Association Of Catholic Priests https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:58:03 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/fevi.png Association Of Catholic Priests https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ 32 32 Jim Cogley: Reflections Tues 19 March – Mon 25 March https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/jim-cogley-reflections-tues-19-march-mon-25-march/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/jim-cogley-reflections-tues-19-march-mon-25-march/#respond Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:58:00 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42794 Note: Since the Family Tree Seminar in Our Lady’s Island for Sat March 23rd was fully booked in a few days another has been scheduled for Fri 17th May. For...

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Note: Since the Family Tree Seminar in Our Lady’s Island for Sat March 23rd was fully booked in a few days another has been scheduled for Fri 17th May. For more details go to website jimcogley.com

Tue March 19- Key Words

Looking back on 50 years of the Christian journey my three key words have always been ‘yes’, ‘surrender’ and ‘abandonment’. ‘Yes’ to allowing God to work in me and through me, and to accomplish His purposes even in spite of myself. Surrender is closely related and carries the sense of letting go to whatever is at any given time and approaching life’s situations with open hands. Finally, abandonment: Here I think of trusting in divine providence. This means that where the appointment is, so will the provision be. God will not call me to do something for which I am not fully equipped for the task. The word Providence comes from the Latin provideo, which means to see ahead, and it is this assurance that God will provide, that is an ongoing source of comfort. As the journey has progressed I have become convinced that all the Lord requires of us is, neither our ability, nor our inability, but our availability. Just with that, He can do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or dream or imagine. These are not just words, but the truth of experience.

Wed March 20 – To be called is to be equipped

There are gifts that now I use daily, and regard as an essential part of my ministry, that for most of my life I didn’t know I had. Yet I can see how those latent gifts were God’s provision for fulfilling my unique mission. My work with wood goes back 25 years and before that was completely hidden. Yet now it is an essential part of the way that I teach and preach. My writing was another unknown until 22 years back and now with ten books published, plus these daily reflections, can reach thousands. Likewise, my natural intuition and curiosity into how things work, has become an invaluable asset in psychotherapy work. Reflecting on these issues, in the light of my own experience, leaves me convinced that each of us is already fully equipped to fulfil our life’s purpose. It is as we say ‘yes’ to that path that more and more of our latent potential comes to the fore.

Thurs March 21 – Telling the Story

By nature, I tend to be shy and don’t like talking about myself. Yet, I appreciate the sacredness of each personal story, and so the importance of sharing my own. On one side, I hear the comment that we don’t hear priests telling their story very often, and how the Gospel has impacted on their lives. On the other, can come the criticism, ‘that you talk too much about yourself’. It seems necessary to find a happy medium. This became a dilemma while writing my second last book: My Life – One Wonder-full Life. While it is basically chapters based on aspects of my own life, I wrote it not to be about me, but to enable others to reflect on the various chapters of their own life experience, in a manner that would lead to integration and wisdom.

Fri March 22 – How God Loves Me

At the core of our Christian experience is the love of God that should be quite tangible and real. What I have come to understand is that God loves us, not for who we are or what we do, but for who He/She is. In other words, He loves us not because we are good but because He is good. My earlier belief would have been the very opposite of this and was a performance based religion where love was given as a reward for good behaviour. Another way of saying this is that God is never going to love me any more than He does right now simply because He doesn’t change. One time I thought that God will love me if I change. Now I see it that God simply loves me and that is what enables me to change. Similarly, God is never going to forgive me. He always was the God or mercy, and therefor He already has.

Sat March 23 – Father & God

A colleague who usually works with me giving seminars and retreats made an interesting comment based very much on her own experience. On her journey to come into a relationship with God as Father every attempt was thwarted by the unresolved issues relating back to her own father. He was a man who had been violent and abusive and much of her childhood was lived in fear of him murdering her mother. As she worked with resolving that relationship she came to recognise that so much of what she had hated in her father was also in her. It was as she integrated her hurt and anger that she found peace in relation to him. Her greatest blessing was that in doing so she came into a much deeper relationship with God as her loving Father.

Palm Sunday

The Shadow of the Cross

The image of Palm Sunday that is etched deepest in most of our minds is that found in the Gospel of today where Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem with the crowds waving branches and crying Hosanna. Years ago, we had to stand until our legs were breaking while the long Passion account was being read. It is still read in some places while personally I believe that it is much more appropriate for Good Friday than Palm Sunday.

If we were to unpack the message of the Palm Sunday event and see what it has to say to our lives, I wonder how would it challenge us to look at things differently? On several occasions Jesus, with a very real sense of foreboding, had told his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem. There’s a saying that, ‘Coming events cast their shadow,’ and so it was that with the shadow of suffering and the cross hanging over him that Jesus resolutely took that road as the path he believed to be his destiny. The opinion of those closest to him was that Jerusalem was the last place he should be going, so much so that Peter, his closest companion, on being told what he was going said, ‘Heaven preserve you Lord from going in that direction, this must not happen.’ If you remember the reply Jesus gave to him was rather curt to say the least, ‘Get behind me Satan for the way you think is not God’s way.’

One of the big regrets often expressed by those who have come to the end of their life’s journey is that they never lived fully their own lives and were true to themselves. In other words, that they had allowed the opinions and needs and expectations of others to divert them from their true path. We need courage to take the road less travelled.

