Pope's Letter to the Catholics of Ireland

Full text available here.

To be quite honest, apart from welcoming it whole-heartedly and repeating the Pope's own request that Irish Catholics read it themselves, I think that too much comment is superfluous. Just let it be read prayerfully, seriously and repeatedly. It would be naive to think that the problems of the past and present can be sorted out within the space of a few short media cycles. However, that's not the impression one gets when watching the news or reading the papers. There seems to be an assumption that problems can be dealt with swiftly - a hurried resignation here, a statement of apology there, and then mission accomplished. Not so! Any meaningful kind of healing, purification or renewal is going to be a long and deliberate process, and if we claim to be Christians, then the healing process must involve a turning back to Christ and a willingness to offer penance.

Press Release from Catholic Communications Office

This useful note clarifies what happened in 1975 and the then Fr Brady's role in the investigation into the activities of Fr Brendan Smyth.

Note from the Catholic Communications Office to clarify media reporting on Cardinal Seán Brady – 16 March 2010

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The State’s first Child Abuse Guidelines came into effect in 1987 and the Church’s first guidelines Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response, were published in 1996.
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In late March 1975, Fr Seán Brady was asked by his bishop, Bishop Francis McKiernan, to conduct a canonical enquiry into an allegation of child sexual abuse which was made by a boy in Dundalk, concerning a Norbertine priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.
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Fr Brady was then a full-time teacher at St Patrick’s College, Cavan. Because he held a doctorate in Canon Law, Fr Brady was asked to conduct this canonical enquiry; however he had no decision-making powers regarding the outcome of the enquiry. Bishop McKiernan held this responsibility.
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On 29 March 1975, Fr Brady and two other priests interviewed a boy (14) in Dundalk. Fr Brady’s role was to take notes. On 4 April 1975, Fr Brady interviewed a second boy (15) in the Parochial House in Ballyjamesduff. On this occasion Fr Brady conducted the inquiry by himself and took notes.
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At the end of both interviews, the boys were asked to confirm by oath the truthfulness of their statements and that they would preserve the confidentiality of the interview process. The intention of this oath was to avoid potential collusion in the gathering of the inquiry’s evidence and to ensure that the process was robust enough to withstand challenge by the perpetrator, Fr Brendan Smyth.
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A week later Fr Brady passed his findings to Bishop McKiernan for his immediate action.
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Eight days later, on 12 April 1975, Bishop McKiernan reported the findings to Fr Smyth’s Religious Superior, the Abbot of Kilnacrott. The specific responsibility for the supervision of Fr Smith’s activities was, at all times, with his Religious Superiors. Bishop McKiernan withdrew Brendan Smyth’s priestly faculties and advised psychiatric intervention.

Raidió na Gaeltachta Mass Campaign

Colleages of mine working in the Gaeltacht have been campaigning to secure the return of weekly Mass on Raidió na Gaeltachta.

De Iustitia

The Holy Father has issued his annual Lenten message, focusing on justice. It's interesting that he concludes his brief reflection with a lesson in basic Christology:

The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25).

What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation" flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one? Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from "what is mine," to give me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognises itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected.

I say this is interesting because it's typical of Pope Benedict to bring the message back to Christ. Likewise, he likes to link dogma to the other areas of theology. Staying at the level of moral theology or social ethics when discussing justice isn't sufficent. If we believe that all is revealed in Christ and that He transforms things utterly, then we should say so. If we can't link what we believe about Him to our overall outlook on life, then our faith is deficient.

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week Resources
The resources prepared by the Bishops' Conference for Catholic Schools Week (this week!) deserve a plug. Not all the prayers and resources chosen are quite to my taste, but it's important that we affirm our commitment to Catholic education.
Incidentally, it's a shame that this hasn't been better promoted on the ground. I only received news of these resources during the week. A little more notice would have enabled me to prepare a lot more work.

A Recent Debate
There's been a lot of nonsense in the media about the Church's control of schools, but thankfully, there've also been some solid refutations of those opinions.
In particular, there's been quite a debate recently about a recent opinion poll suggesting that a majority of Irish adults think that the Catholic Church should give up 'control' of primary schools. When the question is asked like that, the answer is bound to be somewhat skewed. However, no one seemed to bother checking whether we did in fact control the schools at all! I certainly don't 'control' the schools I'm involved in. They are Catholic schools, yes, and have a Catholic ethos, but to suggest that the Church or clergy 'control' the schools is misleading.

Church Control?
Most primary schools in Ireland are under the patronage of the Diocesan Bishop and are run by their Boards of Management. The Bishop nominates two members (including the Chairperson), two members represent the school staff, two represent the parents (normally elected by the Parents' Council) and two represent the local community. Whilst they operate with a Catholic ethos, I think you'll find that most Boards of Management are controlled more by the State than by the local Bishop. After all, it is the Department of Education who lay down the curricula, who pay the teachers, who set down the regulations under which schools run on a day-to-day basis, etc, etc...
Within that framework, however, it's important to cultivate our Catholic ethos. That is something which goes beyond the assigned periods of religious instruction (from which parents are entitled to withdraw their children). Catholicism teaches some fundamental truths about the value of the human beings, the purpose of education and a holistic understanding what growth is. As De Lubac affirms, true Christianity must be a humanism - a philosophy which contains within it a strong and affirmative vision of humanity which is committed to its development. Within that context, it should be clear that our Catholic schools can respectfully welcome those of other faiths.
Part of what we need to do as a nation is to recognise how much of our humanism - the value we place on family and community, our commitment to the physical, moral, spiritual and educational growth of our children - is rooted in our Catholic ethos. We need to recognise that a purely secular vision of education operates from a different ethos, and we need to ask whether such an ethos sustains similar or conflicting values.

