Fr. Bob's Corner

This week, a historic moment in the Vatican’s response to the global clergy sex-abuse scandals arrived as Ireland’s 24 diocesan bishops began an unprecedented two-day summit with Pope Benedict and his senior Curia over the devastating fallout of November’s Murphy Report on the history of abuse and its handling in the archdiocese of Dublin.
While the American cardinals were addressed by Pope John Paul II and met with the relevant heads of dicasteries nearly four months after the outbreak of the US’ edition of the crisis in 2002, never before has an entire national bench been summoned to Rome on the hot-button issue… and neither has a pontiff himself led the discussions as Benedict XVI did with his Irish visitors. Whisper’s in the Loggia (week of Feb 14, 2010) has a number of posts and links to read more about this historic meeting at the Vatican about a crisis that has caused and continues to cause excruciating pain, suffering, and scandal to Catholics (victims, laity, and clergy) around the world.

Sometimes when I surf the various Catholic blogging sites, I am dismayed (even saddened) by the harsh critical words that Catholics use on one another. Living in a pluralistic society requires vigilance, if one hopes to remain true to one’s faith. But it seems that the pressure is just too much for some, and they turn to name calling, insults, and all types of derogation, as they strive for faithfulness. If we can’t be respectful of one another, what chance have we of witnessing to the world the Love of Christ? The planet we live on is very small, and the challenge we all face today is living together in love, forgiveness, and respect. This month America Magazine tackles this very issue. Although the article is written for and about the American Church, it still has relevancy in our Canadian context. The concluding paragraph is particularly relevant: 

In his book Models of the Church, the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., highlighted the image of the church as a “community of disciples.” This image from the early church (Acts 6:1-2) sees every Christian united in learning from and following Christ. Here the church is always a learning church led by the Spirit, not yet in full possession of the truth. A disciple is by definition one who has not yet arrived, but is on the way to full conversion. This more humble view of a pilgrim church always in need of purification and improvement may help to tone down the rhetoric and encourage Catholics to work together in addressing the great issues of our day, especially those involving the culture of life. True dialogue, as Cardinal Dulles noted, enables the church “to understand its teaching better, to present it more persuasively and to implement it in a pastoral way.” America Magazine Article: Community of Disciples

Technorati Tags: Faith,culture,dialogue,Catholic,respect

Few priests and many parishes are making Catholics pretty scared. Where is it all heading? Will my parish survive, and if it does, what will it be like?

The other day a parishioner said to me: “I thought the Eucharist was the source and summit of the faith, why does the church seem so unalarmed by the shortage of priests. Aren’t these desperate times deserving of some kind of emergency brainstorming and strategy?” I pointed out that many of us are concerned, very concerned, but there just didn’t seem to be any solution on the horizon. The response to this statement was one of charitable chastisement. “If Rome really cared they’d be doing something about it – they just want the status quo in terms of ordained clergy. Emergency meetings should be taking place all across the country to deal with this situation on a temporary and long term basis. Sitting around hoping and praying that things are going to get better is equivalent to hiding one’s head in the sand as our parishes slowly melt away and our clergy age and die. I’m scandalized!!!! As far as I am concerned there are things that could be done, but Rome isn’t interested in any change.”

At this point in the conversation I thought it would be best to have a few moments of quiet silence – then we changed the subject.

It is so easy to get into the blaming game and I always try to avoid it, as it is very seldom productive. I must admit, however, that most church attending Catholics are very very concerned, but they just don’t know what to do. Maybe it is time for some serious emergency meetings. Desperate times are usually a sign that it is time for desperate measures and strategies. The problem is will anyone call the meetings – and who should call them?

As I was discussing this issue with another person, I was referred to this article in the Australian Paper Catholica: A Plaintiff Cry From the Emptying Pews It definitely describes the concern, but to my mind does not really deal with the priest shortage and the eventual unavailability of Eucharist and the other sacraments, and the closing of parishes. It is more about the people of God taking their rightful place in the Christian community. If any one has other ideas etc. please post in the comments. I would definitely be interested, as would many others.

