A Confident & Vibrant Church of Life
I’ve been reading again and ’Michael G’ has pointed out, in Fr. Bernard’s ‘Take a bow, Irish bishops!’ , that the Irish Church is no longer the Church Militant but is what he calls “the Church Slightly Embarrassed and Apologetic About Not Being Cool and We’re Not Really Different From Anyone Else Except in Emphasis”. I’ve just returned from World Youth Day in Sydney where I experienced an almost unrecognisably confident Church….The question……Why not?
What 500,000 pilgrims found in Sydney was a Church filled with life…., a Church of vibrant dialogue, built on faith,hope and love…..the Church as it should be.
I realise that Sydney is not like that now that we’ve flown to our respective homes but these experiences show that the Church is out there to be found and nurtured. We must recognise that the Irish, European or even North American situation is not the Universal one. The Church is alive!
This shouldn’t surprise us as the Gospel message is as relavent now as it ever was. Our world resembles, in so many ways, that of Christ in the first century. Christ’s message of love and hope took hold of the world then and it is doing so now.
While in Sydney I recognised more fully the true state of the Irish Church. It is one filled with hope and preparing to burst forth from congregations hungry to delve more deeply into their faith…preparing.
Medieval Europe recovered from its ‘dark ages’ through the toils of Irish missionaries but their zealous lust for penance was central to the Irish version of Christianity and this darker view was done away with alongside those dark times.
It is nothing more than arrogance which tempts us to write off the Church’s success in the global south as ‘opium for the masses’. Is it possible that we are the ones that have lost our way?
Irish suicide rates are amongst the world’s highest. A sense of isolation and desolation are becoming the norm along with our consumerist lifestyles in our ‘civilised’ society. Irish society has in general become little more than hedonistic. Mass attendance has fallen sharply. The Church is dying…..
Look further and you’ll notice 1,000 young Irish Catholics celebrating their faith in Knock, followed by another youth festival in Clonmacnois weeks later. Younger parishioners are not only trickling back to Sunday Masses but are also making their presence felt on parish boards. Faith groups are popping up all over the country as Ireland’s youth recognises the emptiness of our current aspirations. 800 young Irish Catholics recently travelled to the ends of the earth to celebrate their faith with the Universal Church….and that’s only diocesan numbers, many others travelled privately or with various religious orders. In 2006, 2 men were ordained in Ireland. In 2007 there were 11. Is it just me or is a pattern starting to emerge?
The Church consumed with images of hell and damnation is dying….and to be honest I don’t see the problem while the Church of hope and love…the Church of life….is rising from it’s predecessor’s ashes. Long live life!
Monday, August 11th, 2008 and is filed under The Church.
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lmaher Says:
Ronan wrote “The Church consumed with Hell and damnation is dying…”
LMaher wonders- what does that mean? After all - we still have the last four things to consider: death, judgment, Heaven and Hell. Doesn’t one enthusiastic version of the Act of Contrition say: “I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and fear the pains of Hell…” (who can disagree that Hell is to be feared and avoided).
What you seem to have noticed is enthusiasm at Sydney. The monks of former times had enthusiasm as did the sisters and priests of 19th & early 20th c. Ireland who brought the true faith to much of the world. The older version of the Act of Contrition was familiar to these enthusiastic Christians.
What happened to our enthusiasm? Discontinuity might be one factor. A religion that appears to have been cut off from its roots has less appeal than one that is timeless. On this note it might be interesting if the authors of the blog would look at the new English language Mass translation (the new English ordinary given the Roman “recognitio” is on the US Bishops website) and consider how this more accurate translation might reveal more continuity in the Church and how the revelation of that continuity may bring renewal & enthusiasm to our parishes. For example - much of the existing trite music used in our parishes will have to be cast aside (Deo gratias).
In one sense it can be seen as a repudiation of so much that was done in the English speaking Church since 1970.
It is my belief, however, that the clergy will find themselves transformed by the fuller prayers they will recite. They may get a renewed vision of their priesthood and the laity will perceive this change. It will probably change the way they celebrate the Mass itself. Other “Benedictine” changes in recent years accent continuity including the placement of the altar crucifix in the centre (once again) and placing candles on the altar. This helps to accentuate the presence of the Lord rather than the priest celebrant. Even the reception of communion kneeling seems to be returning.
This is progress because it helps all to recognize continuity in the Church and it liberates believers from the oppressive hegemony of the liturgical expert. A timeless and received liturgy will always spark more enthusiasm than one created by “experts”.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Ronan Says:
lmaher,
I agree whole-heartedly with everything you’ve said about the return of practices which stressed the place of God in a celebration in His Name.
In reply to your ‘wonder’:
I never suggested the words/concepts of hell should not exist but simply that the traditional emphasis in the Irish brand of Catholicism was on sin.
In his ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ James Joyce writes of the retreat leading priest who spends too much time on hell and has none left to address the small issue of salvation.
Pope John Paul II said “Do not give in to despair! We are an Easter people and Halleluja is our song!”
It seems to me that we are beginning to truly realise the truth to these words. This in itself is a celebration.
I hope that this is an adaquate response to your wonder.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Lmaher Says:
Yes, it is an adequate response to my question.
I’ve heard many times about the poor pastoral practices of the pre-1970 Church in Ireland. It is repeated so often that it is rarely questioned. I cannot help but think that the description of the Irish Church as putting too much of an emphasis on “sin” may be overstated or at least, is misunderstood. All traditions in Catholicism seek to avoid sin (maybe the Irish were rather successful:) Also, a certain focus on the passion seems to be characteristic of Roman Christianity (as opposed to Byzantine).
The reason I speculate that the accusation may be overstated is because the suggestion is often used to further discontinuity in almost every area of ecclesiastical life from pastoral practices, to clerical discipline, the rules of religious orders, to theology. For example, the priest might say to old Mr. Donohue, (or to young Fr. Brian, or to Sister John) - “(Sin X) need not be confessed anymore - we were too fixated on sin years ago…follow your conscience…”. Msgr. Ryan may say to his disgruntled parishioner who just heard Sister Luke give the homily that no priest need follow liturgical norms precisely “…because we were needlessly concerned with following the rules years ago…”.
It seems that there may be some kind of relationship between the dismissal of the pastoral approach of an earlier generation and an increase in despair today. You brought this up in a previous post observing that “… depression and suicide rates (are) breaking all previous records while respect for everything sacred (life, love etc.) is becoming rarer.”
Granted that other factors besides pastoral ones feed into this problem but Christian Ireland has a long history. Perhaps, in part, it was the regular confession of sins that helped us to avoid despair even during trying times. But we will only confess if we are asked to keep doing so and typically only priests who regular go to confession themselves will ask the laity to do it.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm