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Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha
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|  | Eucharistic Congress
« Thread Started on May 4, 2012, 9:28pm » | |
Saw this in the Times a couple of weeks ago: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0424/1224315103941.html
The contrast between Liam Cosgrave and his successor is interesting. Is there even a materialistic streak in the Government that sees an opportunity to draw tourists in? Unlike Elizabeth II's visit or Barack Obama - this is bringing in tourists next month.
Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #1 on Jun 10, 2012, 9:59am » | |
A commenter on the ACP blog states that Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA) are planning a "dignified protest" at the IEC opening tomorrow against the presence of Cardinal Brady. People attending the Congress should be careful not to be provoked.
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #2 on Jun 10, 2012, 10:19am » | |
For Corpus Christi, Fr Zuhlsdorf discusses the hostility many liturgists display towards Eucharistic devotions:
EXTRACT
In the 1980’s we seminarians were informed with a superior sneer that, “Jesus said ‘Take and eat, not sit and look!’” Somehow, “looking” was opposed to “receiving”, “doing”. This same error is at the root of false propositions about “active participation”: if people aren’t constantly singing or carrying stuff they are “passive”.
Younger people no longer have that baggage, happily. They desire the all good things of our Catholic patrimony. They want as much as Holy Church can give. They resist passé attempts to make Jesus “smaller”.
After the Second Vatican Council, many liturgists (all but a few?) asserted that, because modern man is all grown up now, Eucharistic devotions are actually harmful rather than helpful. We mustn’t crawl in submission before God anymore. We won’t grovel in archaic triumphal processions or kneel as if before some king. We are urbane adults, not child-like peasants below a father or feudal master. We stand and take rather than kneel and receive.
How this lie has damaged our Catholic identity! Some details of society have changed like shifting sandbars, but man doesn’t change. God remains transcendent. We poor, fallen human beings need concrete things through which we can perceive invisible realities.
The bad old days of post-Conciliar denigration of wholesome devotional practices may linger, but the aging-hippie priests and liberal liturgists have lost most of their ground under the two-fold pincer of common sense and the genuine Catholic love people have for Jesus in the Eucharist. The customs of Corpus Christi processions, Forty Hours Devotion, and Eucharistic Adoration are returning in force. People want and need these devotions. They help us to be better Catholic Christians through contact with Christ and through giving public witness to our faith....
Proponents of true “liberation theology” take Christ the Liberator into the public square. In the sight of onlookers, we march in His honor, profess His gift of salvation, and kneel before Him.
END OF EXTRACT
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/06/wdtprs-co....l-and-my-sin s/
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #3 on Jun 11, 2012, 6:49am » | |
Wasn't at the Eucharistic COngress opening ceremony as I chose to attend the Corpus Christi procession at St KEvin's instead. Very pleasant weather and met one or two old friends who are no longer at St Kevin's regularly but came back for the procession.
Afterwards went down to the RDS Main Hall and looked around the stands. Slightly disappointing in some respects - I'd hoped some of the international Catholic publishers might have a presence, for example.
A good range of religious orders - a lot of Carmelites and Franciscans. I was surprised the Dominicans did not seem to have a stall of their own (at least not in the main hall) though I did notice a few around the place. A very moving stand run by the promoters of the cause of Ven MAtt Talbot; relics on display include his wooden pillow, his crucifix, his mug and one of his finger-bones in a reliquary. It seems a determined effort has been made in the last few years to advance his cause, and they had material on display from their new website.
The Sisters of Mercy have various publications on offer about Ven Catherine McAuley and some of her companions.
Less impressively, the White Berets (Pilgrims of St Michael) have a stall promoting their Social Credit theories.
On the upper level the stalls include one dedicated to Bl. Margaret Ball and another to St MAry McKillop (both patron saints of the Congress).
The Dead Theologians Society (at ground level) offer apologetic material and statues of favourite saints (no formal charge, but a donation is expected).
Pro-life groups including Youth Defence and Family and Life are in evidence.
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #4 on Jun 11, 2012, 6:57am » | |
One other little detail - when I was walking down the Simmonscourt Road I saw an elderly woman with a large placard reading: OUR FAITH - SO REASONABLE SO PRECIOUS -AB AND BISHOPS DON'T DENY IT.
