General Absolution at Christmas

Fr Z's blog has a complaint from an Irish reader about a priest who is refusing to implement the corrected translation of the Roman Missal and who is offering General Absolution for Christmas:

Add to that our bi-ennial General Absolution is available after all Masses this weekend – he instructed parishioners that they don’t need to mention any specific sins, but will be absolved from all their sins on receiving his absolution. God help us! I’m a secular Carmelite so one aspect of our vocation is praying for priests – I’m praying very hard for him and offering up trials and suffering that his eyes will be opened, but wonder if I should be doing something more concrete? I’d be grateful for your advice.

Fr Z correctly points out that the worried parishioner should calmly write to his or her bishop about this. He also points out that repeated General Absolution is invalid.

This is a point that I wish was made more often and any time I'm asked about this, I always make the point that unless it's an emergency situation a priest cannot validly give general absolution. Additionally, when general absolution is given, penitents must be reminded that they should confess the sins which have been forgiven through general absolution the next time they make a proper one-on-one confession.

A Sacrament - not magic
I can only conclude that the priests who give general absolution willy-nilly either have some very strange ideas about their power to administer the Lord's forgiveness or don't believe in the forgiveness of sins at all. I mean, if I believed that I could forgive sins as a matter of routine by means of general absolution, I would walk up and down the Main Street of my parish every morning with a loud-hailer forgiving the sins of all my parishioners on a daily basis. I think the question should be asked of any priest who regularly gives general absolution why he doesn't do that.

The administration of general absolution as a matter of routine transforms the priest's power to grant absolution from a sacramental act into a magical act. As I administer the sacrament of confession, I believe that through my ordination and the power granted to Christ by the Church, I can make Christ's own forgiveness present to the penitent who approaches me with the desire to receive Christ's mercy. I believe that absolution given in this context is simultaneously an act of Christ, of the Church and of the Priest. The administration of general absolution - outside of the legitimate limits set by the Church for emergency situations - betrays a belief in magical thinking: the idea that forgiveness can be granted by the recitation of a formula by the priest - setting aside the role of the Church in the forgiveness of sins and depriving the faithful of a genuine encounter with Christ.

Homily for the 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Year A)

Readings here
A number of my parishioners said some kind things about my homily this morning and said it encouraged them. It's somewhat more 'personal' in tone than most of my homilies, but it seemed like an appropriate time to speak very personally about some of the challenges of priesthood these days.

It has been a tough week and a half to be a priest in Ireland. There is a storm raging around us at the moment, and it’s not always easy to know what to make of it. Because, some of what is happening these days is JUSTICE – hidden things being brought to light – evil, wrongdoing, incompetence, carelessness and neglect being dragged into the light of day. Sunlight is the best detergent – this kind of purification, even when it is painful, is something that we must accept, and even welcome.

Some of what is happening these days is INJUSTICE – some things have been said which are unfair. Hurtful and hate-filled things have been said. So much of the good work done by laity and clergy has been written off and ignored. Anger about Cloyne is justifiable. However, this same anger has blinded some people and led us to the day I never thought I’d never see – the day when the political leaders of our own country would be mounting an assault, trying to crack open the seal of confession. Priests have been willing to die for the sake of that seal.

Some of the criticism the Church has received has been justified. Some of it has not. But, I don’t think that a homily is the right time for me to work through in detail the rights and wrongs of the whole horrid situation. Good and sincere Catholics disagree about where these rights and wrongs and this is not the time for me address that particular controversy.

Because, I very much appreciate that all of you who have gathered here this morning have made your choice to come to Mass. Many of your friends and family, I am sure, take a different decision. Those of you who have come here have probably had a difficult week and a half as well. Some of you probably dread turning on the radio or looking at the newspaper.
Some of you have come to Mass with serious doubts about the Church, or about the clergy. Maybe your faith is battered and bruised. That is understandable. Some of you are here feeling that the Church is getting an unfair whipping and you’re angry with politicians or the media. Maybe you feel like digging in your heels in spite of them. That’s understandable as well. Some of you are probably somewhere between those two positions or don’t really know what to think. That’s understandable as well.

Whatever you feel about being here at Mass this morning, about being part of the Church, can I reassure you of one thing? The real reason that you are here this morning is because God wants you to be here. St Paul in our second reading assures us of this – God has a plan for us, and has chosen us to be the brothers and sisters of his Son. He wants to be at work in us so that we resemble ever more closely Jesus Christ. We must never lose sight of that. God has called us and continues to call us to know His mercy and his love; He invites us to know his friendship and His consolation and the healing power of Christ.

