Mary and the Christian story of redemption

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

Tomorrow is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I find it difficult to write about it. Putting words on mystery or anything that touches the divine is always problematic. 

But it does remind me of my first experience living in the southern German state of Bavaria. I was greatly surprised to discover that German Railways timetabled their trains as per Sunday running on August 15. 

I found it interesting that in the heartland of industrial Europe one of the world’s biggest railway companies marked a Christian feast that reminds us of how the human and divine touch one another.

Tomorrow’s feast is the celebration of the incorruptibility of Mary’s body after death and her assumption into heaven. It is the celebration of our belief that there is another dimension to us far beyond our flesh and bones. In so many ways it is an extraordinary thing to say. 

Of course there are moments in my own life when I am greatly tempted to say that this life of mine ends with the grave.

Before writing this column, I asked a 99-year-old man how he understands tomorrow’s feast. He believes that Mary’s body did not corrupt in the grave and went on to say that there is a perfect unity between body and spirit. He believes that the spirit is what makes the body alive and that the human soul is everlasting. 

That same man, who has a great sense of humour, once said to me, if there be no God, we will never find out.

Mary is –  in the deepest of meaning – an ordinary human being. She is chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. 

In tomorrow’s Gospel St Luke attributes to her an Old Testament prophecy in what is commonly known as the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour.” (Luke 1: 46 - 47) She explains how the Almighty has done great things for her. 

She talks about how the same God, who has called her to fulfil a special role in human history is all merciful, how he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.

Are there not hints in that Gospel reading that there is more to us than flesh and bone and reason? Surely we have been called to the exquisite delights of the divine, a state of perfection that can only be found in God? Is that wishful thinking? I don’t think it is.

When  I visit my parents’ grave,  I find myself talking out loud to them in belief that they are in some way, somehow in union with one another and God. To say any more than that is beyond my powers of comprehension let alone description. 

Down through the generations philosophers and theologians have argued and counter-argued about the unity of body and soul. For the church Mary represents symbolically how mankind is destined for life beyond the grave.

In the second reading in tomorrow’s liturgy (1 Corinthians 15: 20 - 26) St Paul tells the Corinthians that Christ has been raised from the dead. He goes on to say just as we all die in Adam, we will be brought to life in Christ. As Christ is the new Adam, similarly Mary is the new Eve.

Reflecting on this prompts one to ask the challenging question of how to maximise the ministerial and leadership roles of women in every aspect of the church.

It certainly is a topic worthy of serious discussion and must never be allowed to be a taboo subject. And it is unfortunate that the role of women in the church, better said, their absence of a role, can alienate so many people in their search for the divine. After all Mary, next to Christ, plays the most pivotal of roles in the Christian story of redemption.

But it is important to recall that the church is always in need of reform. The Second Vatican Council made it its business to place far more emphasis on the idea of the church being in need of reform rather than being a perfect society.

Tomorrow’s feast is another opportunity for us to spend more time thinking of the wonder and mystery of how the divine touches the human rather than on concentrating on titles and organisational failings that have nothing more to them than a human context. Significant up to a point –  like the German Railways timetable … 

St Luke recounts how Mary tells Elizabeth that all generations will call her blessed. All generations have every reason to call us blessed, all of us, women and men.

Sixty years ago today the Germans built a monstrous wall

Sixty years ago today the Walter Ulbricht government in East Berlin began the building of the Berlin Wall.

The Government of the German Democratic Republic referred to it as Antifaschistischer Schutzwall - an antifascist protection wall. And the mayor of West Berlin Willy Brandt called it the Wall of Shame.

The Wall came down on November 9, 1989 and its destruction came about by more or less an accident.

At another-wise boring press conference in East Berlin Günter Schabowski when answering a question referred to his notes and said that East Germans could leave the country with immediate effect. 

The news travelled fast. East Berliners headed for the border crossing points. At 11.30pm Harald Jäger, the man in charge on the night at Bornholmer Straße, having hesitated for some time and having made  several attempts to find out what to do, instructed his NVA border troops to hold their fire and opened the barriers.

The Wall was no more.

On 3 October 1990 Germany was united or was it reunited. A thorny issue. 

Is Alive! aware of Orbán’s policy on immigration?

As mentioned in this blog yesterday the free sheet Alive! writes in praise of the Hungarian government.