Hear, hear - good for her.
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #5 on Jun 12, 2012, 9:01am » | |
Day Two; I was not at the morning's events as I went to the Pontifical High Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Toronto at St Kevin's. TO be honest, Low Mass is more my cup of tea- I did hope, however, that there would be a large cappa magna on display in order to irritate the ACPI (an unworthy thought, I know) but it was barely visible - more a sash than a train. A very good sermon for the Feast of St Barnabas, emphasising the combination of continuity and change in the Acts of the Apostles and that the EF and OF are Uses within the same Rite and neither should be exalted at the expense of the other. Refreshments in the parish hall afterwards - a sizable turnout of Canadian pilgrims to support their Archbishop. It was a pity the Syro-Malankar Mass in Inchicore was on at the same time, but it couldn't be helped.
After an early lunch in town I got the 7 bus out to Ballsbridge and pottered round the stands, talking to some people I knew and some I had never met before. Tremendously impressed by an old SMA missionary from Ireland who is still out working in Australia. The Society of St Vincent de Paul has quite a small stand for such a large organisation, but it tends to prefer deeds to words. The Israel Tourist Association and the Bethlehem Catholic Mission (with its hand-carved olivewood religious goods and statuettes) had back to back stalls; relations appeared fairly frosty. I bought a couple of Bethlehem items as they are getting a raw deal because of the security barrier, which has severely hampered their trade. Religious in their habits much in evidence - I even saw a couple of Passionists in their black habit with the heart-and-cross badge, a rare sight indeed these days. I asked a passing Dominican why they didn't seem to have a stall when several smaller orders had one; he said I wasn't the only one to ask that.
A couple of Russian-related stalls; an American group who sponsor a Latin-rite parish in Vladivostok and a Fr Shields of the Little Brothers of Jesus (inspired by Bl. Charles De Foucauld) who works in Siberia and will give a talk on Jesus and the Gulag later in the week. The Legionaries of Christ have two stalls - one promoting a pilgrimage centre in the Holy Land involving excavation of the earliest known synagogue (at Magdala), the other beside it seems to have Regnum Christi as its main focus.
I went to the main arena to hear Dr Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement, give her testimony as I would like to know more about them - I know good people who are impressed by them. Despite some account of her own inter-church work among Christians when she was based in Turkey it was a bit simple and I think I will have to find out more about the Focolarini before I really understand them.
I skipped the Liturgy of Fire and Water (with an Anglican celebrant and an Orthodox preacher) since it occurred to me that the exhibition on the 1932 Eucharistic Congress was only open 9-5 and now might be my best chance to take it in. It turned out to be quite a small exhibition, with some informative storyboards and interesting artefacts (including several souvenir badges, the official statement of accounts - a profit of £5400 was presented to Archbishop Byrne for the building of his new cathedral, which was supposed to be in Merrion Square- the warrant for the chief organiser's Knighthood of St Gregory, some vestments, a crozier, a crucifix made out of wood from the High Altar in the Phoenix Park and the little brass cross that was above the tabernacle). The profiles of some of the prominent visitors were reminders of how difficult times were - for they included several Eastern Bloc bishops who were later imprisoned and/or martyred.
The 1982 RADHARC documentary about the Congress was playing on screen. No omniscient voiceover- just a combination of newsreel images (including John McCormack in his Papal uniform and GK Chesterton seated next to his much smaller wife) combined with the oral reminiscences of elderly people looking back from 50 years after - they remembered it as a happy time (including a certain amount of social drinking). It was sad to contrast this with the way in which the media are going all out to do down this Congress, and the feeling that where the 1932 event spilled out across the city this one was shut up in the RDS like a collection of curiosities in a zoo. Let's roar His praises anyway, be our numbers great or small. One nice touch - the curtains of the RDS library were in the papal colours for the occasion.