And it is because of that invitation, that call, that I am so upset about the situation in Ireland at the moment. I am upset, first of all at the damage and pain inflicted on victims of cruelty, abuse or neglect. That upsets me greatly.
And I am upset at the fact that this pain and damage and all the aftermath from it – both inside and outside the Church – is cutting people off from the healing power of Christ and His Gospel. Lord knows, we need that healing and that Gospel these days. As a priest, it’s the fact that Christ’s own healing and power is being blocked in so many ways that frustrates me.

I have been in this parish for the past X years and have been a priest for the past Y – I can’t really complain of ever being badly treated in any real way because I am a Catholic priest. I haven’t had to deal with people hassling me or insulting me because of my priesthood. I don’t feel threatened or put upon in the slightest in that way. Quite the opposite, in fact. People have been so good and supportive to me in my priesthood and have been keeping me in their prayers, so I don’t at all get the sense that people want to treat me badly. And I want to make it clear that I am as happy today to be a priest as I was the day I was ordained.

No, the thing that concerns me about the priesthood in the present day and about the future is that because of all the evil things that have happened in the past and because of the way we’re dealing with them today, it’s going to be more and more difficult to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people – and in a time when there is so much pain and confusion, that’s truly disheartening. There is so much out there blocking the Gospel and making it harder to hear the voice of Jesus Christ in our country. That, as I said, is truly disheartening.

Because, I genuinely believe in the ‘pearl of great price’. I believe in the Kingdom of God, I believe that knowing Jesus Christ and trying to do God’s will is worth more than anything else in the world. I believe that there is a greater beauty, a greater power, a greater healing, a greater wisdom and a greater consolation in the Gospel of Christ, the only-begotten Son of the Father, than in all other philosophies.
I believe that NOTHING compares with the fact that the Son of God has come among us as a man, has suffered for us, and invites us to be part of His family, the Church. I believe that there is nothing greater than knowing that we are His brothers and sisters. There is nothing more life-giving than to know Him in Word and Sacrament.

The fact that you too have gathered here in this church for Mass this morning shows that you too know the attraction and power and healing of Christ – and you will understand me when I say that the only healthy and sure way out of our current morass is in turning to Christ with courage and trust asking Him to give us the words and the understanding and the healing that He alone can bring. We won’t find it in our upset, or our anger or our frustration or our disquiet, unless He alone shows it to us. But if He grants it to us, we will find Him despite the darkness we have to face.

Solomon, in our first reading, prospered because he discerned well. He knew what he needed from God in order to rule justly and he asked for it. God heard him, God granted His desire and gave him even more than He asked for because He asked wisely.

We need the spirit of Solomon today – in our weakness, we need to turn to the Lord and ask him to guide us, to give us his wisdom. We need a spirit of prayer. We need a spirit of discernment. We need a spirit of understanding and right judgement to make sense of difficult times. Above all, we need a faith that binds us ever more closely to Christ. In this faith, we need to find a deep compassion for all who are called to be Christ’s brothers and sisters and to be our brothers and sisters as well. The Lord alone can grant that, and the Lord alone can cause his will to be done, even in times of confusion and chaos.

St Paul points us in the right direction – he reassures us, “by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him.” We see that most clearly of all in the Cross – when Christ brought salvation out of unadulterated evil. All that Christ has to give us comes out of that darkness. We ask Him to do the same for our Church, for our people in Ireland today – to bring His salvation and light out of the darkness and confusion of these days.

Prison Chaplaincy...

I'm not a fan of the Association of Catholic Priests, but I find this statement on their website very interesting.
It concerns a prison chaplain and a convicted rapist who is suspected of being responsible for the deaths of a number of young women. On his release from prison a number of months ago, the ex-prisoner was followed by a posse of journalists and camera men. I remember being disgusted by the voyeuristic tone of the coverage at the time. Anyway, the ACP statement is as follows:

