Extraordinary Gift For The Fraternity

Yesterday, the feast of St Therese, the Fraternity received a most extraordinary gift: His Eminence, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, sent us a first class relic of our co-patron, Blessed John Paul II, ex sanguine, from his blood.    The Cardinal, as you know, was Blessed John Paul's personal secretary and friend, and he looked after the Pontiff in his final illness.  To say that we are thrilled is an understatement!  The relic will be available for our ministry in the Fraternity and for the veneration of our members, those we work with and the faithful in general.  This wonderful gift comes after the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments granted us the Indult to celebrate Blessed John Paul's feast.  A sincere thanks to His Eminence for his kindness and generosity.

Since we are on the topic, I want to remind you of our celebration of the feast day.  The Fraternity will host a Feast Day Mass in St Mary's Church, Drogheda, on the 22nd October at 7.30pm.   The new first class relic will be there and those who attend will be able to venerate it.   Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate the feast with the Fraternity, and you can pass on the word to your friends, particularly those who were devoted to the Blessed Pontiff.

Also for those who might be interested - Fraternity members and others, we are planning a pilgrimage to Poland next year in honour of Blessed John Paul.  The tentative dates are the 21st to the 29th May 2013.  We are working on the details and accommodation at the moment, but we will let you know as soon as things have been finalised.  We will probably stay in Krakow, but take tours to the various places associated with John Paul - Wadowice, Czestochowa, Kalvaria, as well as visiting other places of note, among them Auschwitz.  So if you are interested make a note of the dates.

In terms of what has been happening - well, what a week!  Former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese certainly made the headlines with her attack on the Catholic Church in a radio interview last Friday.  Giving us the benefit of her wisdom she said that the Church needs to become more like the Anglican communion and use the synod system to decide, it seems, our beliefs and practices.  She seems to resent the role of the Pope as the universal pastor and Vicar of Christ, or at least that role in real terms, she would prefer if the Pope permitted democracy.  I wonder if Mrs McAleese is actually up to date with what is happening in the Anglican communion - it is falling apart as the synod system has led to the abandonment of Christian doctrine in favour of relativism.  Surely if Mrs McAleese wants us to adopt that system, does she mean she wants the Catholic Church to fall apart and become as irrelevant? 

I think this idea shows extraordinary naivety and blindness on McAleese's part.  However she had even more objectionable things to say.  As I saw it, she implied that the Church imposes obedience because it has lost the argument on various issues, most notably for McAleese, contraception.  Ironic this: as she sees Humanae Vitae as a lost argument every day its prophetic nature is being underlined as modern men and women dig even deeper holes for themselves, sexually, and continue to undermine the stability of relationships and family life. 

The former President also believes the Church has it wrong on homosexuality.  In fact, and here is the most offensive thing she said, she blames the Church for the mass suicide of young men in recent years because of its teaching on homosexuality.   This is despicable and deeply insulting: there is no evidence to back up McAleese's claim and her comments are unacceptable and deserve, I think, a formal rebuke from her bishop.  Now the former President has her own agenda on this issue - homosexuality is a personal issue for her family, but making such groundless and dangerous allegations against the Church is disengenuous.

There were many things I found offensive with the interview, but over all I resent McAleese's using her position as a former President of Ireland to give her a platform to attack the Church and to prevent anyone from taking her on: after all if any one of us should publicly rebuke her many will defend her because of her record as President and she knows this.  I greatly admired her as President, but I'm afraid my admiration has diminished.  

One question I would like to ask her though: if the Anglican Communion is the best model for Catholicism, then why stay in the Catholic Church?  At this stage she knows the Catholic Church will not change to suit her opinions, so why not go over to the greener fields on other side of the river?  She can use the bridge she constructed during her presidency.   

I was sent a rather interesting link yesterday regarding The Irish Times and its objectivity.  It seems the paper of record may not be as trustworthy as it would have us believe.  Apparently when it reported on the small turn out for a pro-choice rally recently, it was rebuked by pro-abortion advocates, and so the paper revised its figures upwards.   So much for journalistic standards.  When it comes to pro-life events they are usually ignored by the paper, but if covered the figures are drastically reduced.  I see "MediaWatch" in the Alive! newspaper also takes the Times to task, this time over its reporting on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's speech at the MacGill summer school.  The paper tried to give the impression that the Archbishop and Cardinal Brady were at variance over the issue of abortion.  The Archbishop wrote a strongly worded letter of complaint and accused the paper of "mischevious misrepresentation", and it seems the Archbishop is quite correct in his assessment. 