As recently as June of this year Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán described an EU statement in defence of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as ‘frivolous’.

Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland withheld funds from Hungary because of its domestic politics.

Is the free sheet Alive! aware of Orbán’s policies on immigration?

Readers of Alive! have a right to know who owns this free sheet and what actually are its links with the Irish Dominicans.

Have the Dominicans ever made a public statement about its links with Alive!?

Alive! launches another broadside against the EU

The editorial in the August edition of the free sheet Alive!  discusses the current dispute between the European Union and Hungary.

It depicts the EU as the bully in the playground, which uses inflammatory and emotive language.

The final sentence in the editorial reads: “ Our prayers should be with the Hungarian people as they confront the latest tyranny to arise in Europe.”

Who owns Alive? Who is the editor of Alive!? Does Alive! have an editorial board? 

Is there any connection between Alive! and the Irish Dominican Province?

Does the Irish Dominican Province support the editorial policy of Alive!?

At the bottom of the front page of the free sheet there is the following disclaimer: 'The content of the newspaper Alive! and the view in it are those of the editor and contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Irish Dominican Province.'

This disclaimer would suggest that there is a nexus between Alive! and the Irish Dominicans.

Is there?

Do the Olympic Games unite or divide the world?

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

Do the Olympic Games unite or divide the world?

The Olympic Games came to an end on Sunday. Ireland is of course proud of its two gold and two bronze medals.

Looking through the medals table it jumped off the page for me to see that of the top five medal winning countries four of them are nuclear power countries. They are USA, China, Great Britain and ROC.

It took me a while to work out where ROC is. It stands for the Russian Olympic Committee. Due to doping controversies, Russia was banned from taking part in these Olympics. So this is the way they got around it. Sounds odd.

Russian athletes did not have the word Russia emblazoned on their clothing and if they did, it also had to include ‘neutral athlete’. When Russians won gold medals the Russian anthem was replaced by music from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number One.

Politics and sport is an old story. A friend of mine, who is a fanatical rugby enthusiast stopped supporting the Irish national team after the Irish Rugby Football Union allowed members to take part in apartheid South Africa in August 1989.

The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games took place three years after the Nazis came to power and in spite of all the reassurances Hitler gave to the International Olympic Committee, the Nazis kept few of their promises. On that German team there was only one competitor with Jewish ancestry. It’s worth noting that the Germans won the most medals at those games.

This year there has been the shocking story of the Belarus athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who has taken refuge in Poland. On social media she had criticised the management of the team’s officials and was subsequently told to go home.

We all know the style of leadership of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, so Krystsina decided it was best not to go home.

The IOC always tries to steer a clever path through all the political skulduggery. Maybe it is the Olympics bring home to us the importance of political dialogue and they also highlight to the world those places where dictators and tyrants are in control.

Do the Games bring the world together in some sort of loving embrace or do they simply highlight how the strong and powerful nations in fact control the world, even in sport?

During these games I’ve been asking myself is it a good idea to play the anthems of the winning competitors. And yet when I heard our anthem being played I felt all emotional. I was delighted to see ‘our people’ on the winning podium.

Of course it was sensational to see us win our first gold medals in rowing with Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and another gold with boxer Kellie Harrington. I’m back thinking of Krystsina Tsimanouskaya afraid to go home. Do we ever realise the good fortune we have to live on this island, no matter how few or many medals we win at the Olympic Games.

It’s easy to criticise our legitimately elected politicians, and it’s probably good that we do, but those same politicians keep us safe from tyrants and dictators. And long may they do so.

We are a land of wasters

Volunteers removed 3.5 tonnes of rubbish from our lakes, rivers, canals and beaches over the August bank holiday weekend. 

Per head of population Ireland is one of the highest producers of waste in Europe.

It is estimated that almost 14 million tonnes of waste were generated in Ireland in 2018 across all economic sectors and households, corresponding to 2.9 tonnes per person.

Main sources of waste included municipal waste, construction and demolition waste and other sources such as industry and agriculture.

The day that Richard Nixon said he was waving day-day

On this day, August 8, 1974 US President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announced his resignation as president of the United States of America, effective from noon the following day.

It’s one of those days that people old enough to remember will recall where exactly they were on that day and indeed, what they were doing.

