The point that made me think about God

This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

Having scored a point from a difficult angle early in the game I overheard a man near me say: ‘God has arrived’.

It was the Sunday of the heatwave, the last day of those soaring temperatures when the water coming out of the cold water tap was anything but cold.

West Kerry village Castlegregory were playing a home game against Fossa.

 

Fossa is the club of the two All-Ireland stars David and Paudie Clifford. At this stage most of Ireland must know of the footballing skills of David Clifford.

 

And of course the man near me was referring to him.

Many experts say that Paudie’s contribution in the All Ireland final was arguably more critical than David’s. 

But last Sunday week my eyes were focused on David Clifford. I was amazed how he could swallow up the ground and doing it with the ease of an Usain Bolt.

He was simply sauntering about the park, taking the odd shot and scoring.

I’m told by those who know, they had never before seen so many at a game in the village.

The God reference was pure genius, it was funny and how it capsulated the moment, the atmosphere, the entire event of that Sunday afternoon in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Never for a moment did I think that I’d be writing about Gaelic football two weeks in a row. A few weeks in Kerry can be the making of us, even 

change our lives forever.

But this game, the team and the venue is really a springboard or catalyst to make some pertinent observations.

Since that man said those three words of genius I’ve been trying to parse them, trying to think and wonder, no not about David Clifford but about God and our relationship with God.

Scanning the grounds I did ask myself how many of those playing or present were at Mass that weekend.

I’m not for a moment saying ‘going’ to Mass is the defining act in calling someone Catholic. But I am saying the vocabulary is gone. The sense of God that the hierarchical church tries to disseminate is over.

And I can imagine it’s a similar story in most western Christian religions.

On July 7, 2024, if I make it, I’ll be 50 years a priest. I recall my mother saying to me long before my priestly ordination that when the alienation with the church would begin, it would all happen with speed.

How right she was. And for almost 50 years I’ve been scratching my head and saying that the status quo is simply not working. I am my mother’s son.

To try to say anything about God is complex and difficult and there are no easy trite answers. I keep wondering have bishops realised the vocabulary of the church has become meaningless for so many.

 

By the way, Fossa won. And guess what, more problems with the scoreboard, as was the case in Blennerville. See, the GAA too is not perfect.

Alexander Dugin’s daughter killed in Moscow car bomb

Arya Dugina, was killed in a car bomb explosion in Moscow on Saturday. She is the 30-year-old daughter of Alexander Dugin.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Washington Post columnist David von Drehle about the Russian intellectual known as "Putin's Brain," whose ideology has influenced the invasion of Ukraine.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: 

Just before his army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a long and bizarre speech in which he denied one simple fact, the existence and sovereignty of Ukraine. But to many observers of Putin, the claim sounded familiar. It aligned closely with the writings of one man, Russian intellectual Aleksandr Dugin. David Von Drehle is a columnist for The Washington Post. And in a column published this past week, he says Dugin's views help explain Putin's ambitions in Ukraine. David, welcome to the show.

DAVID VON DREHLE: Thank you for having me, Ayesha.

RASCOE: You wrote that Dugin is commonly referred to as, quote, "Putin's brain." Can you give us a sense of Dugin's ideology?

VON DREHLE: Dugin is a good old-fashioned mystical fascist of the sort that kind of flourished after World War I, when many people in Europe felt lost, felt like the Old World had failed, and were searching around for explanations. And a certain set of them decided the problem was all of modern thinking, the idea of freedom, the idea of individual rights. And in Dugin's case, he felt that the Russian Orthodox Church was destined to rule as an empire over all of Europe and Asia. And eventually, in a big book in 1997, he laid out the road map for accomplishing that. He's continued to be intimately involved in the Russian military, Russian intelligence services and Putin's inner circle.

RASCOE: And so you talk about how this ideology has manifested in Putin's actions, this idea that Russia should basically, as you said, rule over all of Europe and Asia.

VON DREHLE: Well, he felt that this was the great land-based empire and that it was in competition with a great sea-based empire that was led by the United States and Great Britain. So step one was to weaken the U.S., weaken Great Britain and disconnect us from our ties to Europe. And if you look at the way Putin has manipulated the internet over the past 20 years, the rise of social media to drive division and heat up the culture wars in the United States, to influence the Brexit movement in Great Britain. All of these things are steps to weaken the West because it's Russia's destiny to draw Europe toward Russia.

RASCOE: And how does Ukraine fit into this line of thinking?

