Posts Tagged Irish Catholic Church
‘Clericalized’ Catholic Church will not survive, says McAleese / The Irish Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Future of the Church, Ireland, Voice of the Faithful on March 9, 2018
In Ireland ‘our church became an empire. We’re only now seeing the final dismantling of that patriarchal, misogynistic empire. So we’ve actually never seen our church fully flourish in the way that I think Christ intended,’ Ms. (Mary) McAleese said. (The Irish Times)
“The Catholic Church in its current form will not survive, former president Mary McAleese said in Rome on Thursday (Mar. 8).
“‘The clericalized church will not survive and that will be good. Just how long it might take or whether I’ll be around to see, or whether my children will be still Catholics, my grandchildren, that I don’t know.
“‘But frankly I did my best and the people who let me down in the job that I was given, the vocation as a Catholic mother and a Catholic woman, the people who let me down are not very far from here (in the Vatican),’ she said …
“In Ireland ‘our church became an empire. We’re only now seeing the final dismantling of that patriarchal, misogynistic empire. So we’ve actually never seen our church fully flourish in the way that I think Christ intended,’ Ms. McAleese said.”
By Patsy McGarry, The Irish Times — Read more …
Irish priest warns of depression among overworked clerics / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on December 2, 2016
“That the bishops and the nuncio don’t want to engage in a structured way with the ACP (Association of Catholic Priests) is symbolic of a church adrift, a church stuck, a church in denial, a church with 26 kingdoms, an Irish church on a parallel path to that which Pope Francis speaks about, an Irish church attached and addicted to an ecclesial vision that is at variance to what Pope Francis is trying to build.” (Redemptorist Fr. Gerry O’Connor)
Irish priests’ ever-increasing workload is threatening to turn this aging, demoralized and declining group into ‘sacrament-dispensing machines’ who find pastoral work less and less satisfying, a co-founder of Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests has warned.
“In his address to the association’s annual general meeting in Athlone Nov. 16, Fr. Brendan Hoban highlighted how suicide is on the rise among Irish priests, a group he said was also increasingly prone to depression.
“With the vast majority of Irish priests now age 70 or over, elderly diocesan priests are living increasingly isolated and lonely lives and are constantly ‘reminded that we no longer really matter, that at best we’re now little more than a ceremonial presence on the sidelines of life,’ he said.”
By Sarah Mac Donald, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Who watches the watchmen? / The Irish News
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on July 14, 2016
Last month saw the publication of the final tranche of reports from the first phase of reviews by the Irish Church’s safeguarding board, and the overall picture, according to board head Teresa Devlin, is one of steady progress.
“‘You really need to look at the detail of the reports to see that some orders took a while to get the culture of safeguarding embedded,’ she explains, continuing, ‘the Church has had guidance in place since 1996 and the first set of National Board standards were in 2008, and it probably wasn’t until 2012 that some of them started to put proper standards around their practices and report sharply to the Guards and the HSE. Others of course hit the ground running much longer before that’ …
“An important factor in things being handled so well and so swiftly, she adds, is the decline of a culture of deference both towards and between clergy. (Emphasis added)
“‘From my perspective this is good that that’s gone or going – it’s still around in some places – but it’s definitely good because priests are human beings like the rest of us, and they feel and they have to be challenged,’ she says.”
By Greg Daly, The Irish Catholic — Click here to read the rest of this story.
U.S. priest tells Irish safeguarding meeting: Church is not haven for abusers / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on March 3, 2015
The Catholic church is “no longer a safe haven for child abusers,” said a top priest psychologist who advises the U.S. bishops on child sexual abuse. Msgr. Stephen Rossetti told hundreds of Irish delegates to the first national conference on safeguarding children that the Catholic church in the United States spent $43 million on child abuse prevention and education just last year …
“Rossetti, a professor at The Catholic University of America and a visiting professor at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, thanked Marie Collins*, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a victim of clerical sex abuse, ‘and all those like you who have stood up and told your story. More than anything, this is what is turning the tide.’”
By Sarah MacDonald, Catholic News Service, in National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
*Marie Collins will be the featured speaker at the Voice of the Faithful 2015 National Assembly in Hartford, Connecticut, April 18.
Revelations spark calls for cardinal to step down / Irish Independent
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on July 28, 2014
Revelations concerning Cardinal Sean Brady’s involvement in a 1975 canonical inquiry into Fr Brendan Smyth’s abuse of Brendan Boland have sparked fresh calls for the Catholic Church’s most senior churchman to stand down. Marie Kane, who was one of six survivors who met Pope Francis two weeks ago in the Vatican, has threatened to write again to the Pope if Dr Brady does not offer his resignation.”
By Sarah MacDonald, Irish Independent — Click here to read the rest of this story
Also regarding this story, “Priests tried to ‘blame and shame me’ at meeting in front of Brady, claims abuse victim,” By John Spain, Irish Independent, and “Calls for Cardinal Brady’s resignation over cover-up,” By Sarah MacDonald, The Tablet
Irish Prelate Cites Clericalism & an Increased Role for the Laity As Necessary in Renewal of Church
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Voice of the Faithful on April 26, 2013
Renewal of the Catholic Church in a “post-Catholic” Ireland depends on a homegrown effort by the laity to overcome clericalism and witness the Christian message in a secular society, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told a New York audience (at Fordham University).” By Beth Griffin, Catholic News Service
Read the entire article quoting Archbishop Martin, “Laity Key to Irish Church’s Renewal, Dublin Archbishop Says at Fordham,” by clicking here.
Voice of the Faithful
A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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