He announced his resignation on the feast of St Dominic. 

And guess where he lived out his years of retirement? San Clemente.

For readers not familiar with the Irish Dominicans, San Clemente is the name of the Irish Dominicans’ priory on the Via Labicana in Rome.

 

Last week in the Catholic Church with John Allen

 https://youtu.be/DebufWX0DFo 

Large numbers joining the Travel Pass brigade

It’s not just priests who are

growing old.

In Ireland in 2016 there were 630,000 people aged 65 and over, which accounted for approximately 13 per cent of the population.

It is projected that by 2031 that figure will have jumped to approximately one million and 1.6 million by 2051.

At present approximately 50,000 people hit the 65 age group every year. Over the next 15 years this number is projected to grow to 70,000 annually.

The number of people aged 80 and over is projected to  rise from 148,000 in 2016 to between 536,000 and 549,000 in 2051.

Scarr the place to be on August Bank Holiday Monday

There’s a big rush on to

book that holiday abroad. We all want to throw off the shackles of Covid. It’s not that long ago at all since we were not allowed go some few kilometres from our hall door and then when that was

lifted we could travel within our county and then the magic of being allowed cross the county bounds. And right now we can go wherever we like in the country and to many places outside it too. 

In our mad rush to go away do we ever spot what’s right in front of our noses?

On Bank Holiday Monday a friend and I wandered in West Wicklow, taking in a walk up Scarr Mountain.

As the proverbial crow flies it is less than 50 kilometres from my hall door to the top of Scarr.

Best to set off from Oldbridge, which is a short drive from Roundwood.

Scarr is approximately 600 metres high and it is an idyllic walk from Lough Dan to the top. The views are breathtaking.

On August Bank Holiday Monday we met six people on the mountain.

Sensational.

Try it.

Paddy Murray takes his advice from doctors and scientists

Journalist and former columnist at The Star and brother of Bishop Donal Murray writes in The Irish Times yesterday:

I have to confess that I am baffled by the continuing and increasingly hysterical campaign against the doctors and scientists who are leading the fight against the Covid pandemic.

I will listen to Nphet and NIAC and the HSE rather than a bunch of people who don’t seem to be qualified to give me, or anyone else, advice on a pandemic.

Does the hierarchy believe it owns the church?

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

The first time you walk into an important place it’s most likely that you will be awestruck.

I know the first time I was in government buildings or Dáil Éireann I was conscious that I was in a special place, somewhere that resonated with a sense of history, importance too.

I think I was eight when I went down to Roscrea College with my mother and father. My brother was being admitted as a border to the school. I can still remember standing in the entrance hall as my parents spoke to the president of the college. 

It was all so majestic and powerful and as a little boy I perceived both priests and buildings as intimidating. Back then I would not have known what intimidating meant, nevertheless, that’s the effect it had on me.

I think it’s fair to  say that when we walk into some palatial setting with which we are not familiar we are awestruck.

So too when we meet important or famous people, we certainly watch our Ps and Qs. We might not know the first thing about the person but there is that sense we are in the presence of perceived greatness.

In an Ireland of a different era people sidled up beside the teacher, the priest, the doctor. They felt they were in the presence of someone important, while at the same time they might not have known the first thing about the person.

I imagine that same sort of phenomenon still exists in the world of celebrities. And of course there are many sycophants who think it a good move to stay close to the coattails of the great and the good.

I remember once hearing journalist Vincent Browne remarking that when we give titles to people we give them power and control over us.

I’m often struck with the relationship that exists between the institutional church and the individual member.

It goes without saying that in every organisation there’s the good the bad and the ugly. That’s life. But in spite of all the talk I hear, all the words of sorrow that I have heard about historical misdeeds, I still can’t help but think that the institutional church has actually hijacked the church, which is the people of God. 

These days I’m asking myself does the hierarchy actually believe it owns the church. I’m inclined to think it does.

I’m a Dominican and I often wonder what really is the concrete relationship between the people who come to our churches and the Dominican Order? 

What actually do they know about us?

In the case of diocesan priests, have the people in parishes any idea how a diocese is organised and run? 

Have parishioners any say as who should or should not be their parish priest?  Does anyone know how the system works? And then all the silly titles.

Is this heresy? I don’t think so.