Incidentally
Did you know that there's actually a legal definition of the Catholic ethos agreed between the State and the Patrons of Ireland's Catholic Schools? It's called the 'Schedule of a Catholic School' and is a useful thing to know about when questions arise about 'Catholic Ethos' and 'Church Control'. It reads as follows and should (by law) be displayed in all our Catholic primary schools.

The Schedule of a Catholic School
A Roman Catholic School (which is established in connection with the Minister) aims at promoting the full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil: intellectual, physical, cultural, moral and spiritual, including a living relationship with God and with other people.
The school models and promotes a philosophy of life inspired by belief in God and in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic school provides Religious education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and promotes the formation of the pupils in the Catholic Faith.

This PDF document provides some useful addenda:

The Schedule indicates that a Catholic Primary School:
o is one established in connection with the Minister and therefore recognised as a national school for public funding
o is a denominational school under the patronage of the local Catholic bishop
o strives to be a good school committed to the ‘full and harmonious development of all aspects of the person of the pupil’
o sees full human development as including a living relationship with God and other people
o provides Religious Education for the pupils in accordance with the doctrines, practices and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church
o promotes the faith formation of the pupils in the Catholic faith including the reception of the Sacraments of Penance, First Communion and Confirmation
o seeks to let pupils experience a religious way of life by being part of a faith community, the values and practices of which model a living relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
The Schedule does not state that a Catholic school is a school only for Catholic pupils.
Neither does it state that the Catholic school provides what may be called a ‘common’ or ‘multi-denominational’ religious education programme open to pupils of all religious faiths and none. The Catholic school is a welcoming and inclusive school.

The Unfortunate Tertullian

I mentioned 'the unfortunate Tertullian' over at Enbrethiliel's comment box a couple of days ago, and got my wrist slapped because she thinks that Tertullian was 'pretty cool'. And I must confess to having an affection for him, and thinking that he could indeed be pretty cool, even if I still insist that he was 'unfortunate'. I mean, if you start off being an exceptionally talented orthodox Christian polemicist and apologist, then drift into the somewhat murky waters of Montanism, and then find that the Montanists are too soft for you and become a Tertullianist, then you're unfortunate. If you break away from the Church, become a Tertullianist and you yourself are called Tertullian, you should probably realise that something's gone awry with your spiritual life.

But, as Enbrethiliel herself reminded me, Tertullian was pretty cool. He was certainly the earliest theologian of talent who wrote in Latin (late 2nd and early 3rd Century AD) and we can thank him for much of our Latin theological vocabulary. Speaking of the 'Trinity' as 'one substance' and 'three persons' is something that we can thank Tertullian for. His fellow North African St Cyprian of Carthage used to simply refer to him as 'the Master', and Pope Benedict devoted a Wednesday Catechesis to him back in 2007. Tertullian is as good an example as any as to why we shouldn;t confine our reading to those who have managed to stay within the confines of orthodox thought.

That being said, he is an essentially tragic figure, one whose talent and high moral standards, led him on an increasingly individualistic spiritual journey, ultimately cutting himself of from the societas permixta, the Church of saints and sinners. As Pope Benedict points out:

This great moral and intellectual personality, this man who made such a great contribution to Christian thought, makes me think deeply. One sees that in the end he lacked the simplicity, the humility to integrate himself with the Church, to accept his weaknesses, to be forbearing with others and himself.

And yet he did the Church some service. So many of the important insights and thoughts which would prove crucial in the development of Christian thought find early and robust expression in Tertullian. The principle that only the Church can soundly interpret scripture finds a typically lawyerly expression in Tertullian's Prescription of Heretics:

Thus, not being Christians, they have acquired no right to the Christian Scriptures; and it may be very fairly said to them, "Who are you? When and whence did you come? As you are none of mine, what have you to do with that which is mine? Indeed, Marcion, by what right do you hew my wood? By whose permission, Valentinus, are you diverting the streams of my fountain? By what power, Apelles, are you removing my landmarks? This is my property. Why are you, the rest, sowing and feeding here at your own pleasure? This (I say) is my property. I have long possessed it; I possessed it before you. I hold sure title-deeds from the original owners themselves, to whom the estate belonged. I am the heir of the apostles. Just as they carefully prepared their will and testament, and committed it to a trust, and adjured (the trustees to be faithful to their charge), even so do I hold it. As for you, they have, it is certain, always held you as disinherited, and rejected you as strangers— as enemies. But on what ground are heretics strangers and enemies to the apostles, if it be not from the difference of their teaching, which each individual of his own mere will has either advanced or received in opposition to the apostles?"

Even though Tertullian at his best is 'punchy', his writing wasn't all polemic. He also wrote a very early exposition of the Lord's Prayer describing it as a 'summary of the entire Gospel'. Some hold that he was one of the proto-protestants. Whatever one might make of that assessment, I think that unfortunate is the best word for one who lapsed through rigorism and enthusiasm.

What's the Irish for 'creeping secularism'?

A priest friend has made me aware of the fact that Raidió na Gaeltachta - a radio station which serves the Irish-speaking communities of Ireland - has stopped broadcasting weekly Mass. Mass is now being broadcast one week in four, with the readings of the day being broadcast on the other four Sundays.