If I might give a simple example from my own life; I now look back thirty years and consider that one of the best decisions I ever made was to give the bones of five years to study psychotherapy. It was a huge commitment that entailed travelling to Dublin for lectures twice or even three times a week along with parish duties and teaching at the same time. It also entailed a big financial burden that I had to take care of myself. Several of those I held in high regard came and said, ‘Are you mad, have you lost your marbles, apart from the time commitment, do you really think that this is in line with your vocation?’ Well actually I believed what I was doing was exactly what I was being called to do as a priest and so it was a road I resolutely took very much against public opinion and now I am so glad that I did what was true to myself. One of my favourite quotes from Shakespeare is, ‘To thine own self be true and it must follow as the day the night that you can’t be false to anyone.’ Many of those who were originally negative later benefited from what I learnt while in training.

Jesus’ journey into Jerusalem also points to another reality. The need to confront painful reality head on and not try to divert from it. In my sea days I often encountered bad weather and when a mighty wave was bearing down it was always necessary to steer right into it and then to ride over it. The temptation was always to turn sideways out of fear.

A certain amount of joy and suffering are necessary components of life just as night and day complement each other. Most of us try to evade all forms of pain and suffering like the plague. However, while we may run from it all our lives we can never ultimately avoid it and even if it has to wait until we are on our deathbeds it will still be waiting for us to acknowledge it. In a culture where drugs are so easily available young people are tempted to evade the necessary pain of growing up when they indulge but the consequences are that they remain immature. The point of addiction is the place of evasion where emotional maturity stops. For adults it’s no different. In our vain attempts to evade our past we erode our future and so while wisdom is meant to come with age many just let age come on its own without any real maturity.

This is precisely why we find it so difficult to take quiet time, to reflect and be at home with ourselves. Why is there no off button on the TV, why do we need so much busyness and noise except as a distraction from our more painful realities? Why is there such a dependence on medication today, is that not too a numbing out of pain? Frequently I hear someone remark in relation to some unpleasant episode of their lives, ‘I don’t want to go there,’ to which I invariably reply ‘If you don’t go there you will just be there, because the past will never be where you think you have left it rather it will remain with you right where you are. It will reveal itself in your reactions, in your moods, how you behave and if ignored long enough it will scream at you through the sickness of your body. In the avoidance of our cross of pain lies our reluctance to follow Christ and resolutely take the road to Jerusalem.

Mon March 25 – No Heart By-pass

The story of my colleague from Saturday only coming to know God as Father once she had come to terms with her own father relationship opens up a very important issue. There is an old school of thought that the key issues of our lives, the hurts, disappointments and losses, could be overlooked and not pose any hindrance to our spiritual journey. Should they raise their head and cause any suffering this could be offered up and help us on our way. Herein lies a major belief that is still in the process of being revised. We now understand that it is only by facing up to, and working with, our painful issues that we can progress on our spiritual journey. There is no ‘heart by-pass’ on the quest for holiness. We either choose the pain of denial that can last for a lifetime, or the pain of transformation, that is short-lived but brings us to new life. Like Christ we need to be resolute on the path to our own Jerusalem.

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NCR Online: Congregations seek ways to turn empty convents into new ministries https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ncr-online-congregations-seek-ways-to-turn-empty-convents-into-new-ministries/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ncr-online-congregations-seek-ways-to-turn-empty-convents-into-new-ministries/#respond Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:40:05 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42792 BY DAN STOCKMAN, March 18, 2024 Editor’s note: “Evolving Religious Life,” a new series from Global Sisters Report, is exploring how Catholic sisters are adapting to the realities of congregations...

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BY DAN STOCKMAN, March 18, 2024

Editor’s note: “Evolving Religious Life,” a new series from Global Sisters Report, is exploring how Catholic sisters are adapting to the realities of congregations in transition and new forms of religious life. While we write often about these trends, this particular series will focus more closely on sisters’ hopes for the future. 

Six years after a heartbreaking closure, the former Marylhurst University campus is getting new life. Founded by the 

Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary

 in 1893, declining enrollment forced the closure of the campus in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a tony suburb south of Portland, in 2018. But in April, the first residents will begin moving into 100 units of affordable housing in a sustainable building that replaced two dormitories and a classroom. The land still belongs to the Holy Names sisters, but the apartments are a project of 

Mercy Housing,

one of the nation’s largest affordable housing organizations.

Sr. Linda Patrick, a member of the provincial leadership team, said that despite affordable housing being built in an affluent area — usually controversial — there has been enormous support for the Mercy Greenbrae project. The city council in 2020 unanimously approved the zoning change needed. 

“It’s between two very wealthy communities, Lake Oswego and West Linn. Lake Oswego is probably the most affluent community in Oregon,” Patrick said. “But the city recognized the need for affordable workforce housing — people who work in the grocery stores and at Starbucks need a place to live.”

Apartments nearby can cost as much as $1,940 a month for a studio apartment; a two-bedroom apartment can cost more than $4,000 a month. A three-bedroom apartment at Mercy Greenbrae, meanwhile, is $1,641 for those with qualifying incomes. 

“Affordable housing is a great need,” Patrick said. 

Link to full article:

https://www.ncronline.org/news/congregations-seek-ways-turn-empty-convents-new-ministries?utm_source=NCR+List&utm_campaign=19cfc13711-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_03_18_12_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6981ecb02e-19cfc13711-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

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Lá Fhéile Pádraig – Happy St Patrick’s Day https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/la-fheile-padraig-happy-st-patricks-day-3/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/la-fheile-padraig-happy-st-patricks-day-3/#respond Sun, 17 Mar 2024 00:37:08 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42782 St Patrick, Octagon Monument, Westport, Mayo The Monument: A change on the skyline St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March 1990 was not merely the day to honour our Patron Saint, it...

