Get Ready: Root and Branch Reform!

Media reports last night and today are reporting (exercise caution here), that the bishops of Ireland are insisting that the upcoming Apostolic Visitation to our fair isle should concentrate only on the abuse scandal and the seminaries.  Now there is enough meat there to keep the Visitators chewing until kingdom come, but they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems in the Church in Ireland.  My sources tell me, if that suggestion is proposed (and again I urge caution, the Irish media is hardly renowned for its accuracy or objectivity when it comes to Church affairs), then it will go down like a wet fish with the powers that be in the Vatican.  I believe we in Ireland must prepare ourselves for a root and branch investigation of every aspect of Church life.  

Rome is now finally realising how bad things are in the Church here, and it is to be hoped that they will identify the main areas of concern (and people of concern) and deal with them.  Many will feel threatened by this, but Christian humility teaches us that sometimes we are not best judge of how things are going here in Ireland, sometimes we need "outsiders" to help us understand ourselves and our situation.  Of course, contrary to the opinion of one Irish journalist, the people in Rome are not outsiders - if we are Catholics we form the communion of the Church, so this branding of non-Irish Catholics as foreigners, as is happening now among certain members of the Church here, is false.  As St Paul tells us: there are no Jews or Greeks in the Church; or in terms closer to home: in the Catholic Church there are no Irish or English or Italians, we are all members of the Body of Christ.  And when one part of the body is wounded or diseased, all suffer, and the other members have a duty to help heal it; and at times to cut out the cancer which is eating away at the particular member.  Well, my friends, the Church in Ireland has cancer, and now is the time to cut it out!  With charity, of course. 

I think we should be praying for our bishops, for the Visitators and for the Church in Ireland, for renewal, the new Springtime of the Gospel, and greater adherence to the authentic teaching of Christ in all areas.  That may require rigorous self-examination on our part, perhaps make people reconsider where they should be, and maybe a smaller Church in Ireland. If so, so be it.