The opposite to Catholic is not Protestant, rather sectarian

An interesting comment made by Jesuit priest Mark Massa, who is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College.

The quote is an extract from an article in The Tablet of September 12.

As I always remind my own students, the opposite of Catholic is not Protestant, but rather sectarian: the church throughout the centuries has consistently sought to stay in the public conversation on moral and ethical issues, not marginalise itself against the larger society.

It seems to me that in making abortion not only the number one issue, but even the only issue in deciding whom to vote for, many US bishops have crossed the sectarian line into a profoundly un-Catholic position, a position more about cultural warriorship than about moral theology.

We can help keep homesickness at bay for the foreigner

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

Michael Commane

With our modern technology I’m wondering has homesickness been banished from the earth? I doubt it.

Last week I said hello to a new member of staff where I work.

He looked so young. I had not seen him before, so I stopped and greeted him. We ended up chatting. He told me he was from southern Poland and when I said that I had been in Cracow in 1985 he looked surprised. He was only in Ireland a few days. His English was good. 

Looking at him I got the impression that he was profoundly homesick. 

Of course I didn’t ask him. Just as I walked away I was reminded of the chronic homesickness I experienced in Cologne in the summer of 1972.

I still remember the morning I arrived at Cologne rail station. I was 23 and probably had three words of German. After one or two hiccups I arrived safe and sound at the Dominican Priory in Lindenstraße, which was about a six or seven-minute tram ride from the main station.

I could not have received a better welcome. One man in the community had studied with Irish Dominicans in Oxford and spoke good English, so he took me under his wing. 

In 1972 it was not possible to phone Ireland directly.

And it was warm, some days over 30 degrees Celsius. I was attending classes in the city centre, which made the heat even more oppressive for a freckled-skinned man from Ireland.

I felt alone, away from family, friends and familiar surroundings. I was extremely homesick. And it came in waves. There were times when I was fine, kept busy, with things to do and then it would come down on me and I’d feel paralysed.

Even with modern communications I can imagine being away from home can still bring pangs of homesickness. That’s why it’s important to greet the stranger. We never have any idea the impact our kind words may have on another person.

Every day we pass foreigners on the street and we have no idea the difficulties they might be experiencing. Imagine what it must be like for someone coming from far away, from a different culture and trying to settle in a new place. They certainly need all the care and kindness we can give them.

My encounter with the young man in my place of work really brought home to me the scourge of homesickness.

What must it be like for foreigners who come here and work in low paid jobs and are forced to live in sub-standard accommodation? Only this week I heard of a young foreign woman who was upset by repeated questions she was asked by a prospective landlady.

Life can be tough enough for all of us but being away from home, away from our familiar surrounds and support systems, can make people feel extraordinarily isolated, the perfect condition for homesickness to reign supreme.

A friendly word, a kind deed from us, might well prove a lifesaver to the stranger, the foreigner among us.

Have you ever thought of asking a foreigner if they were homesick? Try it.

Stone suggests martial law if Trump loses election

This sounds incredible but it seems we are living in incredible times.

Well worth a read.

Before Photoshop arrived it made great sense to say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

But this picture of Roger Stone surely tells its own story?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/13/roger-stone-to-donald-trump-bring-in-martial-law-if-you-lose-election?CMP=share_btn_link

Irish Rail's 'out of date' realities at Tralee Station

Full marks to Irish Rail. At the entrance to Casement Station, Tralee there is a properly working and efficient sanitiser.

But not full marks for their digital destination board. 

Yesterday evening at 18.34 this was the information that passengers were given. No mention of the delayed 19.05 Cork train. It was delayed 10 minutes due to track maintenance work. The later departure was announced on Irish Rail's website.

When it was politely mentioned to a member of staff that the board was a little out of date, he replied: "We are all out of date here".

He said it in a funny whimsical tone. A clever reply and totally disarming. The young man deserves promotion.

A privilege to care for all God's creatures

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

Michael Commane

My father was the gentlest of souls. I remember one summer morning, breakfasting in our kitchen in West Kerry when a fly was buzzing about. 

