...a rather fine letter in today's Irish Times.
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Was doing a post last night on my son's First Confession last week and the connection crashed, which was probably just as well, cos really who needs all that ranting and complaining.  In summary, it's a farce, a joke and devoid of anything approaching sacramental theology.

If you've never been introduced to the horrors of religious education in Ireland, visit the website of the archdiocese of Dublin and check out the section on confession.

On a brighter note, I came home the other day and find ...
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Prime Minister Berlusconi manages to overcome his embarrassment

Just when you thought bishops couldn't sink any lower in our estimation along comes the good bishop of Kerry in this story.

Bishop of Kerry says he was embarrassed to kiss Pope's ring

The Bishop of Kerry has claimed that he was surprised as he stooped to kiss Pope Benedict’s ring during the visit of the Irish bishops to the Vatican. 

Speaking to the Kerryman newspaper Dr Bill Murphy said he was surprised with the protocol but h...

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Well my eldest was studying some ecclesiology in school today.

In Alive-O this means talking about your local GAA club, school, community centre before we all join hands and sing "We are the greatest because we're sorry, so sorry, so very very sorry that we've lost our mamamamama" - translated from a 7th century Syrian chant by Charles Wesley.

Where was I?  Yes, the teacher began telling the class about the diocese and how they were part of Armagh - except, as my eldest pointed out, the parish ...
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So the Irish bishops are off in Rome for two days of meetings/dressing down with the Holy Father.  I have to say the whole thing has me appalled and outraged.  So many of our bishops seem to have learned nothing - even after all these years, countless meetings etc they still don't know how to wear their pectoral crosses.  Almost all of them are wearing them like Anglican bishops.  What hope is there for the Church?



And then the attempts of some of them to kiss the Holy Father's ring, or in the...
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Was watching The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne on RTE 1 tonight, interviewing Bertie Ahern.

I try to avoid Gay like the plague that he is - he was bad enough when he was in full employment but has become much worse since he retired.  He's like one of those annoying paintings that frequent the walls of the Headmaster's Office in Hogwarts - dead but still there annoying and advising in the smuggest way imaginable.

Bertie is very polished as usual but really it is wearing a bit thin.  The questio...
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What is wrong with Gerard Moloney, editor of Reality Magazine.  Of course it's legitimate to comment on the child abuse crisis, but it's his target I can't understand - promoters of the Latin Mass and anyone who supports renewal in the liturgy.  He writes:

"Something seems wrong when church leaders appear more interested in changing the language of the liturgy than trying to figure out why so many children have been harmed by clerics.  Huge effort has been put into preparing liturgical changes...

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You really have to wonder if our church has learned anything during this abuse crisis. 

On the 19th January this letter appeared in the Irish Times in response to a letter by Pat Buckley, Bishop of Larne, Omeath and the Isles.

Madam, – Pat Buckley (Letters, January 13th) inaccurately stated that, at the time of his “sacking”, Fr Brendan Smyth “was ministering in Down and Connor with the knowledge and consent of its then bishop, Cahal Daly”.

It should be noted that Fr Brendan Smyth, ...

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Cardinal Daly came to my mind today.  I was listening to the news about the the attack on Peadar Heffron, the policeman from Randalstown and I recalled the many previous statements Cahal used to issue, the press releases, the long drawn out battle with the IRA over paramilitary  funerals.  It turns out of course that he was dead right.

Well about politics - still totally wrong about architecture, including St Mel's Cathedral now burnt and hopefully to be restored to a 1950s glory.  When I thin...
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Well I bored the socks of everyone this morning at tea break telling them the history of Kilfenora and why it has an apostolic administrator (the Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh) instead of just being joined in the one diocese.

It's part of the province of Cashel and they are part of Tuam.

Interesting.

Of course this was famously recounted by the then Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora at the racetrack before the Pope arrived in October 1979, along with hi...
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You know you hate yourself but you just can't help watching this again and again - it's like a loose tooth or a rag nail.  Follow this link to RTE news - Real Player required I think.  For some reason can't get the link to go to the specific video I want.  Anyway, when you get there go to the links on the right - various news reports on the Murphy Report.  Click on the one headed

Six One News:
Cathy Halloran, Midwest Correspondent, reports that the meeting of the bishops tomorrow will be a ...