VON DREHLE: Yeah, well, Dugin and then Putin has given voice to this, as well. They say that Ukraine is not a separate country, that it's another Russian Orthodox-dominated country. But from a strategic standpoint, it is the nation on the north shore of the Black Sea. And Dugin says that Eurasia, as he calls the future Russian empire - Eurasia has to have complete control of the Black Sea.

RASCOE: And what would happen in Asia in that point? Because Russia and China have fairly good relations, or they're pretty close.

VON DREHLE: Yeah, Dugin does not believe that Eurasia, you know, the great Russian empire, will be complete until China has been basically destroyed, that if only Hitler had never invaded Russia, then together, Russia and Germany and Japan could have formed a fascist alliance that would have dominated the world with Russia as the strongest partner from - as he puts it, from Dublin to Vladivostok.

RASCOE: I just wonder, with that sort of ideology driving Putin, like, how do you or how does anyone negotiate with that?

VON DREHLE: Well, it's tough. I mean, it's clearly - it's delusional thinking. It's messianic. It's, you know, apocalyptic. It's highly religious. We're seeing all these qualities in Putin lately to a degree that we haven't seen before - this idea that he's on a religious mission to basically universalize the Russian Orthodox faith through power and violence. As I said at the end of the column, it's a delusion. But when dictators with nuclear weapons have delusions, we have to pay attention to them.

RASCOE: That's David Von Drehle, columnist for The Washington Post. Thank you for being with us.

VON DREHLE: Thank you so much.

Three Russian anthems that tell their own stories

Below are the Soviet anthems of 1944 and 1977 and the Russian Federation anthem of 2000

The anthem that was adopted after the dissolution of the Soviet Union proved unpopular with the Russian public and with many politicians and public figures, because of its tune and lack of lyrics, and consequently its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions.

In 2000 the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin reintroduced the anthem of the Soviet Union with new lyrics.

All three anthems are below.

The wording of the Putin anthem shows signs of his plans for what is today happening in Ukraine.

The 1944 Soviet anthem

United forever in friendship and labour,
Our mighty republics will ever endure.
The Great Soviet Union will live through the ages. The dream of a people their fortress secure.

Long live our Soviet motherland, Built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our people, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see.

Through days dark and stormy where Great Lenin lead us Our eyes saw the bright sun of freedom above
And Stalin our leader with faith in the people, Inspired us to build up the land that we love.

Long live our Soviet motherland, Built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our people, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see.

We fought for the future, destroyed the invaders, And brought to our homeland the laurels of fame. Our glory will live in the memory of nations And all generations will honour her name.

Long live our Soviet motherland, Built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our people, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see.

The 1977 Soviet anthem

Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics, Great Russia has welded forever to stand. Created in struggle by will of the people, United and mighty, our Soviet land!

Sing to the Motherland, home of the free, Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong. O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people, To Communism's triumph lead us on!

Through tempests the sunrays of freedom have cheered us, Along the new path where great Lenin did lead.
To a righteous cause he raised up the peoples, Inspired them to labour and valourous deed.

Sing to the Motherland, home of the free, Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong. O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people, To Communism's triumph lead us on!

In the victory of Communism's immortal ideal, We see the future of our dear land.
And to her fluttering scarlet banner, Selflessly true we always shall stand!

Sing to the Motherland, home of the free, Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong. O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people, To Communism's triumph lead us on!

The 2000 Russian Federation anthem

Russia is our sacred state,
Russia is our beloved country.
A mighty will, great glory –
Your dignity for all time!

Chorus:
Be glorified, our free Fatherland,
The age-old union of fraternal peoples,
Ancestor-given wisdom of the people!
Be glorified, country! We are proud of you!

II
From the southern seas to the polar edge
Our forests and fields are spread out.
You are the only one in the world! You are the only one –
the native land so kept by God!

Chorus

III
A wide scope for dreams and for life
The coming years open to us.
We are given strength by our fidelity to the Fatherland.
So it was, so it is and it will always be so!

Chorus

Remembering the day people power succeeded in Moscow

On this day, August 20, 1991 over 100,000 people demonstrated outside the parliament building in Moscow protesting at those supporters who were trying to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

And on the same day Estonia, one of the Soviet republics declares its independence and breaks its ties with Moscow. 

