Croke Park today

I think the Croke Park ceremony was of enormous symbolic experience which may take some time and perspective to fully appreciate and I can see why some people were enraged by it. It is an Irish version of the Pachamama incident in the Vatican. A few thoughts on Fridays ceremony.

The Imman who organised it deliberately chose a place that was Irish to the core. He was very open about this. The media and fans of modern open Ireland regarded this as a great day for diversity and openess. They show great public respect for Islam yet ignore Orthodox Christianity or Hinduism which have also grown enormously in relative terms in Ireland in recent years.

Why is diversity almost solely about our attitude to Islam? I was wondering what if the Imman had asked to use Knock Basilica or Lough Derg pilgrimage site? I fear the answer to that. What if someone asks us to stick the cresent moon on our flag as an inclusive gesture? Which Irish leader would refuse?


The presence of the Christian archbishops was problematic too. They looked ridiculous with bunches of flowers . The Irish president sent good wishes but didn't go. That would have been an adequate and polite response. Christians are being slaughtered in the Islamic world and humiliated daily most recently in Istanbul . Lest we forget the capture of Hagia Sophia involved 2 choices for the last Christian congregation death or enslavement.


The shouting at the archbishop was a disgrace and shameful. Using The rosary to embarrass him was wrong. The sight of him in a limo was a bit out of kilter with the Pope Francis Church though. Dr Martin lives literally across the road in Drumcondra. Had he strolled over as Pope Francis does regularly on public occasions I think he might have disarmed some of the protesters. Maybe he could even offered to pray with them?


The Eid feast involves remembering the sacrifice of Isaac. It is one of the great biblical narratives shared by Jews, Moslems and Christians. It is also a very disturbing text when you reflect on it. God demanded absolute obedience from Abraham even to the extent of child sacrifice , albeit not completed in the end.

David Quinn pointed out the event was not an act of diversity . It was an act of worship. Worship is commendable but not if it is intended as a missionary gesture. Islam was being true to itself on Friday in Dublin. Our weakness especially as Catholics is creating a vaacum they are occupying unopposed.

If Eid is about Isaac and Abraham then there is a terrible irony for Islam (and Judaism).

Biblical scholars see in the Isaac story the forerunner of the sacrifice of Christ. This is Abraham's only son (by Sarah) at this point. The location of the land of Moriah is thought to have been Jerusalem. Isaac was asked to carry the wood that would be used for burning the offering, himself, up the hill, just as Christ carried the wooden cross up (perhaps the same) hill. 

Although the story seems cruel in testing Abraham's faith, it can be seen in a more merciful context in that, unlike the reprieve for Abraham and Isaac, God did have to have to offer up his only son as a sacrifice, as the sacrificial lamb. 

There are other analogies in the story and elsewhere that support this theory. It all points to Christ as the son of God and the messiah, something that negates Islam claim of Christ as only a prophet.


PS.
Muslims believe that it was not Isaac that was offered for sacrifice but Ishmael the son Abraham had by his Egyptian maidservant Hagar!

I have to admit I disagree with many my fellow conservatives on this story. For instance, this article in the Burkean.

www.theburkean.ie/articles/2020/08/01/the-desecration-of-croke-park

The thing is, Croke Park isn't a religious site. And Irishness surely can't be exclusively Christian. If we are in favour of religious freedom, and the place of freedom in public life, doesn't it have to be for everyone?

I think the presence of Diarmuid Martin was consistent with the attitude to other religions mapped out at Vatican II, and endorsed by the last few Popes. People forget that St. John Paul II was photographed kissing the Koran. (I'm not saying that wasn't a step too far; I suspect it was, even on the part of a saint.) The attitude of the Church today seems to be to go beyond mere tolerance and seek friendship with other religions. And, in all honesty, I feel a lot more affinity with religious believers of every kind than I do with secularists.

The persecution of Christians in the Muslim world, and Muslim extremism, are real problems we can't be naive about. But I think trying to have good relations with Islam is the better way to go. Let's remember that Jacques Hamel, the French priest martyred by Muslim terrrorists, was actively involved in inter-religious dialogue with Muslims.

Also let's remember that the same charge made against Islam-- that Muslims couldn't be good citizens of their countries, since their allegiance is to the caliphate-- was also made of Catholics in Ireland and Britain, and elsewhere, especially in Elizabethan times.

I may have to ban myself from the forum after this!

You make a lot of valid points Hilary but in Ireland we can't have an honest discussion about our concerns with Islam without being accused of racism and hatred. I wonder why other religions and non believers rarely complain of their ill treatment in modern post Catholic Ireland.


Catholicism is branded for now with the stain of paedophilic clergy in the public eye. The media regularly rub this in but the same media absolve Islam from any number of sins automatically. Islam is the only religion they dare not challenge. And we all know why.

I suppose we will only know with the benefit of time whether we in Ireland manage to create a civic minded Islam that honours family life , sobriety, modesty and devotion to eternal things. We sorely miss those things in Irish life and Irish Catholicism is currently discredited , worn out and in steady decline. Islam might just put a halt to the all prevailing greedy anti God ethos that is crushing tradition , human dignity and community.
That's a very big "might" though. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking.


In the real world Islam is convulsed by a bloody internal Civil war between Shia and Sunni and the experience of Islam integrating in many European countries has been abysmal to date. Islamic states are places of oppression and tyranny for minorities. Islam traditionally has been the sworn enemy of Christianity and on occasion almost wiped out Christian Europe. The fall of Constantinople was the fall of the first Rome in Islamic eyes . They also had visions of converting the second (Italian) Rome .If we do sup with Islam let us do so with caution , honesty and a long spoon.

Most modern Faiths have dropped their missionary impulse. Contemporary Catholicism is embarrassed by the concept. Islam almost alone still has the fire to convert us. We in turn Twitter about diversity and inclusion.


I recall when the first Moslem workers came to the West of Ireland to work as Halal slaughterers. The idea of an actual mosque was seen as a quaint oddity in conservative catholic Ireland. Who could have predicted they were the heralds of the Irish future?