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Listening to Sunday Sequence on Radio Ulster yesterday I was amazed to hear, in response to a question about the Murphy Report, Bishop Donal McKeown, Auxiliarly Bishop of Down and Connor, declare that he had never heard of mental reservation. 

I thought to myself, well there could be number of explanations for this:

a) Due to bad hearing and bad teeth he thought he was being asked about "dental preservation";

b) He was making a mental reservation on the basis that he read about it but never act...
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I was standing in sombre silence yesterday watching the Remembrance Day service from Westminster Abbey.  I was thinking about Ekklesia's call for a more inclusive way of remembering.  Perhaps there wouldn't be enough room to bring in everyone but how nice it would be if we could get someone to represent the Germans, Italians, French, Poles and Russians - someone perhaps who could speak all those languages, someone who could represent the Irish involvement in British wars.

And suddenly I see hi...
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Weather's turned pretty Baltic today (though sunny at lunchtime).  You could do with a heavy sweater.

At Mass in Trinity College today.  All Souls today  of course so a big crowd. Not.  About fifteen I would estimate.  The priest walked up the aisle wearing no chausable and carrying a stole over his arm. He threw this round his neck as he approached the altar.  How very trendy.  I'm sure it impressed the four students who were there.

Then at the priest's communion he received by intinction.  I'...
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Enjoying the blog of the Archbishop of New York who has strong Drogheda connections.  He did a great interview on EWTN with Raymond Arrayo last week.  Wish we had at least one like him here.

Anyone in this blast he didn't miss and hit the door with his four recent examples of anti-Catholic bias in the media.
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I think I might have to send a few of my pencil cases to Sweden, where apparently the Synod of the Lutheran Church (which includes its fourteen bishops - but who cannot vote!) has decided all parishes must provide gay marriage.  If the "priest" won't do it, he/she must get someone else to do it.  Half the bishops are opposed but have no vote.  Did I mention they have no vote!  In the Church.

I feel an Apostolic Constitution coming on.
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Most of the talk about the recent canonisations (12 October - incidentally the date St Oliver Plunkett was canonised) was around St Damian the Leper.

Do take some time to read a little about St Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor.  Not only did she do tremendous works of charity, but she then saw her work effectively stolen by a priest, who seems to have gone to extraordinary lengths to obliterate her memory from the official record.  Her real sanctity lay in her reaction...
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While rejoicing with most (i.e. not liberal) other Catholics at the surprise news that the Holy Father has once again caught people off guard by doing something new to restore something old, it did occur to me that while Rowan Williams must be seething on the one hand that this has been done, a clear slap in the face to the modernist form of ecumenism in which we all water down our beliefs until they are all the same, on the other hand part of him must be thinking, "great, a chance to dump th...
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American Papist had this photograph on his funny photos section - he was concentrating on the rubbish art bit and how the Pope has to endure such stuff.  For me the funnier bit is the tiny little man who seems to have just emerged from the white box on the right.

Hat tip to Caroline.

I had similar thoughts when I saw the Pope examining piece of a meteorite recently.  I could his brain thinking "how long am I supposed to stare profoundly at this piece of crap?".  It was exactly the same look the...
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Have you noticed how odd clerical changes have become?  Time was you maybe started identifying who was retiring, then the Parish Priest moves, curates becoming Parish Priests, curates moving and the newly ordained first appointments.  This season's changes in Killala:

Bishop John Fleming, Bishop of Killala announces diocesan changes for the Diocese of Killala

-  Very Reverend Chris Ginnelly to be Parish Priest of Ballycroy.
-  Very Reverend Gerard O’Donnell to be Co-Pastor, Parish of Kiltane...

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Thought I would change the name of the blog, firstly because Raymond Arrayo has been using "Seen and Unseen" for some time and certainly longer than me.  And secondly because no one seems to have been using "Catholicus" since John Henry Newman and I might use it in tribute to him.  (Well there is another blog but defunct since February).