Guterres calls for Russian withdrawal from Zaporizhzhia

More disturbing and horrifying news from the war in Ukraine

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/18/un-chief-presidents-zelenskiy-erdogan-talks-ukraine-grain-nuclear-plant?CMP=share_btn_link

Russian soldier hopes for anti-war demos across the land

The link below is a fascinating story about a Russian soldier who fought in Ukraine and has now spoken out in protest against the war.

Truth is always one of the first casualties in war but this story seems to have a sense of truth about it.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/17/i-dont-see-justice-in-this-war-russian-soldier-exposes-rot-at-core-of-ukraine-invasion?CMP=share_btn_link 

Russian oil tanker caught transferring oil off Greek coast

Last evening Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF television aired on its Frontal programme a story of a Russian oil tanker transferring oil to a ship alongside. It took place off the Greek coast.

The incident was filmed since the EU placed sanctions on the owners of the Russian tanker. 

A glimpse into what the GAA means

Listry 2-15

Castlegregory 0-14

That’s the result in the first round of the Kerry Junior Premier Football Championship Group 4 game played in Blennerville outside Tralee on Saturday, August 4.

I know next to nothing about Gaelic football and less about trying to report on a game.

Some wisecrack might quip that knowing nothing about a topic hasn’t stopped me writing about something in the past.

 

This is not at all a report by a sports journalist on a game. I was at the game because I’m friendly with the parents of one of the Castlegregory players and if truth be told I baptised the fella 18 years ago.

It’s a given that time flies when you are having fun. Any time I watch a game on the television it seems as if it goes on for an age. This game in Blennerville seemed to be all over far too quickly.

Approximately 13/14 years earlier I taught some of the team when they were in secondary school. Back then they were children and here they were now grown men at the peak of their fitness, well able to fend for themselves, even managing to get the odd yellow card.

Listry is in a higher division than Castlegregory so I think it’s fair to say that the lads from Castlegregory did themselves proud. And listening to the comments of those standing near me the general consensus was that ‘our team’ played well. Indeed, there was a view often expressed during the game that it was ours for the taking. But the final result told another story.

Blennerville is a tiny village approximately three kilometres west of Tralee. Anyone who ever travels from Tralee back west goes through Blennerville. And here in this tiny place the GAA has a fabulous facility, a great pitch and a fine clubhouse. 

But there is something odd or quirky that I spotted. They have a super-duper electronic scoreboard, unfortunately and annoyingly it is not possible if you are on the stand or western side of the pitch  to read the scoreboard if there is a car or van parked beside it. The problem is that it is too low. 

How could people, who built such a fabulous facility, put a scoreboard in a place it is not possible to see for a large number of the spectators? 

And certainly for the likes of me, who needed every aid possible to keep up to speed with what was happening, not being able to see the score was annoying, frustrating too. I had to keep asking those beside me about the score and all that did was annoy them. They were ensconced in the game, focused on what was happening and completely opposed to the referee anytime he fouled ‘our side’.

People who are usually quiet and demur were screaming their heads off and passionately shouting their lads on.

On a fine summer’s evening across the bridge in Blennerville I got a glimpse into what the GAA means and the great good it does.

 

How wholesome it all was, and so good for everyone, players and spectators alike. I’d have preferred to have seen Castlegregory win.

That’s life. It was fabulous entertainment. 

Clifford brothers ride into town

The West Kerry GAA team Castlegregory played Fossa in a Cham[ionship game yesterday in Castlegregory.

The two Clifford brothers of All-Ireland fame were playing for Fossa.

A Castlegregory supporter when he saw David Clifford quipped: ‘God has arrived’.

Fossa won.

Interesting comment made by Archbishop Justin Welby

This appears in the current issue of The Tablet. 

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby admitted a fresh impetus is required to escape the present “ecumenical winter”, adding that most Anglicans in England now recognise the Pope as “the father of the Church in the West”.

Respecting what is right and just

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

One afternoon in west Kerry in early August I stopped my motorbike to talk to a man. Our chat ended and I went to restart my bike. Nothing happened. While I was waiting for the AA Roadside Assistance to come and restart my bike, the man and his wife brought me into their house, where I was made welcome and drank their tea and ate their cheese. I have spoken to this man on previous occasions over the years. One thing I have come to notice about him is that he listens, takes in what is said to him, rather than just waiting an opportunity to have his say, as many of us do.

In doing this he gives worth to the other person. I have always felt that he respects and considers what I’m saying. Being in his presence is a wholesome moment. We certainly know when we are being respected. It puts a spring in our step.

