lots of weather

I once heard a visitor to New Zealand say that New Zealanders always seem to be talking about the weather. It's not true of course, we don't always talk about weather, but many of our conversations do begin with a weather comment.

Several people from home have emailed in the last few days with comments about the NZ weather this week. My sister emailed also with news about the weather. She added that almost every letter or email from our dad, Con (and he wrote regularly) would comment on the weather.

Kathryn added that perhaps this was because for a man raised on the land, and whose work was affected daily by the weather, whether the weather was wet or dry, cold or hot, was important. Con knew that people's livelihoods could flourish or fail because of the weather.

I recall returning to Greymouth some ten years after I served there as a priest. I visited friends, John and Cora. John reminded me that I had once given a homily on the gospel passage 'God causes the rain to fall on the rich and poor, and the sun to shine on the just and the unjust ...' (Matthew 5:45).

John said that since since that homily he had seen the rain (and on the Coast they had a lot of it) in a different light. Before the homily, rain was the thing that stopped us doing what we wanted to do, mostly busyness and activity. John reminded me that I had invited people to consider the rain as a gift. Apart from nourishing the unique Coast rainforest environment, the rain, especially at a weekend, might just be God saying, sit inside. Relax. Put your feet up. I love you even when you are doing nothing! Rain is an invitation to savour some sabbath rest - even on a Tuesday.

I'm not sure how God copes with our prayers about the weather. The farmers pray for rain, the school wants sun. What is the All-mighty to do? Perhaps God could have devised a system of rain at night (at least a little) and sun every day?

Or might it be that God is trying to remind us that we humans are not in control of the big things at all! Our only intelligent alternative is to relax and to accept what God gives us.

Logic and reason tell us that there is little to be gained from fighting that which we have no control over. The human person is not separate from the world (both past and present). There are many objective factors that (according to divine design) have a significant influence of each moment of every life. Many of these factors are good or at least morally neutral and the healthy person does not fight for immunity from these influences. Other factors are not good. These infections we reject.

I thought more about this last night reading Pope Benedict's words to the Italian Bishops this morning. He was commenting on the challenges facing education. Among many other points he said:

One main root is, it seems to me, a false concept of human autonomy," the Holy Father said. This concept calls for man to develop himself by and for himself, "without impositions from others, who can assist in his self-development, but who cannot enter into the process."

This concept is erroneous, the Pontiff explained, because man's self is defined in relation to others. "It is created for dialogue and for communion," he said.

"Only the encounter with the 'you' and with the 'we' opens the 'I' to himself," the Pope said. "That's why so-called anti-authoritarian education is not education but rather a rejection of education."

"So a first point seems to me to be this one," he stated, "to overcome this false idea of man's autonomy as an 'I' complete in itself."

Last week in Rome it rained. This week the sun is shining. Next week I will probably be complaining about the heat. In the South Island it is too wet and a bit too cold. The wise among us will just relax, and seek (rain or shine) to live fully in whatever weather God sends.

sabbatical update (newsletter note)

a note for Parish Newsletter

St Therese of Lisieux, Chatham Islands

Our Lady of Victories, Sockburn

Sunday 30 May 2010

Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. Pentecost is fifty days after Easter (the Greek word for Pentecost is ‘fifty’: seven times seven weeks, and the fiftieth day is the Jewish feast of ‘first-fruits’). I left Christchurch on Easter Sunday, so I have been away for fifty days.

Retreat

My time began with a priests’ retreat in the United States. It was a wonderful experience to be on retreat with a group of priests. Our time together was led by the Holy Spirit who did not miss the opportunity to speak powerfully through Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete. You will have heard me speak about him before. He is a remarkable character and a powerful witness to God’s presence and action in the world. If you are interested you could watch him on youtube being interviewed five years ago about the new pope Benedict.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/958

Pilgrimage

Following the retreat I had a week’s vacation with friends in the mid-West USA. Then, when I reached New York the ‘excitement’ (that I could have done without) began. Arriving at the airport for my flight to Munich (where I would meet up with the other OLV pilgrims), I learned that all flights to Europe had been cancelled and I should check in tomorrow. The following day the news was that Europe was still under the cloud. My next opportunity to fly would be five days away at the earliest. After spending a couple of hours deciding what to do, I miraculously got a flight direct to Tel Aviv. At this same time I heard that the stranded Singapore pilgrims had experienced a similar miracle and were on their way to Tel Aviv.

Arriving at Tel Aviv I got the news that our pilgrims had been bumped off their Tel Aviv flight and were returning home to Christchurch. Three other pilgrims made it to Israel and the news from the insurance company was that we who had made it would not be covered if we called off the pilgrimage. Therefore the pilgrimage had to go ahead with four people.

at a distance, but deeply united

For the next two weeks I knew that this was a different kind of pilgrimage. Some of our group was stranded in Europe. Some were now back in Christchurch, Timaru and Geraldine. And our little group of four were in Israel. Throughout the next three weeks we (all 34 of us) were united in conversation, thought and prayer. It was a distressing time for everyone. It is difficult to understand why such things happen to good people. What is God up to? Why us?

