IRELAND
Irish Times
BRENDAN HOBAN
RITE & REASON: Do we sit and wait for church after church to empty and eventually to close?
In his book, Priesthood, The Lost Art of Walking on Water, Michael Heher struck an important note: “At a time of crisis, people often find the freedom to voice things they ordinarily would not express.
A dying woman can give advice to her children, a soldier going to war can tell his brother he loves him dearly, a father as he prepares for dangerous surgery can tell his daughter about fear, worry and faith.”
Heher’s point is that as men who have suffered so many hits over the last years, we priests have earned the right to say whatever we want.
Not everyone would agree, as we know. Loyalty, or what passes for loyalty, in the Roman Catholic Church can have very precise boundaries.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.