Dear Editor, If ever there was a case of a picture being worth a thousand words, the map accompanying your analysis of changes in Clogher Diocese (‘Mission-focused parishes: a vision for the laity’ IC 20/9/2018) was it. Just 52 men in diocesan formation for formation across Ireland, and that’s including those men doing a propaedeutic year in Spain before starting in Maynooth or Rome!
It’s easy to look at the dioceses with no seminarians at all and to point fingers, but let’s be honest: none of our dioceses are in rude health in this respect, and this over a year after we established our own national office for vocations.
For contrast, it’s worth looking over at England and Wales, where, with an active Catholic population roughly the same size as our own, last year 43 men entered formation, with 30 the year before that, 45 the year before that, and 48 the year before that! If those figures aren’t staggering enough, look at the figures for new seminarians alone: 29 in 2017, 26 in 2016, 37 in 2015, 42 in 2014, and 32 in 2013. With 166 men starting seminary in just five years, it’s hard to believe that our neighbours don’t have four times as many seminarians as we do.
Is it really likely that God is continuing to call for priests in England, but has somehow decided that Ireland is in need of a new model of Church, one that can almost do without clergy? Isn’t it more likely that other factors are making it harder for the men of Ireland to hear and answer God’s call?
Yours etc.,
Lisa Byrne,
Rathmines, Dublin 6.
Time for a renewal of preaching in Ireland
Dear Editor, I write to respond to the very interesting article by Colm Fitzpatrick, ‘The age-old question: How long should a homily be?’ (IC 20/9/2018). I am a layman who has been listening to homilies for nearly 70 years, and I wish to share a few ideas on this subject with your readers, in the spirit of trying to be helpful. I believe that inspired preaching comes from the Holy Spirit, and so the preacher needs to spend time in prayer to the Holy Spirit before attempting to preach the Word of God. As St Paul said: “No one can say Jesus is Lord, unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” During the sermon at Sunday Mass, it is God who speaks through the words of the preacher, and this will simply not work unless the speaker spends time listening in prayer before attempting to preach.
I also feel that all preaching needs to be Christ-centred as the whole purpose of the homily is to convert people to Christ. Inspired preaching was the main means used by the apostles to the early Church to stimulate faith in Jesus of Nazareth. The sermons recorded in Acts are good examples of this early preaching. Much of our preaching today seems to be aimed at the head, rather than the heart, and unless both are engaged, conversion to Christ is simply not possible.
When St Ignatius was sending St Francis Xavier on mission to the East, they were both standing on a beach watching the sun rising. Ignatius said to Francis: “Go and set the world on fire.” We need the fire of the Holy Spirit in Ireland today to renew Christian faith, and I would like to see the possibility of spreading this fire through preaching extended to those laypeople, men and women, who have received the charism of inspired preaching. Such people would, of course, have to be trained, and commissioned by the local bishop, but I know many suitable lay candidates who could hold the attention of a congregation for a lot more than five minutes. Finally, could I appeal to preachers not to write the whole sermon and simply read it to us. Some notes are fine, but the reading of the whole sermon dramatically reduces its effectiveness
Thank you for considering my suggestions for a renewal of preaching in our country.
Yours etc.,
Peter Boucher,
Derry, Co. Derry.
Should we establish a Day of Atonement?
Dear Editor, September 19, 2019 was a sad day for Ireland. Our President signed into law the abortion Bill giving the State the power to terminate the unborn. Perhaps we should, like the Jewish people. set aside a day each year to mark the commencement of Ireland’s Holocaust. Our Day of Atonement could be September 19 each year.
Yours etc.,
James M. Bourke,
Terenure, Dublin 6w.
Pro-abortion campaign was based on lies
Dear Editor, I certainly do not agree with Fr Joe McDonald’s defence of his complimenting the Together for Yes campaign for abortion by describing it as a “wonderful campaign” (IC 20/9/2018). It beggars belief that he could describe the campaign as such when it was based on lies and silencing of those who wished to protect the unborn baby. From using the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, which was caused by sepsis and dreadful medical neglect, and preventing the voices of those hurt by abortion being heard, together with the vilification of pro life advocates, it was disgraceful and in no way deserving of admiration.
The losers in the campaign were not those of us in pro life but the countless babies who will not now be allowed to be born. Anyone speaking for them can only continue to fight against the culture of death which now envelopes our land. It is so sad that this has been self-inflicted and this can only be partially excused by the constant promotion of untruths and ignoring of facts of what was involved by vested interests claiming a cloak of ‘compassion’ . No, we are not “sore losers” but are brokenhearted at the consequences which will ensue here in the destruction of innocent life for any reason or none.
How could that ever be a cause for anything but deep sorrow and regret?
Yours etc.,
Mary Stewart,
Donegal Town, Co. Donegal.
Denialism still blights our Church
Dear Editor, Mark Quinn’s letter on Ireland’s low vocational numbers (‘There’s a lot to be positive about’ IC 20/9/2018), is a depressing example of the kind of denialism that somehow still blights the Irish Church.
Yes, we know that there among the vast numbers of men who studied for the priesthood in decades past there were men who should never have been allowed past the seminary gate, but the fact remains that the vast majority of our priests were decent and dedicated men, and surely in many cases the equal at least of the seminarians of today.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense either to talk of today’s rigorous processes for discerning the suitability of men for seminary as though this is somehow responsible – and in a good way, of course – for today’s low seminary intake. Is Mr Quinn somehow suggesting that legions of would-be clergy are hammering at the doors of our vocations directors, begging to be allowed to serve God’s people at the altar, but that the vast majority of these are turned away as somehow unsuitable?
Mr Quinn’s call for prayer is, of course, spot on, but I fear God is calling us to do more than that. After all, we’ve been told a few times now that Ireland’s youth are far more inclined than almost all those elsewhere in Europe to identify as Catholic and to pray. Surely some of them must be hearing God’s call – are they being taught to listen when they pray?
Yours etc.,
Emma Fitzgerald,
Lucan, Co. Dublin.
Those left untended are victims too
Dear Editor, John Allen’s column ‘Abuse bombshell effects Church’s ability to help children’ (IC 20/9/2018), was especially disheartening in how it pointed to a vast category of people who the abuse crisis has hurt. Those abused have always been first and foremost the primary victims of abuse, and people who work in the field talk about the wounded loved ones of the abused and indeed those who were close to abusers and feel betrayed and haunted by their actions as secondary victims.
But that there could be tertiary victims, suffering people whose sufferings are left untended and who are deprived of help because abusers and those who have protected them have destroyed the credibility of the Church that could help them, is a tragic reality we forget all too often.
Yours etc.,
Bernadette O’Leary,
Dundalk, Co. Louth.