I remain convinced that the Holy Spirit has used this past month to form and to re-form us all.

It was inspiring to hear from the pilgrims, now all family after living together for three days (and nights) at gate E27 in Singapore airport. They have many stories of new-found community and friendship, of love and support, of deep care for each other in very difficult circumstances. You have been an example to us all of what we are called to be as a parish family.

It was an unexpected joy to have six of this ‘returned’ group making the journey to join the four in Rome for the last three days of pilgrimage. Even then, our prayers and thoughts and conversation were with and about the full community of 34.

Sabbatical begins

Following the pilgrimage I moved into my home for the next month, with the de la Salle brothers. In these two weeks I have savoured the opportunity to be a part of the routine of the house. There is good space – the house is large. There is time for reading and reflection. There is good company with food and drink when I need it.

It has been a bit of a challenge for me to adjust to the difference between life in the parish and life on sabbatical. I know that the last three years with the sickness and death of my parents has taken its toll. I am grateful to you parishioners for your support and understanding through this time.

Some parishioners have asked that I keep a blog of my sabbatical. If you are interested you will find it at http://johnoconnor2010.blogspot.com. Feel free to use the ‘comment’ section of the blog. Also I’m always happy to receive emails, particularly prayer requests. I’m happy to remember your specific intentions at Mass each day and in other times of prayer. Contact me at johnoconnor@paradise.net.nz

While I spend part of each day studying, I have come to realize anew that my main work as a priest is prayer. This is the real work of God for me in these days. The study makes sense only in this context. Some mornings I go down to St Peters to celebrate Mass, other mornings I have Mass here in the house. Wherever, the parishioners of Our Lady of Victories and St Therese of Lisieux Chatham Islands are in my prayer.

Thank you!

Thank you to you all, parishioners of Our Lady of Victories and St Therese of Lisieux. I am grateful for your generosity to me in so many ways: most especially for being supportive of my time away from the parishes.

Please keep me in your prayer, as I pray for you.

John

slow food

It doesn't take much to get me thinking about food and wine.

Much of the time I succumb to the smash, grab, bolt and run approach. I smash into the packaging, grab a few ingredients and bolt the food so as not to be late for the next appointment. As I'm doing this I know it is not good. It is not good for the food, and it's certainly not good for me.

I read a few days ago that it takes twenty minutes for the 'had-enough-to-eat' message to get from the stomach to the brain. Most of my meals are well under twenty minutes, therefore...

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, last week I was with friends in Orvieto. This beautiful Umbrian town is a part of the international "slow food" movement ...

..."that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. To do that, Slow Food brings together pleasure and responsibility, and makes them inseparable. Today, we have over 100,000 members in 132 countries.” (from the website www.slowfood.com)

In Umbria we ate slowly. The food was good - perhaps because we took the time at table to taste it, and to really savour the flavours. We talked about what we were eating as we dined. The wine complemented the food well. We talked about that too. By the second night we were even asking the waiter to slow the courses. There there were many courses.

When we entered the restaurant on the first night we asked the waiter to simply bring us food and drink. It took him a minute to realise that we were serious. We didn't need menus. We trusted him to brings us the right food and drink at the right time. Finally we convinced him that we would be happy with anything and everything he served us. Once he understood what we wanted, there was no stopping him.

It was clear to us that this Orvieto waiter delighted in the opportunity to serve his favourite flavours. He would describe each serving to us before he delivered it, just enough words to get us salivating. The chef too obviously loved preparing this food. For these people food was not just a job. Dining was their vocation.

Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time eating and drinking. There never seemed to be a hurry. Food and drink provided the reason, the environment and the lubrication for time in friendship. If you have seen Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ you might remember the scene where Mary comes out to call Jesus (aged early 20's) in for lunch. He is making a dining table. She looks at its long legs (ie not a sit-on-the-floor model) and laughs. Even as a carpenter Jesus was thinking about meals!

I realised in Orvieto again the pleasure of slow food. Too often I'm eating on the run.

If money were no problem I would buy every couple I married a quality, made-to-be-an-heirloom dining table and chairs. A small way of encouraging them to begin their married (and future family) life, by eating together often and slowly.

There are many websites devoted to good food and drink.

Follow this link to sample one artists food blog.

The photo is taken from her blog.

a luminous path: pope's Pentecost homily

Some encouragement from Pope Benedict's Pentecost homily 2010.