It’s so easy to look on in some sort of awe or wonder about the church. But if you scratch away, stop all the wonder and awe, what actually is there?

Any time I go back to Roscrea I feel profoundly sad at why anyone should stand back in awe.

Bishop Kevin Doran ignores advice of health experts

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he does not approve of any 'unilateral breaching' of Covid-19 regulations after Elphin Bishop, Kevin Doran informed priests of the diocese they can go ahead with Communion and Confirmation ceremonies.

The taoiseach stressed the government’s only motivation on the regulations is to protect the health of the people.

What does Bishop Kevin Doran know that Nphet, the HSE, medical experts and the government don’t know?

The Archdiocese of Dublin is abiding by government regulations, which would seem the correct action to take.

Spokesman for the Catholic bishops, Martin Long said there was no centralised policy or approach to Communion and Confirmation ceremonies.

A world of mixed fortunes

Junior investment bankers at Morgan Stanley are about to get a €15,000 pay rise, bringing their salaries to €100,000.

It is the latest Wall Street bank to increase staff salaries following complaints about the industry’s gruelling working conditions.

At the same time Scarlett Johansson claims Disney deprived her of $50 million in earnings by releasing ‘Black Widow’ both in cinemas and on streaming.

According to 2019 figures the number of undernourished  people in the world has declined from 15 to 8.9 per cent. It means approximately 690 million people are undernourished.

A world of mixed fortunes.

Old Latin Mass belongs in the past

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today

Michael Commane 

I’m forever asking myself and others what is life about. Indeed, at this stage when people see me coming, they are waiting for my  question. 

In tomorrow’s Gospel John quotes Jesus: “I am the bread of life,  he who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6: 35).  

Here I am,  a Catholic priest, ordained in 1974 and I’m still asking myself what life is all about. But the older I get the more I realise my questioning may not at all be too far off the mark. Our journey of faith is a lifelong one and it makes no sense at all for anyone ever to think that they have captured God. That is idolatry.

Yes, I see the emptying churches. I hear the footsteps of people as they walk away from churches. I’m acutely aware of the growing divisions and tensions within the churches with specific reference to the Catholic Church, which has been my home all my life.

The Mass has been in the news over the last few weeks for different reasons. On the one hand Pope Francis has issued new rules on the celebration of the Old Latin or Tridentine Mass.

 

Personally I am delighted with Pope Francis’ brave announcement.

On the other hand there has rightly been great concern expressed about the appropriateness of conduct at funeral Masses in controversial circumstances.

The Eucharist is above all the Christian community in prayer with one another and Christ at the centre. 

It is that moment when people and God are communicating life in a most extraordinary manner. 

It is fitting that we do so in the language we use every day, just as God is present in our daily lives. 

The Mass is a central source of spiritual nourishment. And of course everything we say about the Eucharist presupposes our acceptance that we are a people of faith.  We should come away from Mass inspired and impressed by the presence of God in our world.

The deepest and most meaningful conversations I have with people are conducted through the medium of English because that is where I am most at home. I cannot fathom why people with a very limited knowledge of Latin celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

Is the Latin phenomenon some sort of attempt to escape into a past that is no more? Why choose to live in the past, adopting styles and vocabularies appropriate to long gone times? 

Shouldn’t we think more about the present? In 47 years of priesthood I don’t think I’ve ever been encouraged to attend any sort of workshop or seminar on how best to celebrate the Eucharist. None of us priests can put our hands on our hearts and say that we have perfected the way in which we celebrate Mass. 

Priests and bishops should, I suggest, make greater efforts to make the vernacular an inclusive celebration that makes those present know that they come face-to-face with Jesus, who is the bread of life. 

How often have people left church understanding that in believing in Jesus they will never thirst? Every day I meet young, old and sick people, good and decent women and men who have been alienated by church and churches. I find it most frustrating because I see how wholesome and good they are and how broken the institutional church is. 

The big question we must ask ourselves is why people have walked away. There are myriad reasons, but I keep saying to myself the institutional church does not do enough to pass on ownership to all baptised members. And people are wise and perspicacious enough to see all the shadow boxing that takes place.

But I am heartened by tomorrow’s Gospel when Jesus tells his followers that it is not Moses who gave them the bread from heaven, but rather his Father, who gives us the bread from heaven.