The Association of Catholic Priests wishes to affirm its full support for the priestly work of Fr. Ciarán Enright, Chaplain Arbour Hill Prison, in the wake of the unjustified criticisms made against him in the Sunday World, 5th June. During the lengthy imprisonment of Larry Murphy in Arbour Hill, Fr. Ciarán ministered to him in a caring and compassionate manner. It is part of the Church’s role to break down the social barriers which society tries to erect, just as Jesus did. No-one, no matter what crimes they have committed, is excluded from the Church’s caring ministry or from the love of God.
The reprehensible manner in which Larry Murphy was released from Arbour Hill prison at the end of his sentence has already been severely criticised in the most recent Prison Chaplains’ Annual Report. The media coverage fuelled fear and anxiety amongst the general public, could only have added to the distress of his victim and indeed could have put his own life in danger. The only voice of protest came from Fr. Ciarán. Being faithful to the Gospel requires the Church to affirm the dignity of every human being, and to insist that this dignity be respected. This does not always sit easily with the attitudes of many in society.
The media witch hunt which, in the pursuit of profit, demonises some high profile offenders whose crimes are rightly abhorrent to the vast majority of society, only increases the risk of re-offending and consequently makes society less safe.
As prison chaplain, Fr. Ciarán has devoted many years to ministering to those whom society would prefer to shun. As Catholic priests, we stand firmly with him, and we are encouraged by his faithful witness to the values of the Gospel.

Amen to that! I've always had a huge regard for prison chaplains and the fact that Fr Enright's ministry is provoking howls of outrage from the gutter-press should be a reminder to us how the Gospel of reconciliation and the doctrine of the dignity of the human person is subversive of worldly values. The pastoral support and concern of the Church is not something which should or can be earned, but is something that is offered to all. Often those most in need of that support and concern are those who are 'least deserving' in the eyes of the world.

Readers might be interested in reading the text of the Sunday World article which prompted the above statement:

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Priest pal of rapist Murphy in bizarre rant in support of sicko
THE priest who is predator Larry Murphy's best pal has claimed that the sick sex beast is the victim of a "shameful witch hunt".
Father Ciaran Enright says the rapist and attempted killer's life is in danger.
And in a stunning outburst he claims Murphy should have been given special treatment when he was released from prison last year.
The Sunday World has learned that the priest - Murphy's only friend in the world - is furious over the way that his sick sidekick Murphy is being pursued by the Press and blames the Irish Prison Service for "appalling and irresponsible" treatment of him.
The head chaplain at Dublin's Arbour Hill prison, where Murphy served a 10-year sentence for a vile rape and attempted murder, is in regular contact with the suspected serial killer and greeted him at Dublin Airport when he returned to the country 11 days ago.
Garda sources say that the holy man has been totally taken in by Murphy and believes that he is a reformed character.
Impulsive
However, senior gardai say that Murphy is an "impulsive psychopath" and could strike again at any time. He is now living in a safe house in rural Ireland and will not leave the country until at least the end of next week.
Fr Enright, in his position as head chaplain, said: "The hysteria that was generated by media coverage heightened the danger to his life and fuelled fear and anxiety among the general public.
"While current legislation may not have allowed for any curtailment of this appalling media coverage, senior management had not only the power, but also the responsibility, to be cognisant of such intense media intrusion when putting a discharge plan in place for a person who had spent over 10 years in the custodial care of the State.
"The failure to do so represents a clear failure of responsibility and duty of care that played into the hands of the media."
The devil's advocate went on to say that making Murphy walk out the front gates of Arbour Hill when he was released caused the pervert "unnecessary distress" and created a "witch hunt" that was "shameful and dangerous".
The 46-year-old psycho refused all offers of counselling and rehabilitation treatment during his decade behind bars.
Despite Murphy giving two fingers to the authorities, Fr Enright has stood up for him, saying the lack of special treatment "endangered his life and caused untold distress for many people".
"No amount of political spin or selective recalling of facts can justify this," Fr Enright said.
The priest has also accused the prison service of leaking "inaccurate and false" information about Murphy that Enright believes was "destructive, disturbing and unacceptable".
The Sunday World can exclusively reveal the background of Larry Murphy's controversial return to Ireland.
The 'Beast of Baltinglass' was enjoying a drink in an open-air bar in a square of Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday, May 19, when his passport fell out of his back pocket. Contrary to reports, there was no prostitute involved in stealing it.
He only realised it was missing when he went back to his hostel and the following day he went to the Irish Consulate in the city and informed them of what happened and asked about how to get a replacement.