You can read the full homily in English by tapping here or on the image

A taster: the final paragraphs of the homily:

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit is manifest as fire. His flame descended upon the assembled disciples, it was enkindled in them and gave them the new ardor of God. In this way what Jesus had previously said was realized: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I long that it already be burning!” (Luke 12:49). The Apostles, together with the faithful of different communities, carried this divine flame to the far corners of the earth; in this way they opened a path for humanity, a luminous path, and they worked with God, who wants to renew the face of the earth with his fire. How different this fire is from that of wars and bombs! How different is the fire of Christ, spread by the Church, compared with those lit by the dictators of every epoch, of last century too, who leave a scorched earth behind them. The fire of God, the fire of the Holy Spirit, is that of the bush that burned without being consumed (cf. Exodus 3:2). It is a flame that burns but does not destroy, that, in burning, brings forth the better and truer part of man, as in a fusion it makes his interior form emerge, his vocation to truth and to love.

A Father of the Church, Origen, in one of his homilies on Jeremiah, reports a saying attributed to Jesus, not contained in the sacred Scriptures but perhaps authentic, which he puts thus: “Whoever is near me, is near the fire” (“Homilies on Jeremiah,” L. I [III]). In Christ, in fact, there is the fullness of God, who in the Bible is compared to fire. We just observed that the flame of the Holy Spirit burns but does not destroy. And nevertheless it causes a transformation, and it must for this reason consume something in man, the waste that corrupts him and hinders his relations with God and neighbor.

This effect of the divine fire, however, frightens us, we are afraid of being “burned,” we prefer to stay just as we are. This is because our life is often formed according to the logic of having, of possessing and not the logic of self-giving. Many people believe in God and admire the person of Jesus Christ, but when they are asked to lose something of themselves, then they retreat, they are afraid of the demands of faith. There is the fear of giving up something nice to which we are attached; the fear that following Christ deprives us of freedom, of certain experiences, of a part of ourselves. On one hand, we want to be with Jesus, follow him closely, and, on the other hand, we are afraid of the consequences that this brings with it.

Dear brothers and sisters, we always need to hear the Lord Jesus tell us what he often repeated to his friends: “Be not afraid.” Like Simon Peter and the others we must allow his presence and his grace to transform our heart, which is always subject to human weakness. We must know how to recognize that losing something, indeed, losing ourselves for the true God, the God of love and of life, is in reality gaining ourselves, finding ourselves more fully. Whoever entrusts himself to Jesus already experiences in this life peace and joy of heart, which the world cannot give, and it cannot even take it away once God has given it to us.

So it is worthwhile to let ourselves be touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit! The suffering that it causes us is necessary for our transformation. It is the reality of the cross: It is not for nothing that in the language of Jesus “fire” is above all a representation of the cross, without which Christianity does not exist.

Thus enlightened and comforted by these words of life, let us lift up our invocation: Come, Holy Spirit! Enkindle in us the fire of your love! We know that this is a bold prayer, with which we ask to be touched by the flame of God; but we know above all that this flame -- and only it -- has the power to save us. We do not want, in defending our life, to lose the eternal life that God wants to give us. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit, because only Love redeems.

Amen.

Pope Benedict Pentecost homily

Wednesday 27 May

Tap here for the full English Translation of Pope Benedict's Pentecost homily

Monday 25 May

In St Peter's basilica yesterday morning Pope Benedict preached in Italian. I have to wait for the translation online to know what he said, but the news services give a summary.

When the full translation appears I will copy it to here.

Meantime you might appreciate a glimpse of his reflection:

Zenit: http://www.zenit.org/index.php?l=english

look under 'where is the Church', 'wind in the sails' and 'window to universal Church'

Catholic News (nothing there yet but there should be later today)

http://www.catholicnews.com

Pentecost Sunday Mass

This morning I wanted to celebrate the birthday of the Church with the whole Church in a very visible way. I could have gone to the chapel downstairs with the brothers, but being in Rome gave the chance to be a part of the Pentecost Mass celebrated by the pope at St Peters.

By 8.30am when the security checks were opened at the entry to the basilica, the queue extended the full circle of the colonades. Before the Mass began at 10.00am the basilica was filled with people. The pope entered in procession from the rear of the basilica. Certainly at that moment the attention was on him. This was especially highlighted as the choir sang "Tu es Petrus" (you are Peter) as he entered.

At the moment the pope reached the altar the focus shifted. Pope Benedict does nothing to draw attention to himself, and especially not during Mass. The pope begins to incense the altar as the music shifts: the people respond "The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole earth". Now the focus is not on the pope, but on the Liturgy. While the pope leads this, he seems caught up in the Liturgy, and we all go with him.

This morning at Mass my single intention at this Pentecost Mass was prayer for the people of the parishes of St Therese of Lisieux, Chatham Islands and Our Lady of Victories Sockburn. Please keep me in your prayer.

a pentecost invitation

Last week I read a reflection from the Constitution on the Church in preparation for today's feast of Pentecost. There was a line there I had not noticed before: The Holy Spirit "enables the Church to grow young..." That's a great thought. Every year we notice the aging process in ourselves. We can't move as fast or jump as high. The mind lets us down and we think we don't look as good as we did just a few years ago.

