Dear Editor, I write in response to your article in last week’s paper (IC 21//01/2016) which suggests that the Archdiocese of Dublin could face a 70% drop in the number of its priests by the year 2030. The research paper concludes that the optimal solution to the priest shortage in the diocese “is probably a combination of reduced Masses and combined parishes”. I beg to differ.
Instead of number crunching (was I the only reader bewildered by the avalanche of statistics in the article?), I suggest that we try to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church through the present crisis. This crisis, far from being a disaster, is actually a great grace, if we respond appropriately. An old model of priesthood is dying and a new one is being born. What will ministry look like in the future?
Fr Gareth Byrne, chairman of the Dublin diocese Council of Priests, is right to suggest that we need to train more parish pastoral workers and permanent deacons, and encourage lay people to discover their call to ministry, implicit in their Baptism. However, deacons and lay ministers cannot celebrate the Eucharist, “the source and summit of the Christian Life”. Pope Francis has invited bishops’ conferences to apply to Rome for permission to ordain suitable married men if there is pastoral need, as there certainly is in Ireland today.
Why is our bishops’ conference not responding to the Pope’s invitation, instead of closing churches, clustering parishes, importing foreign priests and asking Irish priests over 75 to remain in ministry? The Holy Spirit is speaking loud and clear for those who have ears to hear.
Yours etc.,
Peter Boucher,
Derry,
Co. Derry.
RTÉ’s characterisation of archbishop ‘bizarre’
Dear Editor, Four episodes into RTÉ’s long-anticipated Rebellion, and I find myself fully agreeing with Brendan O’Regan’s view (IC 21/01/16) that the show is a disappointment, each episode weaker than the last.
The rendering of Archbishop William Walsh was especially bizarre, with Barry McGovern dialling in a stage villain prelate.
“They’re hooligans, Fr Mulcahy, and I forbid you to have anything more to do with them,” screenwriter Colin Teevan has the archbishop say, continuing, “The most pressing concern is to preserve the treasures of Mother Church. We must see to the safety of all moveable Church property.” In response to a question from the fictional Fr Mulcahy about what duties are owed to the people, he closes the conversation by decreeing, “Our primary duty is to the Church.”
Cue later scenes of clergy scurrying about with candlesticks, and Fr Mulcahy surreptitiously aiding the rebels despite Dr Walsh’s instructions. To watch the show you’d never imagine that numerous Dublin clergy – including several from the pro-cathedral after a request from the archbishop’s secretary for a priest to hear Confessions in the GPO – were heavily involved ministering to frightened, injured and dying people across Dublin, as mentioned in the 1916 special edition of this paper (IC 17/12/2015).
Neither would anyone have imagined from watching the programme, that the Archbishop of Dublin had spent the first couple of days of the Rising ill in bed, and on the third day was only able to struggle as far as his drawing room, or that Dr Walsh knew many of the rebels and would hardly have described them, as in Rebellion, as “hooligans”.
Would it have hurt to have done a little research?
Yours etc.,
Simon O’Leary,
Lucan, Co. Dublin.
Catholics still make up majority of Irish population
Dear Editor, According to the 2011 census, the Roman Catholic (RC) population of the Republic was 84.2%. The same census indicates that atheists amounted to just 3,905 people, but even if you add in all the non and anti-Roman Catholics you still get just over 10% of the population who are not RC.
Put another way, just under 85% of the taxes are raised by RCs while admitted secularists pay just over 4%.
While Article 42.4 of the English version of the Constitution provides that the State shall provide free primary education, we all know that it does not. While Minister Jan O’Sullivan pretends for example that same-sex marriage shall be taught, we all know that it only may be taught. And of course, despite their best wishes, Educate Together means in practice educate separately from the 85%.
And at the same time faith schools in the North are among those who make that province top in education in the UK.
So, if Minister O’Sullivan wishes to take over RC schools, let her repay me the taxes that my family paid to fund those schools as well as the voluntary contributions that we made, as constitutionally she must.
Yours etc.,
Gerald Murphy,
Marley Grange, Dublin 16.
Campaign against Good Friday drinks ban is profit-driven
Dear Editor, I am glad to see that the Government has shown good sense and ruled out any change to the trading rules which ban the sale of alcohol on Good Friday, despite a campaign from vintners. However, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald only said she won’t be doing it “this year” and that it would be considered under new alcohol laws, so this debate will erupt again next year.
As the president of the Pioneers said in last week’s paper (IC 21/01/2015) Good Friday is just one day of the year. Is it really so hard to abstain from the pub for one day? Anyone who wants a drink on Good Friday can stock up in advance and drink at home – and many do!
I have no sympathy for vintners complaining about loss of sales. They make plenty of money out of Ireland’s dysfunctional relationship with alcohol the rest of the year. The idea that the ban is somehow embarrassing or outdated is ridiculous. Other countries have unique laws around alcohol (over 21s only in the USA for example) and tourists manage to cope with them.
This annual debate is being driven by a greedy drinks industry that only cares about its own profit line, and I can only hope that the Government won’t be pressured into bending to the will of alcohol lobbyists.
Yours etc.,
Bridie Buckley,
Douglas,
Co. Cork.
Jewish conversion to Catholicism
Dear Editor, John L. Allen writes (Letter from Rome, IC 21/01/2016) that a priority for Jews in dialogue with Catholicism has been “an acknowledgement that their covenant with God is still valid, so they shouldn’t be asked to convert”. This was obviously not the view of the Chief Rabbi of Rome and Talmudic scholar Israel Zolli, who converted to Catholicism (taking the Christian name ‘Eugenio’ in honour of Pope Pius XII) on February 14, 1945. The Encyclopedia Judaica describes him as an “apostate” for doing so.
Yours etc.,
Kieron Wood,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
Referenda should address real problems
Dear Editor, In the wake of the previous referendum, the alarming ‘yes’ vote leads me to believe that the country is losing its mind. I have been told that the next referendum will be on abortion and I am afraid what might happen. Can we instead have a real referendum in Ireland addressing real problems that need to be solved? I propose the 2016 referendum on censorship of the internet. We could ban prostitution on the web in this country for good! Young people could grow up in a world where they did not accept perversion. And we would be glad together that we make our country a sane, decent, responsible people. The country was not founded by the entertainment industry, secular pagans, or greedy economists. Can we please have a return to basics?
Yours etc.,
Aubrey Bourke,
Terenure,
Dublin 6.
We need the family Rosary back again
Dear Editor, Re Sean Creaney’s letter in the January 7 issue (‘Pray for good weather’). I totally agree with him on asking the good Lord for relief from incessant flooding.
When Our Lady appeared at Mount Mellary she asked people to pray and the downpour stopped.
A retired priest asked our Heavenly Father each Mass he said for suitable weather for the harvest regardless of the time of year.
We need the family Rosary back again as Fr Patrick Peyton said “the family that prays together, stays together”.
Yours etc.,
Johanna Fahy,
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.