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St Patrick, Octagon Monument, Westport, Mayo

The Monument: A change on the skyline

St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March 1990 was not merely the day to honour our Patron Saint, it was also a historic day and a huge achievement in Westport. It was a day which saw a major change on the skyline. A sculpture of St. Patrick on the Monument was blessed by the retired Archbishop Cunnane representing Archbishop Joseph Cassidy who was unavoidably absent due to a bout of ill-health.

John Coffey and Ken Thompson

Sculpture in Portland Stone

An eight-foot-high sculpture in Portland stone of our Patron Saint dominated this significant setting on the Octagon. Ken Thompson, a native of Cork, had lavished all his creativity and artistic talents on an imaginative portrayal of our National Patron. It is the first depiction of him which was true to Patrick’s own words. It caused a huge amount of comment and debate in that it was not the usual presentation of Patrick.

This sculpture presents a youthful energetic young man very much alive and it carries a very rich symbolism. Patrick’s stature with his forward leaning head and broad shoulders depict a man of energy on a journey with a purpose. His features are strong and firm and his huge rugged size carries a gentleness and compassion with his hand outstretched with a blessing. It continues to arouse the curiosity and stimulate the imagination of so many people who visit Westport and walk around the Octagon.

The Monument is adorned with panels depicting writings from St Patrick.

First Panel The Arrival The Invitation of the Irish People

The first carved panel shows Patrick and his companions arriving in Ireland to offer the Sacraments and Word of God. They are blessed by the hand of God the Father. The Holy Spirit as a dove inspires them. The fish symbolises Christ and completes the Trinity. It also represents the people to be won for Christ. This panel, like the others, is full of rich symbols. The little boy with the net is a future missionary. The boat represents the Bark of Peter, the Church. The mast forms a cross while the anchor is one of most ancient symbols of our Saviour. The foliage is a reference to his dream in which he hears the voice of the Irish people calling him “by the wood of Voclut which is near the western sea.” The inscription “Rogamus te” translates “We invite you.” This panel can also be seen as the departure – representing the whole tradition of the Irish Missionary Church.

Second Panel – “The Reek”The Call to be a Missionary Church

The second carved panel shows Patrick preaching his mission on Croagh Patrick and his work in Ireland. The man fishing, is “casting his net wide.” (third inscription from the Confession). It also alludes to “Thou art Peter and on this rock, I will build my Church.” There is an ancient tradition that when Patrick rang his bell on Croagh Patrick, serpents and scorpions were banished into the sea. He uses the shamrock to explain the truth of the Trinity and the inscription is taken from his own words, “We adore him as one God in the Trinity.” People climbing the Reek with sticks, a familiar sight to the people of Westport and to pilgrims, represents the Irish pilgrimage tradition. This panel also makes reference to the famous hymn “The Breastplate of St. Patrick which was written after his death. “I arise today through the strength of heaven, light of sun, radiance of moon, splendour of fire, speed of lightening, swiftness of wind, death of sea, stability of earth, firmness of rock.”

Third Panel Baptism The first words of his own Story

The third panel represents a passage in the Confession where Patrick refers to the Baptism by him of a “virtuous Irish lady of noble birth and great beauty” who later became a nun. Her parents hold her robe, representing the new life she receives in Baptism. Her father holds a candle, a symbol of the light of faith. And Patrick’s companion holds up the holy oil for the anointing. All hands and the Flora and Fauna point to the waters of Baptism, while she forms a cross with her arms. The Elk, Wolfhound and Salmon are powerful symbols in Irish mythology. The Elk also is reference to the “deer that yearns for running waters” and alludes to Baptism. The Holy Spirit is present in all four panels, symbolised by a dove. The branches of the tree spring out of the Word of God, and the inscription from the Confession “Venite” translates “Come”.

Fourth Panel Tara My Mission was the work of God

The fourth carved panel in which Patrick confronts the Druids at Tara, celebrates the triumph of the Resurrection. When Patrick comes to Tara at Easter, it happened that the feast fell as the same time as the pagan feast of Fire. Patrick lights the Paschal fire and the Druids prophesy to the King that if this fire is not quenched now the Faith will never be put out in Ireland. Patrick and his companions, holding candles, point to the paschal moon and fire while the Druids and their followers confront them with sickle, sword and spear at the foot of Tara. The inscription is taken from Patrick’s own words, “On the day we will undoubtedly rise (in the brightness of the sun).” The final inscription is taken from the closing words of the Confession and demonstrates, like the first inscription, the humility of Patrick and his desire to give to God the honour, glory and success of his mission. The last two lines are in original Latin in which the Confession is written – “and this is my Confession before I die”.

Our Patron Saint

St. Patrick 385-461. There is an ongoing discussion among scholars on some historical details concerning places and events around the life and work of St. Patrick. But there is no debate about the authenticity of his life story – The Confession and the Letter to Coroticus. They give a very profound insight into his character, personality, faith, trials and commitment to his mission.

Born in Wales in 385, his father was Calpurnius, a deacon in the local Christian community and a Roman official. He was kidnapped by pirates from Ireland in 401. He managed to escape around 408. He was ordained a priest in 424 and later before being sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine by was made a bishop in 432. He spent Lent 441 on Croagh Patrick. He died in 461 in Saul, Co. Down and is buried in Downpatrick.