Our celebration of the Eucharist always has to be dynamic and real, a faith-filled experience that has clear meaning and availability for us. It has to be celebrated in such a manner that we will be enlivened with the Word of God and nourished by the body and blood of Christ, and subsequently be enthusiastic in living it out in our everyday lives. 

The life of a good man or woman nurtured by the bread of life leads to God.  For many Christians the Eucharist is that source of nourishment but why have so many walked away? 

The bread of God gives life to the world. Jesus Christ spoke to us in the everyday language of his homeland, and it is in our daily lives that his message of love and salvation, the bread of Heaven, belongs. 

Whom to believe? That surely is a big question

In the Weekend Review of last Saturday’s edition of The Irish Times Derek Scally wrote a review of the chancellorship of Angela Merkel.

It is a positive account of her 16 years as head of the German government and 31 years as a politician.

Scally says her maxim is simple: In calm lies power.

On one occasion she was asked what western Germans could learn from easterners like her, Merkel replied: ‘Patience’.

At her final summer press conference in Berlin last Thursday she said: “It’s up to others to draw a balance and they will do that.

“I’m at ease with myself, with my life and my biography. I think both gave me good opportunities to make a contribution to Germany’s political life."

In the Life&Arts supplement of the Guardian of the same date Guy Chazan reviews Robin Alexander’s book on Angela Merkel. He sees her in a different light as Derek Scally. 

Alexander argues that there was never so much government in Germany and never so much government failure.

He says she is now seen around the world by many as “the tired regent of a risk-averse, overly bureaucratic and technologically backward Germany".

Whom to believe Scally or Chazan/Alexander?

Interesting how people’s opinions vary and how at all can the reader draw conclusions?

Maybe there never are conclusions.

How Canon Law is actually applied

It often seems that Canon Law is applied to the foe,  interpreted for the friend.

Order 227

On this day, July 28, 1942 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issued Order Number 227. 

In response to alarming German advances, all those who retreated or left their positions without orders were to be tried in a military court, with punishment ranging from duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a Gulag, or execution. 

The following month, on August 23, the Germans began the battle at Stalingrad. And it was there that Order 227 played a pivotal but cruel role.

No Russian was to cross the River Volga. There would be no further retreat eastwards. That was the final stop.

The following February a badly defeated German Army retreated from Stalingrad.

Zany Covid deniers and right-wing Christians

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

It was reported in the media in mid-July that both the chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan and his assistant, Dr Ronan Glynn received abusive phone calls.

Across the world in Australia the New South Wales police fined far-right commentator Katie Hopkins before the Australian government deported her.

She had been invited to Australia to appear on  Seven Network’s Big Brother VIP.

Before filming took place Katie Hopkins released a video describing Covid19 as the greatest hoax in human history. She joked about her elaborate plans to break quarantine regulations, explaining how she planned to frighten security guards by answering her hotel room naked and maskless.

In Ireland we have had the spectacle of two well-known journalists taking the State to court, claiming that Covid is a conspiracy.

Another Irish media personality is constantly criticising the State for its strict Covid rules and he is also highly critical of how the church authorities have acquiesced  in State rules and regulations concerning liturgical celebrations.

One could easily get the impression that he believes the State is hellbent in closing down churches.

I am aware of a parish priest who has allowed choral singing to take place in church, something that has been strictly forbidden by the State and indeed the man’s own diocese.

And then there have been those who have refused to be vaccinated, citing spurious religious grounds.

I know a priest, who refused the vaccination, and subsequently fell victim to Covid. He lives in a community with a number of vulnerable people. To make it even worse there was hardly a word of apology from him to his colleagues.

What is it about the purveyors of this rabid right wing conspiracy that is simply running amok? They seem to have worrying links with churches.

Trump has discovered some sort of magic wand that appeals to large numbers of church-going people.

 

There is a significant underbelly of angry, disaffected people, who want to shape the world in their fanatical image. They are finding refuge and maybe even solace in the various Christian churches. And the Catholic Church is no exception.

I have to admit that I am scared. My experience is within the Catholic Church and I can’t help but feel there is a terrible swing to the right, indeed, a worrying trend. Maybe it is having such success because of the current weakness within church leadership.

From time to time Pope Francis hints at what is happening but then some days later his message is drowned out by off-the-wall right wing comments.

