Battering the beleaguered bishops is neither going to spur them into effective action nor is it going to hasten reconciliation, writes Dom Mark Patrick Hederman
In 2008 I was elected Abbot of Glenstal Abbey. This vote could not be ratified in Rome, however, unless I, who had been a brother monk for almost 50 years, was prepared to be ordained a priest. As I believed the Holy Spirit was asking me to take this step on behalf of my brothers, and as there were no impediments to my receiving the required sacrament, I agreed to be fast-tracked to ordination one month after my election. About a year later I was invited to the inaugural meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests and I was seriously pressed to join their ranks. I was sympathetic to this cause but I don’t like being pushed too much in the space of a couple of months. Also I had both personal and objective reasons for not joining the ranks, and these have not diminished in the meantime.
Of course, how could anyone not feel sympathetic towards such a hard-working and dedicated group of people who had given their whole lives to the service of the Church and to its people, and who now found themselves in what has been described by objective outsiders as “a national trauma.” From at least the year 1992, the “safe, secure and confident clerical world” had disappeared at speed because of seismic shifts in the institutional Church.
Pandemic
Although it is a recognized fact that the near pandemic of child abuse in Ireland during the 20th Century found most of its percentages and perpetrators within family life itself, this statistic never hit the headlines. The certainly horrific, extensive, and inexcusable crimes committed by however small a number of clergy became the scapegoat, the monster upon whom the understandably enraged public vented its spleen. This, in turn, created a situation of uncertainty and terror for members of the clergy, who found it difficult to trust that justice would be theirs in such a hostile atmosphere. Priests were losing confidence in Church leadership, who seemed ready to throw them into limbo at any allegation of sexual misconduct. Innocent until proven guilty became guilty until [sometimes even years later] integrity was upheld in court. By that time your reputation had been irreparably damaged, people surmising that there could have been no smoke without some fire.
All this added to a diminishing number of already ageing clergy; a complete lack of sufficient vocations in preparation; a huge increase in workload, which should normally be getting lighter as one grew older; and the prospect of a lonely, perhaps comfortless old age, without affection or esteem. Where could priests turn to find sustaining company? The National Conference of Priests of Ireland (NCPI), set up by the bishops as an official Church body representing all priests, was to all intents and purposes, defunct, so the beleaguered clergy had no organisation they could turn to where they might hope to be treated with dignity and respect. Some found themselves ostracised pariahs, “often pitied, patronised, reviled, insulted, disrespected, ignored and resented.” So, it was perfectly understandable that this small group of pastors would seek some organised way of trying to establish solidarity and fellowship for the embattled loners in their ranks; nor was it surprising that they would soon be joined by over a thousand others. And so it was, and so it is. And I fully commend the ACP for this and would urge you to provide for your members all the care and community that you can.
For myself, I had never had any desire to be a priest and I was not ready, in the second year after my ordination, to become a member of what looked like to me a clerical trade union. Forming a group or confraternity for reasons of psychological security or social solidarity is one thing; turning it into a political organisation is another. My fear was that this group would become political and that my voice as a constituent member would be used by the leadership as part of a battering ram to attack the official leadership of the Church. Critical appraisal and fraternal correction might be valuable and positive, but on each occasion I would need to be insistent upon consultation and consensus among the membership before any declarations or critiques would be published in my name as a member of a whole group.
In this I believe that my misgivings were not unfounded. I give one small recent example which will be symptomatic. In September, Pope Francis issued a Motu Proprio, entitled Magnum Principium, in which he transferred responsibility for the translation of liturgical texts from the central authorities in Rome to the local bishop. This means, hopefully, that we will not have to suffer for too much longer the texts of the new missal which were imposed upon the whole English speaking world – although, don’t hold your breath in anticipation of much change here for some time. The very next day a statement is issued by the ACP “welcoming the Pope’s move on liturgical translations.” My question here would have been: how is it possible to gather a consensus of approval from the members of the ACP overnight; and on whose authority was such a statement (no matter what its content) published on my behalf? Even in a lightning world of ‘text, twitter and tweet,’ who hears news on Saturday, so they can confidently speak on Sunday, in the name of 1,000 voices who have been personally canvassed and convinced. Especially when it continues that “the ACP hopes that our bishops will quickly take this matter in hand, so that Irish Catholics will no longer have to endure the very unsatisfactory translation of the liturgy currently in use.” Three swipes in one paragraph and all purporting to come from me, if I happen to be a member.
