Dear Editor,
It was heartwarming to read how the Vatican has given permission for an investigation to begin into the sanctity of Fr Ragheed Ganni and his fellow martyred clerics, opening the door to these inspirational men being raised to the altars of the Church (IC 17/5/2018). Anyone who knows anything about these men won’t doubt their holiness, and the fact that the died for Christ and the Church is beyond dispute.
At the same time, it’s remarkable to think that Irish people could be praying for heroic Iraqi martyrs to be recognised by the Church, when we tend so often to ignore our own martyrs. Over the course of a century and a half from the Reformation on, hundreds of Irish Catholics were imprisoned, tortured, and executed at the hands of our British rulers and those who would work with them, and with the exception of St Oliver Plunkett we hardly ever even speak of them.
Sure, for a long time Irish Catholics perhaps didn’t want to speak of a time when we were impoverished and oppressed, and our Faith was a furtive thing, but the time of triumphalism is long gone, driven out by the challenges of modernity, vacuous catechesis, and the betrayal of the Church by those clergy who took advantage of their positions to hurt children or who looked the other way on finding out what had happened.
Our Church in Ireland is a chastened Church now, in the main, but it is also a Church facing a new persecution, not a time of brutal torture like before but instead a more insidious oppression, one that squeezes us out of public life, that hushes our voices in the public square, that denies the reality that ordinary parishes and orders built our education and healthcare system when our nascent state barely had two shillings to rub together.
If we need inspiration in these darkening times, shouldn’t we look to our ancestors? Is it time for a cult of the Irish Martyrs?
Yours etc.,
Barbara Madden,
Swords, Co. Dublin.
Let’s hope planning for Pope’s Mass is realistic
Dear Editor,
Your story about how the Phoenix Park will be ready for 600,000 people for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families (IC 17/5/2018) was encouraging in a way, but raised some very obvious questions.
Some months ago Amárach Research did a poll for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live and found that 18% of Irish people plan on attending the Pope’s Mass when he visits Ireland in August, with a further 19% being unsure whether they would attend or not.
I don’t know if this polling took place in the Republic alone or in the North too, but assuming it was the former and that our population is roughly 4.8 million now – that’s roughly what the CSO estimates – this means that over 850,000 people definitely intend to see the Pope in the Park, with as many people again open to doing so. And all this without including Catholics from the North!
I don’t think any of us expects 1.7 million people to flock to the Phoenix Park to see the Pope, but still, it may be that the State is underestimating how many people are really likely to gather with Peter’s latest successor for Mass. I hope contingency plans are in place!
Yours etc.,
Richard O’Connor,
Lucan, Co. Dublin.
When art and Faith meet…
Dear Editor,
Claire Giangravé’s article on the Catholicism-influenced Met Gala (IC 10/5/2018) was fascinating and thought-provoking. Having seen online lots of the outfits worn at the fashion extravaganza, it’s fair to say that some of them at least verged on sacrilegious, but maybe that’s always a risk when art and Faith meet. The event was a rare privileged opportunity for the Church to speak with modern culture; who knows what seeds have been sown?
Yours etc.,
Helen Fitzgerald,
Clondalkin, Dublin 22.
Attack on the Eucharist/Mass is truly shocking
Dear Editor,
The recent description of the Eucharist/Mass as “evil” by Clogher Valley Free Presbyterian Minster Peter McIntyre has evoked a shocked response from those who understand and love the Eucharist.
We cherish the Eucharist because it is one of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s last and very important commandments: “Do this in memory of me.”
Rev. McIntyre’s article was then defended by Wallace Thompson, editor of Ulster Bulwark (IC 26/54/2018), that published the article, which, of course, also denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Against this fraught unecumenical background, Mr Thompson would later state: “The issues outlined by Martin Luther 500 years ago have not gone away, they are still there and are every bit as significant now as they were back then.”
I was struck by the historical irony of this.
The great Martin Luther always believed in the Real Presence — deeply, profoundly, and devoutly.
But this does not seem to matter to spokesmen of the Free Presbyterians in the wee North. … Neither does the fact that the World Lutheran Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Anglican/Episcopalian Church, and the World Methodist Council have all reached historic agreement on Justification (salvation by grace) with the Catholic Church.
Are the members of the Free Presbyterian Church even aware of these wonderful ecumenical advances and agreements? Are they told from the pulpits about how the Holy Spirit is —slowly, but surely— bringing about the unity for which Christ prayed? Or, are they being kept in the dark?
That is not a rhetorical question. I really want to know the answer, please.
Yours etc.,
Fr Sean Mc Manus,
Washington DC, USA.
The ACP does not represent me as a priest
Dear Editor,
Michael Kelly’s editorial piece (IC 10/5/2018), on the leadership of the ACP’s intervention on the abortion referendum, was a masterful analysis of the malaise in that organisation.
For the very reason of that leadership and its obvious agenda, I would not, as a priest, touch the ACP with a 10-foot barge pole. They do not – never have and never will – speak for, or in any way represent me, as a priest.
St Paul’s warning to the elders of the Church at Ephesus is very pertinent in regard to certain prominent men in the ACP: “Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood. I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard….” (Acts 20:28-31)
The comments made by the ACP on the abortion referendum are a shocking negation of their solemn duty, as pastors of the Lord’s flock, to give clear and direct teaching and guidance, on the intrinsic evil of intentional abortion.
The only vote that a faithful Catholic can cast on May 25 is a No vote. It is sheer diabolical deception, for a minister of the Lord to say anything otherwise, or to equivocate or sow confusion, in this regard.
I believe that those men in the ACP, who are responsible for this appalling betrayal of the bishops and priests of Ireland and of God’s People, will answer for it at the Judgement Chair of the Good Shepherd, when He requires His flock at our hands (Ezekiel 34:10-11).
Yours etc.,
Fr Patrick McCafferty PP,
Belfast,
Co. Antrim.
Making a virtue of necessity
Dear Editor,
Your article on reducing the number of parishes in Ireland to move from a ‘maintenance mindset’ (IC 10/5/2018) seems not merely a no brainer, but a situation where our Church could make a virtue of necessity. We surely need to realise that while closing and merging parishes may be sad, this is the only way forward – we need to think of this not as retreating because we’re beaten, but retreating so we can gather our strength and set out again afresh and renewed.
That, at least, seemed to be the sense of Cardinal Eijk’s talk in Waterford last month (IC 17/4/2018), and reading how the Bishop of Pittsburgh has reduced his diocese from 188 parishes to 57 should help us in Ireland to find the courage to do likewise. There may have been a time when the Archdiocese of Dublin needed 200 or so parishes, but if we’re honest, we have to admit that that time is not now. A streamlined Church looks like our best hope going forward.
Yours etc.,
Sheila O’Leary,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.