I’m often baffled and saddened how church leaders are so forthright in criticising any tendency that might show liberal or left wing tendencies, but when it comes to calling out far right-wing ideas, they are far more reticent.

On a personal note, I’m saddened by a conservatism that plays such a powerful role in the Catholic Church to which I belong. I’d love things to be different.

Söder tells Scholz that he is not the king of Germany

At a heated meeting in March of Germany’s 16 regional premiers discussing the coronavirus pandemic, the premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder said to the German finance minister Olaf Scholz:

You’re not the king of Germany, you know, nor the ruler of the world. So you can stop grinning like a Smurf.

Water water everywhere nor any drop to drink

Our heatwave may be coming to an end. A heatwave is declared in Ireland if there are five consecutive days of temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. A drought is declared after 15 consecutive days with less than 0.2 millilitres of rain.

Irish Water collects, treats and pumps 1.7 billion litres of water every day. Forty per cent or 680,000 litres is lost through leakage.

Dublin uses a third of the State’s water. Every day the greater Dublin area consumes 572 million litres of water.

The average daily consumption of water used by every person in the State is approximately 133 litres.

Our water supply right now is hanging on a knife-edge.

Irish Water has just begun work on a new 100 million litre reservoir in Saggart

Proof that gambling is a mug’s game

In 2019 Revenue collected €51.9 million from traditional betting and €40.6 million from remote betting.

This was close to double the figure for the previous year, 2018.

Across the EU more than 44 per cent of all online betting is done from a smartphone or tablet rather than from desktop computers.

Last month President Michael D Higgins spoke of the importance of greater regulation of online gambling.

According to a report funded by Gambling Awareness there are  55,000 people in Ireland with a serious gambling disorder.

Last year Irish gamblers lost approximately €1.36 billion.

Proof that gambling is a mug’s game.

Miriam Lord’s wonderful piece on Dessie O'Malley

Miriam Lord has a lovely piece in The Irish Times yesterday on Dessie O’Malley and it’s certainly well worth a read.

At the end of her personal story she relates how Dessie loved his wife Pat.

“At her funeral Mass Dessie said: ‘The thing should have been the other way around. I, and most people, expected that I would be the first to go. It would have been better for everyone if that were so, but the better one went first.’

“Two weeks ago, still politically engaged, he voted for the last time in the Dublin Bay South by-election.

“Wonder who got his number one.”

What a fabulous piece of writing. And how it catches the man.

Elsewhere Lord tells of a conversation Dessie, his wife Pat, and John Hume had in a pub in Omagh in the aftermath of the 1998 bombing. Miriam Lord is present. 

John Hume gives them a lecture on how to spot a good French wine. Pat’s family owned a pub in Omagh.

As John held forth, Dessie, trying to stifle a smile said: ‘really’ with an expression that was priceless.

Lord explains how it was a bizarre moment in the midst of terrible tragedy.

RTÉ’s Emer Flood gives us the weather forecast for today

At 07.57 today RTÉ’s weather forecast was read by Emer Flood.

Another warm day ahead. 

A brave Pope Francis says no to old Latin Mass

The text below is from The Irish Times of Friday, July 16. The link is from Crux.

Has the provincial of the Irish Dominicans made any statement about Irish Dominican priests celebrating the old Latin Mass?

Pope Francis has cracked down on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Benedict XVI’s signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately condemned it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.

Pope Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass that Benedict relaxed in 2007, and went further to limit its use.

The pontiff said he was taking action because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the church and been used by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernised the Church and its liturgy.

Critics said they had never before witnessed a Pope so thoroughly reversing a predecessor’s policy. That the reversal concerned something so fundamental as the liturgy, while Benedict is still alive and living in the Vatican as a retired pontiff, only amplified the extraordinary nature of Pope Francis’s move, which is set to provoke more right-wing hostility.

Pope Francis (84) issued a new law requiring individual bishops to approve celebrations of the old Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, and requiring newly ordained priests to receive explicit permission to celebrate it from their bishops in consultation with the Vatican.

Under the new law, bishops must also determine if current groups of faithful attached to the old Mass accept Vatican II, which allowed for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin. These groups can no longer use regular parishes for their Masses, and bishops must find an alternative location for them.

