We are the living Church
24. Feb, 2010 
7 Comments
In this week’s blog Fr Paddy calls us to remember that the Church is not a far-away place but, lives in the bits and pieces of our daily lives – We are the living Church.
Fr Paddy Byrne has a weekly column in the Nationalist Papers.
This column appeared in the edition published 24th February 2010
In the past week hundreds of people attended our local Parish Novena in Bagenalstown. Last Friday, huge numbers supported local musical talent, in the context of a fundraiser, for St. Lazarian’s house. Community is the heart of the living Church. Our Parishes are places where we connect with each other and share key moments of our life journey from birth to death. The mission in building our Church begins at local level. The Church is not a far-away place but, lives in the bits and pieces of our daily lives. We are the living Church.
Last week I wrote about some of my expectations and hopes concerning the Irish Hierarchies visit to meet Pope Benedict in Rome. I was greatly encouraged by many people who communicated to me similar expectations concerning this very crucial dialogue between the Pope and the Irish Church. One week later, many people are greatly disappointed with the visit and lack of real dialogue taking place. Many members of the Church are struggling greatly in relation to the poor leadership that is been given by Bishops at this very important moment in our time.
The image of elderly men, donned in their Episcopal finery, kissing the Pope’s ring is reminiscent of 12th Century behavior. Cut off from the reality of life, in palatial residence, discussing the future of our Church, which many of us hold dear to our hearts, was a very poor P.R. exercise and is very worrying. I felt our voice and representation as the People of God was tangibly absent from the meeting. All we received was images, we heard nothing about content. This meeting examined important issues, including, child protection, lay involvement and the role of women in the mission of the Church.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin speaks about this meeting as the beginning of a very important process. I really hope that this process will connect to all the members of the Church. In order for the Irish Church to be relevant and remain alive, it must fundamentally examine our structures of leadership. At a ground level, our parish Christian communities are alive and active, many continue to embrace and find relevance in participating in their local Church. It is at Diocesan and national level where many of us feel disconnected from and indeed excluded when it comes to representation, discussion and leadership.
Why can’t we have a National Church Leadership Council, representative of all our members, in navigating the stormy waters we find ourselves in this present moment? A storm is an abundant force of energy. It will only be through a creative and enthusiastic vision that our Church will be relevant and attractive to our younger generation. Perhaps it was not by accident that Jesus came to visit the early Church in stormy seas. His message was
“Do Not Be Afraid”.
Jesus of Nazareth is the center of our Church. A humble, poor young man who lived in a dusty and unknown village. It is his simplicity, humility and integrity that will steer us into fresh waters. I am a fulfilled and happy priest because of this just as so many remain faithful to your local Church at this time.
This is a very refreshing and realistic view of current Church affairs. The Church has still to become Church. Vatican II remains an un- fulfilled vision to some extent. What are we affraid of? We can only continue to speak the truth bravely and freely at grass roots level and hope that it will reach the decision makers, the Custodians of this same Truth. Let’s put the old cliche to the test – ‘the truth will set you free’.
Lloyd Bracken
I commend you on your courageous and considered views. In my opinion your words have echoed in the hearts of many Catholics in the recent past.
In these challenging times the faithful brethren turned their hearts and minds to Rome seeking strength, guidance and acknowledgement for a nation in need of healing. It is with great regret that we were left wanting, somewhat empty and devoid of the acknowledgment we so desparately sought and yearned for.
However, we are a strong and resilient people who for generations have triumphed in the face of disappointment and I have no doubt that we will again. Our Church is in our hearts and in the way we choose to live our lives. We seek to live through the teachings of Jesus and by many maxims including do onto to others as you would like to have done onto you.
Marian O’Hara
Paddy,
I’m very disappointed with your post. There is nothing prophetic or brave about kicking the bishops at the moment. Everyone is doing it. You point us to the example of Christ. He identified Himself with the outcasts of his time. Maybe, just maybe, if he were to return today he would spend more time with the bishops than we think, as they seem to be the pariahs of our society right now.
You spend much time bemoaning the bad P.R. of the bishops. Surely they are following the example of the poor man from Nazareth whose P.R. was atrocious. He ate with sinners and prostitutes and then died hanging naked on a cross condemned as a criminal. Not great P.R. there!
We will never win the P.R. game because it’s controlled by a hostile media. The best thing we can all do is work on our personal conversion.
The Times in England ran an essay competition in the early part of the last century. The title of the essay was simply WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY. The winning entry was submitted by GK Chesterton who simply wrote –
Maybe it’s high time we stopped jumping on bandwagons and all looked to put our own house in order.
The church is the way it is today because I am the way I am today.
Pat Long
Well done Pat,
The bishops are an easy target, we expect people to take the high moral ground and speak out against them. They have an impossible task at the moment.
I found the image of them kissing the pope’s ring as an act of humility, humility that firstly they don’t have all the actions, and humility that they are at the service of the Church. That means they are at my service. I see nothing old fashioned about this but the basis of a humbler church.
Paul Taylor
I am very disappointed that a priest should criticise his brothers in faith (i.e. the Bishops) for kissing the Pope’s ring. Like everyone else, priests should demonstrate Christian charity when talking about others in a public forum such as this website.
What should the Bishops have done when they met the Supreme Pontiff?
There is nothing wrong at all with showing respect to Christ’s representative on earth, the successor to Peter (who after all, has the power to loose and to bind and holds the keys to the Kingdom of God).
We need to have more respect and acceptance of the Pope as the earthly head of Our Church.
Criticism of Church custom and tradition has been rampant since the Second Vatican Council, especially among soi-disant “progressive” Catholics (both lay and ordained).
I didn’t expect to find it on the official website of the Diocese.
Gareth
Just to add a comment about Gareth’s concern about how we handle ‘criticism’ on the website.
We can all appreciate that the terrible truth of abuse by clergy and indeed the proven cover-up in certain cases produces strong emotions. We have done our best to allow people to give voice here to their thoughts and feelings. We don’t publish comments which are abusive or unkind – sometimes this might mean removing certain sentences.
For those of us who care about the Church, the fallout from the abuse scandals is painful on many levels. While we are aware that a lot of criticism of the Church is valid, we also know that some of the criticism is mis-placed and driven by other agendas.
Fr Paddy has made a series of very honest contributions about these issues. He speaks for many when he says that as a Church we need to examine our structures of leadership. His latest piece reflects that for many people the ‘optics’ of the Rome meeting reinforces an one-dimensional image of the Church, how removed the laity are from decision-making.
This is not disrespectful to the Bishops (and certainly not the Holy Father), it is really a call for more inclusive structures, a better presentation of the wonderful communion that inspires and nourishes us.
Our policy on the website is to facilitate open expression – within the boundaries of respect, what we call ‘kind words’.
We welcome fair comment/criticism – which can look both ways, as can be seen above.
Thanks for your comment Gareth.
Fr Bill Kemmy
webmaster
Thanks for your reply Father Bill. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
On a personal level, I too am very hurt and saddened by the abuse carried out on little children by the very people who should have protected them and shown true Christian love. I should have said that in my previous comment.
I appreciate Fr. Paddy and his forthright views, I just felt the need to present a counterpoint view.
I hope and pray that the Church in Ireland will come through the dark winter it is in and undergo a true spring renewal involing all the laity and priests working together to spread the most important message of all, the love of God for each and everyone of us.
Well done on an excellent website and for allowing space for all views to be heard.
Gareth.