The late Dr. John Healy, Archbishop of Tuam, 1903-1918, wrote in his history of Croagh Patrick:

When the skies are clear and the soaring cone can be seen in its own solitary grandeur, no eye will turn to gaze upon it without delight. Even when the rain clouds shroud its brow, we know that it is still there and that when the storms have swept over it, it will reveal itself once more in all its calm beauty and majestic strength. It is, therefore, the fitting type of Ireland’s faith and of all Ireland’s nationhood, which nothing has ever shaken and with God’s blessing, nothing can ever destroy.

Octagon Monument Plaque

Taken from a book, Dean Bernard Burke, by Rev Anthony King, published CPR 2021.

Anthony (Tony) King born in Cleggan, native of the parish of Clifden (Omey and Ballindoon), Co. Galway. Educated in Cleggan N.S.; St. Jarlath’s College Tuam; St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Ordained in 1963. St. Jarlath’s 1963-70, Westport 1970-80 C.C., Adm.1980- 93; Athenry P.P., 1993-2013; Westport P.E. 2013.

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Seán Walsh: Lance Ascending https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/sean-walsh-lance-ascending/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/sean-walsh-lance-ascending/#respond Thu, 14 Mar 2024 17:36:17 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42780 LANCE ASCENDING… Larry, eh… Lance was a pet name. Ah, if ever there was a hard man! Many’s the session we had in the old days – Oh, what! ‘Gave it a...

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LANCE ASCENDING…

Larry, eh… Lance was a pet name.

Ah, if ever there was a hard man! 
Many’s the session we had in the old days – 
Oh, what! ‘Gave it a lash! 
No one ever thought he’d go on the dry, 
make it to the other side of the street. 

‘Few years ago now… Happy Christmas!
Lance holding on to the bar, langers.
‘Calls for a double, lets it back, passes out… 
‘Woke the next day – or was it the day after? – 
in the Quare Place… 

This mad ould fella 
at the side of his bed – starkers.

Wild eyes in a flushed face. Beard ‘n’ bristle. 

Purring at him in a baby voice:

Hell-oooo! What did Santa bring you for Christmas?

‘Hasn’t had a drink since. Lance.
‘Dry as the Sahara, ’that day to this. 
‘New man now. ‘Goes to A.A., ’regular. 
‘The makings of him…

‘Wife doesn’t know herself.

‘Not that she sees that much of him! But still… 
‘Knows where he is, when to expect him, 
that he’ll be together when he shows. 
That itself…. ‘Has to be a bonus…

And the odd time we bump into each other, 
his form is better than ever. No more bullshit.
And he says – giving me the eye –

If I can do it, anyone can…

Oh, he was a gonner. Well on the way – out. 
And then.. then… Santa Claus gave him sobriety. 
Down the chimney, huh?.. Salvation in a stocking… 

‘At me to go along with him. An Open Meeting.

Don’t have to say a word. Just sit tight, take it in

Well… Maybe… Some dark night. 
‘Get there… walk in… ‘circle of strangers.

‘Tense among the walking wounded…

Listen to one, then another – men, women –

the old and the old-before-their-time – 
tell how they came to on Skid Row, 
struggled to their feet when the world 
was ready to count them out… 

Lemmings who turned – against all the odds – 
to claw their way back up 
the sheer face of a merciless cliff… 

How did he manage it, Lance?

What was gifted to him?

What miracle was his, ongoing?..

I’m going to lick this, I really am!

I won’t let it best me!..

Quietly, at his side, a fellow climber:

On your own? Lance, you haven’t a hope!

Tell you what, though: we’ll do it together…

Shortly after putting this piece “out there” 

a comment reached me, signed Kieran. 

I know well the madness

of the Walking Wounded –

‘ducking in and out of sobriety, 

detoxing for a fortnight,

then bingeing for another eternity,

until by circumstance forced –

and physically crippled –

to quit again! 

It’s a hellish ‘disease.’

I immediately checked out your other writings 

and liked the open, honest and

uncomplicated nature of your style. 

I will be keeping a keen eye out for

future postings. 

Your imagery is clear and inspiring. 

Good luck with everything.”

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Tony Flannery: Talk in the Clayton Hotel, Galway, on Wednesday March 27th at 7.30pm https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/tony-flannery-talk-in-the-clayton-hotel-galway-on-wednesday-march-27th-at-7-30pm/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/tony-flannery-talk-in-the-clayton-hotel-galway-on-wednesday-march-27th-at-7-30pm/#respond Thu, 14 Mar 2024 12:06:54 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42778 Can religious belief as we have known it survive in modern Ireland?  As many will know, I have been silenced by the Catholic Church but that isn’t to say, I...

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Can religious belief as we have known it survive in modern Ireland? 

As many will know, I have been silenced by the Catholic Church but that isn’t to say, I haven’t been contemplating how best to address the falling attendances at Mass, the falling away in general from the Catholic faith.

I’ve decided to break my silence on these matters and will give a public talk in Galway city during Holy Week.

In the past few years, I’ve studied and read would love nothing more than to share my observations in the hope that I can address how religious belief as we have known it survive in modern Ireland.

If we take the traditional indications of the health of the faith as measured by the Catholic Church, meaning church membership and regular observance of attendance at church, then all the signs are that it is in serious trouble, that the faith is in the terminal stage of ill health. Churches are emptying or are being frequented only by the older generation. Seminaries are closing down, and priest numbers are declining rapidly. There appear to be few, if any signs of new growth. 

