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Post by cato on Mar 21, 2019 14:52:53 GMT
RTE news carried an article a few days ago on a state of the church address given by Dr Martin , the de facto leader of the Irish church in Limerick. The author of the piece used the verb lament frequently in the article. I have a mental picture of a keening Matron in black moaning loudly ....
Dr Martin laments that in spite of all the good change brought about by Vatican II some "cultural warriors" are afraid and are distorting the message of Jesus.
"Constantly repeating truths can in itself be a sign of fearfulness and a retreat from reality" he lamented. This profound psychological insight comes from a prelate who regularly preaches on various causes dear to the heart of the journalists of that liberal catholic organ called the Irish Times.
These warriors are "a source of division and partiality in their own way manipulating church leadership into a certain sympathy with them and into taking wrong decisions". What these decisions are remains unsaid.
Like me you may wonder who are these fierce culture warriors? I believe a group of lay protesters prayed the rosary last week in Maynooth last week objecting to the leadership or lack thereof shown by the hierarchy in recent times. I suspect these people were the terrible cultural warriors Dr Martin laments.
He also blamed Pope Benedict's visitation , itself a response to the hierarchy's catastrophic response to child sex abuse, as a reason why "renewal" was held up in the Irish church.He lamented arcane procedures at bishops meetings - I wonder do they have Masonic like rituals? He omits to mention he is the boss around the table . The buck stops on his desk. He makes no reference to his own leadership, plans or track record.
All is not lost however. There are "vibrant" parishes in Dublin.In English this means lots of commitees holding meetings.
He admits a huge 48% of 24-29 year olds I Dublin say they have no religion. Most of them went to catholic schools. The remaining 52% May identify as catholic but they don't go to church either by and large.
Dr Martin is able to analyise and to criticise cultural warriors who cause most of his woes. That is fine but it is not his job to be a left leaning religious commentator. The article is worth a read . It's on the Irish Bishops website.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Mar 21, 2019 15:16:14 GMT
RTE news carried an article a few days ago on a state of the church address given by Dr Martin , the de facto leader of the Irish church in Limerick. The author of the piece used the verb lament frequently in the article. I have a mental picture of a keening Matron in black moaning loudly .... Dr Martin laments that in spite of all the good change brought about by Vatican II some "cultural warriors" are afraid and are distorting the message of Jesus. "Constantly repeating truths can in itself be a sign of fearfulness and a retreat from reality" he lamented. This profound psychological insight comes from a prelate who regularly preaches on various causes dear to the heart of the journalists of that liberal catholic organ called the Irish Times. These warriors are "a source of division and partiality in their own way manipulating church leadership into a certain sympathy with them and into taking wrong decisions". What these decisions are remains unsaid. Like me you may wonder who are these fierce culture warriors? I believe a group of lay protesters prayed the rosary last week in Maynooth last week objecting to the leadership or lack thereof shown by the hierarchy in recent times. I suspect these people were the terrible cultural warriors Dr Martin laments. He also blamed Pope Benedict's visitation , itself a response to the hierarchy's catastrophic response to child sex abuse, as a reason why "renewal" was held up in the Irish church.He lamented arcane procedures at bishops meetings - I wonder do they have Masonic like rituals? He omits to mention he is the boss around the table . The buck stops on his desk. He makes no reference to his own leadership, plans or track record. All is not lost however. There are "vibrant" parishes in Dublin.In English this means lots of commitees holding meetings. He admits a huge 48% of 24-29 year olds I Dublin say they have no religion. Most of them went to catholic schools. The remaining 52% May identify as catholic but they don't go to church either by and large. Dr Martin is able to analyise and to criticise cultural warriors who cause most of his woes. That is fine but it is not his job to be a left leaning religious commentator. The article is worth a read . It's on the Irish Bishops website. "Numbers may be reduced but perhaps in the past we placed far too much trust in our numerical presence," he said. Except if numbers keep going down we won't be able to keep churches open, celebrate Mass, or continue any kind of visible or corporate existence-- including really important things like organizing seminars and conferences. The Archbishop has been striking this note for a long time. I remember an editorial in the Irish Catholic some years ago, which pointed out that he had been in charge of the diocese of Dublin for a long time and should surely be DOING something to address the problems, rather than incessantly lamenting them. I had a look at the talk on the website. In fairness, I feel I should reproduce this passage, although it seems to be another manifestation of the Archbishop wanting to have it every way and cover all his bases. He is speaking of the liberal Cardinal Daneels, who died only a few days ago (RIP): He had been troubled, for example, by the superficial euphoria that spread within Europe after the fall of communism and the attempts to view it as simply a victory of belief over materialist communism and the emergence of a mono-polar “end of history”.
