operation. Germany refused to be involved in the bombing.

What would happen if Russian personnel were killed or injured, or Russian aircraft downed?

In a period of 24 hours President Trump called former FBI boss James Comey a 'slime-ball' and later invoked   God's name when talking about US bombing sorties over Syria.

'Reality is greater than ideas'

In The Tablet this week Laurence Freeman examines Pope Francis' latest apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate - Rejoice and be Glad.

Below is an extract from the piece.

The Pope’s idea of holiness embeds a prophetic anger against the dull mediocrity of consumerist individualism but, no less, against intellectualised religiosity. 

In the five short, well-crafted chapters of his new exhortation Francis speaks from a Catholic pulpit but his audience is the whole of humanity in its contemporary crisis of faith. 

He exposes the degradation of humanity produced by empty lifestyles, conspicuous consumption and the refusal to see God in the poor and marginal. 

Francis is driven by an incarnational spirituality, the defining motif of his papacy, captured in his phrase: “Reality is greater than ideas”.

His third apostolic exhortation – after Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia – Gaudete et Exsultate (“Rejoice and Be Glad”)  is not a theological treatise about holiness but a faith-filled pitch for promoting the desire for holiness. 

To explain why this desire should bring true happiness, in contrast to the isolating superficialities of consumerism, Francis reminds us that holiness is not about individual moral perfection or the approval of others. 

“Not everything a saint says is completely faithful to the Gospel,” he reminds us. We need to contemplate the totality of a saint’s life.

The first saints he mentions by name are women and he writes of a “feminine style” of holiness. 

He illustrates the theme of an incarnational, experiential holiness with the example of a woman who goes shopping, extricates herself from a gossipy conversation, comes home exhausted but gives her attention to a needy child and then ends her day in quiet prayer. 

Holiness is not about being a special sort of person or living apart from the world but about being a good next-door neighbour, finding a more perfect way of doing what we are already doing, and doing the ordinary in an extraordinary way. 

Holiness needs times of quiet, solitude and silence but “it is not healthy to love silence while fleeing interaction with others”.

Prayer not fit for purpose

Below is the Collect or Opening Prayer at yesterday's Mass.

The sentence has 52 words. It is not possible to read this prayer at Mass in such a way that it can be prayed and conetmplated by those present.

Who could grasp this at a public reading? The people who wrote this should be brought to account for what they have done.

Russia gets this one wrong

The Irish Times carries a letter today from the Embassy of the Russian Federation on Dublin's Orwell Road.

Crimea may now be part of the Russian Federation. Russia might have their eyes on Donetsk and Luhansk areas of eastern Ukraine.

But Rathgar is not in Dublin 14.

South of the river Dodder is Churchtown, hence Dublin 14 and north of the river is Rathgar and Dublin 6.

Also, the embassy writes the address in an incorrect fashion. The correct address is, Embassy of the Russian Federation, Orwell Road, Dublin 14.

Incorrect and indeed inappropriate for the Russian Federation to interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign state.

'Truth has to be repeated constantly' - Goethe

This quote was posted to this blog by a reader yesterday.

"Truth has to be repeated constantly, because error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude. 

"In the press and encyclopaedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having majority on its side.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Goethe and knowledge

An interesting article in The Irish Times yesterday.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/why-goethe-matters-the-case-for-a-new-schooling-of-attention-1.3453031#.Ws0rUPNJ8Zo.mailto

Fee-paying schools

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael commane

Since the acquittal of the young men in the Belfast rape trial we have been inundated with facts and opinion on the case. Marches and demonstrations have taken place on both sides of the border.

Two of the acquitted men have played rugby for Ireland, indeed, it is partly because of their status, prowess on the rugby field that the case has received such publicity.

In the Republic 'rugby schools' are usually fee-paying schools. 

There are non-fee paying schools that play rugby but the majority of 'rugby schools' in the Republic are the preserve of children from middle-class families and most of these schools, in the case of Catholic schools, are owned and managed by religious orders or dioceses. 

One of the central tenets of the Christian message is that Christ brings good news, especially to the poor. The church has a special mission to the poor.

What is the Catholic Church doing in Ireland with its involvement in fee-paying schools?

Proponents of church involvement in such schools argue that it makes sense for the church to have an influence in the leaders of tomorrow's generation. Has the investment yielded good returns?

The Catholic Church plays and played a significant role in education in Ireland. Schools run and managed by sisters brothers and priests educated the majority of pupils in the Irish State.

But in doing so they helped continue and indeed enhance a divide between rich and poor. 

Especially in Dublin, the poorer schools played Gaelic football while the 'posher' schools played rugby. We took it as the norm, but it was and is a form of ghettoising. It is inevitable that it has a strong potential to cause division in society.

'Rugby schools' create a network of privileged people.They can also breed a mentality that often smells and looks like arrogance and superiority.

Of course great women and men come from these schools but does it make a whit of sense that the Catholic Church be involved in running schools, which are exclusively open to the children of parents who can afford to pay the fees?

Should the State be paying teachers in these schools? Should the State offer subsidies and grants to these schools?

It's easy for these fee-paying schools to create myths. We are told that they offer a 'christian ethos'. 

What exactly does that mean? How has that ethos percolated across Irish society? When I hear that expression I whisper 'humbug' to myself.

I can't help but think and believe that it's all part of a great snobbery game that is played out in Irish society.

Sending your child to one of these so-called 'exclusive' schools gives her/him that first step on the ladder to an 'old boys club'.

Every society always will have elites but surely the churches should have nothing to do with enhancing such divisions.

I have taught in both fee-paying and non-fee paying schools. There is something wrong with a system that divides school-going children on the basis of the wealth of their parents. Teaching in both systems I have also seen much of the myth that surrounds fee-paying schools.

Every time I see or hear anything to do with the four men who were acquitted in the rape trial in Belfast my mind wanders to the phenomenon on our 'rugby schools' in this State.

The overwhelming majority of schools in Germany are State schools and from what I see they manage well enough in educating the children who will be the leaders of tomorrow's generation. 

A story in a picture

A picture of so many stories.

It captures many realities and tells many stories.

Whether intended or not, it tells a tale.