The Sunday World ignores previous press reports that show Fr Enright encouraging Larry Murphy to engage with the probation services after leaving prison. I'm glad that Fr Enright was at the airport to meet this man and I agree 100% with his criticisms of the media pursuit of Murphy following his release from prison. If you read what Fr Enright actually said, it's far from being the 'bizarre rant' implied by the journalist.

Now, if Larry Murphy is guilty of further crimes, then of course he should be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. However, failing that, I suspect that some sectors of the Irish media would be reasonably satisfied by his suicide. If, God forbid, that should come to pass, those journalists would have blood on their hands.

An interesting article...

Andrew O'Connell of the Irish Catholic is definitely worth reading on the latest child protection controversy in Ireland. His article puts together a very clear picture of the situation.

Media reports gave the impression that the Church had willingly placed legal obstacles in the way of the Board's review of current safeguarding practices in dioceses and religious congregations. The impression was also given that the Church was withholding information and starving the Board of funding to conduct training in best practice. Legal obstruction, financial strangulation and continuing hypocrisy; the hallmarks of an un-reformable institution, according to one journalist.
However, that is a gross misrepresentation. How that impression was created was due to three factors; the presentation of events in the Board's own report, the willingness of the media to provide the worst possible interpretation and the failure of the Church to provide a rapid response to a meltdown situation.

Why is it that Andrew seems to be able to explain what's going more clearly and more effectively than the hierarchy's own media office?

"Including three women..."

There's a rather predictable whiiiiiiine from the Association of Catholic Priests in response to the shocking (SHOCKING!) news that the improved English Translation of the Roman Missal will come into force in Ireland. They seem to be throwing their toys out of the crib in protest.

Anyway, I think it's all rather absurd and am looking forward to using the new texts. Yes, there will be teething difficulties and they will take time to get used to, but I will not miss the current translation. So much of the theological meat and substance were drained out of the prayers when they were initially translated that I look forward to finally praying them as they were meant to be prayed.

The ACP statement is puzzling in one respect. It contains following:

At a meeting in Maynooth on Monday, February 28th a delegation from the ACP met the Episcopal Commission of Worship, Pastoral Renewal and Faith Development. There were five members of the Bishop’s Conference and a number of others, including three women, present.

I'm scratching my head at why the clause 'including three women' was included. Is something sinister implied? Are we to suppose that they are the bishops' concubines? Vatican spies, perhaps? Are these women to be considered class-traitors for their connivance with the male hierarchical hegemony in linguistic impression?
Or are we to suppose that they are included for theological reasons - that they weren't literally present, but have been added in by the person drafting the statement in order to symbolise the thousands of women written out of the Bible when it was re-written by the Emperor Constantine? Do they represent the Myrrhbearing women at the tomb of the old translation?
Or, is it just the case that the ACP - despite all its protestations about respecting women in the Church - has some kind of difficulty in seeing women involved in these issues, especially when they're on the wrong side of the desk?

School Patronage - The Answer Already Decided?

This report from the Irish Times is of interest - it describes how a group is being established to examine how the patronage of some Irish primary schools might be transferred away from the Catholic Church (or more precisely, the local bishop) in order to better represent the religious make-up of Ireland and in order to afford choice to parents who may wish to have their children educated in a school with a non-Catholic ethos.

A word of explanation may be needed for non-Irish readers - the Article 42 of the Constitution of Ireland says the following about education:

42: The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.

42.2: Parents shall be free to provide this education in their homes or in private schools or in schools recognised or established by the State.

The State shall not oblige parents in violation of their conscience and lawful preference to send their children to schools established by the State, or to any particular type of school designated by the State.

The State shall, however, as guardian of the common good, require in view of actual conditions that the children receive a certain minimum education, moral, intellectual and social.

The State shall provide for free primary education and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially in the matter of religious and moral formation.

In exceptional cases, where the parents for physical or moral reasons fail in their duty towards their children, the State as guardian of the common good, by appropriate means shall endeavour to supply the place of the parents, but always with due regard for the natural and imprescriptible rights of the child."

