Dear Editor, In response to Colm Fitzpatrick’s article ‘National seminary sees lowest student intake ever’ (IC 13/9/2018), I would argue that while the figures may indeed be low there is much to be positive about.
While smaller numbers are cause for consideration and deliberation, so too were the vast numbers who entered the seminaries of Ireland in decades past, when a call to priesthood for some was seen for what it should never be, power, prestige, formal education and an autocratic role in society and not what it should be, namely a servant of God and his people. It was a complete opposite to the counter-cultural decision it is seen as today.
Today we seem to forget that, of the large numbers of men who entered, many did so as a career option and not a vocation (not all of course, I must state) and we have since witnessed many of the calamities associated with such a format. Thus, it is a mistake for us to get bogged down with numbers of any sort.
Today prospective students must complete a number of steps before entering seminary including accompanied discernment. physiological testing and propaedeutic formation. These stages will no doubt reduce the number of applicants for the seminary for a variety of reasons but this can only be seen as a good thing. “Is it not better to have one saint than a thousand indifferent souls?” “For many are called but few are chosen”.
The Church in Ireland has faced shortages in the past before and God has always provided if we are willing to trust in his providence and grace. Let us remember our beginnings with a small band of 12.
Instead of fretting over numbers what we need now more than ever is prayer for vocations and prayer for those men and women who have answered the call to priesthood and religious life. “Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest send out labourers into his harvest.”
Yours etc.,
Mark Quinn,
St Patricks College,
Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
Truth and truth alone serves the Pope’s good
Dear Editor, Your newspaper continues to ascribe epithets to Archbishop Viganò which act to reduce his credibility to the level prostitutes once suffered as witnesses in court in some countries. You endorse Austen Ivereigh’s latest gratuitous appellation – “embittered” (IC 13/9/2018). Does this intemperance let slip a certain trepidation at the possibility of Archbishop Viganò’s accusations being true?
Nor do you aid the Pope. Greg Daly’s biblical allusions to silence hardly justify the Pope’s silence. Christ did invite evidence at his own trial. He informed Pilate on the issues and identified those with the greater sin. And the women en route to Calvary? Jesus addressed a question (a dubium?) to the Pharisees on healing on the Sabbath. (Luke 14). But, they kept silent! Silence is not always honourable or apostolic, particularly if it creates and prolongs spiritual confusion.
You do not benefit yourselves. How silent are you on inconvenient testimonies asserting the Archbishop’s unimpeachable reputation, universally acknowledged competence, faithfulness, orthodoxy and honesty? A man “exiled” from the Vatican precisely because he was a “whistle-blower” on financial corruption within the Vatican?
Even if unconvinced about these assertions, Catholic journalism of quality would still abhor the cheap media practice of wanton vilification of the individual, especially in the absence of trustworthy sifting of evidence pertaining to the validity/invalidity of his accusations.
Only truth serves the Pope’s good and that of Archbishop McCarrick’s victims.
Yours etc.,
Neil Bray,
Cappamore, Co. Limerick.
Cornerstone continues to delight
Dear Editor, Two weeks in, and your new ‘Cornerstone’ section remains a delight, and a real addition to the paper. Its strong parish focus, its sacramental content, its emphasis on sharing and passing on the Faith, and its simple accessibility make this a truly edifying part of the paper. Not that this should somehow be dismissed as somehow ‘light’ reading. Its spiritual content is as serious as anything else in the paper, and by concentrating on the spiritual and lived frontlines of church life, it allows the rest of the paper to cover other aspects of Catholic life in even greater depth. Well done!
Yours etc.,
Barbara Madden,
Swords, Co. Dublin.
Irish Church might be a model for child protection
Dear Editor, The news that child protection in the Diocese of Kilmore has received a gold star from the national safeguarding board (IC 13/9/2018) is something not merely to welcome but to celebrate, because it shows just how seriously and effectively the modern Irish Church is addressing the issue of abuse, whether in thankfully rare contemporary cases, or historically.
While the diocese’s prompt and proper sharing of allegations with state bodies is, in fairness, what should be expected, the diocese’s care for those bringing forward complaints and its use of informal mechanisms to ensure children are protected through a stable relationship between diocesan and state bodies are both to be especially applauded.
Given our past failings, we shouldn’t perhaps crow too much about today’s excellence, but it is worth keeping in mind particularly now when questions around Church failures at higher levels and abroad are constantly in the headlines. Right now it seems that the Irish Church might just be a model for child protection everywhere.
Yours etc.,
Louise Clarke,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.
Old Testament readings don’t help us celebrate the covenant
Dear Editor, In response to Fr Bernard Cotter’s excellent Notebook article (IC 6/9/2018), I would like to make a comment on his suggestion that one should always use the readings of the day. Unfortunately, some of the Old Testament readings leave us with a very bleak image of God. He often appears to be angry, jealous and vengeful – threatening death and destruction. This is certainly not the God and Father of Our Lord, Jesus Christ – the one who “lavishes his love on us” (1 Jn. 3:1).
Personally, I think our liturgists should consider removing such texts from our Liturgies of the Word. After all, the readings at Mass are supposed to be designed to inform us of our Covenantal duties and of the relationship formed between ourselves and God – the two parties in the New Covenant.
In the old tradition, the introduction to the terms of the covenant listed the benevolent deeds of the dominant party as proof of their good will. However, in our case, though God’s love is unconditional, we sometimes feel that there is an expiatory or an atonement aspect to Christ’s death, as in the Jewish tradition.
Unfortunately, even in some of our Eucharistic Prayers, we find traces of the traditional piacular sacrifice. This was where, in cases where wrongdoing needed to be expiated a human sacrifice to their god was required. In Eucharistic Prayer 3 we read: “Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognising the sacrificial victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself…”
When we hear these words being read, it is difficult for us to imagine that we are celebrating a renewal covenant celebration with a God who loves us so passionately and unconditionally.
Yours etc.,
Pat Seaver,
Farranshone, Limerick.
Why won’t Archbishop Viganò make himself available to be interviewed?
Dear Editor, One of the many interesting aspects of your ‘100 questions on the Viganò allegations’ (IC 13/9/2018) was how it pointed to ways in which Archbishop Viganò’s claims could be supported, if there’s truth to them. The fact that the archbishop can cite letters by precise dates, for instance, suggests that he has contemporary records of them: shouldn’t he produce them for others’ inspection?
One obvious question wasn’t asked, though: why hasn’t the archbishop made himself available to be interviewed by people other than those with whom he has conspired? That reticence looks even more damning that his slipshod ‘testimony’.
Yours etc.,
Geraldine Kelly,
Drogheda, Co. Louth.