The offer of a recipe for youth is very attractive. The answer is not to be found in face creams, exercise and hair colour. The key to 'growing young' is found in life in harmony with the Spirit of God. This is what keeps the human heart beating young.

We don't have to believe this simply because the Constitution tells us. A simple experiment will give a more personal experience of the life that is on offer.

• Set one week in which you seek to live in harmony with all you know God to be asking of you. (much of this will have come to you through the gospels and the teachings of the church. Some of these teachings you may struggle or even disagree with. Whatever, for one week, just do it!)

• We know that prayer is an essential relationship in the life of the Christian. Notice that I call prayer a relationship. Prayer is not the reciting of incantations in order to please and appease God. Prayer is awareness of my desire to be connected to God. Sometimes this desire is expressed in formal prayers and spoken or silent expression. At other times I am just aware of my hunger and longing for God. This fundamental human need for prayer is the most significant mark of our healthy humanity. This is good news for the person who is struggling and who knows their weakness. It is a bit of a challenge for the person who thinks they are doing pretty well on their own! As a part of your week, set regular time for prayer. Ten minutes morning and evening. One minute every time the traffic light turns red. Two minutes during the tv ads...

• If you suspect God might be seeking change your behaviour in some way, then commit to making this change - at least for one week. For example we know that Jesus taught us to love our enemy. This is a bit of a challenge since my enemies do not deserve my love. But, for a week try it! Think of the teaching of Jesus and the Church on care for the needy, justice and honesty, sexuality...

• There are many other challenges that the Gospel and scriptures put before us. These are communicated with more explanation in the teaching of the Church. It is common for Catholic's to treat these teachings as a smorgasboard of suggestions and to live only those that come most easily. The invitation of this Pentecost feast is to put yourself, one hundred percent, in the upper room of waiting. When the disciples did this, their main motivation was fear. That's a good enough reason to open up to God. Perhaps you have a fear of growing old, and sickness and death? The Holy Spirit is waiting to grow you young.

• At the end of your week (or at bedtime on day two if that is all you can manage), ask yourself if you are more happy with yourself than you were a week ago. If you are happier, then keep the rhythm of life you have set going for another week. God created us to be happy, and the Spirit if given to us to enable us to live happily, and to give us eternal youth.

future of the Church

Last week Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin addressed the state of the Church in Ireland. His address is timely not only for the issues the Church faces at present, but also as a preparation for our celebration the feast of Pentecost.

While the Archbishop was addressing the Irish situation, his words are needed in our own situation. His insights into the challenges for Catholic education are timely for the schools in our own parish, Our Lady of Victories and St Thomas of Canterbury and Villa Maria College.

The reaction of the Irish Media was predictable. Their narrow reaction could easily be our own default response to such an insightful and clear challenge. For this reason I have copied below a link to the response of John Waters, a columnist with the Irish Times. Take a moment to read that as well.

Address of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland

Ely Place, Dublin, 10 May 2010

What do I say about the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland? The sociological data send us mixed signals. Public opinion varies from those who would like the Catholic Church slowly, through its own implosion, to fade into the social irrelevance of private individual choice, to those who would like reform on their own terms, to those who would blindly stay with things as they are, to those who call for renewal through repentance. And there are many other viewpoints.

The Church is a reality of faith. As a person of faith I know that the future of the Church in Ireland is not in my hands, but that its future will be guided by the Lord, who is with his Church at all times. Yesterday’s Gospel reminded us that the Father would send the Spirit who, at each moment in the history of the Church, would teach us all things in Jesus name. In that sense I cannot be pessimistic about the future of the Church in Ireland.

On the other hand, as one entrusted with the responsibility of pastoral leadership I have the mission to guide that portion of the Church entrusted to my care along a path of renewal and conversion which ensures that what grows and matures into the future truly is the Church of Jesus Christ and not something of our own creation.

On a purely personal level, as Diarmuid Martin, I have never since becoming Archbishop of Dublin felt so disheartened and discouraged about the level of willingness to really begin what is going to be a painful path of renewal and of what is involved in that renewal.

How do I reconcile these differing trends in my reflection on the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland? On a personal level, I have no choice but to lay aside personal discouragement and continue day-by-day the search for personal conversion and renewal and to re-discover for my own life the essentials of the message of Jesus Christ.

The future of the Catholic Church in Ireland will see a very different Catholic Church in Ireland. I sometimes worry when I hear those with institutional responsibility stress the role of the institution and others then in reaction saying that “we are the Church”. Perhaps on both sides there may be an underlying feeling that “I am the Church”, that the Church must be modelled on my way of thinking or on my position. Renewal is never our own creation. Renewal will only come through returning to the Church which we have received from the Lord.