It was so annoying that I got a newspaper to kill it. The deed done, my father looked at me and said: “Michael, why did you not open the window and let it out. That would have been a far better approach”. That was about 20 years ago, when my father would have been 91. The incident has stayed with me.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the publication of the encyclical on the care of our common home, Pope Francis has asked us to pray for our planet. 

Laudato Si, which is the name of his encyclical, deals with environmental issues and the urgent need for us to behave responsibly. The year runs from May 24 until May 24, 2021, the feast of St Francis of Assisi.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has published a waste action plan for a circular economy. The document shifts focus away from disposal of waste management on to the production chain. In other words, instead of considering means of waste disposal, better still to think about creating an environment where there is less material to waste. It makes great sense, and chimes with Pope Francis’s thoughts on taking care of the planet we all share. 

We buy much more than we need. We waste 1.3 million tonnes of food every year. The recent document points out that approximately 40 per cent of this comes from food processing operations and 60 per cent from the household and commercial sector.

Think of the water we waste. Irish Water contacted me in March to inform me that I was using approximately 1,700 litres of water per day. 

Unknown to me there was a leak in an old lead pipe in my garden. It’s now repaired and it’s a great feeling of satisfaction for me to know that Irish Water is at least saving over 1,400 litres a day on my account. Water is a precious gift. What mega-quantities of water must be pouring down our drains every day? When Irish Water came to  survey my leak I was told of a case where a pipe in Dublin was wasting 5,000 litres an hour.

Pope Francis in Laudato Si points out that a greater scarcity of water will lead to an increase in the cost of food and the various products which depend on its use. The Pope is opposed to the privatisation of the resource and argues that access to safe, drinkable water is a basic and universal human right.

Tomorrow’s Gospel (Matthew 18: 21 - 35) is the story of the king who wants his slaves to settle their accounts with him. One of his slaves pleads with him to have patience. The king duly agrees and has pity on him. But then that slave goes off and demands those who owe him money pay up. When they don’t pay up he shows no mercy towards them. He who has been shown such mercy is merciless to others. It is never right be merciless, whether it is to people or nature. In the second reading in tomorrow’s liturgy St Paul (Romans 14: 7 - 9) reminds us: “We do not live to ourselves”.

The theme in tomorrow’s liturgy is that of forgiveness. We all do wrong, we all commit sin. Forgiveness is bound up with relationships. But we are not just related with other human beings. We are also in relationship with our environment. We owe it great respect. How arrogant and short-sighted of us to think that we are at the centre of the universe. We don’t own the planet. And for far too long we have seen ourselves as the masters of the human race. We’re not.

Eamon Ryan, the Minister for  Communications, Climate Action and Environment, in the foreword to last week’s document points out how the Covid-19 pandemic has stretched our social and economic fabric in ways that were unimaginable just a few short months ago. Isn’t that a great wake-up call for all of us to realise how dependent we are on nature? 

Jesuit priest, Brian Grogan writes about how our ancestors lived in loving relationships with the natural world and God: “They sensed the presence of God in everything, and called it ‘Neart Dé’, the power of God. They cared for nature.” He goes on to explain how they were grateful to God for the goodness of nature and they were generous to the poor.

My dear father would often say to me that if we are kind to animals, we will be kind to humans. It was another reminder to me how every aspect of the universe is linked. We should feel so privileged to love and respect all of God’s creation.

Mattis calls Trump a liar

“This degradation of the American experiment is real. This is tangible. Truth is no longer governing the White House statements."

A quote from former defence secretary James Mattis as recorded in Bob Woodward's book on US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, it's difficult to know who is learning from whom, that is how to lie.

Fintan O'Toole on a government of liars

From yesterday's Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/10/boris-johnson-oven-ready-brexit-cummings-withdrawal-agreement?CMP=share_btn_link

A frightened bird stays still all night

This bird was perched on the wiper of a car windscreen on Tuesday evening.

S/he was still there on Wednesday at 06.15. After some gentle coaxing and the offer of tiny pieces of food s/he moved to a nearby railings.