In addition, Pope Francis said bishops are no longer allowed to authorise the formation of any new pro-Latin Mass groups in their dioceses.The pontiff said he was taking action to promote unity and heal divisions within the Church that had grown since Benedict’s 2007 document, Summorum Pontificum. 

 https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2021/07/popes-clampdown-on-latin-mass-praised-as-prophetic-ripped-as-cruel/ from Crux!

Kuenssberg’s captivating interview with Cummings

In a special BBC Two programme last evening Laura Kuenssberg interviewed Dominic Cummings.

He began by denying his current anti-Johnson campaign is revenge. And he said it didn’t matter if it was personal and went on to say that the country needs more difficult conversation.

Cummings said that Boris Johnson referred to his real boss as The Telegraph.

In many ways the hour-long interview may well have been the rantings of a mad man. On the other hand it may have been prophetic words spoken by a genius.

He was not afraid to say that the leadership of the Tory Party is useless and spoke about the political system allowing one bunch of clowns replacing another.

He openly and emphatically said that the sooner Boris Johnson goes the better.

Cummings passionately believes that Brexit is good for the UK but at one stage in the interview, he lumped some of the crazy MPs who were denying the dangers of Covid with Brexit MPs.

That sounded contradictory and indeed odd.

While one may profoundly disagree with him politically, he would have a lot to say around a table of Dominicans discussing where they are at, indeed, he’d make great sense talking at any gathering of church people wondering what next.

His comment about "the political system allowing one bunch of clowns replacing another” surely applies  across all society, within the churches too.

It was captivating television.

Those lines from John Dryden: “ Great wits are to madness near allied/And thin partitions doe their bounds divide."

Hidden beauty right in front of our noses

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

I can’t imagine the damage Covid has caused the airline travel, indeed the damage it has caused everywhere.

Maybe it is that I am growing old and the attraction of non-stop travel is no longer a great priority with me. 

Also, up to some years ago I did my fair share of travel. I was going backwards and forwards to Germany ever before Ryanair appeared on the scene and Aer Lingus may have only had two or three flights a week to Frankfurt-am-Main.

But these days listening to the uproar and almost pandemonium that is being caused because people can’t travel to far-off places, I’m wondering have we lost the run of ourselves.

Again, maybe it’s easy for me to scratch my head when I hear about people travelling to Berlin for a weekend. What can one see of Berlin in two, three days? 

I lived in the city before the Wall came down and know just a little about the enormity and complexity of the German capital. But back in the day, when I was there, it was a divided city, East Berlin being the capital of East Germany and West Berlin, an island city, that attracted all sorts of ‘Refuseniks’ alternatives and the likes of me, but that’s another story altogether.

At the weekend I did two lovely walks. On Saturday I walked along Dublin’s River Dodder from Donnybrook to where the river flows into the Liffey. 

It’s one fabulous walk. One minute you might well think you are deep in rural Ireland. Two kilometres further on you come to that spot where the Grand Canal and the Dodder flow into the Liffey. It really is a piece of engineering wonder.

And just before arriving at that junction my companion and I were discussing whether or not we liked the Aviva Stadium. Such a colossal building plonked right beside family homes. Neither of us is an architect but we both agreed and thought it works. We decided it is a piece of architectural genius.

Then on Sunday I walked around the reservoir at Beohernabreena, just beyond Tallaght. It’s a nine-kilometre walk.

The reservoir supplies water to approximately 35,000 households in the Rathgar Rathmines area of Dublin and was built in the 1880s.

Over the last few months I’ve been discovering places, roads, alleyways that I never knew existed.

There is a wealth of treasure right in front of our noses that we constantly seem to miss or ignore.

It’s only in recent years that I discovered where the sources of water are for the two Dublin canals. And when I was at Grand Canal Dock on Saturday I got talking to a couple. We were joking and laughing, and also talking about the wonder of the place. I asked her in true school teacher fashion where was the source of water for the Grand Canal. She nor her husband had no idea.

Why do we frenetically fly all over the world when there’s so much wonder right in front of our noses here at home?

In every nook and cranny of this island of ours there are extraordinary gems to discover.

These days I’m reminded so often of the old Irish seanfhocal, far away hills are green.

Priesthood

Is priesthood fit for purpose in July 2021?

Does one have to answer that, do they? 