Why am I discouraged? The most obvious reason is the drip-by-drip never-ending revelation about child sexual abuse and the disastrous way it was handled. There are still strong forces which would prefer that the truth did not emerge. The truth will make us free, even when that truth is uncomfortable. There are signs of subconscious denial on the part of many about the extent of the abuse which occurred within the Church of Jesus Christ in Ireland and how it was covered up. There are other signs of rejection of a sense of responsibility for what had happened. There are worrying signs that despite solid regulations and norms these are not being followed with the rigour required.

As regards the Archdiocese of Dublin for which I have pastoral responsibility I have constantly warned against any slippage in our vigilance. I appeal once again this evening publicly to all parishes in the Archdiocese to ensure that all child protection measures are in place and in operation and that there is no let-back on the level of vigilance. Questions about child safeguarding should be on the agenda of every meeting of every Parish Pastoral Council and if there are any concerns that are not being addressed then let people contact me directly.

Why such discouragement? The second and deeper root of my discouragement is that I do not believe that people have a true sense of the crisis of faith that exists in Ireland. We have invested in structures of religious education which despite enormous goodwill are not producing the results that they set out to do. Our young people are among the most catechised in Europe but among the least evangelised. I am a strong proponent of Catholic education; Catholic education has a solid track record. I see an important future for Catholic education alongside and in dialogue with other vibrant forms of education, including that of minority Churches, in our schools.

I am not sure however that we all really have an understanding of what Catholic education entails. Many people send their children to what is today a Catholic school not primarily because it is a Catholic school but because it is a good school. I am not sure that parents would change their children from that school if it were to become simply a national school. The level of parents’ interest in Catholic education will only be objectively measurable when they have real choice.

We are also deluding ourselves if we think that what is in fact presented as a curriculum for religious education and formation in faith is actually being applied everywhere. There are clear indications that in the face of so many other curriculum pressures and extracurricular activities religious education is in fact being shifted to the margins of school life in many Catholic schools. We have great teachers; teachers committed to Catholic education. But the system is also such that teachers who do not share the Catholic faith find themselves teaching something of which they are not convinced. Catholic schools have contributed greatly to integration in Irish society. Catholic identity is more than vague ethos; it is also about witness.

There are fundamental fault-lines within the current structure for Catholic schools that are not being addressed and unattended fault-lines inevitably generate destructive energies. Our system of religious education – especially at secondary level but also at primary level in urban areas - more and more bypasses our parishes, which should together with the family be the primary focal points for faith formation and membership of a worshipping community. I am not attacking Catholic teachers and Catholic schools; they do tremendous work. What is needed is renewal of the vision of parish. Many of our parishes offer very little in terms of outreach to young people.

There are further challenges to be addressed regarding Church teaching. Within the Church and outside of it discussion focuses around challenges in the area of sexual morality where the Church’s teaching is either not understood or is simply rejected as out of tune with contemporary culture. There is on the other hand very little critical examination of some of the roots of that contemporary culture and its compatibility with the teaching of Jesus. The moral teaching of the Church cannot simply be a blessing for, a toleration of, or an adaptation to the cultural climate of the day. The manner in which the moral teaching of the Church is presented to believers is far too often not adequately situated within the overall context of the teaching of Jesus, which is both compassionate and demanding. Christian moral rules and norms belong within a broader vision of the teaching of Jesus Christ.

This immediately brings us to the deeper question about the level of understanding of the message of Jesus Christ which exists in our Catholic Church and in our society in Ireland today. What do we really know of the message of Jesus? The Irish Catholic tradition has greatly neglected the place of the scriptures. Catholics do not know the scriptures. They do not know how to use the scriptures. We do not take the time to encounter Jesus in the scriptures.

One of the initiatives in which I place much trust in the pastoral programme of the Archdiocese of Dublin is the distribution this year of the Gospel of Saint Luke throughout the Archdiocese. I have said that I should really have charged one cent for each copy and then I would have been able to say that the Gospel had been sold and it might, therefore be at the top of the bestsellers list in Ireland this year. We have distributed 250,000 copies of the Gospel and we are backing the distribution up with e-mail support material month by month. It is one of the most widely circulated publications in Ireland this year. Even if only one in ten copies were read, it would still be on the best sellers list.

I believe that the encounter with the Jesus of the Gospel of Saint Luke could an important answer in the process of healing which is needed by people who in the past encountered the Church as an insensitive, arrogant and dominating institution. I would appeal especially to those who say that they are disillusioned by the Catholic Church in Ireland as an institution but say also they still wish to share the message of Jesus, to take up the scriptures. They will not find the authentic message of Jesus simply on the talk shows. Faith requires nourishment. You cannot allow it simply to drift.

At the same time it would be arrogant on my part not to stress that so many priests, religious and lay persons have a real understanding of the God of love who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ and who not only transmit that message of love to others, but live that message of love in their own daily exemplary lives. There is great goodness and faith to be encountered within an institutional framework which is often frail. We have great priests and we need great priests for the future.

