ORIGINALLY Published on: May 25, 2018
All, please pray today for the Irish people.
UPDATE: 26 May
I suppose you’ve heard the news by now.
I was just reading a piece by Phil Lawler about the bishops in Chile. Ireland came up:
Pope Benedict XVI learned from the American experience, and when the scandal exploded in Ireland several years later, he did address the bishops’ failures. In a pastoral message released in March 2010he told the Irish bishops that they had “failed, at times grievously,” in their duties. He initiated an apostolic visitation of the Church in Ireland, and called for a program of repentance and reform.
The need for a thorough reform of the Church in Ireland should be especially evident this week, as pro-life activists fight a desperate uphill battle to stop a constitutional amendment that would allow abortion on demand in a country that remains, on paper, overwhelmingly Catholic. The spectacular collapse of Ireland’s Catholic culture shows that the abuse scandal did not arise ex nihilo. When Pope Benedict called for a “rebirth of the Church in Ireland in the fulness of God’s own truth,” he had dramatic changes in mind. Unfortunately, dramatic changes were not forthcoming.
Now other dramatic changes have slithered forth.
Will this wake some people up in that sad country? I doubt it.
What did Benedict XVI call for? They were coming up to Lent at the time:
I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace. [Did the bishops and priests urge and push these things? I doubt it.]
Particular attention should also be given to Eucharistic adoration, and in every diocese there should be churches or chapels specifically devoted to this purpose. I ask parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries to organize periods of Eucharistic adoration, so that all have an opportunity to take part. Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful. [Did the bishops and priests urge and push these things? I doubt it.]
I am confident that this program will lead to a rebirth of the Church in Ireland in the fullness of God’s own truth, for it is the truth that sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32). [Is that what happened in Ireland?]
What Benedict XVI urged then seems to have been mostly ignored in Ireland.
Perhaps bishops elsewhere might take up that call. If it would have been good for Ireland, it would be good for everywhere else as well.
Germany? France? Italy? These USA?
Where are our bishops?
