Peter Costello
Dissonant Voices: Faith and the Irish Diaspora
edited by Conn McGahhann (Institute for Theological Partnerships Publishing, £10.00)
This book presents a selection of the papers read at a conference held in the London Irish Centre two years ago. Diaspora is given a very wide interpretation for the topics range from the 17th Century exiles in Europe, through Irish emigrants in Victorian England and later, to modern Latin America.
A special focus is on the influences and experiences of liberation theology on Irish priests. The contributors represent a range of interests too, from Fr Des Wilson through to Prof. Oliver Raferty and Fr Gerry McFlynn. However, in considering the Church as a religious and political force, the writers have in mind less a hierarchical body dedicated to preserving the status quo (or even to restoring a past eminence of influence), but rather to a body dedicated to facing and coping with the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.
The collection is neatly characterised by the editor in his preface: “This collection is a précis of radical Catholic orthodoxy emanating from Ireland; a trend which has been influential upon the activities of the Church globally and itself has been influenced by the movements in the Universal Church.”
Hostile
In the diaspora the Church provided Irish people with a sense of identity in an often hostile new society – I have seen this at work in both North America and Britain. Though much justified criticism has been levelled at the Irish Church – or rather the leaders of the Church – for abuses and failure in recent years, the papers suggest that the sloughing off of the old skin of religion, which many lament, overlooks the past and continuing importance to Ireland and the world of those great numbers of men and women whose aims were quite otherwise.
These were people for whom social justice in the light of the Gospels was pre-eminent. This is a vital little book with a broad perspective which should not be neglected. P.C.