Irish Religious editor questions church leaders’ priorities

[NPC]

Just came across this article regarding the comments of an Irish Redemptorist priest & editor of a Redemptorist publication:

cinews.ie/article.php?artid=6800

Writing in the January editorial of Reality, Fr Gerry Moloney, CSsR, claims, “Something seems wrong when the Vatican conducts an apostolic visitation of religious sisters in the United States to make sure they are fully obedient to the Holy See … but conducts no visitation of dioceses worldwide to ensure children are safeguarded.”

Referring to the findings of the Murphy Report, Fr Moloney writes, “For let’s face it, something seems wrong when such abuse could go unchecked for so long in so many dioceses.” He adds, “Something seems wrong when some Church people appear more interested in silk robes and the Latin Mass and East-facing altars than in examining why our Church has not been a safe environment for its most vulnerable members.”

It makes me wonder how central the sacred liturgy is to some of our priests - granted, there should be serious action taken against the culture of abuse and secrecy that infected the Irish Church; it’s a big issue, but the work of the Church must go on. Fr Moloney questions the Church’s trying to give the faithful the Holy Mass as Vatican II intended, yet misses the fact that had some of our bishops and priests not been so busy destroying the sanctuaries in the 1960’s & 70’s they may have been more in tune with what was happening in terms of abuse - I know of at least one Irish bishop who was so determined to reorder the sanctuary of his cathedral that he left the abuse cases to two of his priests! So I think that Fr Moloney is about 40 years too late in shouting from the rooftops…

Indeed, it’s my opinion that it is precisely the disregard for the Holy Mass and the Eucharist that has led to the downfall of many priests - as Bishop Sheen often pointed out, Peter came perilously close to losing the priesthood because he substituted action for prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Any priest who was truly in love with Christ and stayed close to Him through prayer and the Eucharist would not allow himself to harm one of Christ’s children. Contrary to what Fr Maloney thinks, I believe that the sacred liturgy is central to bringing healing after abuse scandals precisely because when one of Christ’s children suffers, He too suffers. Betrayal of a child of Christ also deals Christ, yet again, Judas’ blistering kiss of betrayal. We should be making reparation through the Holy Mass and the Eucharist.

 

[wisdomseeker]

**Quote:
Writing in the January editorial of Reality, Fr Gerry Moloney, CSsR, claims, “Something seems wrong when the Vatican conducts an apostolic visitation of religious sisters in the United States to make sure they are fully obedient to the Holy See … but conducts no visitation of dioceses worldwide to ensure children are safeguarded.”

Referring to the findings of the Murphy Report, Fr Moloney writes, “For let’s face it, something seems wrong when such abuse could go unchecked for so long in so many dioceses.” He adds, “Something seems wrong when some Church people appear more interested in silk robes and the Latin Mass and East-facing altars than in examining why our Church has not been a safe environment for its most vulnerable members.”**

It seems to me that this priest is taking advantage of the situation to criticize the Traditional Mass. he sounds ridiculous and unwise. notice how he attacks those who defend reverence and a Holy Worship to our God. also he seems to go against the visitation to the liberal nuns. what is going on with these people who is ordaining all these liberals?

 

[NPC]

It seems to me that this priest is taking advantage of the situation to criticize the Traditional Mass. he sounds ridiculous and unwise. notice how he attacks those who defend reverence and a Holy Worship to our God. also he seems to go against the visitation to the liberal nuns. what is going on with these people who is ordaining all these liberals?

Yes - so many people are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon at the moment…people calling for an end to compulsory celibacy, that the Church should allow women priests, &c. &c… but the suggestion by Fr Moloney really takes the biscuit 1. Because he’s a priest, I think he should show some restraint in his comments - especially since the Church is currently dealing with the matter of abuse in Ireland (taking the unprecedented step of summoning all Irish bishops to Rome next month), and 2. Because the suggestion that the Church should drop all it’s doing - including beautifying the sacred liturgy - to deal with this problem is just plain ridiculous… However, I’m sorry to say that there is not much an Irish Redemptorist could say that would surprise me.