I'm reading a bio at the moment which I heartily recommend - "Newman's Journey" by Meriol Trevor.  It's a paperback version of her classic two volume biograph...
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I came upon this website today.  It's for people who want to leave the Catholic Church and offers forms to renounce your membership, a detailed FAQ, and sample replies received from some dioceses.  Personally I think it's excellent and the more people who take the trouble to defect formally the better.

What's amusing in the FAQ of course are questions like "will I still be able to have my children baptized?";  "can I be a godparent?" and "do my parents have to find out?".

I emailed the owner wh...
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And more from the Irish Catholic.

Interesting the mistakes and lines taken.  Story this week includes lead "the bishop of Ossory...has allowed a Sunday Latin Mass in the Extraordinary Form in his diocese".

Now it's presented as good news after 18 months of petitioning and negotiation.  The reality of course is that the bishop of Ossory has no authority to allow or disallow Mass in the Extraordinary Form in his diocese.  The Holy Father removed that control in Summorum Pontificum.  So perhaps th...
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I think the game is up for Archbishop Martin's attempts to turn the religious orders into a bad church for toxic abuse.  It only works if people don't realise it is happening.  But this morning on Joe Duffy's TV programme on RTE1 the cat came out of the bag.  Joe began with a bland "the bishops have come out of this controversy well", his tongue firmly in his cheek.  Fr Tony Flannery paused but a moment before laying in to their attempts at scape-goating religious orders.  I thought he would ...
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"Senior Irish football managers are said to be concerned about the drift of many young Irish men towards football clubs in other countries.  It comes after three under-21s and a full professional opted to join Inter Milan.  One senior manager told the Daily Mirror that the four players are the latest in a steady trickle of Irish players going abroad.  He cautioned that the style of play found in clubs like these is very much geared towards a continental experience and they may not even speak ...
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I seem to be apologising for my absence a lot recently.  Last week a good friend died.  It was sudden, but not unexpected.  And I just didn't feel like blogging.  Then it was just too busy.  He was buried on Saturday morning and for the first time in God know's how long we had a paid baby-sitter in.  Mary was so excited about it but ever practical - "will she give us something to eat?"  The poor girl hardly got through the day before Mary pounced with questions, conversation, stories - tales ...
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Been a bit busy and, well, it's my blog so I'll do what I want.

Good fun in the parish last night.  We had a visiting priest who decided to use incense and have benediction for the feast of Corpus Christi.  Mass began with Michael as the only altar boy.  About ten minutes in another altar boy appears.  And on the half hour, another one.  It was becoming Marxian in the brothers sense. 

They did manage to ring the bells at the four correct moments which is a distinct improvement - normally the fi...
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The Archbishop of Dublin is not particularly noted as a teacher.  But some people are learning from him.  Last week I noted his efforts at establishing CORI as what I called a "bad church" to deal with the toxic debt of child abuse.  In tomorrow's The Irish Catholic, CORI will be doing the same with the eighteen religious orders involved in the Ryan Report.  In turn David Quinn has noted that of the eighteen orders mentioned in the report, some are far "guiltier" than others.  I suspect as th...
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.... or was it, like, about two weeks ago that we were changing to volume 3 of the breviary, or as an American priest calls it (well whatever their four volume equivalent is) the "Beer and barbecue breviary".
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One of the reasons we respect Diarmuid Martin so much is that he is a tremendous strategarius - like a stradivarius but with a lot more strings and instead of a sound board it's more of a bored sound.

His strategy for dealing with the child abuse scandal has been masterful.  He has learned well from the secular sphere he moves in.  While the State has been setting up the National Assets Management Agency to transfer toxic debts into one bad bank, Martin has been setting up CORI as the "Bad Chu...
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I won't state it as crudely as some have, but Anglicanism has always been about sex.  It was founded on the lust of Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn and fed by his greed for the resources of the monasteries.  Everything since, all its pretence and vanities cannot move away from that fact - Henry declared himself head of the Church of Christ so that he could marry a younger woman.

It's not surprising then to read this story from Miama.  Fr Alberto Cutie, Miami's answer to Fr Brian Darcy, was photogra...
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Mary Kenny in tomorrow's Irish Catholic has an excellent proposal which I heartily endorse.