I was at “sixes and sevens” as to the meaning of tomorrow’s Gospel. Those lines in St Luke’s Gospel where Jesus tells us he has come to bring fire to the earth (Luke 12: 49-53) do not make for easy reading. But further study of all the readings in tomorrow’s liturgy has shown me that it is rooted in a thoughtful concern to make us aware of how important it is for us to respect one another and to respect what is right and just.

In the reading from the Prophet Jeremiah (38: 4-6, 8-10) we see how the so-called important and leading people in the society call for the death of Jeremiah but then a man comes forward and disagrees and says no, Jeremiah must be saved. In the Psalm we are told that Yahweh steadies our step and puts a new song in my mouth. (Psalm 40). And that fire spoken of in the Gospel is an analogy about purifying us and giving us a sense of what is good and best for us.

Last Tuesday, August 9th, was the anniversary of the murder of Edith Stein, who was gassed in Auschwitz in 1942. Stein was born in 1891 into a Jewish family and was baptised into the Christian community in 1922. She wrote to Pius XI asking him to denounce the Nazi regime so as “to put a stop to this abuse of Christ’s name.” Stein, who straddles the Jewish Christian faiths, is one of the six patron saints of Europe.

And tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of Maxmillian Kolbe. He died on August 14th, 1941, also at Auschwitz. He was a Franciscan priest, who offered to take the place of another prisoner, Franciszek Gajowniczek, who was one of ten chosen to be starved to death in reprisal for the escape of three prisoners. The camp authorities agreed to the exchange and Kolbe died some weeks later of starvation.

Both Stein and Kolbe objected to the evil of the German regime, its lack of respect for the human person.

On this day, August 13th, 1961, the East German authorities began the building of the Berlin Wall, which meant forcefully dividing friends and families. Another example of crass inhumanity and appalling disrespect for people. The Wall failed because of people’s inherent desire to be in solidarity with one another. Another telltale sign of the importance of human respect.

Without restating the rights and wrongs of what is happening in Ukraine it’s glaringly clear that when human beings are being killed, maimed and tortured people are not being respected. War is the ultimate version of the loss of respect. It is the collapse of civilisation.

The Christian message can be a guide or pointer to us to respect our fellow human beings. Sometimes we can glibly talk about the presence of God in the world. I’m never too sure exactly what it means. Yes, believers in God might say that God’s presence can be made known to us in the world about us. I know that the beauty of the world can prompt us to ponder the existence of God. The majesty of the Irish countryside can be a moment for us to stop and think of the mystery of God.

That man I met on the day my motorbike broke down most likely may never know that sense of respect he exuded. For me it was a grace-filled moment. Respect begins with the small things and goes a long way, as I was reminded on my enforced “pitstop” on the roads of west Kerry.

Significant parts of rural Ireland without TV and not a word

Since Monday evening many homes in the West Kerry village of Castlegregory have been without terrestrial television.  RTE 1 is the station most affected by the blackout.

RTE technical help at first said there was no problem with their transmitter at Mullghanish or at the booster station at Ballybunion. But today they admitted that there have been problems with television reception in Sligo, Limerick and Kerry.

The spokesperson said it is due to the current high pressure and atmospheric issues.

And still not a word about the problem in the national media. If one street in Dublin were left for one hour without television it would be a national story.

The rural urban divide.

Garda dives into river Liffey and saves drowning man

This is a lovely story of a young Garda jumping into the Liffey to save an unconscious man. She took off her utility belt and stab jacket, and in she went. 

That’s bravery, kindness too. The story appeared in The Irish Times yesterday. 

CONOR LALLY

A young Garda member, and former competitive swimmer, has told how she dived into the river Liffey at the weekend and rescued an unconscious man floating face down under the Dublin city centre boardwalk. Garda Sarah Lynam then pulled the non-responsive man from the water before performing CPR and reviving him.

The incident occurred last Friday at about 1.45pm as Garda Lynam was on beat patrol in the city centre.

A call relating to a man in distress on the boardwalk at Bachelor’s Quay was quickly upgraded to him having entered the water. Garda Lynam ran from the GPO on O’Connell Street towards the scene and on arrival members of the public were gesturing her over as one of her colleagues was trying to spot the man.

“They told me he’d gone underneath the boardwalk so I looked through the grooves and I saw he was face down in the water,” she said. “I knew Dublin Fire Brigade were on their way, but I didn’t know how far away. I could see the man was face down so I just said to myself, ‘the only option here is that someone has to get into the water, I need to get into him’. So I took off my utility belt and my stab vest, passed my phone to a member of the public and got over the railings. I crawled down and then dropped into the water. I swam over to him, turned him around and I could see he was foaming at the mouth.”