The use of modern media mechanisms to support the distribution of the Gospel is something important and innovative. In this context, we are very fortunate to have a group of scripture scholars who put their knowledge and personal perception of the scriptures at the service of parishes and bible study groups. This material is accessible to any individual who would wish to avail of it on the website www.yearofevengelisation.ie. The modern communications media provide great opportunities for adult catechesis, especially those media which are interactive and can be used not just to transmit information to individuals, but also to contribute to the construction of faith communities. Parishes have however still much to learn about using these media. Parishes must radically re-orientate themselves to become educational communities in the faith and understanding of modern communications is an essential part of that re-orientation.

The modern communications media provide great opportunities but there is no way that the renewal of the Church will be achieved just by slick media gestures and sound-bytes. The message of Jesus is too deep to be encapsulated into sound bytes. Indeed a priority of the process of proclaiming the Gospel is that of taking people beyond the sound-byte culture.

There are those who claim that the media strategy of the Church in the Archdiocese of Dublin following the publication of the Murphy Report was “catastrophic”. My answer is that what the Murphy report narrated was catastrophic and that the only honest reaction of the Church was to publicly admit that the manner in which that catastrophe was addressed was spectacularly wrong; spectacularly wrong “full stop”; not spectacularly wrong, “but…” You cannot sound-byte your way out of a catastrophe.

Some will reply that sexual abuse by priests constitutes only a small percentage of the sexual abuse of children in our society in general. That is a fact. But that important fact should never appear in any way as an attempt to down play the gravity of what took place in the Church of Christ. The Church is different; the Church is a place where children should be the subject of special protection and care. The Gospel presents children in a special light and reserves some of its most severe language for those who disregard or scandalise children in any way.

In analysing the past, it is important to remember that times may have been different and society and other professions may not have looked on the sexual abuse of children as they do today. It is hard however to understand why, in the management by Church authorities of cases of the sexual abuse of children, the children themselves were for many years rarely even taken into the equation. Yes, in the culture of the day children were to be seen and not heard, but different from other professions Church leaders should have been more aware of the Gospel imperative to avoid harm to children, whose innocence was indicated by the Lord a sign of the kingdom of God.

The sexual abuse of children is indeed more widespread than sex abuse by clerics. I would hope that for the tenth anniversary of the SAVI report which first addressed the question of the sexual abuse of children in Ireland in an objective and overall manner, it might be possible for a wide coalition of those concerned about child safeguarding in Ireland today to draw-up an up-to-date map of the phenomenon as its exists today and verify what should be the most opportune strategy to that changed and changing landscape.

The world around us and the culture of Irish life have changed. Yet the Church still continues in many ways to live in a way which fails to recognise that culture has indeed changed so much. Irish culture has drifted from being the culture of an enlarged faith community into a heavily secularised culture. For many, faith no longer plays a major role in their lives and they feel that this in no way compromises their ability to be good, honest and caring people. Believers, albeit unknowingly to themselves, often view the reality of faith through a secularised lens.

The information collected on the ground in parishes in the Archdiocese of Dublin indicates that regular Church attendance has dropped, in some cases dramatically. Certainly Mass attendance is not the only criterion for measuring the faith of individuals and their belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is not however just a collection of individuals. The proclamation of the Gospel cannot adequately be carried out by correspondence course among people who never meet. The early Church was marked by the gathering of believers, who shared in the prayers and in their understating of the Word of God, who shared what they had and who together broke the bread. The Church is not a collection of individuals whose worship when they feel the need; the Church is fundamentally a worshipping community, founded in and nourished by the Eucharist.

We live in a systems culture. Throughout its history, however, the institutional dimension of the Church has never been renewed just by new structures of organization. Renewal began with individual renewal and witness flourishing into strong and witnessing faith communities. There are those who think that in today’s culture what we need is a sort of efficient “Catholic Church in Ireland Incorporated”, with its own CEO and with management structures administered efficiently from the top right down to the lowest level (and I am not sure who would be consigned to that place). The Church can benefit from appropriate management structures, but renewal will always be the work of prophets rather than management consultants. The message of Jesus Christ is lived in localised faith communities not in national bureaucracies.

Renewal of the Church requires participation and responsible participation. I have spoken about the need for accountability regarding the scandal of sexual abuse. I am struck by the level of disassociation by people from any sense of responsibility. While people rightly question the concept of collective responsibility, this does not mean that one is not responsible for one’s personal share in the decisions of the collective structures to which one was part.

I am surprised at the manner in which Church academics and Church publicists can today calmly act as pundits on the roots of the sexual abuse scandals in the Church as if they were totally extraneous to the scandal. Where did responsibility lie for a culture of seminary institutions which produced both those who abused and those who mismanaged the abuse? Where were the pundit-publicists while a Church culture failed to recognise what was happening?