Some minutes later s/he was gone.

S/he had been on that wiper all night and obviously had not moved one metre.

S/he looked scared.

What happened, where did s/he go?

Some moments after s/he had disappeared three pigeons were hovering about near the car.

Life is strange, fragile too, and mysterious.

RTE and Ukraine

Did Audrey Carville on Morning Ireland yesterday say that an EU commissioner from Ukraine was expected to get the job that Mairead McGuinness has landed?

It seems she did. But if so it has been edited out of the RTE Player version.

Ukraine is of course not in the European Union.

A Jesuit and a Dominican: two different views

Below are two tweets. The first is from US Dominican priest Pius Pietrzyk. The second is a tweet retweeted by US Jesuit priest James Martin.

Wouldn't you much prefer to be a Jesuit, at least on this account.

While I think refraining from attacking the faith of another is just simple courtesy, there's a problem with the view below. It reflects the modernist tendency to make faith completely subjective. We don't believe that as Catholics. Faith's object isn't my opinion, it's Truth

John Gehring: "Questioning an individual’s deepest commitments to his faith is religious slander. The fact that pastors are engaged in such behavior makes it all the more disturbing."

Mystery that surrounds the appointment of bishops

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

Michael Commane

The former archbishop of the French diocese of Lyons, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin retired in March.

Anytime a new bishop is to be appointed to a diocese anywhere in the Catholic world the ether is filled with rumour. These days the clerical gossip in Dublin is all about who will be the next archbishop in the country’s biggest diocese. 

But there is an interesting twist in Lyons. A 73-year-old theologian and scripture scholar has put her name forward to succeed Cardinal Barbarin. Anne Soupa believes she is competent, and well capable to do the job. Over 17,000 people have signed a petition in support of her job application.

In April Pope Francis set up a commission to examine the possibility of ordaining women deacons. Last month he appointed six women to a high power group that keeps an eye on Vatican finances.

I am thinking of the state of the Catholic Church in Ireland and maybe even further afield.

Are you aware that, contrary to what is claimed by the relevant church authorities, the wider Catholic community in Ireland has no say whatsoever in the appointment of bishops in the country. And guess what, right now the Chinese Communist government has a say in the appointment of bishops in their country, indeed, a significant say. In fact in some countries, governments are consulted on the appointment of bishops.

In the Gospel last Sunday week St Matthew (16: 21 - 27) tells us how the scribes, elders and chief priests were doing their best to stop Jesus preaching his message. Does it ever dawn on us that the chief priests, elders and scribes have not gone away? And who are they today? I’ll leave that for you to think about.

But I do know there are many serious problems with the Catholic Church at present. Not for a moment am I saying that I want to return to an authoritarian church that had far too much power in Ireland.

It dawned on me recently while celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism that so many of the words I was saying had little meaning for those present. For example, what do the words exorcism and chrism mean?

What actually does it mean when I talk about the word church, what does it mean when I say the people of God, when the likes of me, feel so alienated, displeased and unhappy with the management of the Irish Catholic Church?

I know it’s easy to criticise. Our approach to appointing bishops leaves much to be desired. Rumour has it that the papal nuncio draws up a list of three names and then presents that to Rome. No doubt he ticks his favourite. At least, in his favour, the present papal nuncio is a diplomat, unlike his predecessor.

Many people have walked away from the church because they have justifiably felt alienated, they have felt no one was listening to them.

Thinking of the church these days I’m reminded of Sean O Casey’s comment that the whole world is in a state of chassis.

Hong Kong shocked by violent arrest of 12-year-old girl

This is a shocking story and the picture tells it all.

The little girl's tiny legs and the force of 'authority' brutalising her.

Dominican priest Donagh O'Shea on his daily Gospel commentary today talks about the aggression of power. He says the test of power is whether it is for oneself or others.

Just look at this little girl's legs.

The civilised world cannot allow this, nor can it tolerate it. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/07/hong-kong-violent-police-arrest-of-12-year-old-girl?CMP=share_btn_link

Seventy or 75?