Once she had grabbed the man she swam with him on his back as her colleague threw a safety rope towards her.

“People were shouting at me, ‘keep going, you’re not far’. And then I managed to get the rope and got it around my wrist,” she recalled.

With her colleague and a member of the public pulling the rope, eventually Garda Lynam managed to get herself and the unconscious man over to the docking pier for the Dublin tour boats on the Liffey.

“I went under the water and then pushed him up by his legs and [another garda was] able to grab him out of the water Once he was out they turned him over and I pulled myself up. But I could see his chest wasn’t going up and down, I knew he wasn’t breathing. I had to do CPR; three hard pumps and the foam and water started coming out of his mouth and his eyes shot open. I just thought, ‘thank God’.”

While the rescued man - who has survived the near drowning - was unable to speak, he was conscious when paramedics arrived and took him to hospital. Garda Lynam received a Tetanus shot and later developed an infection in her eye and throat — “all easily treated” — from the dirty water.

“It was a crazy,” she said. “A few people shook my hand, people patting me on the back. But obviously it was a very serious incident.” The 24-year-old from Coolock, Dublin, added it was not until she got back to Store Street station that she began to shiver “and thought to myself, ‘what just happened’?”

Having initially joined the Army “and found it wasn’t for me”, she was accepted into the Garda three years ago. And after training she was posted to Store Street station in the north inner city “where you learn the ropes pretty quickly”.

She said she joined the Garda to “do more than the average person does; I wanted something more challenging”. She was “proud” to have been able to perform the rescue, adding her competitive swimming as a child and her life-saving training had kicked into action, before adding she acted instinctively and with little thought.”

“I have no memory of how cold the water even was,” she said of acting on adrenaline. “I’d swim 5k (recreationally) and I’d have record times that I’d try to hit. So I’m confident in the water. But it’s a different ballgame when you are in the river. There’s a rip current in that water and if you get caught in it you won’t come out until you get down to the Point Depot. I’m blessed it worked out in my favour.”

Not a word on no terrestrial television in parts of West Kerry

On Monday and Tuesday evening Irish terrestrial television in parts of West Kerry went on the blink.

The dropout seemed to include RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4, the Virgin Media stations were also down at different times.

If such a dropout happened for the shortest of time in any part of Dublin it would make national news.

Calling the RTE customer desk was not possible - no reply.

And not a word of apology, at least not one seen or heard in West Kerry.

A letter to Yury Filatov, the Russian ambassador to Ireland

This week’s IMU/Mediahuis Irish regional  newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

The wife of President Michael D Higgins, Sabina Higgins’ comments on the war in Ukraine has attracted much public attention. Her original letter to The Irish Times appeared on the official Áras website but was later removed.

It was inevitable as the war trundled on people would grow tired. What is going to happen this autumn and winter when we run out of gas and oil?

And no doubt all of this was always part of the game-plan of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Back in June I wrote a letter to Yury Filatov, the Russian ambassador to Ireland.

 

I originally emailed the letter to the address given on the Russian Embassy website but the email bounced back explaining that the email address was blocked. I then emailed it to the visa section of the embassy. It did not bounce back so I can only presume it landed. So far I have received no reply.

This is the letter I emailed to the embassy.

Greetings and good evening, I’m sad and upset.

I visited your embassy either in 1984 to sign the condolence book of Yuri Andropov or else in 1985, again to offer my condolence on the occasion of the death of Konstantin Chernenko.

I am a retired German teacher and still work as a journalist and a hospital chaplain. I am a Dominican priest.

In school we learned how Europe was freed of the Hitler dictatorship by the American and British armies. It was only in later life I learned the role the Soviet Army played in defeating Nazi Germany. 

I know the sacrifice the Soviet people made in World War II and the gigantic battle that was waged in Stalingrad under the genius commander, Georgy Zhukov. I’ve been to Treptower Park and seen for myself a glimpse of what Mother Russia paid in defeating Germany.

While teaching German in the then Sligo RTC, now Sligo Institute of Technology, I organised a trip of students and lecturers to Moscow and the then Leningrad.

And now this terrible war. I know of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine and the long history the two nations have had. But your Excellency, Mr Ambassador I cannot for one moment make sense of what Russia is now doing. 