He was sceptical about forms of new interest in religion that lacking in discernment could in the long run be dangerous as they could give rise to “an erosion within the Church of the specific of Christianity, leading to doubts about the unicity of Jesus Christ and the separation of moral values from the person of Christ.”
He spoke of the danger of reducing the liturgy to a space for humanitarian concerns and an instrument for the simple celebration of the communitarian. He noted that: “Trying to reduce the liturgy into a moment of theological teaching or of catechesis, or of protest or campaigning or of raising funds simply drains the liturgy of its essential” The liturgy is the action of Jesus Christ. He stressed that while in the past the role of the priest almost vanished captured into the ritual, today it is the quality of the priest as animator that inspires us and thus he becomes an actor rather than a servant." |
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Post by cato on Mar 21, 2019 17:15:29 GMT
Thanks for including that section on the liturgy. I do think the archbishop likes to create the impression of being an umpire or of being a critic of two extremes in the church. One extreme is a straw man ie the culture warriors. They have no influence of any importance in formal church structures. The liturgical excesses he "laments" are the lived reality in the vast majority of parishes and have been that way for almost 50 years now.
I don't buy this image of a beleaguered centrist trying to sail the barque of Patrick in between two equally powerful rivals. It's certainly difficult being a bishop but indulging in fantasy thinking won't make all the annoying problems disappear.
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Post by cato on Jun 8, 2019 11:51:08 GMT
Archbishop Martin recently condemned prominent criminal funerals and suggested priests prevent them in their parishes. Most people are rightfully outraged by the power display at many criminal funerals and wreaths in the shapes of guns etc.
I do feel for the local priest however who would need nerves of steel and a bullet proof vest if he were to enforce such a ruling. Perhaps the bishop himself should insist he personally supervises and says the funerals of crime lords in order to preach directly to the violent criminal fraternity.This would be a powerful gesture and would also be a great pastoral outreach to a group that flagrantly flaunt Christian teaching on the sanctity of life.
Na. I don't think he 'll do that either. Much easier to lament and complain his priests aren't superheroes.
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Post by cato on Oct 11, 2019 23:17:42 GMT
His grace gave a rather bizarre speech in Rome tonight claiming that far right catholic blogs were criticising Pope Francis for canonising Cardinal Newman on Sunday coming. I read a fair amount of what I suspect he sees as far right blogs but most intelligent conservatives are fond of Newman's love of the church fathers , his defence of truth, and his beautiful prayers, hymns , sermons and prose. Newman's hijacking by liberals involves taking some of his quotes out of context and ignoring his loyalty to the Magisterium and catholic tradition.
Although Newman was attracted to and converted to Catholicism he was critical of hyper Ultramontane theology and was distrusted by some in Rome because of this stance . It's a pity Archbishop Martin wasted time making sideswipes against imaginary critics instead of talking about why Newman is a great spiritual light and thinker. Lead Kindly light lead thou me on...
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Post by cato on Dec 3, 2019 13:11:08 GMT
At the weekend the archbishop condemned racists and haters among the faithful who don't embrace with joy the mass influx of non nationals into Ireland. I find it sad that the bishop , a Vatican career diplomat let it be called , has no desire to ask why people feel threatened or alienated.
The modern Irish church normally stresses dialogue . Surely the church should deplore a situation where anyone who asks questions about government policy or statistics is shut down and censored by being branded as racist. Such radical policies need to be critiqued in a calm rational manner. It is very disappointing that the archbishop stays in his politically correct leftist comfort zone and condemns people worried about the future of their communities.
I suspect his ire was linked to Gemma O Doherty getting almost 4% of first preferences in the recent by election despite no public exposure. I was one of those voters and I deeply resent being branded as racist by Dr Martin.
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