It should be noted that the State is not charged directly with providing primary (elementary) education, but rather should 'provide for' - in other words, co-operation with religious and other groups in terms of the provision of education is explicitly foreseen.
So it is that most Irish primary schools - 90% or so - come under the patronage of the local Catholic Bishop or a religious order. The other 10% are mostly Protestant schools, interdeminational/nondenominational schools or schools established for the promotion of the Irish language.
Now, it should be noted that the State funds all these different sorts of schools in an even-handed manner. Our primary education system is almost entirely state-funded. Likewise, the curriculum and most of the regulations to do with running the schools come from the Department of Education and not the patron. So, it would be a mistake to suggest that these schools are CONTROLLED by one religious group or another. [The last line of the news report is a nonsense - the Department of Education has much more 'control' in the schools than the Church.] However, the Patrons (religious and otherwise) are key to the management and ethos of the schools. So, a school under Catholic patronage would have daily Catholic religious education and prayers. The school would play an active part in the life of the parish and should be expected to have a Catholic spirit. Non-Catholic pupils are welcome in our Catholic schools, of course, and parents may opt their children out of Catechism classes and so on. In general, I would argue that our schools are very accommodating and Christian in the welcome they give to non-Catholic students and the way in which the reasonable rights and expectations of parents are respected. This is especially important in areas where there is no alternative to the local Catholic primary schools.
I mentioned management earlier - whilst a Catholic primary school is funded by the State and is subject to a state curriculum and regulations, it is actually managed by a Board of Management on behalf of the Patron (local Bishop). It is an 8-member board. The Chairperson and one other board member are directly nominated by the Patron. (Normally the local priest and a local layperson are the bishop's nominees.) The school principal and a teacher also sit on the board. Parents nominate two members and these six members select the final two members from the local community. The management of the school, therefore, is very representative of the various parties who have a strong and genuine interest in the school itself - an excellent example of subsidiarity and local involvement.

Anyway, it has been clear for a number of years that the de facto monopoly of Catholic primary schools wasn't meeting the needs of parents in some parts of the country. The idea of parental choice in these matters is something that co-incides nicely with Catholic thought, so the Irish Bishops have said that they are open to transferring the patronage of some schools. I think that it's probably fair to say as well that some schools have found it difficult to maintain their Catholic identity/ethos when a large proportion of the students attending are non-Catholic, so this transfer of patronage could also be seen as facilitating the strengthening the ethos of those schools which remain under Catholic patronage. Parents would have to chose to send their children to a Catholic primary school, rather than sending their children to a local Catholic school because the only schools out there are Catholic. Similarly, teachers would be choosing to teach at a Catholic primary school rather than just accepting at job at a Catholic school because there are no other teaching posts available.

However, this report from the Irish Times is worrying in that it states that the Minister for Education wants to see 'at least half' of the schools currently under Catholic patronage to be move to some other form of patronage. In other words, less than 45% of Irish primary schools would remain in Catholic patronage. One wonders how he came up with that figure and why he thinks that it is fitting that he should announce the answer before the body investigating the question has even met. When you consider the fact that most small rural primary schools are very embedded in the life of their local parish, it doesn't make sense to suggest that their patronage should be transferred. In the main, parents, teachers and community are happy with the status quo. So, does the Minister have his figures wrong or is there something more ideological behind his statement?

Maynooth Seminary to Close?

There's an interesting report on the Irish Catholic website suggesting that Ireland's largest seminary may be closed as a result of the recent visitation by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.

The national seminary, which has educated Irishmen for the priesthood since 1795, may be set for closure after the recent Apostolic Visitation by New York's Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. It is expected the report will recommend that Pope Benedict XVI move all Irish seminarians to a reformed and restructured Pontifical Irish College in Rome.
The historic shift would bring an end to concerns about falling academic standards at Maynooth and claims by some that the college in no longer 'fit for mission'. One senior academic told The Irish Catholic that the Apostolic Visitors were ''appalled'' by some of the standards in Maynooth. Rome would give access to heavyweight universities under direct scrutiny from the Vatican.
It is understood the plan would include the Irish College in Rome dramatically reducing the number of non-Irish students enrolled in the seminary to make way for the seminarians from Maynooth.

I can imagine that this news won't go down well as many Maynooth graduates won't want to see their Alma Mater closed. It's interesting that the focus of the article is on the academic shortcomings of the Pontifical University. Whether Maynooth had sufficient weight to be considered a viable Pontifical University is something that I've heard quietly discussed for years.
One wonders what Archbishop Dolan's report will have to say regarding formation in Maynooth and the other Irish seminaries (Rome & Belfast).

Incidentally, speaking of Archbishop Dolan, his St Patrick's Day Letter this year is a very fine reflection on the Sacrament of Confession. I'm loath to quote selectively from it, so go and read the whole thing.

