A Church Traumatised.
Brendan Hoban in his latest weekly column in the Western People suggests that we in church, (people, priests and bishops), are traumatised by “the fact that an institution (church) at the heart of Irish life, apparently so secure in its world and so confident in the support of its people, could become a marginal and often scorned presence on the periphery of Irish society.”
The late Michael Paul Gallagher sj had warned us but we couldn’t believe what he and others were saying. He had taken the “example of French-Canada where the level of practice among Catholics plummeted in a relatively short time. It could happen in Ireland too, he warned. And none of us believed him. But it did.”
Brendan says we need to name, accept and engage with the new realities.
“We need prophets, like Michael Paul Gallagher, to help us realise and accept where we are if we are even to begin to take responsibility for the choices we have to make.”