In the last number of days the media, particularly print media, seem to have changed the age for the Covid vulnerable from 70 to 75.

Has there been a change?

The HSE website has stayed with 70.

And columnist David Quinn continues to criticise every move the Government makes to protect the citizens against Covid-19. 

Why is David Quinn taking such a stand?

A firsthand report of Chinese behaviour towards Uighurs

 This from yesterday's Guardian. Extremely worrying.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/04/muslim-minority-teacher-50-tells-of-forced-sterilisation-in-xinjiang-china?CMP=share_btn_link

It's dangerous on a bicycle in Ireland

 In 2006 there were 211 cycling injuries in the State. That figure jumped to 1,056 in 2018.

The Irish Times today gives these figures but points out they maybe be somewhat skewed as Garda figures in the delivery mechanism of collision records changed in 2014.

How Covid Dublin has changed. Last Monday it was physically possible to cycle up Grafton Street at 17.00.

In pre-Covid days, with pedestrian footfall it would simply not have been physically possible to cycle on Grafton Street.

Of courses it is illegal.

Pannenberg's thoughts in 2003

This is an extract from an essay written by German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg in 2003.

Pannenberg was widely read by theology students in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

It must be admitted that the churches themselves bear a large responsibility for this unhappy circumstance. Church leaders and Christian thinkers are still captive to the idea that Christianity must be made relevant by adapting its message to the assumptions and sensibilities of a secular culture. 

One might argue that almost the opposite is required. An unabashed proclamation of the cross and resurrection, of hope for eternal life, and of divine judgment might again make Christianity interesting, challenging, and something of a redemptive scandal. Christian preachers and writers might even find the nerve to speak of something so outré as obedience to moral truth. That Christianity proposes a different way of living, a different understanding of freedom and fulfilment, was in the early church one of its chief attractions. 

That could happen again, if Christian leaders have the nerve, the intelligence, and the faith for it. 

The alternative is more of the same: the false freedom of undirected choice, the futile efforts to satisfy insatiable appetites, the blunting of the human capacity for truth and transcendence. The alternative, in short, is the culture of death. And with that, the continuing perception that Christianity is simply irrelevant. 

RTE's use of the word 'around'

RTE is using the word 'around' incorrectly.

On Morning Ireland today Brian Dobson used the word 'around' when he should have used the word 'about'.

He intended to mean approximately.

Is David Quinn a template for new Irish Catholicism?

This is a quote from David Quinn's Twitter account yesterday.

"Some of the rise in electricity prices you're about to see is the result of subsidising green energy. It would be good if the public were made more aware of this. They might accept it, or might not. But they should know."

David Quinn is a columnist and a former editor of The Irish Catholic.

Most days his tweets are highly critical of government Covid-19 regulations, questioning the seriousness of the virus.

He is also most critical of many EU policies, using terms such as 'diktats from Brussels'.

He seems to be a strong supporter of President Trump.

Of course that's all fine but he writes in a fanatical an obsessive style.

We all know electricity bills include a green subsidy. What's wrong with that? Why all the snide comments?

And Catholic too.

Does he represent a template for a new type of Catholicism in Ireland?

Worrying?

'The church has too many secrets'

Pedro Casaldáliga, who died on August 8, was bishop of São Félix do Araguaia in Brazil.

On the day of his episcopal ordination he published his first pastoral letter, which a leading sociologist said was "one of the most important documents in the social history of Brazil".

Casaldáliga was called to Rome. He was asked to sign a statement, acknowledging his 'errors'. He refused to sign.

He was asked not to talk about his meetings, including those meetings with the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He talked.

"The church has too many secrets," he once said.

Pope Francis has quoted his poetry.

Irish Dominicans, who worked in Argentina, attended talks he gave and were greatly impressed with him.

QAnon's oxygen is the evil of anonymity

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

Michael Commane

Media coverage of QAnon is gaining attention in Ireland. Over the last few months many European and US media outlets have been writing and talking about QAnon.

