Pastoral Ministry in Changing Times: The Past, Present & Future of the Catholic Church in Ireland
by Aidan Ryan (Messenger Publications, €12.95)
Aidan Ryan has been occupied for many years with pastoral retreats for the clergy. This has brought him very close to the problems, fears and hopes of those who serve in parishes across the country. In this book he had collected together some ten articles he has published since 2006 in the pages of The Furrow dealing with various aspects of clerical life.
Significantly, the earliest dealt with ‘clergy morale’. In the 14 years since then, circumstances cannot be said to have improved. One cannot but agree with his dissention when he is reaching for a conclusion that the ‘Faith’ of the people is ‘ecclesiocentric’ rather than ‘Christocentric’. But as the numbers to be seen in churches on Sundays shrink, even that attachment is in decline.
People speak of the decline in vocations since, say, 1950. But the truth may be that the impulse that drove many vocations then is still there, but it does not find its fulfilment in an ordination, but in work in the world.
Perhaps then (though Fr Aidan does not say this) the priests of the future will also work in the world, as they did in the very brief post-war ‘worker priest’ movement, bringing the Gospel as they live it directly into the everyday lives of others.
This is a book to arouse many reflections, and not all of them will be for some comfortable ones.
Modern Culture & Well-being; Towards a Sustainable Future
edited by Catherine Conlon (Veritas, €14.99)
This wide ranging book brings together some 20 essays on aspects of modern life, and the effects of obesity, addiction and mental health. How are we to support well-being, physical, mental and spiritual, in an environment threatened by staggering changes?
The pieces are of variable quality and value, but many of the ideas will be found stimulating. This book was prepared and printed before the present crisis, and many of the hopes and attitudes expressed here will inevitably be altered by what Irish society is going through now. Until this pandemic is passed the world, let alone Ireland, cannot see the way forward.
But while so many are under lock-down, and able to concentrate, in a way not previously possible, on important questions without distractions, perhaps new ideas will emerge. Hopefully we may in later years come to see this period of isolation as a ‘think-in’ which will produce remarkable results.
Proclaiming God’s Name to Multitudes
by Eamon Flanagan (Kolbe Publications, €7.99)
The is the latest volume of poetry from a Vincentian priest now based in what is really the heart of the modern city, that ‘church at the crossroads’ up in Phibsborough, Dublin, a place from which it is possible to observe the changing religious and social scene in Ireland, and to comment on it.
That Eamon Flanagan manages to write poetry in these hectic and dangerous times is itself a sign that creativity and imagination are still widely active in Ireland, and that, as much as his insightful poetry, is a cheering fact.