But that is by no means the full story. We are living in a really interesting time in the Church since the arrival on the papacy of Francis. However long more he is going to last, even in the eleven years since his appointment he has brought about a great deal of change. The Synodal Process, with which we are familiar to some extent in Ireland, is a major project, the success of which is hard to measure at present. 

I have no doubt that the biggest legacy Pope Francis will leave from his time in charge is that he has freed up discussion, areas of study and the search for truth in the Church, all or which had been seriously restricted for many centuries by rigid imposition of official teachings. The pre Francis Church had adopted the position that it had the full truth, and that it had nothing to learn from the world. Francis, on the other hand, realised that in order for the Church to be relevant, it must engage with modern life, and be part of the debate about the future of the world and of people. Otherwise it would become, as has happened to some extent, a voice from the past that few took seriously anymore. 

A good example of that change of attitude is the extent to which Francis has engaged in the debate about the destruction of the environment and the necessity of facing up to climate change. The other really interesting change brought about by the new freedom in the Church is that Bible study is now no longer confined to the realm of the scholars, but is increasingly part of the faith journey of people generally. The fact that there is now a wider awareness that the Bible cannot be read as a historical document, but presents truth at a very different level of understanding, opens up all sorts of interesting questions about the nature of God, about the life and purpose of Jesus, and our expectations for the next life, among many other questions.

Francis himself recently suggested that God is more likely to be experienced in honest dialogue between spiritual searchers with many questions, than among those who are convinced that they have the full truth and don’t need to dialogue with anybody. 

These are the areas that I address in the Clayton Hotel, Briarhill on Wednesday, March 27 at 7.30pm.

It will be about trying to reconcile our Religious Upbringing with our current understandings of  Creation, Interpreting Scripture, and the Divine Presence. Don’t expect to come away with definite answers. As I get older I am more convinced that life itself is a mystery, and the same can be said about the idea of God and everlasting life. But, as I have found in my own life, new avenues of understanding can always open up for all of us. The talk won’t be too long, and we will leave plenty of time for question and discussion. You will be welcome to attend as we face into the season of the profound mystery of Easter.

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Chris McDonnell: A Change of Season https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/chris-mcdonnell-a-change-of-season/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/chris-mcdonnell-a-change-of-season/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:40:21 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42776 A change of season The chill, dark soil of winter eases the season change over the folded hills of March. Damp, stained shoes from a walk through frost-flaked grass till,...

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A change of season

The chill, dark soil of winter

eases the season change

over the folded hills of March.

Damp, stained shoes from a walk

through frost-flaked grass

till, on reaching the farm gate,

the sprung metal catch anchors

bare fingers, swings open, then

clatters closed behind, rattling.

Flowers are breaking through

ahead of time offering purple

yellow and white amid green.

Gather time in cupped hands

guard it as a nest for later rest

when evening comes close.

Then settle down with memories,

Of people, places and events

Close your hands round dreams.

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Studies – Spring 2024 issue https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/studies-spring-2024-issue/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/studies-spring-2024-issue/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:35:57 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42773 PRESS RELEASE13 MARCH 2024  On the scale of things, in today’s violent and volatile world, one could justifiably wonder whether access to the arts and the freedom to participate in...

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PRESS RELEASE
13 MARCH 2024 

On the scale of things, in today’s violent and volatile world, one could justifiably wonder whether access to the arts and the freedom to participate in the cultural life of the community could be considered a human rights priority. However, if we consider that artistic expression is an integral part of the way we imagine and experience our life, interact with our environment and conduct our relationships, then we can understand the transformative power of the arts. And that if artistic expression and experience become too detached from everyday life, society loses the ability to evaluate, to critique in an imaginative way and to envisage an alternative, better future.

The Spring 2024 issue of Studies features several contributions from people who teach on an elective module at Trinity College, ‘Music-making, the Arts and Society’, jointly provided by the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Department of Education in Trinity. John O’Hagan, a specialist in the economics of the arts, writes about the personal and societal benefits generated by direct public funding of the arts; Deborah Kelleher describes the RIAM’s commitment to promoting access and inclusion in music education and participation, particularly in relation to young people and adults with disabilities; Kerry Houston and Marita Kerin summarise findings from a study that investigates how current students view the musical, spiritual and social aspects of their experience as choristers; and Sarah Doxat-Pratt evaluates the impact of participatory arts projects in prisons and community justice settings.

The remaining essays in the issue carry diverse themes. Paul Shrimpton provides a detailed analysis of John Henry Newman’s voluminous personal papers from his time as Rector of the Catholic University in Ireland, particularly his relationship with Archbishop Paul Cullen; Suzanne Mulligan, writing on sexual violence against women, argues that we cannot understand the underpinnings of gender-based violence without first considering the values that shape the world we inhabit; Austen Ivereigh provides illuminating background to a series of talks he delivered for an eight-day spiritual exercise retreat of the British Jesuit Province; Gerry O’Hanlon SJ writes about Pope Francis’ synodal vision and strategy, concluding that for the pontiff, synodality is more a way of being Church rather than a mere system of governance; and Peader Kirby argues against the tendency to condemn and dismiss the far-right without attempting to understand them.

Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review spring 2024,  The Arts and Society: A Question of Values is published by Messenger Publications. Priced at €10.