Outside the Ballsbridge gates a protestor was ranting against the elderly religious as they passed. Normally I would pass this gentleman over in silence in case he was a genuine sufferer, whose rage might be excused, but one feature demolishes his moral pretensions. He was a plump young man with long curly reddish hair (almost dreadlocks) and a long beard, and as he raged about tyranny and called on Ireland to shake off her Roman shackles and exclude the Roman Church from every inch of the Irish public square, he wore a Che Guevara T-Shirt. Those who are familiar with the bits of Mr Guevara's career that Hollywood has avoided will know that after the Cuban revolution Mr Guevara was responsible for thousands of executions, including many former comrades who had been naive enough to believe they were fighting to establish a democracy rather than a MArxist dictatorship. Those who have read the recent NEW YORKER piece on the life, career and death of Commadante William Morgan will know how those who opened the second guerrilla front in the Escambray Mountains were betrayed and destroyed by the revolution they helped to foster. SO this gentleman's rants about freedom from tyranny were as obscene as if he had delivered a passionate speech on the need for child protection while wearing a T-shirt inscribed I HEART FR. BRENDAN SMYTH.
After another interval of wandering I made my way to HAll 2B for Fr Brendan Purcell's talk on Creation and the Big Bang- very impressive discussion of the anthropic principle and of man's uniqueness as signifying animal and the need for dialogue between science and faith. Leaving it until 10 minutes before the start turned out to be a mistake - it was pretty full and I had an anxious wait before becoming one of the last to be seated. Questions mostly intelligent, though one asked if black holes are Hell. No more than the Corrievreckan Whirlpool is hell, IMHO, though of course one would not like to end up inside the Corrievreckan Whirlpool even if it only kills the body.
And so home to bed.
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #6 on Jun 13, 2012, 8:43am » | |
Fr Gabriel Daly argues that you don't have to believe in transubstantiation to be Catholic, and that the term is best avoided as it "aggresively divides" Catholics and Protestants. For once I find myself sympathising with Richard Dawkins. This is Fr Daly's little pennyworth for the Eucharistic Congress. I wonder what "technical language" describes Fr Daly?
EXTRACT
When Richard Dawkins, the well-known evangelical atheist, instructs Catholics on the terms of their membership of their own church, it is time to sit up and take notice.
Speaking in Dublin last week, he remarked in his familiar and peremptory fashion: “If they don’t believe in transubstantiation then they are not Roman Catholics” (The Irish Times last Thursday). So there, now you know: straight from the alternative magisterium.
Hardline conservative Catholics may be delighted to have such a distinguished ally. On further thought, however, they may be embarrassed to receive support from such a quarter.
One notices that Prof Dawkins, in his eagerness to discredit all religious belief, often sails into his task with an unwise disregard for the meaning and origin of a technical term like “transubstantiation”, which is not to be found in the Bible, and was first used in the 11th century.
Roman Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. “Real presence” is not synonymous with “transubstantiation” which would never have entered liturgical life had it not been seemingly prescribed by the Council of Trent in the 16th century.
In that age of religious strife, the term was used to differentiate aggressively between Roman Catholics and Protestants. In our own more ecumenical age, we try to dwell on what unites rather than divides us.
Lest heresy-hunters claim that I am not in conformity with church teaching, I quote the relevant words of the council: “By the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood.
“This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.”
Consequently if we use the language of substance and accidents in treating of the Eucharist, we must follow the teaching of the Council of Trent, which simply states that the term “transubstantiation” was fittingly used by the church.
Since, however, the church does not impose any philosophical system in the name of faith, we are under no obligation to use the term “transubstantiation” in discussion of the Eucharist.
Pope John XXIII, in his opening address to the second Vatican Council, made a hugely important distinction between the substance of faith and the manner of its formulation. Prof Dawkins cannot be expected to be aware of this distinction or indeed to appreciate its significance – but if he wishes to pontificate on the criteria for membership of the Roman Catholic Church, he might profitably do some study of critical theology.
Much ecumenical progress has been made on the Eucharist. It is illuminating to conclude with a short quotation from the magnificent Lima Statement of 1982, when more than 100 theologians from many churches in the world, Protestant and Catholic, met in Lima, Peru, and wrote an agreed document on the subjects of baptism, Eucharist and ministry which they sent for study to all their churches.
From the statement on the Eucharist, these few words go to the heart of what the Eucharist means: “The Eucharist thus signifies what the world is to become: an offering and hymn of praise to the Creator, a universal communion in the body of Christ, a kingdom of justice, love and peace in the Holy Spirit.”
END
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0612/1224317752830.html
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #7 on Jun 13, 2012, 8:44am » | |
MAry O'Regan offers a positive report on the Congress on the CATHOLIC HERALD blog. Particular praise for the Pioneers and the pro-chastity group Pure in Heart.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commenta....-better-for-it/
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #8 on Jun 13, 2012, 8:46am » | |
Credit where credit is due; the ACPI website reproduces Archbishop MArtin's opening address:
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.....irish-s ociety/
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #9 on Jun 13, 2012, 9:36am » | |
Day three - went to 8 o'clock MAss in St Kevin's. Didn't receive as I arrived a few minutes late.
After breakfast in town arrived at Ballsbridge after the Morning Prayer and in time for the first session. Chose to go to the Radharc documentary on John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council (from 1990). This had some useful material but unfortunately was a classsic example of the unbalanced documentary; the problems are as follows:
(1) Towards the end the voiceover spoke of the difference of opinion between those who saw the Council as a break with the past and those who stressed continuity, with Pope John Paul II presented as spearheading the second group - but nobody who took the "continuity" line had been interviewed in the previous account of the Council, so it was implied that the "rupture" interpretation was the correct one without ever facing up to the case for "continuity".
(2) The focus was on the first session of the Council and on John XXIII's decision to side with those bishops who wished to set aside the preparatory commissions' work. Nothing was said about the subsequent sessions under Paul VI and the drafting of the actual Vatican II decrees - this enabled the film to ignore the presence of the large number of conservative bishops and the ways in which the council represented a compromise between opposing views; instead it was presented as a glorious revolution, with John XXIIII putting everything up for grabs). Failure of the glorious vision to materialise was attributed to curial stonewalling and it was implied that the Curia was the same in 1990 as 1960 (it's not - among other things it's more international and departmental heads are moved more often). It was suggested that the Synod of Bishops should be allowed to govern the Church as a sort of quasi-permanent council in session and that failure to do so represented a betrayal of collegiality (at one point the camera zoomed ominously in on then-Cardinal Ratzinger talking to a bishop at the Synod).
(3) They did make a reasonable case for some of the post-conciliar changes (for example, they had a missionary bishop talking about the vernacular liturgy) but in general the attitude was that the changes were self-evidently good and obviously what the Council intended, and as usual in this sort of narrative no effort was made to assess them by any sort of external standard.
The last word was given to a Lutheran observer at the Council who lamented that despite promising moves in the direction of Lutheranis the RC Church had failed in his opinion to distinguish between loyal and disloyal opposition. The parlous state of liberal Lutheranism (and Anglicanism, which he also cited as exemplifying "the conservative Reformation" and justified by Vatican II) hardly suggests that they are successful at this sort of discernment - and didn't it occur to anyone that this amounted to a Lutheran declaring that he knew who was and wasn't really Catholic?
The "loyal opposition" tag was seized on in the subsequent discussion, which was largely a whinge-fest presided over by Fr Enda MacDonagh. The usual types lamented that they were being silenced and not seen as a loyal opposition (as if they had ever tolerated traditionalists when they get the chance to suppress them); long speeches were made about how the speakers felt silenced; Fr MacDonagh declared that Vatican II had spelt the end of unthinking Irish deference to Rome and the bishops, without mentioning that it had brought deference to the IRISH TIMES and RTE instead (not to mention the fulsome deference on display towards Fr MacDonagh).
As I wish to improve my knowledge of Vatican II before I get into this sort of discussion, I kept quiet. One courageous Canadian woman did speak up and say that from her experience of the bishops helping with pro-life work collegiality was working just fine, adding what a great improvement the new Mass translation was. I meant to congratulate her, but she left before the end of the discussion. In this she was wise, as when I got to David Quinn's talk which I meant to attend I discovered it was already full.
After trying to attend a talk on Christians in North Africa and finding that was full too, I ended up in a session on marriage. This had a nice talk on marriage by Bishop Jones of Elphin and some very moving personal testimonies from a widower and a young couple about faith and their marriages, and as the testimonies ran over time I was fortunately able to escape to lunch just as the dreaded command was given "Form yourselves into groups".
After lunch I migrated to the central arena for a very nice talk on St Mary McKillop with extracts from her letters, read by members of her order. After a youth music group from Austria, the recently-retired Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth gave a rousing address which began with a fine outline of the relationship between the Trinity, communion and the Eucharist before some uncompromising remarks on Catholic marital and sexual ethics which are too often glossed over. Archbishop Hickey's fine record of social work was outlined in the paper, and in every respect he seems to have been a worthy successor of such pioneers as James Brady, the first Bishop of Perth, the French-trained missionary who brought the Church to Western Australia in the 1830s before some overambitious plans led to his relegation to his native Cavan; MArtin Griver, the Spanish bishop who oversaw the reconciliation of the colony's rival Spanish and Irish missionary strains; and Matthew Gibney, another Cavan man and All HAllows graduate, who worked tirelessly to establish charitable institutions and risked his life to bring the last sacraments to members of the Kelly gang.
The Supreme Knight of the (US) Knights of Columbus and Breda O'Brien the journalist gave entertaining testimonies about family life before Mass was said with Cardinal Vingt-Trois of PAris as principal celebrant (And a very powerful preacher). Archbishop Martin announced that Cardinal Ouellet had gone to Lough Derg on a penitential pilgrimage in reparation for child abuse; presumably in this he is acting as the Pope's representative on behalf of the whole Church, and the news was well received.
One of the concelebrants was an Eastern-rite bishop who instead of a mitre wore a square red hat with pictures of the Holy Spirit descending, and with a gold metal cross on top at the front. He looked Indian and I think it was Cardinal Alencherry of the Syro-Malabars, as his Wikipedia picture looks like the bishop I saw (and one of the bidding prayers was in Malayalam).
There were more people around the RDS than on previous days - I think more groups are arriving as the Congress goes on. There was a large group of Chinese people with scarves carrying a sun emblem - I thought they might be Peruvian but when I got a better look at their badges I saw they were Taiwanese. Nice to see a Taiwanese presence at an international gathering, given that they are a democracy and the People's republic of China squeezes them. It is pleasant to see all races, colours, languages and nations gathered to praise the Lord.
I got a close look at the Congress bell for the first time. It has four icons around its base and one intrigued me. So far as I could make out it showed Our Lady next to a bald, bearded man labelled THE THEOLOGIAN - in other words St John the Evangelist, who is usually shown as a young man. I interpreted it as depicting them at the end of Our Lady's earthly life, years after the Crucifixion, after St John had cared for her as a son in fulfilment of Our Lord's words from the Cross. I find the thought of this rather moving, but perhaps it is just my imagination and it is some saint other than St John. Does anyone out there know?
I meant to go to John Waters' talk, but though I arrived 20 minutes early it was still packed out, so I wandered along to a Radharc film on the history of the French-speaking descendants of Irish emigrants to Quebec. This was an interesting documentary in its own right and the lively discussion - mostly on people's family histories, there was as might be expected a strong Canadian presence in the audience - made a refreshing contrast with the morning whinge-fest.
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Louise
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #10 on Jun 14, 2012, 2:29am » | |
Thanks so much for writing about what is happening Hibernicus. If anybody reading is unwell or hasn't been able to get tickets or go to the Congress then you can watch EWTN as they're broadcasting it live all day every day. I will finally be able to start attending tomorrow and intend to do the city pilgrim walk too and get my little passport from them.
Can you tell us whether the workshops are the ones where you have to do the dreaded form into groups etc or is that for the talks across the board? By the way, coming home from work the other day I saw about 6 nuns making a mad dash for the bus in town, all veils and arms linking, it was fantastic to see them out and about. All eyes were turned on them in O' Connell Street, admiring eyes mind you. I love the advertising on every church too, I pass through the city for work and the regular reminder of the Congress and the Church on street after street after street sort of buoys the confidence, it's unapologetic and encouraging.
I imagine it will be packed on Saturday, for most people have to work during the week. I read somewhere that the Pope gave a live message onscreen for the final day the last time - I hope he does the same this Sunday, Croke Park will lift off with the cheers. Fr. Kevin Doran deserves a heavy pat on the back for pulling this together without state help, I'm so glad we funded it ourselves.
By the way, when collecting your ticket what did you have to bring? I have a dozen emails from them and a reference number, will that and my ID do?