QAnon first appeared in 2017 with postings written by a far-right individual on the anonymous imageboard 4chan. It quickly transformed into a group of ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’ people who spread outrageous conspiracy theories. 

One such theory is that well-known famous actors and senior US Democratic politicians are members of a child sex trafficking ring. Among its arch-enemies are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros.

QAnon sees Donald Trump as the only person who can save the world from impending disaster. But these days QAnon is not just a right-wing group. 

It appeals to many people who are disgruntled with established political parties, organisations and institutions. It has as its target elites, whom it believes have the full backing of the media.

Yes, it all sounds bizarre, but guess what, millions of people around the world are listening to QAnon.

There have been occasions where QAnon supporters have been acting as cheer leaders at Trump rallies.

Experts in social behaviour, who are currently studying the phenomenon, say that QAnon has traces of a religious cult about it.

US politician Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is likely to win a seat in the House of Representatives in the November elections, publicly supports QAnon. President Donald Trump has called her a ‘future Republican star’.

It all sounds beyond crazy. A central tenet of QAnon is anonymity, which is an evil.

Anonymity is a plague and raises its ugly head right across all sectors of society. 

And one of the places where you might not expect to see it is within the churches. Unfortunately, it is well embedded within the churches. Church postbags contain sizeable numbers of anonymous letters.

In 2018 retired papal nuncio to Washington, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vignanò called on Pope Francis to resign. The letter caused a furore at the time and rumours began to circulate. 

In June this year Trump proudly tweeted that he received a letter from Vignanò warning him against certain people, including those within the church who were pushing for a new atheistic world-order. Vignanò talks about a deep state and a deep church. That is exactly the same language that QAnon peddles.

The Covid-19 pandemic has played perfectly into the hands of QAnon. It is constantly hinting that the pandemic is all the work of the elites with the main man in charge being Bill Gates. QAnon manages to feed on people’s fears. It spreads evil and crazy rumours. No matter how mad the material it disseminates is, some of it is bound to stick. That QAnon can gain such traction certainly says something about the times in which we are living.

English author Terry Pratchett’s words are well worth keeping in mind: ‘A lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on’.

Far-right attempt at storming the Reichstag

On Saturday far-right protestors brandishing prohibited German national flags attempted to storm the Reichstag.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Schäuble spoke on Sunday in worrying terms of the development. 

Also the leader of the CDU Annegret Kramp- Karrenbauer expressed her anger of what happened on Saturday and finance minister and SPD chancellor candidate, Olaf Scholz said that a democratic Germany cannot tolerate such behaviour.

On the same day in Portland, Oregon a cavalcade of cars carrying Trump flags drove into the city in a most threatening and menacing manner.

We are living in terribly dangerous times.

Lukaschenko celebrates his birthday in difficult days

It so happens that Alexander Lukashenko is 66 today. He was born in Kopy, Belarus on August 30, 1954.

Demonstrations continue across the country including the capital, Minsk.

The protests are about democracy, not about a westward geopolitical course. 

Presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who according to credible exit polls won the August 9 presidential ballot, has said:

“[The protest movement] is neither a pro-Russian nor an anti-Russian revolution. It is neither an anti-European Union nor a pro-European Union revolution. It is a democratic revolution.”

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spent a number of summers in Roscrea, learning English.

Minsk Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, has issued a statement after an altercation between people heading for church and Minsk police. The archbishop said that Belarusian armed forces are supposed to protect citizen rights, not hinder them.

He has called for reconciliation and dialogue to resolve the political instability in the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to send police to Belarus in support of the Lukaschenko government. Or should it now be called a 'regime'?

Having a say in our own lives

The ‘Thinking Anew’ column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

When we come across the words ‘scribes’, ‘chief priests’ and ‘elders’ when reading the Gospels, we immediately consider them to be the people who impeded Jesus and the work he was doing. And that’s quite understandable because that’s exactly what they did. At every turn they tried to prevent him from his work of bringing Good News to the people.

It suits many to  extract those specific chief priests, scribes, and elders and see them as a unique  group of people who found themselves at odds with Jesus and did everything in their power to stop him in opening the minds and hearts of people to see the world in a new light.