Further Information here

For more information or review copies please contact:

Carolanne Henry
Communications and Marketing Executive
Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review
37 Leeson Place
Dublin D02 E5V0
IRELAND 

c.henry@messenger.ie
T: +353 1 7758 542
M: +353 87 637 6067

www.studiesirishreview.ie

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Ireland Joins the World – and Leaves the Church https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ireland-joins-the-world-and-leaves-the-church/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/ireland-joins-the-world-and-leaves-the-church/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:33:04 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42771 From Commonweal magazine: Fintan O’Toole on the cost of prosperity Paul Baumann, March 12, 2024, Commonweal Fintan O’Toole is a terrific writer, and his We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History...

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From Commonweal magazine:

Fintan O’Toole on the cost of prosperity

Paul Baumann, March 12, 2024, Commonweal

Fintan O’Toole is a terrific writer, and his We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland is a remarkable chronicle of the economic, political, cultural, and religious transformation of his native country over the six decades since his birth in 1958. O’Toole has been a prominent journalist, drama critic, and prolific author for years, and now splits his time between Dublin and Princeton University. Readers are lucky that he also writes—with an acute eye for the absurdist political theater of Donald J. Trump and his devoted followers—about American politics for the New York Review of Books.

In We Don’t Know Ourselves, O’Toole examines the fitful way in which Ireland eventually embraced a secular liberal modernity. Over his lifetime, Ireland evolved from a rural agricultural economy to a modern industrialized and technological one. Educational institutions that were once controlled by the Church were eventually secularized. Meritocracy increasingly replaced hierarchy and tradition. Turning its eyes outward, Ireland first joined the European Economic Community and then the European Union. A nation whose principal export for centuries had been its own people became a land welcoming to immigrants.   

The sixty years O’Toole writes about were in many ways a period of disorienting, sometimes anarchic change, as well as a shocking amount of political and economic corruption. This period of rapid change culminated in the internationalization of Ireland’s economy and—after countless revelations of the sexual and physical abuse of children—the complete collapse of the Catholic Church’s moral authority. On that score, O’Toole is perhaps a bit too sanguine about the new nonjudgmental moral dispensation, which he claims rests on “the recognition by most of the faithful that they were in fact much holier than their preachers, and that they had a clearer sense of right and wrong, a more honest and intimate sense of love and compassion and decency.” To be sure, Ireland is a more tolerant and open society than it was in O’Toole’s youth, a development much to be praised. But his assessment of the laity’s virtues, now that they have thrown off the Church’s yoke, is hard to reconcile with his principal contention that the Irish have always knowingly participated in the hypocrisies of both Church and state. He describes that attitude as “a genius for knowing and not knowing at the same time.”

Nevertheless, what O’Toole has to say about traditional Irish Catholicism, especially its puritanical attitude toward sex, rings all too true. “When all sex is wrong, no kind of sex can be more wrong than any other,” he writes. “Everything is beyond the pale of discourse. Everything is out of bounds—so therefore there are no boundaries. Everything is unspeakable, so nothing is speakable. This is what created a perpetual open season for sexual predation of children.”

He is even shrewder in his analysis of the relationship between the Church and a modernizing Ireland when he describes John Paul II’s much-heralded 1979 pilgrimage to the island. The Ireland of O’Toole’s youth was a confessional state that boasted of the close bond between Celticism and Catholicism. As O’Toole notes, two-thirds of the Irish populace attended one or another of the pope’s outdoor Masses, a seeming tribute to the enduring strength and vitality of the Church. But things are not always as they appear. He praises John Paul II’s denunciation of the IRA’s terrorist violence then convulsing Northern Ireland, but he’s more skeptical of the pope’s warnings about Ireland’s possible loss of Catholic identity. “What he was afraid of was money and modernity,” O’Toole perceived. “The pope did not say directly that Ireland’s faithfulness was linked to its relative poverty, that the country was much more religious than the rest of western Europe because it was less developed economically. But he strongly implied it in his warnings about the coming times.” 

O’Toole, a former altar boy, was in his early twenties during the pope’s visit, and like many of his contemporaries he was captivated by contemporary youth culture and its embrace of sexual freedom, much of it imported from America. During John Paul II’s visit, he celebrated a Mass for youth in Galway, where he was treated like a rock star. At one point, the youthful crowd cheered the pope for fourteen uninterrupted minutes, a demonstration O’Toole was initially confounded by. “He was trapped in a feedback loop of adoration where every movement he made to signal that he was about to continue his sermon was received as if he were conducting the crowd.” The cheering only subsided after the crowd was sternly told that “[t]he Holy Father has not finished his sermon.” It was only years later that O’Toole recognized what had brought about such fervent emotion. “The crowd was not reveling in piety. It was reveling in itself, in its own youth and energy and unbounded vigor. It was taking over, inserting itself into the event, insisting on its own anarchic presence. It did not know or care about what it was actually doing; shutting the pope up.”

Nevertheless, what O’Toole has to say about traditional Irish Catholicism, especially its puritanical attitude toward sex, rings all too true.

That might seem like a tough judgment, but given the subsequent de-churching of O’Toole’s generation, it’s probably a fair one. Across his pontificate, John Paul’s famous World Youth Days brought together millions of young people. Those “Catholic Woodstocks” were often heralded as harbingers of a rebirth of faith among alienated youth, a rebirth that now appears to have been a stillbirth. I remember the extraordinary hype given to World Youth Day in 1993 in Denver, where more than half a million pilgrims gathered to see and hear John Paul II. Even twenty-five years later, papal biographer George Weigel insisted on calling the event “a turning point in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States,” evident in what he judged to be “the living parts of the Church.”