We need to take a radical new look at the formation of future priests. I am working on plans to ensure that for the future in Dublin our seminarians, our prospective deacons and our trainee lay pastoral workers in the Archdiocese of Dublin will share some sections of their studies together, in order to create a better culture of collaborative ministry. The narrow culture of clericalism has to be eliminated. It did not come out of nowhere and so we have to address its roots in seminary training. We also have to ensure that lay pastoral workers understand that all mission in the Church is calling and requires a self-understanding which is theological in essence. .

Why am I discouraged? Probably my greatest discouragement comes from the failure of interaction between the Church and young people. I visit parishes where I encounter no young people. I enquire what is being done to attract young people to parish life and the answers are vague. Everyone knows that there is a missing generation and perhaps more than one, yet there are very few pastoral initiatives to reach out to young people. I would pay tribute here to the Chaplain in our second level schools who have acquired experience on which we should be drawing.

Parishes offers very little outreach to young people and I feel that an increasing number of young people find parishes a little like alien territory. A form of religious education which is separated from the parish will inevitably collapse for most the day that school ends. Sacramental formation belongs within the Christian community which welcomes and supports each of us on our journey. We need a more demanding catechesis, within a parish framework, for those who wish to come forward for admission to the sacraments. Admission to the sacraments is not something which is automatically acquired when one reaches a certain class in school.

The curious demography and history of the Irish Church meant that the Church developed and pioneered all sorts of valuable service within the community. This was often done at no expense to the State. As Irish society became wealthier, it was rightfully claimed that such services deserved appropriate support from public authorities because of the social benefit they provided. As years went by, many of these services then lost something of the Christian concept of gratuitousness and became little different to any other professional service. A Church which looses that sense of gratuitousness looses something of the essential dimensions of its witness to Jesus. I believe that it is no coincidence that the consistent generosity people show towards the Saint Vincent de Paul Society comes precisely because of the gratuity of its witness

The Church will continue to provide services for the poor and recognises the need for professionalism in its services. Hopefully the Church has learned the lesson that it should not allow itself to be involved in providing poor quality services for the poor. But when Church services become simply ancillary to State then they run the risk of loosing their ecclesial originality and will one day end up being incorporated into the public service structure and subordinated to its goals. Already the structures of some Catholic services are being altered to respond to financial policies of the State.

The Catholic Church in Ireland in the future will have to find its place in a very different, much more secularised culture, at times even in a hostile culture. The Catholic Church has to look again at the dominant role it assumed in Irish society, while at the same time not renouncing its prophetic role in society and in the formation of consciences through opening to the teaching of Jesus Christ.

This will involve a much greater degree of parish-based catechesis and evangelisation within our parishes. There is no way that this will take place without a very extensive programme of training for volunteer catechists, as is the case in most European countries. Parishes must become real centre of on-going faith formation. A more Parish centred church life does not however mean retreat into the sacristy.

I have perhaps raised more questions than provided answers to the theme about which you asked me to speak this evening: the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland. In our pastoral planning we have to start out from hard facts, which are inevitably today troubling facts. Already in the Archdiocese of Dublin we have ten times more priests over 70 than under 40. There is no way we can put off decisions regarding the future.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is coming out of one of its most difficult moments in its history and the light at the end of the tunnel is still a long way off. The Catholic Church in Ireland will have to live with the grief of its past, which can and should never be forgotten or overlooked. There is no simple way of wiping the slate of the past clean, just to ease our feelings. Yet the Catholic Church in Ireland cannot be imprisoned in its past. The work of evangelization must if anything take on a totally new vibrancy.

I would not however like what I say to be in any way interpreted as turning our back on the survivors of sexual abuse. They had their childhood stolen and the words of Jesus about his special care for children will apply to them until that day, whenever and if ever that will be, when their hurt will be healed. In my years as Archbishop I have learned enormously from survivors as they allowed me to know something of their pain and of their hopes and also of the spiritual void which many experience as a result of betrayal by their Church. I use the term spiritual void because it is an expression which some survivors have used to express how they feel in their lives. In my encounters with survivors, however, I have found their spiritual fragility somehow has given them in fact a deep spiritual strength, from which I have profited. For that I thank them.

Perhaps the future of the Church in Ireland will be one where we truly learn from the arrogance of our past and find anew a fragility which will allow the mercy and the compassion of Jesus to give us a change of heart and allow others through a very different Church to encounter something of that compassion and faith for their lives.

The Catholic Church in Ireland, as I said, will have to find its place in a very different, much more secularised culture, at times even in a hostile culture. It will have to find that place by being authentic and faithful to the person and the message of Jesus Christ. The agenda for change in the Church must be one that comes from its message and not from pressure from outside and from people who do not have the true good of the Church at heart. We all have reasons to be discouraged and to be angry. There is a sense, however, in which true reform of the Church will spring only from those who love the Church, with a love like that of Jesus which is prepared also to suffer for the Church and to give oneself for the Church.