 

[wisdomseeker]

Yes - so many people are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon at the moment…people calling for an end to compulsory celibacy, that the Church should allow women priests, &c. &c… but the suggestion by Fr Moloney really takes the biscuit 1. Because he’s a priest, I think he should show some restraint in his comments - especially since the Church is currently dealing with the matter of abuse in Ireland (taking the unprecedented step of summoning all Irish bishops to Rome next month), and 2. Because the suggestion that the Church should drop all it’s doing - including beautifying the sacred liturgy - to deal with this problem is just plain ridiculous… However, I’m sorry to say that there is not much an Irish Redemptorist could say that would surprise me.

meanwhile we sufffer with the Church. we are going through a judgement. i have no doubt that what is going in the Church today is due to the poor Worship that has been given to God. why are we so blind to that? i dont know.

 

[NPC]

meanwhile we sufffer with the Church. we are going through a judgement. i have no doubt that what is going in the Church today is due to the poor Worship that has been given to God. why are we so blind to that? i dont know.

Certainly - you probably know that the Servant of God Bishop Fulton Sheen used to often stress that one of the main reasons for the downfall of some priests is when they substitute action for prayer. The first thing Christ said to His Apostles was “come”, the last was “go” - Sheen used to say that in the 1960’s and 70’s the world had too many “go go’s” and too few “come come’s”! There was a movement among many religious to go out into the world and “get with it” - they only wanted to obey the “go” command of Christ, not the prerequisite “come”. Indeed, St Peter was quite close to losing his priesthood because he substituted action for prayer - in Gethsemane when Christ asked him to pray, he did not obey; what did he do instead, but cut off the ear of the high-priest’s servant.

Some, unfortunately, as we now know were substituting the most horrible crimes for prayer - had they remained close to the Lord, they could not have allowed themselves to harm one of Christ’s beloved children. It is so sad that some priests such as Fr Moloney do not see the relationship between the sacred liturgy of the Church and the outside world - I wonder how much faith he has in the idea that prayer, indeed the greatest prayer of all, the Holy Mass, has the power to bring about the healing that we all so earnestly desire following these abuse scandals.

 

[wisdomseeker]

Certainly - you probably know that the Servant of God Bishop Fulton Sheen used to often stress that one of the main reasons for the downfall of some priests is when they substitute action for prayer. The first thing Christ said to His Apostles was “come”, the last was “go” - Sheen used to say that in the 1960’s and 70’s the world had too many “go go’s” and too few “come come’s”! There was a movement among many religious to go out into the world and “get with it” - they only wanted to obey the “go” command of Christ, not the prerequisite “come”. Indeed, St Peter was quite close to losing his priesthood because he substituted action for prayer - in Gethsemane when Christ asked him to pray, he did not obey; what did he do instead, but cut off the ear of the high-priest’s servant.

Some, unfortunately, as we now know were substituting the most horrible crimes for prayer - had they remained close to the Lord, they could not have allowed themselves to harm one of Christ’s beloved children. It is so sad that some priests such as Fr Moloney do not see the relationship between the sacred liturgy of the Church and the outside world - I wonder how much faith he has in the idea that prayer, indeed the greatest prayer of all, the Holy Mass, has the power to bring about the healing that we all so earnestly desire following these abuse scandals.

Oh dear, lets not kiddy ourselves. the devil, the devil is out to get the Church’s men. and dont think that wouldnt happened. just remember, it is real today as it was in the begining. the devil deceived Adam and Eve. some of us are just too proud to admit that we can also be deceived. our Lord warned the Apostles. i can see some of these Bishops they care nothing but pride on them. they are blind as they come. therefore, God gives them up. let’s just pray that will repent and come back to the Faith. the one giving to us by our Lord. they seem to have forgotten that what they have has been giving to them. our Lord did in the past and He will do it again today. our Lord has judged the Shepards of Israel, He will judge those unfaithfull Shepard in His Church too. In fact He already has. these Shepards have been humiliated for all to see. still they refused to humble themselves. no telling what our Lord will do next.