What is this war about? Can there ever be justification for the killing of a human being? Mr Ambassador how would you react if your son or daughter were killed in Kherson or Mariupol? I recommend you read Natascha Wodin’s ‘Sie kam aus Mariupol’ - ‘She came from Mariupol’ (Rowohhlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2019)

What would the great Russian writers think of this horror? And it is a shocking horror. At present I am reading Catherine Belton’s book ‘Putin’s People’. Have you read it and if so would you make a comment on it? One of the best books I have ever read is Vasily Grossman’s ‘Stalingrad’. I keep thinking of the irony that Grossman was a Ukrainian.

I hope and pray that this war will end tomorrow and no more lives will be lost. 

Best wishes. 

Your sincerely, 

Fr Michael Commane OP

The day Nixon said he was resigning

On this day, August 8, 1974 US President Richard Nixon announced in a nationwide address that he was resigning from the office of the president effective from midday the following day.

Gun ownership in Ireland well below EU average

According to the most recent figures available there are 202,000 licensed guns in the State, meaning four guns per  100 people or one gun for every household. In the US there are 120 legal guns for every 100 people.

The rate of gun ownership in Ireland is less than a third of the EU average.

In order to get a gun licence in Ireland one must provide details of medical and employment history, the phone number of two referees and evidence of competence in handling a gun. Self defence is never accepted as a valid reason to have a gun in Ireland.

Two hundred and thirty nine firearms have been reported stolen since 2019.

There were 76 suicide deaths by firearms between 2015 and 2019, all but one involving men.

In 2019 there were seven suicide deaths using guns.

The world sure is in a state of chasis

China Taiwan; Russia Ukraine; fires burn around the world; frightening floods in places which have never experienced such catastrophes. Because of shortage of water the Rhine is about to close to traffic.

And then there’s Meloni in Italy

What’s the future?.

The tsars, the communists and another super-rich dictator

On this date, August 5, 1940 the Soviet Union annexed Latvia.

For the entire lifespan of the Soviet Union the West apportioned blame to communists for the aggressive action of Mother Russia. 

The world quickly forgot about the empire building, aggression and theft of tsarist Russia.

Maxmillian Kolbe’s father, who was born in Poland, which at the time was part of the Russian Empire, was murdered by the tsarist regime for fighting for Polish freedom.

And now Mother Russia is at it again. This time it’s not a tsar or a communist. And the man at the helm, Vladimir Putin is reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the world. Neither a communist nor a tsar. A Russian, yes. A capitalist? Will we ever find out?

Too many killed and maimed on our roads

In 1972 when there were far fewer cars on Ireland’s roads 640 people were killed in traffic accidents.

One hundred and sixty five were killed in 2012 on our roads.

So far this year there have been 94 deaths on our roads and 674 serious injuries. This is a rise of 42 per cent in the number of fatalities compared to the same period last year.

The moral of the story is we all need to behave more carefully on our roads. And certainly no handheld phones while driving.

Russia’s colonial policy in Ukraine

“Ukrainians and Russians were not, and never were ‘brother nations’. 

"We do have a common history. But it wasn’t a Ukrainian choice. It was a colonial policy of Russia that banned the Ukrainian language and culture so many times. It killed Ukrainian intellectuals and killed millions of Ukrainians by artificial hunger.

"We are standing for our freedom now. It’s Ukrainian independence that is at stake."

- Anatoli Prymakov, who is Ukrainian and has been  living in Ireland for the last 15 years.

The quote about is an extract from The Irish Times on Saturday. The piece was about the response from Ukrainians living in Ireland to  Ms Sabina Higgins's letter on the need for peace talks.

 

The church is the baptised community

This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

AIB ran into serious trouble with its customers last month. Managers at the bank made a decision to make 70 of its 170 branches cashless.

Within days of the bank’s decision rural Ireland rose up in arms and said they were not having it.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin on a visit to the Far East told the bank he wanted to see them on his return to Ireland. It wasn’t long before AIB bosses realised they were not going to get away with this one, at least not for the moment, and simply announced that it was abandoning its plans because of ‘customer and public unease’.

‘Customer and public unease’ might not always work. 

Slick PR companies try their best to massage public opinion but on this occasion AIB got it all so wrong and ended up having to scrape egg off their collective faces. It does show how managers can get things so wrong.

