IRELAND
The Association of Catholic Priests
I have just read the results of your survey of catholic opinion on the internet. Firstly, let me congratulate you on this timely undertaking. Many of the findings are interesting if not unexpected. We need to know exactly where we stand.
Let me state my own particular interest. I am a retired secondary school teacher who taught, among other subjects, religion to junior and senior levels. There’s another subject worthy of thorough research – the status of religion teaching in our secondary schools – but that’s for another day. I am closely involved with liturgy in my local church, particularly that involving young people aged from sixteen to late twenties; I am a member of the parish liturgy committee and of the diocesan liturgy commission.
And now to my particular interest in your survey. Granted, any survey must be limited in the number of questions it can put, but I would have liked a few more on the liturgy. My own experience is that a sizeable minority of lay people are willing to be involved, but from my experience of dealing with school chaplains over a forty year period and with parish clergy over a longer period I have come to the regrettable conclusion the priests in general are just not interested in liturgy, with the exception of a few who are willing to ‘let you get on with it’ and even fewer who give active support and encouragement.
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