But as O’Toole notes, it is not always clear what motivates those in attendance at such events, or how they understand the experience. If he is right, the young people in Galway that day felt themselves to be at the edge of a wave of change that would carry them into a future very different from the past. By a similar measure, the turning point Weigel perceived seems to have set the U.S. Church in an unanticipated direction. One in every three Americans baptized as Catholics has left the Church. Vocations have plummeted. In many dioceses, parishes continue to close. Catholic liberals and Catholic conservatives have dueling explanations for this exodus; one pushes for more reform while the other preaches retrenchment. As a fellow baby boomer, I find O’Toole’s suggestion that the Galway crowd was “insisting on its own anarchic presence” to be persuasive. Much of the experience of coming of age in the 1960s and ’70s was anarchic, and often found expression in mass celebratory gatherings. Those events, however, rarely helped to revitalize institutions, like the family and religion, that have traditionally been the glue that held a society together.

“The real effect of the loss of Church authority was that there was no deeply rooted civic morality to take its place,” O’Toole writes about the endemic political and economic corruption that has rocked Ireland in recent decades. “The Irish had been taught for generations to identify morality with religion, and a very narrow kind of religion at that. Morality was about what happened in bedrooms, not boardrooms. Now, instead of moving from one sphere to the other, it seemed to be lost somewhere in between.” This raises an awkward question: Now that we’ve given up on legislating morality in the bedroom, do we still have the ability to legislate it anywhere else? Our anarchic politics and the grotesque inequalities of our economic and legal systems seem to be telling us we don’t. The moral autonomy we now concede to the adulterer and the “ethically polyamorous” is becoming harder to deny to the avaricious billionaire. In addition to its rigorous sexual rules, the medieval Church also had sumptuary laws restricting extravagant spending and consumption. Needless to say, neither set of prohibitions was strictly observed. But perhaps these prohibitions expressed a keener understanding of human nature and social reality than the one that prevails in our emancipated age.  

Link to article:

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ireland-church-catholic-fintan-o-toole-baumann

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America Magazine: LGBT Catholics and ‘disordered’ language: A biblical model for change https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/america-magazine-lgbt-catholics-and-disordered-language-a-biblical-model-for-change/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/america-magazine-lgbt-catholics-and-disordered-language-a-biblical-model-for-change/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:17:49 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42767 James F. Keenan March 12, 2024 America Last month in Outreach, a L.G.B.T.Q. Catholic resource sponsored by America Media, I was invited to consider what we as a church might do...

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James F. Keenan March 12, 2024

America

Last month in Outreach, a L.G.B.T.Q. Catholic resource sponsored by America Media, I was invited to consider what we as a church might do between the two synod sessions. Turning to the L.G.B.T.Q. community, I raised up the roots and the value of “radically inclusive friendship” as a distinctive trademark of their community—especially when they welcome people exactly as they present themselves. I suggested that this form of openness might do the church good—both at the parish level and on the more global scale of a synod. I noted, in fact, that more and more parishes are posting on their websites and in their bulletins that in their parishes, “all are welcome.”

In that spirit, I proposed that we abandon two particular practices that are aimed at the L.G.B.T.Q. community: using the term “disordered” to reference same-sex attraction and firing Catholic educators for simply being married members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

I did not argue against either practice as such; rather, I suggested that as the church prepares for the next session of the synod in October 2024, we would all do well to recognize how counter-productive such practices are and how, as many of our hierarchy have noted, prudence suggests more constructive pathways for discussing our differences.

Here, I want to further my argument by recognizing how the synod itself sets a standard for Catholic discourse that we must continue to promote. Yet I want to take a look not at a contemporary synod, but rather at the distant past, to the so-called Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15. That council offers, I believe, normative instruction for today’s church.

The Council of Jerusalem

Acts 15 begins with the contentious issue that prompts the Council of Jerusalem. Many were teaching: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). This claim prompts Paul and Barnabas to journey to Jerusalem to testify to the apostles and elders that many Gentiles had already converted to Christianity without becoming circumcised. This was not simply a matter of surgery; this was a question of whether the laws of Judaism were the laws of Christianity. Did Gentiles have to appropriate the religious practices of the Jews to become Christians? Could Gentiles become Christians at all?

These debates on ritual purity have some parallels with the debates about whether members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community can be welcomed as Christians. Those in the early Christian community who resisted the idea that Gentiles could be baptized thought of the Gentiles as “unclean.” And words like “unclean”—like “disordered”—cover a multitude of matters.

As soon as the council convenes by welcoming Paul and Barnabas, objections are raised: “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). This declaration was followed by “much discussion.” Other translations talk about “much disputing” or “many debates.” One can only imagine what that discussion was like, but I suspect that one might have heard the descriptive “unclean” thrown around quite often—until Peter stands up.

When Peter stands, they all listen. He refers to an earlier experience of his (Acts 10:1-48) in which the Holy Spirit led him through a series of prayerful interventions that he, at first, actively resisted. He first went to the home of a Gentile, a centurion named Cornelius, who had been instructed by an angel to invite Peter.

The baptism of Cornelius

As Peter enters the house, he shares with Cornelius and his household his new understanding: “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection” (Acts 10:28-29). Cornelius informs him about the angel instructing him to invite Peter. Peter initiates his response: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35).

After more comments, he concludes: “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” The Holy Spirit then descends on the household, and “the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:45). The chapter concludes, noting that since they all received the Holy Spirit, Peter then baptizes them.

