[ Home ] [Newsletter
Index & Archive]
NEWSLETTER -
ASCENSION OF THE LORD - 24 MAY 2009
<>Dear Parishioner,
It’s
good to get some feedback from my newsletter and last week I
actually got some. It ran thus: I
commend and concur with your musings on the bad conduct of our MPs.
Regrettably, the Catholic Religious in Ireland are worse. Will
you be
as judgemental about their bad behaviour since their conduct has been
far more damaging to innocent lives than the financial and moral damage
caused by MPs?
First, I would take issue with the description of my newsletter as
“Judgemental”. A judgemental person is someone who says “I am
better
than you”. The whole point of last week’s Newsletter was to point
to
the hypocrisy which surrounds this whole furore in Parliament. My
Newsletter criticises the MPs for their failings but points out that
what they got up to is perhaps what a majority of the rest of us would
have got up to had we had half the chance. Now that’s not
judgemental! The point I was making, and now repeat, is that this
lack
of objective morality is today a characteristic of our whole society
and is a result of our wholesale loss of the sense of God.
But coming to the major point of my correspondent’s letter. Of
course
I condemn the behaviour of those priests and religious who have been
found guilty of abusing, physically and sexually, the children in their
care.
There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for it, and indeed it is a
thousand times worse than what the parliamentarians have been found
guilty of. For the ordinary citizen such behaviour is a crime;
for the
Christian it is a sin and a crime; for the priest or religious, it is a
crime and a sin of such magnitude that it borders on blasphemy.
The
Irish Church’s attempt to cover it up was also wrong and unjust.
These
people, who were ordained or made members of Religious Orders, were
supposed to be dedicating their lives to the building up of Christ’s
Church and devoting themselves to the well-being and care of those
disadvantaged children put into their charge. They have succeeded
only
in causing immense and life-long harm to these people and massive
damage to Christ’s Cause and the Church.
But let us keep a sense of perspective. It is not the Church
which has
done these things, but wayward members of the Church. We should
also
bear in mind that the sexual abuse of children is a widespread
phenomenon through society as a whole. The abuse perpetrated by
these
members of the Church represents only the tip of the iceberg. The
vast
majority of abuse takes place within the family and its circle of
friends, perpetrated by parents, elder brothers, uncles and trusted
acquaintances.
When the abuse is carried out by priests or religious, it naturally and
rightly attracts more attention and causes even greater scandal.
All
the more reason, therefore, why we, as Catholics who are proud to be
Catholics, should show by the quality of our own lives that, despite
the behaviour of some of our members, the Church is not only Catholic
but is also Holy, for the Church is the very Body of Christ Himself in
the world and administers to us the holy Scriptures and the
Sacraments. Let each one of us strive to repair, by the holiness
of
our own lives, the reputation of our Church which has been so sullied
by this very small minority of priests, nuns and lay Catholics.
Today is Word Communications Day, when we remember the power of the
media both for good and for ill in our modern world. The media
has
enormous power these days, for it no longer means just the newspapers,
but television and radio and the increasing influence of the
internet.
The Church wants us to harness this power for the spreading of the
Gospel.
In his message for this year’s Communications Day, the Holy Father
recognises the impact new media has on young people and has a clear
message for them to be “online missionaries”. He says:
“It falls, in particular to young people, who have an almost
spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the
responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital
continent’. Be
sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with
enthusiasm.
You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their
disappointments; the greatest gift you can give to them is to share
with them the ‘Good News’ of a God who became man, who suffered, died
and rose again to save all people.”
The collection taken up after the Masses this weekend will be for the
work of the Catholic Communications Network, the media office of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
The Holy Father’s words quoted above remind us of the vital part our
young people should be playing in the life of the Church. I am
glad to
tell you that last Tuesday a goodly number turned up for the first of a
series of talks I am giving them. My aim is to convey to them an
understanding of the Sacraments sufficiently deep to sustain their
spiritual lives through their lives.
The Pope’s words about sharing the Good News also reminds us that the
Catechumenate will begin again on Tuesday 2 June at 730pm at Stella
Maris. I cannot remember how many times I have reminded you that
introducing someone to the Faith is perhaps the greatest thing you can
do for anyone. I have also reminded you many times that there
will
certainly be someone within your circle of family and friends who is
only waiting for you to make the first move.
Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the day the Spirit came, the day
the
apostles spoke in all the known languages of the world, foretelling the
Catholic Church of today which speaks to men and women of every race,
culture and language about the wonders of Christ. It is the occasion of
our International Mass.
Through the Holy Spirit, all who come to believe in Jesus become
members of God’s Family, the Church, which we nickname “Catholic”
because it is worldwide and open to everyone. Our Parish is truly
Catholic these days in this sense as well, for it now includes members
from all over the globe. We delight to have them among us.
The
International Mass celebrates this, the Catholicity of the Church.
God
bless you, Fr Antony Jones
THE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE & INDEX
A
large archive of previous weekly newsletters may be viewed on
line - click
this link
Our Lady Star of
the Sea Home Page