Dear Editor, We have a Pope, a Holy Father who is continuing the process of renewing the Catholic Church and caring for us his Children. In time the intransigent oldies in the hierarchy will, with God’s help be overcome. There are of course many intransigent minds among us lay folk also.
So many thoughts run through my mind, some heretical by the old mind but maybe worthy of thought by others. Change could mean larger congregations and more cash in the collection box; not a sufficient reason for change but a consideration nevertheless.
Take the Sacrament of Confession: “go show yourself to a priest” we learned and we practised, but not any more for a number of reasons. The good Lord knows our minds and our sins ; to confess to our sins in, and as a congregation, and do so in a meditative situation expressing sorrow, remorse and proper intention, could very well be sufficient to clear many, many minds of the burden of sin. Would, could the Church agree to such? I could suggest radical changes in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Enough said for the day.
A less problematic area might be the area of the Mass where the congregation has to be quiet and be entertained as it were by the celebrant’s reading of long passages, especially leading to the Pater Noster. Could not the congregation be invited to join with the celebrant in these important prayers?
Huge cathedrals were built over the centuries for purposes of power, pomp and ceremony, with high-ranking executives of the Church suitably dressed in multi-coloured robes parading to the altar, in buildings not at all conducive to prayer. We can’t do much about the church buildings, but could sell off the robes straightaway.
The refusal by Catholic Church authorities in Ireland to include prayers in Irish, the language in which we spoke to God for hundreds of years and thereby imbedded belief in God in the Irish mind, was a retrograde step, to be deplored.
Just some thoughts from one who attends Sunday Mass, in Irish, diligently and weekday Mass as occasion arises. A sinner? Yes. A believer in the Catholic Church ? Yes.
Yours etc.,
Barra Ó Caoimh
Blackrock, Cork.