Yes, we can pick and choose across the Bible and use what suits us to support our own viewpoint. But it is fascinating how conveniently  we manage to airbrush Jesus’s views on the civil and religious authority of his day. 

Sometimes I’m inclined to think that we have sold our souls to authority, whether it be the civil or religious authority.

Of course, there is need for authority and no sensible person wants anarchy to reign.

 

President Donald Trump spotted that large numbers of Americans felt that an elite group was  controlling their lives and he promised to do things differently and return power to the people. 

Of course, he never did it and instead surrounded himself with his own elite. But it was and is a remarkably clever trick. 

Trump identified  a real longing in people. And it’s a genuine and in many respects wholesome desire – people want to have a say in their own lives, people want a say in how their community, their society is managed.

A central word in the Christian vocabulary is communion. We talk about Holy Communion, and we celebrate the unity of persons in the Blessed Trinity. We affirm our belief in the Communion of Saints. And we stress that the church is the community of the people of God.

And then what do we do? We go back to exactly what Jesus preached against. We allow the scribes, elders and priests to have an over-dominant role in the running of the community. 

All over the developed world people have walked away from the style of Christian religions that predominated until say the 1970s. And why has that happened? I am a Catholic priest of 46 years. It’s no short time to form an opinion and maybe even to allow me to make a suggestion or two.

In tomorrow’s Gospel (Matthew 16: 21 – 27) Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes. When Peter tries to remonstrate with him,  Jesus  reminds Peter that he is thinking in human rather than divine terms. Isn’t that more or less what has happened in the Christian churches?

A group of people have taken charge. The priestly class have abrogated to themselves what’s to be done and what’s not to be done. Yes, there is a token acceptance or acknowledgement that the church is the people of God. Alas, the stress must be on the word ‘token’.

I’m familiar with the Catholic Church in Ireland but I’m also well versed in what goes on in Germany. And from my experience it’s clear to me that the life of any parish is over dependent on the priest who is in situ on the day.

 

This is not a criticism of the many good men who are  priests, but it is a reminder that  the institutional church has come to resemble  the scribes, chief priests and elders, the very people whom Jesus spent much of his  ministry criticising.

How often is there consultation with the Christian community about the appointment of a bishop? If the papal nuncio is a conservative, the bishops appointed  will be conservative. If, on the rare occasion the papal nuncio is liberal, then the bishops will be of like mind.

Personally, I think it is far too simple to say that people have walked away from the church because of some ‘secular evil’. That’s too handy as an excuse. Maybe it is that people feel unhappy with today’s scribes, chief priests and elders. 

Pope Francis is opposed to clericalism which places the institution before the principles on which it was founded. He must be, because so too was Jesus. 

Germany finds it hard to love Hegel

This is an interesting read on German philosopher Hegel.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/germany-finds-it-hard-to-love-hegel-250-years-after-his-birth?CMP=share_btn_link

Kamala Harris and Joe Biden on Donald Trump

US presidential candidate Joe Biden gave an excellent interview with Anderson Cooper this evening.

Well worth watching. Biden was on top of his game and made many insightful comments about President Trump. His remark on Trump's comments about his religion were classic, funny too. And so accurate.

It was followed by a stunning talk given by Senator Kamala Harris in Washington DC.

NBA coach lashes out at US police racist brutality

Speaking about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin in the US, Doc Rivers said: ‘It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.

We're the ones getting killed, we're the ones getting shot.'

Doc Rivers is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association. 

The preliminaries before the centre can no longer hold

When an organisation is in the process of collapsing it would seem the majority of the management class simply don't get it.

Do they ever stand back and admit that they have played a major role in causing the failure?

They write reams of pages and expend great energy and time in an attempt to give substance to the collapsing facades. Instead of propping them up it never dawns on them to ask what's the point.

They never dare ask the foot soldiers for their views and opinions. Don't ask the awkward questions and always toe the party line.

They pick a few scapegoats, thinking by rebuking them, closing them down, the centre can hold for the immediate future.