When I saw those four words ‘customer and public unease’ my mind wandered off into the world of the churches, specifically the Catholic Church. I am well aware that the Catholic Church hierarchy will say that it is guided by the Word of God. But even on that point I sometimes get confused. It often strikes me how can a church that gets so many things wrong in its dealings with people, know so much about the mind of God, but that’s a topic for another day.

I’m inclined to ask has the Catholic Church been hijacked by the bishops and hierarchy.

I’m not for a moment arguing that the church should be ruled by opinion polls. The Catholic Church says it takes its mandate from God through Jesus Christ, the Scriptures and the tradition of the ecclesial community down through the ages.

 

The word church means the people of God. Theologians use the term ‘sensus fidelium’, which means the sense of the faithful.

Last week I sat down and had a most interesting conversation with a young man in his late 20s. He was baptised into the Christian community and on his own admission stopped attending Mass while still in primary school. Today the Catholic Church is a foreign land for him. Why did that happen?

Has that man’s local bishop ever thought of sitting down and chatting with him? I doubt it. Indeed, I wonder has any of his parish clergy ever engaged him in serious conversation.

The church is the people of God. Of course the bishops and hierarchy are included in the sensus fidelium. It’s not one group pitted against another.

But there is a glaring lack of any sense of real Christian community in any wide meaning of that term. Yes, there are little bubbles of people attached to their priest or bishop but the church in its full functioning sense is something far wider, bigger and better than that. 

What are bishops really doing about the antipathy of so many of the Christian community? Do they look over their shoulders wondering what Rome is thinking or are they genuinely concerned about my 28-year-old friend? 

Is church bureaucracy strangling the Christian community? Far too often bureaucracy can so easily dismiss us. It could all be so different.

History repeats itself at Wembley

Congratulations to the England team for winning the European Cup Final in Wembley yesterday.

It seems history is repeating itself.

In the 1966 German England World Cup Final in Wembley, which England won in extra time, there has always been controversy surrounding the third goal. 

Modern studies using film analysis and computer simulation have shown that the whole ball never crossed the line – only 97% did.

Yesterday at Wembley the cameras reveal that Germany should have been awarded a penalty for a handball.

Ukraine says MEP Clare Daly promotes Russian propaganda

Irish MEP Clare Daly has been included on a list of international public figures who promote Kremlin propaganda.

The MEP’s father was a senior officer in the Irish Army and her brother is a Jesuit priest.

The lights begin to dim in Germany

Germany is turning off lights on public buildings. All illuminations are to be turned off and all showers at public swimming pools supply only cold water.

Last night the iconic Berlin cathedral was mainly in darkness.

Germany has decided to send 16 Biber bridge-layer tanks to Ukrainian forces.

“The Biber will enable Ukrainian troops to cross waters or obstacles in combat,” the defence ministry said in a statement. 

“The delivery of the first six systems will take place this year, starting in autumn. Ten more systems will follow next year.”

The Biber tanks are armoured support vehicles equipped with a bridge-laying system instead of the turret, which can be deployed to help troops cross streams, ditches or other obstacles on the battlefield.

The announcement comes days after it emerged Germany had given the green light to a request by the defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to produce 100 Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers for the Ukrainian army.

Bishops may not be happy with synodal process

The text below is from an article  written by Sarah McDonald in the current issue of The Tablet.

Is there a tone or a sense in this article that might remind one of what Archbishop John Charles McQuaid said on his return from Rome having attended the Council?

In his homily at the annual Mass and investiture of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in St Patrick’s College Chapel, Maynooth, Archbishop Eamon Martin stressed the need for communion amid concerns over a polarisation of views emerging over the synod.

“Concerns have already been expressed in Ireland, and around the world, that the synodal discussions could damage, rather than create, communion in the Church,” he told the assembled Knights and Dames. 

He said it was “vitally important” to work together in Ireland to ensure that the ongoing synodal journey avoids divisiveness and polarisation of views, or degenerates into a “them and us” adversarial process which “loses sight of our shared belonging within the Church of Christ”. 

According to the Primate of All Ireland, the synodal synthesis will acknowledge the impact of a major decline in the practice of the faith, and in vocations to priesthood, to the religious life and to sacramental marriage. 

Many of the thousands of people who took part in the consultations over the past nine months called for greater transparency, participation in decision-making and accountability within parish and diocesan church structures. 

“We have heard about the importance of renewing our connection with the energy and gifts of our young people and of finding fresh models of responsibility and leadership which will especially recognise and facilitate the role of women, as well as men.”

