I am praying also, this is exploding in the media right now here, even clueless TV3 is leading with the headline “Association of Catholic Priests to begin process of reform”. The world is turning upside down, one priest interviewed today said “If Rome says jump, are we supposed to say how high?” God help us. All I could think of was Lucifer’s motto, “I will not serve” Is there anything we can *do *about this, other than pray?
We are certainly going through a troubling time in Ireland. It is hard to know what to do. We are faced with a situation that we’ve never faced before - widespread dissent (although not as widespread as the ACP would like us to think) from Church teachings by clergy and laity. In the past - during Penal times - our forefathers held fast to the faith: an archbishop of Armagh, St Oliver Plunkett, was martyred for the faith, as were countless others. When we pray, therefore, I believe we should invoke the aid of St Oliver Plunkett and the Irish martyrs - the current archbishop of Armagh and his brother bishops need courage, fortitude and unwavering fidelity.
As faithful Catholics, we need to do our best to have our voices heard. This is difficult given that our national broadcaster is clearly engaged in an anti-Catholic agenda, as, indeed, is the Labour wing of our government. We need to be informed about our Catholic faith, in all its beauty - and the Catholic faith is, as you know, beautiful. Write to newspapers to correct errors, misinterpretations and bias. If there is outright bias in the media, you are entitled to make a case to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. Arm yourself with
good Catholic publications (the
Catholic Voice newspaper for example provides excellent commentary on Catholic issues).
We need to support our faithful priests too. A word of encouragement will mean an awful lot - assure that you are praying for them, and make sure you
do. I myself am coming more and more to realise the value of praying the Rosary in these times of persecution and dissent. On the other hand, if priests are propagating the agenda of the ACP in their Masses - for example, not using the new translation of the Roman Missal, or preaching non-Catholic or even anti-Catholic ideas - we have a duty, in charity, to inform the priest in question, the bishop or even the Vatican. As I said in my earlier post, we have a right to the Catholic faith, and the Mass in the Roman Rite.
Just as a general remark on this thread, I think we should not dwell on the phrase “If Rome asks us to jump…”. The ACP are using this in its most derogatory sense to imply that orthodox Catholics cannot think for themselves, that they are blindly obedient to Rome. This, of course, is not the case. To say that our response should be “how high?” is to simplify things too much in my opinion - we do indeed trust what the Church teaches, and we obey our Holy Father, but it is because we are informed in the faith that we can have this confidence. The ACP are calling on people to be open-minded, yet as far as I can see, they have their minds so open that all sense has escaped. I am reminded of a quote by G.K. Chesterton who said, “the object of opening the mind, as with opening one’s mouth, is to shut it again on something solid” - thanks be to God, many of us have indeed opened our minds, and shut them again on something solid, and that something solid is the Rock, Peter, Our Holy Father Pope Benedict. We must cling to that knowledge with hope and confidence.
