Published: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 11:29am

Reflections

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2009 was without doubt one of the worst years in recent history for the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It could be argued, however, that it was not quite as bad for the wider Church community - the people of God. In fact the traumatic events of the past year could yet turn out to be critical in the much needed reform and positive development of the Church in this country.

The Irish Church has had, over the past 160 years, an unfortunate history of clericalism. The calamitous tragedy that was the famine in the mid-19th century caused huge social and political upheaval. Many of those who survived turned to the Church to provide a new moral foundation for society and to avoid many of the problems that had paved the way for disaster in the past. Such a foundation demanded the implementation of severe restrictions, particularly in relation to sexuality, and the Catholic Church was equal to the task. Over the latter half of the 19th century a strong interdependence grew between the Church hierarchy and the Catholic middle class. This gave the hierarchy a position of strength and power that they had never previously enjoyed.

Church and New State

This strong link remained after independence as the fledgling state turned to the church to provide a safe focal point for Irish nationalism. Being staunchly Catholic set this country apart from Britain and emphasised its independence and difference. Once again the strict and often unyielding moral and social teaching of the Church, particularly in relation to sexuality and the distribution of capital, proved useful to the temporal powers of the time and helped them to tighten their social and political hold on the population. The close connection between Eamon De Valera and Archbishop John McQuade is interesting in this regard.

The state also benefited greatly from the Church's great willingness and enthusiasm to be involved in education and health care as this work was done, for the most part, effectively, efficiently and economically by priests, religious sisters and brothers. As a result the hierarchy took control of primary and secondary education along with reform schools, orphanages and hospitals. These institutions gave them almost unrivalled power in the fledgling Irish state and provided them with an influential platform in Irish society. This unquestioned power led, however, to a certain amount of corruption and abuse that as we now know destroyed the lives of so many people.

Morality and Piety

Throughout this time of untrammelled power and influence the emphasis in the official teaching of the Irish Church was on sexual morality and the promotion of a devotional piety imported largely from the Latin culture. Religion became, for a considerable number of people, a matter of lip service and unquestioned obedience. It didn't necessarily matter how much personal joy and fulfilment faith gave to the individual or whether they were truly converted to a Christian way of life as long as duties were attended to and formulas were recited. When all these boxes were ticked an individual was considered a 'good Catholic'. There was little emphasis on theology, on adult religious education or on a deeper spiritual development of lay men and women. This aspect, unfortunately, has changed little even in recent years.

The particular history of the Irish Church has left us with a clerical and male dominated institution. It must be said that this institution has excelled in many areas particularly in terms of the provision of primary and secondary education, in community work and in the pastoral care of the sick and the dying. I would not be a priest today if it had not been for the example and work of the many fine priests and religious I encountered during my formative years.

Religious Experience

The Church, however, has failed in one crucial area in that it has done little to deepen the understanding of the real riches of the Catholic faith among those who looked to it for spiritual guidance. The unconditional love of God revealed to us through the person and teaching of Jesus Christ is still an alien concept to many Irish people. Meditation, the use of silence in prayer, and the study of scripture are among a number of things that are not part of the Catholic religious mindset. As a consequence many are turning away from Christianity to find a more fulfilling 'religious experience' elsewhere particularly in the 'new age' spiritualities that are loosely associated with Buddhism.

Love of God and love of neighbour, the central tenets of the Christian faith, are simple, straight forward and powerful yet somehow they have become buried under a mountain of dogmas, rules, regulations and procedures. A Christian spirituality based on the straightforward yet challenging teachings of Jesus and on developing a relationship with God the Father needs to be rescued from underneath this unfortunate mountain of complexity. Only then can we truly improve on much of what passes for spirituality and religion in today's world.

A New Way

At the beginning of this article I implied that the last year of painful revelations might actually benefit the Irish Church in the long term. I hope that the emphasis will now move away from the maintenance of power and life sapping structures, from moral pronouncements and excessive legalism and move towards the development of a more authentic Catholic Christian spirituality. We need to enable people to fall in love with God and to develop a deeper relationship with him. If this happens then there will be a more genuinely response to His call to face the darkness in our lives and to live in the light as He wishes. Attending to this basic task is where we need, as a Church, to begin again. Everything else will follow in time. The Catholic Church in Ireland have lost the high moral ground but this can be an advantage. Now we can start to walk beside people in humility and with greater understanding, patience and tolerance as we journey together on our pilgrimage towards the divine.

Postscript

I wish to thank the Rev. Larry Power for the time and effort he put in to responding to my article 'Praying for the Dead' - a response that was published in last week's edition of the Anglo-Celt (14/1/10). I respect the fact that as a Free Presbyterian he has different views to me on the existence of purgatory - a belief that is central to the Catholic faith. In response to him I would like to make just two points. Firstly the two Books of Maccabees are very definitely in the Roman and Orthodox canons of Holy Scripture. They were cited by many of the fathers of the Church including Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Jerome and Augustine. The councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) recognised the sacred character of the books and the councils of Florence (1441), Trent (1546) and Vatican I (1870) declared them to be inspired by God. The protestant reformers dropped them from their canon because they seem to contradict their belief that salvation comes through faith or grace alone and not through works. Martin Luther tried to exclude other books from the canon such as the letter to the Hebrews, the letter of St. James and Revelation for the same reason.

Secondly the two quotes from the bible that I used in my article and which the Rev. Power took issue with, Matthew 25:25-26 and 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, do support the notion of a punishment for sin after death that will not last for eternity. There will be a price to be paid for sin in this life and the next though as both Paul and Matthew make clear this will not be damnation but will lead to salvation when the last penny is paid and the vain works of man are burned away.