Thank God there are many who love their Church: lay persons, religious and clergy. We love the Church because the Church is our home, the pace where we encounter the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ and where we gather in love to break bread in his memory.

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Link to Irish Times response of John Waters

Orvieto: life on a volcano

Last week I spent three days with friends in the Umbrian town of Orvieto. The town is built atop a hill, a volcano. You would think I would be wise to keep away from volcanoes after the pilgrimage experience. But it would be hard to keep someone who has visited Orvieto from returning. My first taste of life on this cliff was two years ago.

To say that the town is built on a cliff is not an exaggeration.

The railway station is at the foot of the cliff. A finicular at the station takes you up into the town.

At the heart of this city is the Cathedral. Building began in the thirteenth century. It is a magnificent building. The sides of the structure are black and white stripes of marble and basalt.

The facade is ornate. (that is a bit of an understatement). It appears as you enter the town square from the narrow house-lined roads.

That is my photo - not very good, you get a much better picture of the beauty of the facade here:

http://www.authentic-italy.co.uk/images/orvieto_cathedral.jpg

I remember hearing from the sisters who taught me, that a host once bled onto the altar during the consecration at a Mass in Italy, proving the reality of Jesus present in the bread. Now I know that this miracle happened in the town of Bolsena about 20 km from Orvieto in 1263. In response the people of Orvieto began to build their cathedral which now houses the corporal onto which the host bled. The year later (1264) the pope instituted the feast of Corpus Christi which we celebrate in a couple of weeks. Each year on this feast the people of Orvieto celebrate with a procession of the corporal.

However sceptical we might be about such miracles, the fact remains that in the darkness of the Middle Ages, great rays of divine light were given to provide hope for the people. The thirteenth century was remarkable for such renewal of hope: in this same Italian region of Umbria, Francis of Assisi had died only forty years earlier (1226). Clare of Assisi died just ten years before the miracle of Bolsena. For the next three centuries the people of Orvieto would focus on the building of this sign of the reality of God among them.

Such single-minded focus on the reality of God present bore much fruit. Within one hundred years of the miracle Catherine of Siena began to speak powerfully of the reality of God's personal love. She lived just an hour up the road in Siena.

The Orvieto visit has got me thinking about the importance of people working together in a practical way (ie building a cathedral, or feeding the poor) to lift our vision above the routine and mundane demands of life. I was at a great lecture on this last month. More on that later...

appreciating contemplation

I have spent the past few days in small towns. Eight hundred years ago Sts. Francis & Clare lived in Assisi. They still live. The hillside town of Assisi in Umbria transforms tourists into pilgrims. This is a place of peace and prayer.

As I walked the streets and savoured the peace, I had fond memories of being here two years ago with the second OLV parish pilgrimage. Those of you who were on that journey will remember the hermitage up the hill from Assisi.

This is the place where Francis and his friends would seek solitude. Some say that this was his place of 'escape'. In fact the opposite is true.

Whenever we take time for stillness and solitude the full scope of reality confronts us. This is why Jesus headed for the hills so often. He was not trying to escape the reality of life. Rather he was desiring to enter what is most real.

There is a wonderful sculpture on a bush walk just a few metres from this monastery. These bronze figures are full-size. Here three of the first Franciscans are portrayed at prayer. Two of them are active. Perhaps they are studying the sky, noticing the stars and determining directions. Maybe they are looking around to see the trees and view. No doubt they are actively aware of God..

Then there is Francis, at prayer, at rest. For Francis (as for the Christian who has grown to be at home in prayer), prayer was the ultimate in rest.

To pray in a formal, vocal, meditative or active way is a good thing. We do this often. In such prayer we are expressing our desire for God and God is eager to hear us.

But then there is the prayer that is deeper than vocal or meditative prayer; the prayer of contemplation. In this prayer, I give total control to God. I do not worry about what is happening in my prayer (or not happening). I simply gift God my time, trusting that God will not miss this opportunity to work powerfully in me.

Most often this divine action is at a level much deeper than my human perception. My superficial feelings are a poor indicator of what is actually happening in my prayer. At a deeper level, with the affect of the healthy and uncluttered heart, I know that God is at work

A simple guide to practicing contemplation: set a time, even ten minutes, once or twice each day. Find a place away from superficial noise and conversation. Begin by telling God that this is His time and invite God to do whatever He wills in and with you. Whatever your feelings, stay for the full time that you set. At the end of the time simply thank God for receiving this gift of your time.

After a few days of this practice, I guarantee you will notice a change in your life that delights you. You will feel more alert, more alive. You will have a deeper sense that God is with you and active in you. You will know a greater contentment in your life with God. I can guarantee this, since God never misses and opportunity to work with a willing heart.

If you would like to read more on prayer (vocal, meditative and contemplative) follow this link to the Catechism:

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p4s1c3a1.htm