Revitalising the Catholic Church in Ireland

A series of ten articles focusing on key aspects of the current (2004) crisis of Irish Catholicism.  All are copyright of the Irish Redemptorist publication Reality.

(i)    Crisis

       Ten critical problems in the Irish Church.

(ii)   Clericalism

       Priests who need unquestioning deference from lay people are out of time.  

(iii)   A Portable Faith

       The need to prioritise the truths of the faith - especially the requirement of
       love.  

(iv)   Jesus the Layperson

       The need to prioritise the role of those who live in the world, without whose
       witness God's kingdom can never come.  

(v)    Snobbery and the Gospels

       Jesus' assault on 'worldliness' was essentially an attack on snobberies of all
       kinds.  

(vi)   The World and the Kingdom of God

       Jesus' ideal 'kingdom' is entirely compatible with a modern, truly egalitarian,
       society.  

(vii)  The Power of Prayer

       Why prayer is necessary for the building of the kingdom.

(viii) Division in the Church

       Why the differences between e.g. 'progressives' and 'conservatives' must not
       prevent them from loving one another.

(ix)   Catholicism and Sexuality

       Why the church's central teachings on sexuality are winning the argument,
       while clericalism is losing it.

(x)   The Emerging Church

       Already the church of the future is beginning to emerge through pioneering
       witness.

 

The crisis outlined in these articles has intensified since 2004.

Taking the most hopeful lesson from this, the clericalist resistance to change has probably also grown weaker. 

Lay clericalism - the abdication of Christian responsibility to clergy - is probably now the single most serious obstacle to recovery, but that too has had its day, and the crisis of Irish secular society requires a Christian response.

SOC Feb 2011