Disaster gives youth a chance to show their greatness

So far 140 people, including four fire brigade personnel, are confirmed dead in Germany as a result of the flooding and that number will  rise. A large number of people are missing.

There has also been heavy flooding claiming the lives of  people in neighbouring France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited one of the worst hit areas in North Rhine Westfalia yesterday. He stressed how impressed he was in how people have come together in support and help and promised that bureaucracy would not get in the way in the immediate rebuilding of houses, roads and rail lines.

Chancellor Angela Merkel retuned from Washington today and travelled directly to one of the stricken areas.

CDU chancellor candidate for the September election and current premier of North Rhine Westfalia Armin Laschet has also stressed the importance of all agencies working together to rebuild.

Laschet was caught on camera laughing and joking  as Steinmeier was speaking. He subsequently apologised for his behaviour.

Yesterday there was concern that the dam at Steinbachtal would break its banks. 

The television pictures of the devastated areas are truly horrific. 

Houses ruined, water flowing through villages and motorways turned into raging rivers.

One television clip showed a Bundeswehr tank pulling a large truck out of raging waters on a motorway.

But what is impressive is the solidarity of the people and especially the willingness of young people to roll up their sleeves and help.

Learning to trust the people

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

Michael Commane

On July 1, the People’s Republic of China placed a full-page advertisement in this newspaper. The text was written by the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, He Xiangdong, to mark  the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

The publication attracted criticism as there were those who felt it was wrong for a country with a reputation such as China’s to be given a prominent space in a national newspaper. Opinions on this differ but I prefer to think that when the ambassador of a country with which we have diplomatic relations speaks to us, we are mature enough to make up our own minds to accept or reject what is said.

  

Early in his message the ambassador suggests that the Chinese government has the solid support of the Chinese people.

 

The word people plays a central role in the vocabulary of all politicians. Politicians like to show that they are representing the people. Whether in democracies or in tyrannies, that word people is writ large. 

In tomorrow’s Gospel, St Mark tells the reader how Jesus takes pity on the large crowds “because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length”. (Mark 6: 34).

Indeed, in the first reading in tomorrow’s liturgy the prophet Jeremiah quotes the Lord, the God of Israel, as saying: “Doom for the shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered.” (Jeremiah 23: 1)

There we have it again, the importance of caring for people.

In the current issue of ‘Reality', a magazine published by the Irish Redemptorists, the editorial is titled ‘God’s silence and the death of vocations’. The author, Fr Gerard Moloney, writes  about vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

In conclusion he writes: “We need to imagine a radical new way of being church in the 21st century. 

Even though it may seem like we are peering through a glass darkly, we need to trust that God will show us a way forward.”

I find it an inspiring piece of writing, which is very welcome, cutting as it does through much of the tired ‘pieties’ I have come to expect from so much of the religious press.

Fr Moloney suggests we trust in God. I suggest we should also trust far more in people. What has happened to the impetus of the Second Vatican Council, that threw open the doors and windows to make the church an open and inclusive community, where the voices of more and more people could be heard and indeed respected too?

Many Christian churches are in meltdown and instead of listening and respecting the views of all those who have been hurt and alienated there is this constant pull to return to old ways that have no contemporary meaning for so many good and noble people.

Any time I pick up the New Testament I am struck with the recurring  theme of how Jesus interacts with people. It’s his mission to serve and heal the people, and that involves listening  to them too. It’s perfectly clear that he respects and cherishes them. He is a true servant of the people. Jesus is the servant of the people because he is primarily the servant of God. It was his commitment to God that drove him to be the servant of the people.

What have we done? We have turned our faith upside down by  placing far too much importance on those who serve. There is too much reverence shown to office holders, be they political, titled or ecclesiastical. In the past we doffed the hat to the church leaders, but who are we genuflecting in front of today?

Now, as never before, there is  a serious need for a root and branch change in a church that has for far too long given an impression of being driven by rank and entitlement. This  has to go. Because if it doesn’t the church will become totally irrelevant to the people it claims to serve.

Boris Johnson’s battery made buses

British prime minister Boris Johnson was in Coventry yesterday where he was giving a talk on ‘levelling up’.

At one stage in his ramblings he spoke about the great new green buses made by batteries.

Has anyone seen a battery made bus?