She thinks the Archbishop of Dublin should sell his house and give the money to the abuse victims and then go and live in the centre of Dublin.
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I've been debating the Ryan Report in some other on-line fora and really I've had enough.  Is there any point?  Should we keep putting ourselves out and talking about it or just let the media and victim groups to talk among themselves.  You get so far and then someone plays the Absolute Morality Card and announces that they were abused and you're expected to stop the discussion, roll over and die.  Well, that might be good enough for the Archbishop of Dublin, but it isn't for me. 

Clearly the...
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The Irish Catholic (Michael Kelly) has launced a campaign to have Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican, declared a Righteous Gentile.  

There's nothing much wrong with this, except maybe that I think he was already declared one - the Irish Examiner says the tree was planted in 2003.

But apart from that, I think in principle Catholics should have nothing to do with the whole procedure until at a minimum they stop attacking Pope Pius XII.  And really until they declare ...
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I find myself forced to break my self imposed silence on the Commission on Child Abuse because I have to comment on the disgraceful behaviour of the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.  His Grace has always, frankly, been a bit holier than thou when dealing with this issue with his attempts, not just to do the right thing, but to show that other bishops and religious orders are doing the wrong thing.

But his attack on the new Archbishop of Westminster on the day of his installation has me f...
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You remember that story about the Left Hand of Darkness's people ordering the cover up of the IHS insignia at Georgetown University in case the message was confused with I Hate Sinners.  Today (20th) is the feast of St Bernardine of Siena, the man who invented the IHS sign.  Of course it means Iesus hominum Salvator (Jesus Savior of Mankind).  Interestingly, in the light of the Georgetown incident, St Bernardine had it painted on a board and he used to hold it up in the pulpit.  For this he w...
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"Joseph Ratzinger depends a great deal upon other people for emotional support and he has a large "family" of friends that care about him and treat him as kin. The women in The Pope's life are particularly important to him, and his relationships with them powerfully influence his sense of security and happiness. Pope Benedict XVI may be overly dependent and unsure of himself without a close partner.

The Pope has intense desires and feelings and his personal relationships are deeply emotiona...

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I worry about the Jews and the smouldering anti-Semitism that is always ready to ignite and which we must guard against, even if we feel provoked.  This comment piece from Israel on the Pope's speech at the holocaust memorial was typical of many, begrudging, wanting the Pope to abase himself in some way and accept a personal or corporate responsibility for what happened which he could not, in truth, do.  He wrote:

However, you thought otherwise. You thought that visiting Yad Vashem is enough...

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What have the Pope's Mass in Jerusalem and tonight's semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in common.  Apart from the lurid costumes, the dreadful flat singing.  Did you see the beginning of the papal Mass?  There was a dreadful introduction, a long speech of welcome by the Latin Patriarch, full of ridiculous political propoganda.  I have checked my General Instruction on the Roman Missal thoroughly and there is no provision in the rubrics for someone welcoming the celebrant.

Meanwhile Lom...
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You know what, I wish the Pope could just tell people to naff off, grow up, calm down and anything else that ends in a preposition.  At Tel Aviv airport he refers to the six million Jews killed in Holocaust.  Later he says "millions" and they are down on him like a ton of bricks.  He says "killed" instead of "murdered".  He doesn't blame Christianity for the Nazis, though previously he has referred to the Church's role in anti-Semitism, as has John Paul the Great.  He doesn't mention his own ...
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The year is 2012, the newsreader has just announced the death of Nelson Mandela, tributes begin to flood in from around the world - man of peace, saviour of South Africa, uniter of black and white, friend of the poor.

The year is 2022, a small budget movie appears called The Prisoner - it's about a man arrested in an African country for terrorism.  It shows a man who breaks while in prison, he buys his release by agreeing to renounce violence.  He is a sort of Uncle Tom character.  He becomes ...
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I have been scanning the internet for two days trying to find a photo like this after my wife spotted him at the airport line-up in Jordan.

No I don't mean the Holy Father, but Monsignor Michael Crotty, Cloyne's finest, the number two of the Nunciature in Iraq.
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The Friday Competition - try and find a news service covering the Holy Father's trip to the Near East that doesn't mention his 2006 Regensberg speech which "outraged" Muslims or the recent lifting of the excommunication of Bishop Williamson which "outraged" some Jews just recovering from their "outrage" over the possible beatification of Pope Pius XII and the "outrage" at the restoration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Here's one you can have for free.  It provides a d...

