Be Prepared!

Even though I am away on holiday, news from Ireland is coming through at a quick pace and I am starting to wonder whether I will get away psychologically for even a few hours.  Yesterday's astonishing attack by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, has come as somewhat of a shock and I am afraid Kenny has created a serious problem with regard to relations with the Holy See.  I have been asked to comment.  A few brief thoughts.

First of all we need to understand that the letter from the Vatican to the Irish Nuncio and Irish bishops, which the Murphy and Cloyne Reports refer to and which Kenny and the media have picked up, has been misinterpreted.  Judge Murphy, who wrote the reports, has misrepresented what that letter said - I will not judge whether that was by mistake or on purpose, I do not know what is going on in Judge Murphy's heart - I leave her to the judgement of God who can separate truth from lies.  See Fr Lombardi's statement on this letter confirming this.

Secondly, Enda Kenny is no statesman, so he cannot be expected to respond in a statesmanlike way to any political difficulties: his intemperate words against another sovereign State reveal that. Interestingly he has never used the same language when speaking of China, one of the most oppressive and abusive regimes in history.

Thirdly, Kenny as a local Irish politician, is using this situation to save his political career.  Following his being "found out" in the Roscommon Hospital Affair, he needed something to distract. For those of you not familiar with the Roscommon Hospital Affair - in brief.   During the last election campaign Kenny gave an assurance to the people of Roscommon that their Hospital services would not be cut.  When he won the election, gaining two members of parliament from Roscommon, his government abolished the A&E department of the hospital in question.  The leader of the opposition, in open session of parliament, reminded him of the promise he made to the people of Roscommon, but Kenny, in our parliament, denied he ever made such assurances and called the leader of the opposition "pathetic".  Thanks to a national newspaper a recording of Kenny's promise to the people of Roscommon popped up and lo and behold, contrary to what he said in open session in the parliament, he did give the assurance.   It seems the leader of the opposition is not pathetic at all - not on this issue.   The English language has many words to describe what Kenny did to the people of Roscommon, and then what he did in the chamber of our national parliament - I'll let you choose the one that fits.

Kenny is picking up on an attitude which has existed in the Church in Ireland for a long time.  In reality many Irish Catholics do not really see themselves as members of a universal Church.  Like everything else in Ireland, and most particularly politics, everything is local.   Our political system operates on the level of local issues - how things affect ME.  During election campaigns it is not national/international policies which matter, it is who can get us what we want that gets elected.  This system is in many countries, the problem in Ireland is that it mitigates against a universal outlook.  The Church in Ireland is, for the most part, the parish - not the parish as one in a union, but the parish on its own.  Part of this is thanks to local sporting interests.  Parochial rivalries on the sports field reflect, even fuel a rivalry in other things and so basic Church unity is not high on the agenda.  Even within parishes there is a fragmentation. If a parish, for example, has more than one church - a parish church and chapels of ease, those living in the area of a chapel of ease consider themselves a parish onto themselves.  In some cases parishes are completely split and bitter rivalries exist - think of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages minus the unifying efforts of the Papacy/Holy Roman Empire.

All of this really makes the Church in Ireland ready for formal schism and Kenny in his attack yesterday is fuelling that.  As he attacks the Pope and the "Vatican", he tries to smoose the local priests and congregations - he wants to drive a wedge between Irish Catholics and their Church, a wedge, to be honest, that doesn't have too far to go.  People have often said that a schism is on the cards in Ireland, and I tend to agree.  In fact I believe it is already there, it just has not been recognised officially.  Many Catholics in Ireland despise Rome - I have seen it frequently among the Church elite here in Ireland, even among bishops and priests. 

So how do we respond to Kenny's ridiculous outburst?  Well, we'll leave it to the Vatican to respond.  What we do need to do is to start getting our act together and seek to tighten our relationship with the Holy See. If schism comes and a "national church" emerges (Irish Catholic Church), and I think that is a real possibility, we need to start establishing boundaries which will reveal in no uncertain terms that we are Catholics in full communion with the See of Rome: we follow Peter and his successors.  If a national church emerges do not be surprised to see bishops, priests and religious and many laity forming it and labouring under the lie that they are the true Catholic Church in Ireland.   The true faithful may even suffer, so be ready for martyrdom - not in the usual manner, but there are more invidious modern forms.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.  but as the Boy Scouts/Girl Guides taught us: Be Prepared!