Smasher Lagru

A quick post from a cafe in Kerry.  By chance caught Mass with the bishop of Cork and Ross last week - the worst "performance" in a very long time - rushed (offertory after fifteen minutes). Used a single transferrable sermon - I suspect the one on eucharist he used at his first Mass.  And the voice! So boring. 

Killarney Cathedral - I know what I'm expected to think about the vandalism - but actually I quite like it. 

gotta go - Bellatrix sent me out for chinese about an hour ago.

Folks, here's the thing.  I'm on my holidays - well almost - getting ready for my trip to down under - well Kerry for as my long time readers will know Smasher can be something of a fantisist and getting to Australia at my age would be wishful thinking.

Anyway my happy relaxation is being disturbed by emails and complaints about the comments.  So here's the thing (again) - I get to slag off people of note - bishops etc, and make sly passing remarks about other people but you don't.  If you want to settle old scores and attack people set up your own blogs and then you can do it to your hearts content.  Because the problem I have is that when people get named in the comments and I don't know who they are I don't know if they deserve the abuse or not.

So stop it now.

Smasher is heading off to the antipodes for a few weeks and I suspect I won't have time, energy or desire to blog while I'm there so tune in again towards the end of the month.

I was very tempted instead to go to the virtual world youth experience organised by the virtual director of youth faith in Twinbrook, which is virtually in Glengormley, or so I am told.  Then I discovered the virtual pope will be Donal Mc K, selected after his powerful performance at the GAA sponsored midnight Mass from Australia last year.

So the real thing for me.

Following the amazing story of a girl in Norwich who found a bat in her bra http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7496923.stm comes the even more astonishing news that an Irish bishop has discovered a spine in his back.



"I had no idea it was there" said Bishop Ben Revod, bishop of Kilimoconnert and Liesmore. 

"I've occasionally felt a little tingling during meetings of the episcopal conference" he continued, "but I just presumed it was the uncomfortable seats in that badly designed room in the attic in Maynooth where we meet." 

"Oh gosh, I shouldn't have said those negative remarks - it's this bloody spine again.  Get me something I can agree on quickly.  I welcome the release of yer wan from Columbia - that's fairly safe.  A nice looking woman, and after six years in the jungle too, and her daughter... oh, bloody hell. 

I am concerned about the unpleasant things happening in Biafra and I welcome the immigrants children who are enriching our schools, since it doesn't matter since they're not Catholic really anyway.  For God sake will somebody get this thing out of me."

And in the grey areas which surround the application of moral principles to issues of deep concern, as in the work of the agencies of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference such as Trocaire, Accord and Cura, of which I am President, this is particularly true. In these grey areas it is very easy to have a fear of those who question motives, make judgments and apportion blame when in fact the only wish is to uphold Catholic principles, apply these principles in new, challenging circumstances, serve the cause of right in a voluntary capacity and offer Christian service in areas of great need. In this area in particular, the fear of being accused of wrong doing runs very deep.

And yet the ability to overcome fear, wrestle with the issues and remain loyal must also be acknowledged. Thus recurring controversies, as in the recent Cura controversy for example, have shown the loyalty, dedication and commitment of volunteers, even in the face of protracted discussions and criticism in the media.

Bishop John Fleming preaching on the subject of fear.

A couple of things struck me here - his use of the phrase "grey areas" (and he wasn't talking about his shirt, hair or personality) in connection with Trocaire, Accord and Cura, three areas of the Church's activity which have headed off in the wrong direction on a number of occasions; Trocaire partnering pro-choice organisations;  Accord promoting contraception and Cura using the CPA leaflets.  Grey areas?  Catholic marriage, abortion, contraception.

As I read his text about Cura I thought initially he was talking about the Cura Four in Donegal, expelled four raising the direction Cura was moving in (and thereby of course questioning Bishop Fleming's leadership).  I thought he's acknowledging the "loyalty, dedication and commitment" they showed.  Then I read it again and realised he's talking about himself and the others in leadership of Cura who "apply these principles in new, challenging circumstances".  These were the victims who had to endure crazy people like me questioning their motives.

Fearful?  You better believe it.

Thanks be to God and his blessed and holy mother we're Catholics.

Before the formal preparation for the Eucharistic Congress gets underway - by which I mean paying ridiculous amounts of money to so called artists and musicians to design liturgical furnishings and theme songs - I want to invite you to come aboard Smasher's CRAFT.

CRAFT is what we need to do to prepare for the Congress if it is to have any worthwhile meaning.

C - confession:  we must address the confession deficit and link it to the Eucharist
R - respectful reception:  for me, on the tongue, but at least away from the casual, bored, unclean current habits
A - adoration attitude: in my chiastic structure, the centre - what we offer God when he offers us himself
F - fasting:  is any child taught to fast before receiving?  Let's restore at least the one hour fast.
T - transubstantion:  let's make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to believe.

Five simple ways to prepare. 

Because it's Friday afternoon and I liked it.

Do you remember all the warm assurances we received from Yes side about how much the Commission loved us and how our national social policy was our own business and how no one in Brussels wanted to interfere?

Do you remember how important it was that Lisbon recognised the position of churches and how they were committed to dialogue?

And do you remember how the Commission had written to the Government to complain that exemptions in Ireland for religious run institutions under current equality legislation were “too broad”? 

Do you remember that the letter was a prelude to legal action by the Commission, who signalled that they were prepared to take the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)?

And do you remember how the Commission withdrew its letter, after the Government signaled its “vigourous opposition” to the Commission's threatened legal action (at least before the referendum)?

Well the letter is back again.