Through the Council of Jerusalem, Peter’s testimony of his earlier experience with Cornelius effectively becomes the grounds that give warrant for Paul and Barnabas’s own accounts that the Gentiles may as such be baptized. After they each testify, James, the bishop of Jerusalem, stands, invokes the testimony of Peter regarding Cornelius and rules effectively to welcome the Gentiles.

I do not think that the present anxiety about recognizing the “gay” Catholic is unlike the first-century anxiety regarding the Gentiles becoming Christians. I think that when we prayerfully engage the Scriptures, we are brought to recognize that our fears and biases often place us at enmity with those who have the same faith and hope in the same Savior.

Certainly, many could go through these texts to find something as grounds against becoming more hospitable, but I think, in faith, we have to make the connection that Peter, James, Paul and Barnabas did.

We have to recognize, yet again, that human concerns regarding purity can invariably cloud our way of recognizing, through the Holy Spirit, the other, whether Gentile or gay, as a follower of Christ. By stopping the firings and the name-calling we might give the Holy Spirit the space to help us practice forms of hospitality and discourse that are truly Christian.

James F. Keenan

James F. Keenan, S.J., a moral theologian, is the Canisius Professor and Vice Provost for Global Engagement at Boston College.

Link to article:

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/03/12/keenan-synod-lgbtq-247472#:~:text=In%20that%20spirit%2C%20I%20proposed,community.

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Séamus Ahearne: LITTLE THOUGHTS PEEPING OUT OF LONG SENTENCES. https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/seamus-ahearne-little-thoughts-peeping-out-of-long-sentences/ https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/seamus-ahearne-little-thoughts-peeping-out-of-long-sentences/#respond Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:57:07 +0000 https://associationofcatholicpriests.ie/?p=42765 THE REFERENDUM:  Politicians are astute. They test the wind. They read the signs. They tune in to the lurking messages of the electorate. They have their surgeries. They have the...

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THE REFERENDUM: 

Politicians are astute. They test the wind. They read the signs. They tune in to the lurking messages of the electorate. They have their surgeries. They have the focus groups. They even have Citizens’ Assemblies. What went wrong this time? The Referendum model does try to simplify complex issues. The clear and obvious principle always is never to tinker with the Constitution. Moreover, any proposed change must be clear, precise and definite. Words such as ‘strive to do something’ are close to ridiculous and almost meaningless. ‘Durable relationships’ scream out for definition. Any vagueness provides an opportunity for  the employment of legal minds for ever. The overwhelming response of the voters, in this case, should be a good lesson. Not just to the Government but to all politicians. There was no ‘opposition’ really at work in the Dáil on this. Humility is the only way forward. 

THE HORSES TAKE OVER FOR PATRICK’S DAY: 

Cheltenham has begun. It is usually classified as an Irish invasion. (A historical reversal!) Racheal Blackmore has done well for a start. It used to be the time too for the exodus of clergy to that particular Prayer Meeting. Such an appetite seems to have waned. Ireland does rather well in other ways. However, we have to blush somewhat  after Marcus Smith’s drop goal. Anyway. Cillian Murphy took honours as a proud Irishman. That is what he said. 

MOTOR NEURONE: 

Charlie Bird has died. He was rather impressed with the gift he got from Daniel O’Donnell of his personal Rosary Beads. Charlie wanted to have it with him when he died. That surprised a few in his respect for it. Charlie’s going again reminds me of Stephen Hawking’s line on faith and religion and God. ‘Your God is too small.’ All the clutter we have accumulated for the Rituals of our faith can obscure God from so many. Our language. Our set Liturgies. We need to be imaginative; expansive; creative. 

RUPNIK; VANIER; KELLY: 

Artist Marko Rupnik has caused a stir. His work has appeared in many major locations. And now there arises the question – what can be done about his works of art? Can they or should they be removed? Jean Vanier raised the same questions. He was the saint of our times. The work he did was magnificent. His writings and his talks were very special. And then other stories appeared. Most of us felt let down and distrustful of anyone and everyone. His clay feet were revealed. Console  (Care for those who were caught up in suicide) brought discredit to a much needed organisation when  Paul Kelly and family were found to be financially indiscreet. That did damage to all such charities.

STAKEKNIFE: 

Operation Kenova Report (interim) has come out. Freddie Scappaticci (Stakeknife)was an extraordinary character who was the enforcer against all informers (real or supposed) while he himself was playing that role. It is a very sad reflection on all involved. At least Michelle O’Neill did come out and apologised ‘for every single loss of life, and that is without exception’ during the troubles. 

INDIE: 

She will be four in a week’s time. She has all the confidence of much older young lassie. She knows it all. She is certain that her further schooling is needed not for her, but rather for what the teacher and others will learn from her. She tells me that her father annoys her. That her mother is too bossy. That her grandmother teases her. (Waterford granny). She is intrigued by the buds appearing and the flowers and the greenery and the greater light. She wants to dress up in the colours of Spring. She is quite certain that this world is very lucky to have her and all the children around. Old people can be drab and prosaic. She wants poetry in life. She tells everyone who is willing to listen and even those who aren’t, that the world is a much better place because of her.

“The way you are; is the way we were. The way we are; is the way you will be.” (I am told that is the message at the Bone Church in Rome, Via Veneto.) I can’t remember it but I do recall those beautiful and horrible chandeliers made of bones! I wonder what Brother Richard thinks of that? He appeared on Tommy Tiernan last week and was so articulate and eloquent on our whole way of life. 

Seamus Ahearne OSA 

12th March 2024. 

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