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #11 on Jun 14, 2012, 9:34am » | |
Not all the talks are workshops - it's only the workshops where you have to form groups and even some of these are pretty innocuous as there isn't time to get too inquisitive.
It is indeed remarkable to see so many religious in their habits. I was talking to one elderly religious today who said his friends wouldn't know him because it was so long since he wore it.
I just brought a printout of my e-mail from them and my passport, but they weren't too concerned about the passport. I don't think they will be very strict on ID.
Rumour has it the Pope's message will be pre-recorded, but you never know...
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #12 on Jun 14, 2012, 10:26am » | |
Day four; went straight to RDS without going to St Kevin's. Still missed morning prayer as I saw the arena empty and assumed it was over. (It was in one of the halls - it will be in the arena on Thursday morning.) This is what comes of not checking these things in advance. I was particularly sad when I discovered that as it was the feast of St Anthony of Padua morning prayer featured some of my favourite passages from the Office for a Doctor of the Church.
The RDS is more crowded than ever as more people arrive, so the talks get crowded out very quickly. I missed out on the two in the first session which I particularly wanted to see, and wound up in a workshop on the permanent diaconate by a deacon called Schutz from the diocese of Aberdeen. This was actually a very straightforward and comprehensive presentation of the duties of a deacon (he argues they should not be seen a purely liturgical figures, but cites their charitable work on the model of the Seven) and what is entailed in their formation. During the discussion Cardinal Napier from Durban had some interesting points about recruiting deacons in Africa. The discussion drew on St Ignatius of Antioch and Ss Stephen and Lawrence were invoked in prayer. Highly instructive, and the workshop element was minimal (a few minutes of "discuss this with your neighbour".
Unfortunately by the tie we got out the queues for the next session of talks were extremely long, and I got bounced away from four or five in succession which I would have liked to go to and was eventually left on the outside looking in. The way things are going you will need to queue for at least half an hour in advance to have any chance at all. After pottering round a few stalls I went up to the Simmonscourt Pavilion to see the "Through the Eyes of the Apostles -Capernaum" exhibition which Communion and Liberation are putting on. Unfortunately it turned out that you have to book hours in advance as it is so popular. I contented myself with a trip through the Military Chaplaincy exhibition (in several tents near the Simmonscourt pavilion) and a quick glance at the nearby display from the Parish of the Travelling People.
Lunch is always interesting as you get a chance to talk to random pilgrims and religious (including Mercy sisters from Queensland and Kenya - surely Ven. Catherine McAuley's spiritual empire lives on, however diminished at home!
I migrated to the arena for a talk on priesthood and communion by the Archbishop of Vancouver - very impressive. When a gospel choir struck up a hymn which went to the tune of a once-familiar advertisement (a lot of the conference hymns use popular tunes so if you are not careful you will find yourself singing "Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows, Clear is the lily of the valley" etc instead of the new words. I decided to take another stroll round the stalls and post a few conference postcards to friends. In the interval I noticed John Waters, who is taller and more robust than he seems on television, and also caught my first sight of Garry O'Sullivan in the flesh - at the IRISH CATHOLIC stand, in a white shirt with an unobtrusive pattern - a tall individual with a beaky nose which doesn't show up in his photos. Looking at the target of so much of my criticism, I felt a little guilty. What I have said about him is IMHO fair comment, but it is still disconcerting to see the flesh and blood individual behind the printer's ink. After that I wish I could say something nice about his column in the special Congress edition of the IRISH CATHOLIC, which was given away free at the RDs throughout the day and probably will be tomorrow as well (the CATHOLIC VOICE is also giving out free copies in the hope of building readership, but alas I bought mine last week. The IRISH INDEPENDENT has temporarily resumed its old and moth-eaten Catholic robes, long since shrugged off for the scantier apparel on display in the SINDO, and is selling cut-price copies with a free Congress supplement.) Alas, while the IRISH CATHOLIC congress edition is pretty good its weak spot is once again Garry O'Sullivan's column which takes up all its old hobbyhorses of talking as if the clergy and bishops represented one church while the laity constituted another and much more authentic church - thus it expresses concern that the congress will be "hijacked" by bishops and cardinals talking about child abuse, the implication being that abuse is a clerical crime for which the laity have no responsibility and to which they need pay no attention.
