Extraordinary Hyperbole...

The media furore around the CDF keeping an eye on the writings of some Irish priests is continuing with the news that Fr Brian D'Arcy's articles are now being reviewed before they are published. Fr D'Arcy is "saddened and disappointed" at this. Now, it's not a nice thing when a priest's writings have to be reviewed like this - in an ideal world, such a step would be unnecessary.  However, the priest's voice is not his own and the pulpit that is given to us by the Church is not ours by right, but is given to us that we might teach according to the mind of Christ and the Church.

Two points are especially worth making - Fr D'Arcy's newspaper articles have been cleared before publishing since last March.  If you have a look at the archive of his writings over at the Sunday World website you'll see that he's critical of the Irish hierarchy and the Vatican, and writes supportively about the results of the recent Association of Catholic Priests survey. From the looks of things, a "party line" isn't being heavily imposed on him and I would guess that as long as he's not actually contradicting church doctrine in an especially ham-fisted manner, he's pretty much allowed to write what he likes. I don't think he's being dealt with especially harshly here.

Secondly, the reported comments of Fr Peter McVerry caused me much amusement. Fr McVerry is, in many ways, a fine priest and has probably done more good for homeless youngsters in Dublin than anyone else.  I readily and freely admit that in many ways I am unfit to polish his shoes.  However, having heard him speak on a number of occasions, I know that he seems to have a pretty ropey grasp of theology and Church history.  Anyway, Fr McVerry says of priests that “They are terrified that if they speak publicly they will get their heads chopped off.”

Get their heads chopped off? I know he's just using a turn of phrase, but there's no need for that degree of hyperbole.  I know our new nuncio used to work with the CDF, but I very much doubt that he'll be organising dawn raids on the homes of Ireland's favourite priests in order to have them transported to the Vatican for summary execution. 

As I say, if Fr D'Arcy's freedom of expression is anything to go by, we're certainly no-where near the level of super-villain oppression suggested by the CDF's critics.