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The Commander of the Swiss Guard has said in an interview that he would be open to allowing women to join.

Sigh.
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I think this is a very significant story:

Fr. Thomas Berg, Executive Director of the New York-based Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, announced today that he will be leaving the Legion of Christ to join the Archdiocese of New York and will continue his ministry as the head of the institute.

Fr. Berg released a brief statement explaining his decision and his motivations for the change:

“After nearly 23 years of life as a Legionary of Christ, I have discerned that it is ...

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The first public extraordinary form Latin Mass in the Killala Diocese since the enactment of Summorum Pontificum will take place in the Church of the Assumption, Ardagh, Crossmolina, Co Mayo on Saturday 16 May at 3pm.  The celebrant will be Father John Loftus, CC, Belmullet, Co Mayo and chaplain to the Connaught Provincial Chapter of the LMSI.  This Mass will take place on a quarterly basis initially, but will be subject to review pending demand.

This, of course, is part of Bishop Fleming's po...
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A little more on the Pope's visit to the earth quake zone.  I really like this photo because, for those of us who drive on the left as God intended (started in Rome by the Pope for the Holy Year of 1300) before Napoleon made everyone drive on the right, it looks like the Pope is driving himself which is vaguely amusing for those who are easily amused I suppose.

Also wanted to post the prayer the Pope said for victims which I think is lovely and could be used by anyone who has experienced a dea...
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Did you see the Holy Father's visit to Abruzzo - Times and Sky News had some good coverage.

I was intrigued by his decision to leave his original papal pallium - the giant one - at the tomb of St Cellistine, as a mark of solidarity with the people affected by the quake.

Or perhaps St Vincent de Paul didn't want it - cos as the Pope discovered, it's far too big.  We need some fat archbishops again, well fat and tall, not Cardinal O Fiach style - who could carry it off.
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Found this interesting photography of Pope John Paul the Great from the 1950s.

Of course what's most interesting is that you can see clearly his brown scapular.
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One of the good guys - Bishop Walter Mixa: "A society without God is hell on earth."

You know the way bishops sometimes can be accused of being on the verge of taking a stand.  Well here's two who have taken stands - and they're not good stands either.

Firstly from Germany:  The Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, believes that Christ’s crucifixion is just a psychological support for those who suffer.

On Holy Saturday, the archbishop denied...

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Am I the only person left who still buys that paper, cos people regularly ask me to check things in it.

It has become a real blancmange of a paper.  We've the editor regularly pushing his agenda - the last two weeks it was the ordination of women.  He declared categorically that there was no doubt that there were women deacons in the early Church.  It's half way through before he asks the question if they were ordained by the laying on of hands, and the answer?  It doesn't really matter.  Then...
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I was up in Belfast on Saturday on Saturday for my Carmelite meeting.  I called in to see the recently renovated/restored St Malachy's Church.  They've done a fine job, not least in fixing the external brickwork, in the painting work on the sanctuary, with the secret doors into the sacristy.  The mosaic flooring in the sanctuary is rather beautiful.

Of course one does enjoy quibbling and I do have some quibbles.  In keeping with recent restorations such as Armagh and Belfast Cathedrals I think...
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I took a break from blogging for the days of the Easter Triduum, partly because I was busy, partly for spiritual reasons.  But now I'm back.  How were your Easter ceremonies?

It's dreadful, really, that so much depends on the whim of individual priests when you think that the rubrics are fairly clear for almost all aspects of the ceremonies.  Our Mass on Holy Thursday was mostly good, but of course, you don't notice the 95% of your body that isn't itching, it's the bit you're scratching you th...
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Man and Woman He Created Them: Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body

The 2nd International Symposium
11th-14th June, 2009
Maynooth Campus, Maynooth, Ireland



This Symposium, marking the 30th anniversary of both Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland and the first Papal audience on the Theology of The Body, will explore the goodness, truth and beauty of human sexuality and the Divine plan for human love. Scholars, teachers, students and catechists from around the world will come togeth...