“If we are to live out the search for real hope in pluralistic, democratic societies, we need to recognise that not all people share our views or even our deepest convictions. Some people could be tempted to describe this as relativism but that would not be correct. We can recognise people’s differences without saying that our differences are unimportant. This is precisely why we need to have space in our societies for proper dialogue where nobody is prevented from expressing his or her convictions simply to conform to somebody’s idea of political correctness. True dialogue respects everybody’s integrity. Genuinely strong people have no fear of other people’s views, so they feel able to allow people of radically different convictions to speak freely. They are happy to hear what others have to say.” Read the full text

View a video on her life.

Author of the American Papist lamented in a recent post: “Too cruel? I’m sorry. I just can’t believe Italians got mad that the Pope told them to clean up their city.” Read the full story

In this last year the Vatican and Benedict XVI have been increasing their advocacy on behalf of the environment. On Sept 2, 2007 the Pope called on people to make “courageous decisions” on the future of the planet at an address to 300,000 Roman Catholics at an environment festival in

Loreto, Italy. We need a decisive ‘yes’ to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible,” he stated. 

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising, there is a great furor in Austria about five small trees that were planted at the time of John Paul II’s visit to Austria ten years ago. The trees were cut to build the public platform for an outdoor Mass.  Some how or other many seem to feel this action smacks of hypocrisy. (Say one thing and do another – isn’t that just like him, they are saying.) I suppose, if one wants to find fault and to be critical, a way can be found, and they found it. It’s too bad that some loose focus and can’t see the forest for the trees, literally speaking.

Most serious environmentalist are applauding the Pope and the

Vatican’s actions on behalf of humanity and the planet. Let us pray that the human family will wake up before it is too late. The this week the New York Time reported that biologist in the last 250 years have only been able to identify and categorize only 1.8 million species of plants, animals and micro-organisms which is estimated to be about 10 percent of the planet’s life forms. The good news is that with recent technological advances it is now going to be possible to identify and classify the other 90 percent in the next 25 years:“Why bother making such an effort,” asks the NY Times? “Because each species from a bacterium to a whale is a masterpiece of evolution. Each has persisted, its mix of genes slowly evolving, for thousands to millions of years. And each is exquisitely adapted to its environment and interlocks with a legion of other species to form the ecosystems upon which our own lives ultimately depend. We need to properly explore Earth’s biodiversity if we are to understand, preserve and manage it.”

Meanwhile bulldozers and chainsaws are furiously competing with the Scientist who are trying to preserve and understand God’s creation. Each day unknown species become extinct as their habitat fall prey to the ruthless rampage of so called developers. Maybe our Austrian friends should stop worring about five trees and rally behind church leaders who are trying to save the world’s forests and their inhabitants.

“What will we and future generations lose if a large part of the living environment continues to disappear, asks the Times.” And the answer they provide from the scientific community should make all men and women of good will applaud the Pope’s efforts to halt our planet’s destruction. “Huge potential stores of scientific information will never exist. Novel classes of pharmaceuticals and future crops will be thrown away. Ecological services like water purification, soil renewal and pollination — which are approximately equal to the world gross domestic product, and given away by natural ecosystems — will be diminished. Environmental stability will be harder to achieve.

If you would like to know more about the Pope’s visit to Austria go to this link.

Here is a headline in a U.K. Newspaper
Blair ‘may become a Catholic deacon’ | the Daily Mail
Not sure what to make of this given other false and misleading headlines re the catholic faith in the U.K. press. Even if it is true, it seems to be a personal matter, and should not be a public part of the Prime Ministers official visit to the Vatican. If priests that know Tony Blair are making the comments reported in the above article, they should be ashamed of themselves. Is nothing private and confidential anymore?

Religion does more harm than good – poll | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

One thing we can’t do is hide from the fact that are churches are not full. This little Poll in Britian probably reflects Brisish attitudes towards relgion. Does it reflect attitudes in Canada – any validity or relevancy for Canada?

ZENIT News Agency–The World Seen from Rome: “Catholic Politicians in Europe Unite
Will Promote Church Teachings in Parliament”