The listening process also identified the need to reach out to those who have left the Church and, in some cases, feel excluded, forgotten or ignored. 

Underlining that this is not a time to “hunker down and try to wall off the vineyard of the Lord from the challenges of the world around us”, Archbishop Martin said the next chapter in the life of the Church in Ireland will be different to the last, and the Church may find itself increasingly marginalised in public debate.

But it must remain a Church that is outward looking, confident and prophetic. “We must become a Church which serves, a Church which is more about mission than maintenance, more about movements than monuments,” he said.

Separately, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has expressed its full support for the Irish bishops’ adoption of the Synodal Pathway as the way forward for the Catholic Church in Ireland 

QAnon on way to being America’s new religion

Michael McDowell’s column in The Irish Times yesterday

What is it about the Americans? A recent picture of ecstatic young male Trump supporters, on clad in a “Trump Won” T-Shirt, posed a question for me: did he really believe that and on what evidence? Ot is it a question of wishful thinking?

For a society that steadfastly refuses to “establish” any religion, even though most of the founding generation were nominal Christians of one kind or another, the United States has embraced Christian fundamentalism and other beliefs to an extent far greater than any modern society.

But it goes further than that, There is an emotional blotting paper type of appetite to believe in things that would appear improbable to most modern Europeans.

The Church of Scientology is a case in point. Significant and well-placed figures seem willing to ignore the origins of Scientology in the far-fetched writings of a very dubious figure, science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, and to adhere to a sect that keeps most members in the dark as to its ultimate beliefs.

I cannot even attempt to explain their belief in Thetans in the space allotted here, but they can be summarised as types of spiritual entities which have existed for billions of years and who willed the universe into existence – disembodied entities occasionally captured in human bodies.

The niceties of these beliefs are not revealed to people who become members of the church until they succeed in graduating through various challenging stages of development. The documentary Going Clear (available online) shines some light on Scientology and it is not a very pretty sight.

Massive fabrication

The church claims eight to 15 million adherents worldwide but a US religious attitudes survey suggests this claim is a massive fabrication and that only 25,000 American are thought to be believers.

While European audiences may find the musical Book of Mormon an amusing piece of lighthearted comedy and while many of us are amazed by the zeal that sends earnest young Mormons to our doors seeking converts, there are, according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more than 15 million believers worldwide – people who don’t see the funny side of the musical at all.

The origins of that book – golden plates of text briefly given by the angel Moroni to one Joseph Smith in the early 19th century showing that Jesus was in America in Biblical times and translated by him into the style and vernacular of the 17th century King James Bible – might appear implausible to most modern Europeans. But Mormonism is a strong and growing church in the Americas.

QAnon is a new phenomenon online dating from 2017 which propagates theories including Trump’s stolen election and another that America is controlled and manipulated by a cabal of liberal paedophiles which abducts and kills children as part of a satanic global conspiracy to dominate us.

They believe Donald Trump is secretly combating that evil cabal. While QAnon is not yet a church, it is well on the way to becoming a politico-religious sect in the way that Scientology morphed from science fiction into a self-styled church.

Beliefs

What do Americans make of QAnon beliefs?

While most Americans reject the beliefs of the QAnon conspiracy, recent surveys show a fifth of Americans share some of its beliefs, including more than 60 per cent of Republican voters who say they believe the last election was stolen. Some 14 per cent of Americans told one recent survey they regard themselves as QAnon supporters.

Trump has been careful not to alienate QAnon or disown its theories. He courts any form of fundamentalism and extremism he considers potentially useful to his forthcoming bid for re-election.And that re-election is by no means improbable, notwithstanding the proceedings of the US Congress January 6th Committee. The Democrats are probably within months of losing control of both Houses to the Republicans. Trump is still the most dominant force in the Republican Party.

Can we in Europe feel morally superior and aloof in respect of all these American developments? After all, we rely on the US for our collective security as the Ukraine war has once again emphasised.

Europe has been complacent and misguided in many ways, not least in its misreading of Putin. Those of us in Europe who are still happy to be called liberal feel helpless as the post-Cold War international order fractures and shows signs of crumbling.

Liberal democracy needs its own champions. At the time of writing, the UK is witnessing a nasty and vindictive, cynical political knife-fight among Tory factions – a struggle for control of what appears to be the bridge of a political Titanic. Europe too seems to be led by political nonentities.

Will anything save us from a remake of Make America Great Again? Is there any limit to American credulity?