Dear Editor, Election 2016 is probably the most important the country has faced since the foundation of the State. In all previous elections we voted for the party or candidate who we believed would do the best for the country. This time the choice will be to vote for who will do the least damage to the country.
This may seem very negative but it is the reality of the situation. There is an understandable desire to get rid of ‘the old shower’ and elect ‘progressive’ representatives on the basis that they are ‘all the same’. This is true to the extent that they have believed that what the mainstream media is saying is what the public wants, when in fact it is merely this same media constantly spouting their own so-called ‘liberal’ agenda. This is anything but ‘liberal’ and seeks to bully any opposing voice. Saying “a plague on all your houses” and not voting is sticking your head in the sand and merely yielding the ground to the bullies. You must vote, but whatever way you vote, be careful what you wish for – an awful lot of damage can be done in five years!
Yours etc.,
Pat Conneely,
Glasnevin, Dublin 11.
Child safeguarding must facilitate rather than impede youth ministry
Dear Editor, An ever increasing number of young people are not engaging with their Catholic faith. Recently a priest friend who wished to bring a group including some under 18s on pilgrimage, finally had to refuse them due to excessive child safeguarding regulation.
A wonderful young man who organises youth retreats relayed to me how he had been told by a certain diocese that 15-year-olds were not allowed to stay overnight even though they had parental consent and more than adequate supervision. There is no doubt that child safeguarding is a priority. The GAA, other clubs and the State have their safeguarding policies but still manage to function or even grow.
Our policies must be robust but if they strangle youth ministry, then they are too tight. We need children, youth and family ministry if the Church is to have a future. Therefore, policies should be thought of from the ground up. We need an approach to child safeguarding that asks: “What policies do we need in place to make youth ministry happen, while protecting both youth and leaders?” Not “Here are the policies. Implement them even if they make ministry nigh on impossible”.
The majority of meetings for clergy over the last decade have been about safeguarding. While necessary, if there is no talk of mission or growth, it is very demoralising for them.
Safeguarding policies without ministry doesn’t improve our credibility either. We must actively work with young people to do that. Every time we talk about safeguarding, we bolster people’s mental association of the Church with abuse. To counter that, we need to engage with young people through youth camps and increased presence of formed priests in schools.
We must ensure our child safeguarding policies facilitate rather than impede youth ministry before our ageing Church collapses.
Yours etc.,
Fr Patrick Cahill,
Mitchelstown,
Co. Cork.
The perfect time to mark the Year of Mercy
Dear Editor, The great season of Lent reminds us again of the merciful nature of God the Divine Judge.
Pope Francis through the current jubilee Year of Mercy reminds us that divine justice and divine mercy are not mutually exclusive.
Great preparation for the recollection of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection at Easter which Lent provides us with, would be to couple giving up the usual treats – which if partially for health ideas i.e. give up sweets etc. strike me as not penance and mortification as its properly understood – could be the taking up of something. This could be both temporal and spiritual, but involving the sacrifice of time. Time to be with someone who needs you or some other cause. Or reading the Gospel of Luke, the great gospel of mercy. Or the St Pope John Paul II encyclical Dives in Misericordia, which focusses on both the justice and mercy of God.
As Pope Francis reminds us Jubilee years and indulgences go hand in hand. But to me the Holy Father has inspired me to give up by taking up. That is taking up reading the above works, attending as best as one can additional liturgies (Station of the Cross) and the Rosary. And to offer the fruits of these spiritual works through the Jubilee indulgence to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
This Lenten season in this Year of Mercy is a gift.
Yours etc.,
Christopher Keeffe,
Middlesex,
England.
Questions for canvassing election candidates
Dear Editor, Apart from bread and butter issues such as housing; there are two questions which I wish to put to every politician I am speaking to prior to the election:
1. Do you support the protection of unborn life as enshrined in our Constitution? It has been estimated that the Eighth Amendment since 1983, has been responsible for saving the lives of 150,000 Irish people, who would otherwise have been aborted. While it may not be perfect, this amendment is now the only legal protection we have for our most dependent children.
2. Why are unsuitable courses being foisted upon our primary school children? The proposed course on world religions from an outsiders/atheist point of view, would only serve to confuse our children and undermine the faith formation work of parents. When children are struggling to master their alphabet, we do not confuse them with other alphabets, no matter how interesting.
Neither should we interfere with that faith formation which is designed to support and direct our children for the rest of their lives.
Also information and discussion on lesbian, gay, and transgender issues are not appropriate to children at primary level. Let the children be children! Why encourage them to question the objective reality of their own sexuality at such an early age?
I hope it is not raining when the politicians call!
Yours etc.,
Eamon Fitzpatrick,
Strandhill Road,
Sligo.
Could another form of ministry work parallel to the priesthood?
Dear Editor, Your letter of the week from Peter Boucher (IC 28/01/2016) rightly calls for radical action within the Church in view of the falling numbers of priests, and its likely effect on access to the Eucharist.
Perhaps the way forward is to consider a parallel model, in which others within the Church could be empowered to lead the Eucharist, but not fulfil other current roles of the priesthood.
Christ said “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. The current male celibate model of priesthood, and the various powers, responsibilities now associated with it, has developed over time and is not something unchanged from early Christian times. There is no fundamental reason that the Church, while remaining faithful to the Gospel and tradition, could not maintain the current model, but also allow in parallel, extending apostolic succession with regard to celebrating the Eucharist, to some single and married people, male or female. Although some would say that extending this ministry to women contradicts tradition, I would point out that St Paul, surely reflecting at least some significant strand of opinion in the very early Church, made clear that our differences, of all sorts, including gender, are insignificant compared to our unity in Christ.
Those ordained for such a ministry could continue their life and work in the community, and not represent a financial or organisational liability on the Church (again like St Paul who insisted on working to pay his away!).
Perhaps the Irish bishops could take a lead in exploring variations along this line of thinking. By grasping this difficult nettle now, the Irish Church could do a great service not only to the dwindling community of believers in Ireland, but to the future of the Church worldwide
Yours etc.,
Martin Clynes,
Clontarf, Dublin 3.