If you are a political organisation then you should definitely examine your methodology and your goals. If the ACP is trying to change things and to galvanise the bishops of this country into positive action, then even the most junior politician and unseasoned diplomat would tell them that they are going about it in the wrong way. Calling the bishops spineless nerds and sycophantic half-wits is not going to encourage them to adopt your point of view. Nor is the repeated accusation that they “made every effort to distance themselves from the ACP, to exclude it and diminish its effectiveness.” Battering the beleaguered bishops is neither going to spur them into effective action nor is it going to hasten reconciliation. Politicians, even, have to adapt their methods to achieve their goals. It must be clear to everyone by now that the bishops we have are the ones we are stuck with for the foreseeable future; and if we want to get anything done in the Church in this country we have to get them on our side. And, I would have to say, they are not all as bad as painted by your leadership. In fact, for the most part, many of their flock would hold that they are more pleasant, less pompous, and more approachable than others from the past, whom alternative procedures put in place.
And so, my message to you, members of the ACP, is this: please understand that we love you dearly, we need you badly and never more so than now. If it is true that Pope Francis is trying to effect a velvet revolution in the world-wide Church; and if this revolution is to be carried out through the various synods which the bishops and priests are asked to convoke in every diocese, whereby the voices of all the faithful in the Church can be heard, we cannot do without you, we need your help. If such initiatives, to consult with, and galvanise, the laity, are to be proliferated here in Ireland, this cannot happen without your enthusiastic commitment and support. In such an overall endeavour, the only possible logjams are where the priests fail to collect the data and the bishops fail to bring these to the attention of the Pope; you alone can prevent either hijack, if prevention is possible. The Holy Spirit, this Pope is saying, can use any one of these voices to make known where the Three Persons of the Trinity want the Church to move, and his charism, as Pope, is to discern which voice is the carrier, and where that voice is speaking the truth.
Discernment
How can he make that discernment unless as many voices as possible are heard and the substance of those utterances are brought back to him? As Pope Francis will be visiting Ireland next year, it is imperative that this work be completed, and you as priests are best placed to convoke your congregations and listen to them. Whence you can be the carriers of our messages to the bishops in the first place, and then to the Pope, so that a renewed and more inclusive Church may grace us all in this country for the rest of this century. It is a new and daring exercise in infallibility: where the Sensus Fidelium, [sense, or instinct of the faithful] that under-utilised source of truth in the Church, is activated and the Holy Spirit chooses from the multitude the one who will allow God’s voice to be heard; and where the recognition of that voice, and the verification of its authenticity, belongs to the particular charism of the Pope.
In such circumstances, it seems to me to be an unfortunate anachronism that the ACP choose to play Fletcher Christian to Captain Bligh in yet one more remake of Mutiny on the Bounty. The fact is that both Fletcher Christian and Captain Bligh are now in the same life-boat rowing for the shore for all they are worth, while the Bounty, like the Titanic, is gradually sinking.
As far as the general public are concerned, bishops and priests are in the same boat, they are all part of the problem, an oligarchy with all the power of the institution they head up. In other words, the plea is this: stop wrecking our heads and hoisting the Jolly Roger while sending shots across the bow of every passing schooner, as if you were pirates on an open sea.
Please help us to pull or to push together at this crucial time, so that all these well-meaning efforts don’t collapse into helplessness.
I am reminded of the Hopi Elders, that Native American Tribe who now live on a reservation in North-eastern Arizona. They have passed on to us this message, so often quoted by the late John O’Donohue:
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.
There are things to be considered.
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
Push off into the middle of the river.
Keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with us and celebrate.
At this time in history we are to take nothing personally,
Least of all ourselves.
For the moment that we do,
Our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather ourselves.
Banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Mark Patrick Hederman OSB is a monk of Glenstal Abbey. This is an abridged version of a speech he gave at the annual general meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Athlone, Co. Westmeath.