IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests
From October 10th to 12th Sean McDonagh and I attended a meeting of renewal and reform groups in Austria. There were people, lay and cleric, men and women, from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, United States and Ireland, — about thirty people in all, at the meeting. It was a great experience, and I was glad to be there.
Among the issues discussed were:
1. How to respond to the new message coming out from the Vatican since Pope Francis was elected. We were generally impressed by what he was saying, though with some reservations. Does he really mean these things? And if he does, will he be able to bring about the necessary structural changes to make them happen? The women among us were disappointed by some of his statements about women, particularly his emphasis on women as mothers (which they saw as traditional stereotyping!) and his call for a ‘theology of women’ (why separate women as if they were a different species?). But, allowing for these reservations, there was a general feeling that Pope Francis was at the least creating a new atmosphere in the Church and deserved our support and encouragement.
2. The Synod on the Family. The meeting agreed that if this synod consisted only of cardinals, and other celibate clerics, it would be of little use. A lot of discussion concerned how to find ways of influencing the make-up of the synod, and ensuring that the voices of families and women would play a significant part. Specific actions are being planned in this area.
3. With declining numbers of priests, what happens to parishes without priests? This is a more urgent reality in some European countries, and in the United States, than it has become here as yet – though of course it is only around the corner for us also. Two points were strongly made: (i) That it was a shame that local communities were deprived of the Eucharist because of the rigidity of the Church in not being able even to discuss the limits placed on those who are eligible for priesthood. (ii) That parish communities should be much more assertive, and not allow themselves to be dispersed at the orders of a bishop. It was clear to me that some local communities on the continent and in the U.S. were much more organised and vocal than parishes here in Ireland. We need to hear the voices of the lay Catholics more strongly in this country.
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