Back to the arena as an elderly Holy Rosary sister was talking about her missionary career. Some of the jargon raised my trad hackles, but the underlying story of a life spent helping the poorest of the poor and drawing strength from Jesus and her religious community was tremendously impressive. Let us trads beware lest the liberals who actually did something for the disadvantaged are first into the Kingdom while we are left asking some awkward questions beginning "Lord, when did we ever see thee..."?
After some very fine singing by classically trained singers Mass had Cardinal Maradiaga of Honduras as the chief celebrant. I was interested to see his handsome Indian features and hear his fine voice moving effortlessly between Spanish and Italian for he has a reputation as one of the more impressive Third World Cardinals and was once spoken of as papabile (though this has faded a bit in recent years). I also have feelings of guilt about my enthusiasm for US policy in Central America in the 80s. I was an enthusiastic young anti-communist then and I let my zeal about the evils of communism blind me to the crimes of its opponents. I had similar guilt feelings looking at the Mozambican and Angolan delegations happily waving their flags in the procession. After being repressed by the drawn-out Portuguese struggle to retain their colonies, they promptly fell under the rule of dictators who started out as commisars and have now mutated into crooks, and their lives were made miserable by bloody wars waged by American (and South-African) backed guerrilla forces whom I in my naivete regarded as struggling democrats but who were in fact no less bloody and dictatorial (and opportunistic - under different circumstances they might have aligned with the Soviets) than their successful rivals. The Cold War may never have become hot in Europe, but an awful lot of blood was shed for it in Africa and Latin America, and that is why I felt a mixture of admiration and remorse as I contemplated our brothers and sisters in Christ from those countries happily waving their flags before the Eucharistic King.
Cardinal Maradiaga preached a very fine sermon on St Anthony of PAdua, love of Jesus, and the Eucharist; unfortunately when he recounted the story of St Anthony convincing heretics of the Real Presence by miraculously getting a hungry mule to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament while ignoring fodder, I allowed myself to be distracted by furious thoughts contrasting the theological perspicacity of the mule with that displayed by Fr Gabriel Daly on transubstantiation in the opinion page of last Tuesday's IRISH TIMES. The advantage was very much with the mediaeval theologian, and it was some time before I could recover my attention.
I was a bit confused about the procession arrangements; having assumed that Benediction would be held at the end of the procession, and then finding out that it would be said before it, I decided to go to the arena and get Benediction rather than lining out with my parish, in the hope that I could rejoin it during the procession. This was easier said than done as I had greatly underestimated the size of the procession, though I did eventually find my parish in the Simmonscourt car park at the end. (I had also assumed the procession would return to the main arena; in fact Benediction began in the main arena and ended at Simmonscourt after the parade.) I had been worried about a possible disruption of the parade by protesters, but nothing of the kind occurred; the great display of devotion was very impressive as were the stewards in their purple and yellow jackets who steered us skilfully through some potentially dangerous chokepoints. I was particularly glad to see that the Dublin Syro-MAlabars were allowed to line the passage through which the Eucharistic canopy passed to the Simmonscourt stage; they had a parallel line of large and colorful umbrellas with metal ornaments and a big ornate cross. It's good to see a small Rite getting recognition, probably related to the presence of their Major Archbishop. Similarly, it was pleasant to see the priest and some laity of the Ethiopian Coptic congregation in Dublin marching with the Latin Mass community of St Kevin's parish - there is real ecumenism in action. The Copts have had it tough in recent decades, both in Egypt and Ethiopia, and the lot of an immigrant Church is hard; may the intercession of SS Athanasius and Cyril (though the latter, I admit, is not my favourite saint) bring us together in this life and the next.
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Christ is the morning star who when the night of this world is past brings to his saints the promise of the light of life and opens everlasting day |
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hibernicus
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hibernicus
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| | Re: Eucharistic Congress
« Reply #14 on Jun 14, 2012, 10:41am » | |
By the way, the IRISH TIMES did indeed have a report on Archbishop Hickey's speech - see above. The first half of the speech was on the Trinity and communion, the second half built on this to defend Catholic sexual ethics. Guess which half the IRISH TIMES didn't bother to mention?
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Christ is the morning star who when the night of this world is past brings to his saints the promise of the light of life and opens everlasting day |
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