[Anyone want to lay a bet on how quickly the Association of 'Catholic' Priests will be in putting together a whine about Rome suppressing Maynooth?]

Edited to add: The President of Maynooth says the report is 'without foundation'.

Dorothy Cummings McLean on Spirit Radio this Friday

Be sure and listen to Spirit Radio this Friday morning at 10.00am. There will be an interview with Dorothy Cummings McLean who writes (with humour and sanity!) about the single life from a Catholic perspective.

And with your spirit!

It's a shame that those who are less than enthusiastic about the new translation of the Roman Missal are making all the noise... This homily by Bishop Conley (Auxiliary in Denver) certainly explains why we should be enthusiastic about the new translation.

When we celebrate the Eucharist, the pope says, we are “entering into the liturgy of the heavens that has always been taking place. Earthly liturgy is liturgy because and only because it joins what is already in process, the greater reality”.13

To drive this point home, our new Mass translation replaces the mundane affirmation – “Happy are those who are called to His supper” – with a confession of faith worthy of the cosmic character of our celebration.

We are not “happy”. We are blessed. We have not been called to any ordinary meal. No, we have been invited to the great banquet of our heavenly King, the wedding feast of His Son, our Redeemer.

Accordingly, we will now pray: “Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb”. Again, the prayer has been there all along in the Latin. The language is an almost literal quotation from the revelation of the heavenly liturgy given to Saint John in the Book of Revelation.14

In the holy Mass heaven reaches down to earth and earth reaches up to heaven. We are worshipping not only in our local church, but in the precincts of Mount Zion, “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and [with] innumerable angels in festal gathering, and [with] the Church of first-born who are enrolled in heaven.”15

That is how the early Christians understood their worship. And it’s time for us to reclaim that same consciousness. We need to come to our worship filled with this same awe for the mystery of God’s love and His covenant plan.

Amen!

A Challenging Read...

There's an interesting article in the Homiletic and Pastoral review by a Fr Ference entitled Why Vocation Programs Don't Work.  One could certainly transpose this article into an Irish key and ask why the life of the Irish Church seems to be in terminal decline.

The root of our current vocation problem is a lack of discipleship. Of course, a disciple is one who encounters Jesus, repents, experiences conversion and then follows Jesus. All too often those of us in positions of Church leadership presume that all the folks in the pews on Sundays, all the children in our grade schools, high schools and PSR programs, all the kids in our youth groups, all the men in our Men’s Clubs and all the women in our Women’s Guilds, and all the members of our RCIA team are already disciples. Many are not. (The same can be said of staffs and faculties of Catholic institutions.) Our people may be very active in the programs of our parishes, schools and institutions, but unfortunately, such participation does not qualify for discipleship.

Read the whole thing and I think you'll find that the discipleship orientation proposed by Fr Ference seems to resonate much more strongly with the Sermon on the Mount than the suggestions coming from some other quarters about a path to renewal.

No 'Ghosts' in Michaela's Story

The bloggers over at Get Religion often talk about 'ghosts' - religious aspects and angles to media stories which are overlooked.  I think it's worth noting that the Irish media haven't done badly in reporting the religious 'angle' following the recent death of Michaela McAreavey.
Michaela was the daughter of popular Gaelic Football manager Mickey Harte and newly-wed wife to John McAreavey, Gaelic footballer and nephew to the Bishop of Dromone.  While the couple were on their honeymoon, Micheala was murdered in what seems to be a petty theft gone wrong. Needless to say, the whole country has been shocked by this sudden and brutal event.
It's been notable that the bereaved families and communities have been using the language of faith in their public statements to the media.  It has been notable too that the press haven't shied away from reporting on Michaela's strong Catholic faith and the assistance provided by the Church community at this time.  A good example is this linked article from the Irish Independent.  

