Cross made out of palm fronds. The Notebook
Fr Vincent Sherlock
I remember as a child, having a small plastic wallet with a religious medal inside and a printed card which read: “I am a Catholic, in case of accident, please notify a priest”. I don’t know where I got it but I remember having it.
The message was clear. If anything happened to me unexpectedly a priest was to be called. There was a belief that the priest would help me and be there with me at a difficult time. I still see that as a central role of being a priest.
With that in mind, I have found recent weeks to be saddening in the lead up to and the result of the Referendum. There is a real sense of loss that is not so much about percentages as the loss of the meaning of life and God’s creative plan. Though wanting to be with people and needing to be a voice of compassion, much of what we had to say, as priests, went unheeded or was heavily criticised.
Alone
There were many who not alone did not want to call on us but insisted we should be silent. All the while, there was a desire to speak the message of life, in a way that respected its complexities, gave support to parents and highlighted the innocence of the baby in the womb.
There was also a need to promote that message of life in a way that upheld the teachings of our Faith. This same sadness has been the experience of the many fine men and women, who gave freely of their time and who spoke out in defence of life and against abortion in the hope their words would be heard and accepted as a message rooted in compassion.
Compassion
That notion of compassion was often spoken of during the debate and the Church’s crucial link with compassion, which literally means “to suffer together” or “to feel pity” was denied, downplayed and sometimes ridiculed. I truly believe our Church is compassionate, despite its failings, and that parishioners encounter compassion at local level. We mind one another in times of crisis, from people preparing food and directing traffic at funerals, to sitting with loved ones during serious illness.
There is kindness at work in our Church that calls all to do their best.
The little wallet I carried acknowledged me to be a “Catholic” in the event of an accident. If recent weeks have a message for us, it’s that we must be “Catholic” at all times of our lives. To me this means having an eye and ear for the vulnerable. It’s about being a voice seeking to be heard over a roaring crowd – not a voice to control or dominate but one to be heard because it has a message of truth, speaks of peace and of another way – the Christian way.
To be Catholic now is the same as it was to be a Catholic ever. It’s about reflection on our call to live in accordance with God’s plan.
It is about being willing to be a counter-voice when needed and a supportive voice always. It is about sharing sacred space and being open to hear a-fresh, God’s word. It is about only going with the flow if the waters are flowing in a direction that gives glory to God, enhances and enriches all human life.
I am a Catholic. I am willing to come to your side when and if needed. That’s our way!
They came because of a song
On Palm Sunday, almost 80 people joined us for Mass. They were visiting from Michigan, US. Their visit to our parish was, like all the places they visited, in response to a song. In our case the song was ‘Kilkelly Ireland’, a wonderful song about a father’s desire to keep in touch with his emigrant son in the mid to late 1800s.
Something seemed so right about this – that the love of a song would bring people to travel and share a tune. We need to sing more often!
GRAMMAR TIPS!
As thousands of students sit their Junior and Leaving Cert exams these days, we hold them in our prayers and wish them well. I am reminded of a story once told by a teacher who corrected the Leaving Cert English paper.
One student’s work was totally devoid of punctuation. Every answer began with a capital letter and ended with a full stop but nothing, by way of punctuation, in between. On the last page, he had lines of full stops, commas, hyphens, question and quotation marks, colons, semi-colons, etc. and a message: “Dear Examiner, please stick these in where needed”.