I write this having just watched the inauguration for a second term in office of President Barack Obama. A simple, straight forward confirmation of the continuation of legally constituted authority in the governance of the United States.  

His reference on several occasions to the American Constitution and the repetition of those three words “We, the people” was powerful, for here was the leader of a nation speaking on behalf of the people who had entrusted leadership in his hands. He shared with them, citizenship, being one of the people.  

Today, the text of Fr Tony Flannery’s statement at a press conference in Dublin this weekend and a statement from the Redemptorists in Ireland in response to his situation, have been released. Important issues are raised in these documents, above all the care of the voices of those who speak on our behalf as well as within the demands of their own conscience.  

To take the phrase oft-quoted this afternoon by President Obama, we, the people, who are voiceless need their voices to speak on our behalf. They must not be allowed to stand alone, for if they are silenced after so many years of faithful service to their Christian calling, then so too are we. This is not an issue of dissent, but a matter of freedom to speak, to discuss, to be heard and to seek together a way through difficulties.  

What are we frightened of? The words quoted so often by John Paul II  “Do not be afraid” now need, sadly, to be applied to the faithful in respect of circumstances in our own Christian Community. How we got here is one question, how we get ourselves out of this mess is an even greater one.