Within an hour of Michaela's body being found in Mauritius, news of her death reverberated across sporting and political circles in Ireland, making the news by midday. It wasn't just the shattered promise and optimism of a couple of newly-weds on honeymoon that resonated, or the fact that she was the daughter of the legendary Tyrone football manager, Mickey Harte. She was also a beautiful, fashion-mad young woman, who was also a devout Catholic and a fluent Irish speaker, a pioneer and a huge GAA fan: for many people, she represented a side of Ireland that isn't often so evident these days.
She was Mickey and Marian Harte's only daughter, sandwiched between three brothers, Mark, Michael and Matthew. She was raised in the village of Ballygawley, a close-knit community with an active parish, and educated by the Loreto nuns in Omagh and later completed her teacher training with the order. She taught Irish at St Patrick's Academy in Dungannon at the time of her death.
[snip]

Francis Downey, a childhood friend of John's, summed her up last week: "She should be remembered as the nicest person you could ever meet. She was a loving woman, she loved her family, she loved football, she loved religion. She would have done anything to help anyone."
He said that John was a "lad's lad" until he clapped eyes on Michaela when they were both students at Queen's University Belfast in 2005. She was studying to be a teacher; he was reading business.
She was a devout Catholic: he was nicknamed the Bishop, after his uncle, Bishop John McAreavey. They went out together for three years before they got engaged. He brought her to Paris and proposed. They married two years later, on December 30, in Michaela's local parish, at St Malachy's Church in Ballymacilroy, Co Tyrone.
They were to move into their new house in Banbridge, Co Down. Their friend, Eamonn, told how he had already helped them to move in some of their things before the wedding, and how John was "happy as Larry", fussing about the heating and making sure everything was just so.
The Bishop of Dromore, John McAreavey, who married the couple, said that she was the love of his life, "absolutely and truly".
"He adored her and talked about her with such warmth. He loved everything about her: her faith, her personality, her love for things Gaelic and Irish, her sparkle. I have a sense that a light has gone out with the death of Michaela," he said.
Mickey Harte seemed proof of that when emerged from his home in Ballygawley, flanked by his two sons, to read a statement to the media on Tuesday. He appeared shrunken and pale, his face contorted into bewildered grief, as he spoke of his loss.
"Michaela was a lovely girl, a wonderful daughter, a brilliant sister for these boys and we will always treasure her. She was a beautiful girl. She couldn't be better, couldn't be nicer. God love her, we are so, so sorry.
"We are equally sorry for poor John, her husband, whom she adored. He adored her. They did not get so long to share their lives with each other. It is such a shame. Our hearts are broken."
He pleaded with the media to "lay off" John. "John is out in Mauritius. He is isolated out there. It has been an awful time. Our hearts go out to him and I would ask everyone to please respect his privacy. . . Please lay off. We are speaking on his behalf. We are devastated. Through us, he wants to say to leave him alone. He is in such a lonely place and even his own family members are not out there yet."
But the Catholic community had already rallied its forces, something Michaela, would have no doubt appreciated. Michaela was a former Loreto girl and the order happened to have four Irish nuns stationed in a convent in Mauritius. Sister Noelle Corscadden, with the Loreto Sisters in Rathfarnham, contacted them. So too had parishioners in Ballygawley; one of the nuns, Sister Theresa Clarke, was from originally Tyrone and many local parishioners stayed in touch.
And so first thing Tuesday morning, three Irish nuns left their convent in the central plains of Mauritius and set off for the north-east coast, and Legends Hotel, to offer comfort to Michaela's heart-broken husband. They talked at length and later they brought him to Mass in a nearby parish. They returned over the following days, offering solace and prayers, as family and relatives began to arrive from Ireland. They included his brother, Michaela's brother and his father, who had been holidaying in Thailand with his mother. An Irish priest with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Mauritius stayed by John's side for three days. Even the local parish priest, Fr Jaques Harel, who celebrated a Mass in honour of Michaela at the hotel on Thursday, had trained in Ireland. Michaela was apparently the first tourist to be murdered in Mauritius in living memory. For a small African island dependent on affluent visitors to its luxury spas to shore up its emerging economy, her death was not only a human tragedy but a diplomatic incident that required fast action.

May the Lord grant her eternal rest and support to her grieving family.

Happy New Year & A Blessed Epiphany...

I'd like to wish the two or three people who wander by here a Happy New Year and a Blessed Epiphany.  We call the latter Women's Christmas or Nollaig na mBan in this part of Ireland.  I told my parishioners that today is a lovely day to give thanks again for Christ's coming among us as Light to the Nations in a more low-key and demanding way than Christmas Day itself.  (Thus, Women's Christmas when busy mothers should have the chance to have a rest a celebration.)

In parish news, we had a most unusual group of people auditioning for our choir recently:

Alas, it's not quite what we're looking for.