And then the self-importance.

In the weeks and days before the Berlin Wall came tumbling down all the management class could do was call its opponents traitors.

Like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Watching two Americans, an attorney and a bishop

Jacob Blake's lawyer Patrick Salvi spoke clearly and eloquently last evening to reporters.

Jacob Blake was shot in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

According to hie father he has been left paralysed from the waist down.

Every day Bishop J Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweets pious material, from advising people to examine their conscience before casting their vote to quoting regularly from Fulton Sheen. He writes in a language that at times seems difficult to understand.

It seems the bishop has not said one word on his twitter account about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the back.

Attorney Salvi speaks a language that seems far more inspirational than that spoken by bishop Strickland.

What exactly does Phil Hogan mean by fulsome?

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

Michael Commane

In the days after the Oireachtas golf dinner in Clifden, apologies were swirling around as if they were about to go out of fashion.

I’m always amused with public apologies.

Maybe I have a cynical way of thinking about things but I’m forever asking myself would there be any public apologies if those making them had not been caught? 

Is this another instance of the 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not get caught.

On the Sunday after the golf dinner Phil Hogan made a second apology and in that apology he said: ‘I thus offer this fulsome and profound apology, at this difficult time for all people, as the world as a whole combats Covid-19’.

Ouch, I wonder does Phil know exactly what the word ‘fulsome’ means.

Language is interesting and can prove great fun at times.

I still have a dictionary, which was my mother’s.

It’s The Concise Oxford Dictionary, printed in 1964. The first edition was published in 1911 and my mother’s was the fifth edition.

Under the word ‘fulsome’ is the following meaning: ‘Cloying, excessive, disgusting by excess, (of flattery, servility. Exaggerated affection).

If you take that as the meaning of the word is there not a suggestion of fake contrition? According to the 1964 Oxford definition of the word it seems to mean the complete opposite to the meaning intended by Phil Hogan.

Some days earlier the Taoiseach Micheál Martin also used the word when he was interviewed on the 6.01 RTE News by Catriona Perry. He  used it in a way similar to that of Phil Hogan.

I pulled down my Collins English Dictionary from the bookshelf and checked ‘Fulsome’.

It gives two meanings for the word. The first meaning: ‘Excessive or insincere, esp. in an offensive or distasteful way.’ 

The second meaning: ‘Not standard. Extremely complimentary’.

This is the second edition of the Collins English Dictionary, first published in 2000 and my copy was printed in 2010.

That leaves it all so ambiguous. I think it’s fair to ask the question, which actual meaning did Phil Hogan intend conveying?

Somehow or other I doubt that Phil meant the insincere meaning.

Every time I hear the word being used I ask myself who actually has changed the meaning of the word?

Does it mean that if a large number of influential people start saying that black is white, that in fact after a period of time and usage black actually becomes white?

Out of the mouths of babes…. But words are really amazing.

And especially so this word fulsome and its two meanings, which seems to make it meaningless. Still, is it some sort of paradigm for a greater story? Might it just be that it’s a perfect example in explaining to us that maybe it is true after all that politicians do talk out of both sides of their mouths at the same time?

I’m wondering how the legal people would deal with the meaning of this word? Take it a step further, who decides on the meaning of words. And let’s go another step, who decides on anything?

Maybe the lesson of the day is that we should never be fulsome in our praise of anyone, whichever meaning the word has.

Words and their meanings

Why is everyone using the word algorithm today when before we used formula?

And then there are the two meanings of the word fulsome. One meaning contradicting the other.

It seems the politicians have gone for algorithm and are certainly misusing the word fulsome. If they mean it in its original dictionary, ouch, then they really are mixing things up.

We note in late August ‘It’s getting late early’

Ned Foley's uncle once said to him in late August: 'It’s getting late early’. 

Ned Foley is a 98-old Dominican priest. A gentleman and a scholar. 

Before joining the Dominicans he spent some time working as an engineer with Kerry County Council. Up to the springtime of this year he was operating a lathe in his workshop.