Masses Today

6.30: Elizabeth Coyne, (Anniv)
11.00: John Buckley, (Anniv)
6.30: Patrick & Bridget Farrington, (Anniv)





AS I WAS SAYING...

I have noted before that when the Church abandons some attitude or practice, society tends to embrace it with renewed energy. The most obvious practice is of course 'fasting and abstaining from flesh meat'. As soon as the Church abandoned its more rigid laws in this regard, dieting and vegetarianism grew in popularity. The dietary regimes that people now voluntarily and willingly submit to would far outstrip in their harshness and rigidity any of the old discipline imposed by the 'old' Catholicism. Motivation has changed, of course: fitness of the body, rather than salvation of the soul, is the present priority. But the human being doesn't change that much, apparently. The same needs and anxieties persist, albeit under different guises.

In the old dispensation, the area of human sexuality was policed in a very rigid manner. No thought, word or deed escaped the disapproving scrutiny of the moral policemen! Of course the rules were drawn up by celibates whose knowledge of sexuality left much to be desired, if you will pardon the pun! In retrospect, of course, we now realise that much of this was rubbish. The Church is blamed, with some justification, for repressing the libido of an entire nation! Its rigidity on sexual matters left many of its more devoted followers with a dubious legacy of anxiety and scrupulosity. However, a lot of this Puritanism had it source, not in Catholicism at all, but in Victorian prudery. 'Respectability' was the politically correct orthodoxy of that particular day. And sex was NOT respectable!

However, moral theology was updated and humanised after Vatican II. The old rigid, mechanical manuals were discarded. I have heard people complain that these books have never been replaced, that we live in a moral vacuum: 'We never hear a sermon on the Sixth Commandment any more, Father.' Again, these people probably have a point. But I strongly suspect that those who complain in this way have people other than themselves in mind for a good finger-wagging! And that, I fear, is a rickety pulpit from which to expound moral theology anew!

I now return to where I began: when the Church abandons something, society seems to take it up anew. The chief of the Bank of Ireland felt he had to resign his € 1.6 million job because he visited an adult website. I concede he was caught in a mouse trap of his own making. (And there is a suggestion that it was one of the mice who squealed!). But, according to journalists who visited the site, what Mr. Soden found there was comparatively harmless. Much more explicit material is to be found in the top-shelf glossy magazines, or on page 3 of our daily tabloids. In fact the kids who were taken by their parents (or vice versa) to the Britney Spears concert this week were exposed to far more pornographic material than Mr. Soden encountered. (Some parents had the neck to complain afterwards! On what planet have they been for the last five years?)

It is safe to conclude that 'official, politically correct Ireland', despite its spurious liberal posturing, is now much more puritanical than it ever was in those bad old day when we were all tied to Nanny Church's apron strings. Which means that hypocrisy is now more necessary for survival than ever. Just ask the Mammies who were frog-marched by their 'little dears' to the Britney Spears concert this week.

-Dick Lyng.




EVENTS THIS WEEK AND LAST






DANGEROUS WAR GAMES....

[The Holy Father met President Bush at the Vatican on Friday last. The Pope has been the most consistent critic of Bush's military exploits. The following analysis appeared in the most recent edition of the English Catholic journal, The Tablet. This journal has closely followed the 'papal line' on the recent war in Iraq.]

In the struggle against Islamist terrorist groups, the co-operation of Muslim states is essential. This in turn requires the utmost restraint in the use of imperial force. Take the case of Pakistan. The American uniformed military is well aware that the invasion and occupation of Pakistan is simply not an option. If Iraq is any parallel, it would require an American occupying force of more than a million men. This would require the restoration of conscription in the United States, which would tear American society apart and bring the American empire to an early end. In consequence America cannot afford even to take any minor steps that might eventually make such an invasion necessary.

There is an intimate relationship between the end of empire and democracy in the imperial countries themselves. The classic example is France where, by the end of the 1950s, it was becoming clear that the continuation of French rule over Algeria would require the creation of an authoritarian military regime in France itself.

If America engages in any more imperial military adventures like the one in Iraq, the long-term consequence may be the collapse of Western democracy, or of the globalised economic system on which American imperial power rests, or both. For such action will so inflame Muslim opinion that the resulting terrorism will only be containable - if at all - by a mixture of ruthless police measures at home and severe restrictions on the international movement of goods and people. Patriots and democrats should be doing everything in their power to devise new strategies which will avoid such terrible outcomes, and not indulging in nostalgic imperial fantasies.

-Anatol Lieven




AN OPEN LETTER TO DR MARTIN

Banal sermons and sometimes uninformed views from the pulpit made the church less credible before an increasingly educated Catholic laity, a leading theologian has said. In an open letter to the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, Prof Enda McDonagh said "at this stage of women's alienation" from the church, a director for women and women's issues was "as essential" as child protection officers.

On diocesan administration, he suggested that "a temporary cabinet of clergy, religious and laity could be established, for three years initially", to develop and implement spiritual, pastoral, intellectual and educational policies, as well as to take charge of diocesan finances. This "cabinet" might be appointed at first, then elected from appropriate constituencies, he said. All of which "should feed into a diocesan forum", as already announced for the diocese of Ossory, he said.

He advised that "every bishop should spend up to a week in each parish outside the time of Confirmation, which should be administered by the parish priest at another time".

Bishops, priests, and other church leaders must set aside a couple of weeks every year for intensive study of scripture and theology, with regular study days throughout the year, he said. "The real challenges to the Irish Church are in the areas of faith and theology as they face powerful social and cultural interrogation", while "in today's highly educated society the banal language and uninformed views displayed in pulpit and public statements make the Church increasingly incredible," he said.. In addition, the management of schools should be handed over to competent laypeople







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