And as we're talking about Archbishop Martin, I see he is trying to get a new system of sacramental preparation going in his diocese - a welcome development, I think.  For too long the sacraments were given just because you were in a certain class in school regardless of faith or practice.  To refuse First Communion or Confirmation to children of unbelievers brings the wrath of parents and media on your head.  I know of one case where parents refused to have their child baptised, but still wanted her to receive First Communion: they did not want her to be a member of such an abusive Church, but still wanted her to "have her day out with her friends", and they had plenty of support for their position.  Madness!  As priests we can do very little since the programmes and the actual system is set in place by the bishops: we can only supplement it with sound material and do the best we can to try and get people to Mass and to practice the faith.  However a new approach is needed and hopefully Archbishop Martin's initial steps will help usher out the old and bring in a new, more evangelical and responsible system. 

A Prophet For Our Times

Today the Church in Poland celebrates for the first time the feast of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, the priest martyred in 1984 for daring to stand up to the country's Communist regime.  I remember the events surrounding his disappearance, the finding of his body and funeral.  His name became a slogan for freedom in the 1980's as people behind the Iron Curtain began to revolt against the oppression socialism had imposed on them for almost fifty years.  I was always cautious about Blessed Jerzy because I had thought he was too political a figure.  When his Cause was announced and proceeded, I had to wonder if he was really a martyr - his death seemed more political than religious.  When Pope Benedict recognised his martyrdom I told myself to look again, so I began to read up on his life and murder. 

It became apparent very quickly that his death was indeed martyrdom, and strangely his struggle seemed to have a relevance to Ireland and Europe in these years.   As the day of his beatification came closer, legislation was passing through our parliament which enshrined in law unions which we, as Christians, believe to be deeply immoral.  The legislation, establishing Civil Partnerships for same-sex couples, undermined the special relationship marriage has in our country, and seemed to criminalise Christian morality.  That legislation was passed.   In a homily I reminded politicians who claimed to be members in good standing of the Church, that according to the Gospel and Christian morality, they could not support that legislation, quoting the CDF's document on the issue.  It opened a can of worms and even the Minister for Justice, who was sponsoring the legislation, condemned me in the press.  An interesting side issue emerged when he said that he left his faith and conscience outside the door of the cabinet room - it had no place in his work as a public representative.  Cue: John F. Kennedy's speech to Protestant ministers in Houston.  The affair also led the Minister for the Environment and leader of the Green Party, to insist that the Church and her bishops should stick to the spiritual needs of their flock and not intrude in matters political.  In response to this diktat, Archbishop Martin of Dublin had to remind the same Minister than only a year before he had asked the bishops of Ireland to help the government get the EU Lisbon Treaty passed by openly supporting it!   I think we know that to be double standards.

Blessed Jerzy was also told by the Polish government to keep his nose out of "political matters" - of course those matters were actually religious and moral issues - human freedom and religious freedom.  So too in Ireland - the issue of marriage is a human issue, a moral issue, and as the government has now enshrined penalties in law for those who, in conscience, cannot cooperate with what they believe is immoral, it is also an issue of religious freedom.  In the end the bill was rushed through parliament without a vote, thus undermining the process of democracy: this was hailed as "mature" by the same politicians.  I had thought, stupidly, that I had the right as a citizen of this nation to say what I believed,  but what I said did not accord with the agenda of the ruling power of our country, so it seems I do not.  I also thought that, as a pastor, I could remind my flock of what their Lord and Saviour taught them with regard to certain moral issues: again, it seems I was wrong in that.  My government tells me I cannot preach the Church's moral teaching from the pulpit.  I was branded as an interfering priest like (but certainly not on a parr with) St Thomas Beckett and Blessed Jerzy. 

I thought Blessed Jerzy was too political a figure, but I was wrong, and I know why from personal experience.  Should the Church and her ministers engage in matters which are classed as political?  If they affect her, yes.  The Church cannot and should not be silenced in the public square.  Blessed Jerzy, in condemning the abuses of a tyrannical regime, spoke up for the oppressed as any Christian pastor should, and defended the rights of the Church and her members.  The Church reserves the right to do the same.  A democratic government will respect that and even listen to what the Church has to say instead of condemning her and attempting to undermine her. 

Blessed Jerzy has since helped me in so many ways, particularly when dealing with the condemnation of a member of our government, and I am humbled by his prayers and presence.  Since then I have been given a first class relic of Blessed Jerzy, and I treasure it - it is on the altar of my little chapel.  I believe he is a saint for our times, given the gradual growth of secularism and increasing powers of the state.  I think we should pray for his speedy canonisation, and his assistance in these difficult times.

Almighty God,
by whose grace and power your holy martyr Blessed Jerzy
triumphed over suffering and was faithful unto death:
strengthen us with your grace,
that we may endure reproach and persecution
and faithfully bear witness to the name
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Trailer of a new movie about Blessed Jerzy: