May 15, 2012                                     Martin Mallon   (Ireland)                          Martin's previous articles

Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church

The meeting in Dublin on May 7, Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church, was a tremendous success with over 1000 people attending when only 200 were expected. Unsurprisingly, no bishops attended; apparently there is no St Athanasius in Ireland , prepared to challenge the hierarchy by calling for the implementation of Vatican II as Athanasius did for the Council of Nicea during the Arian crisis. The Papal Nuncio sent a note wishing the meeting well.  

The event itself was of the Holy Spirit, who filled everyone with hope for the future of the Church. The main thrust from the meeting was to have the teachings of Vatican II implemented. The general consensus was that dialogue was the way forward, starting with families, prayer groups, the Parish, the Diocese and then on the national level.  

One speaker, Fr Tony Butler, quoted St Augustine on hope; that: “hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.” This comment incorporated the hope tangibly generated by the meeting.  

Another speaker mentioned that the church cannot preach human rights effectively if it does not practice what it preaches, referring to the priests being silenced in secret with no right of appeal. Secrecy is an issue that the Church must examine again together with mental reservation as neither of these has a place in the community envisaged by Vatican II.  

My 74 year old father-in-law accompanied me to the meeting as he has been disturbed by recent developments in the Irish Church. He, and many of his generation, have been given hope by this meeting.  

The main impact of the Monday 7 meeting could be the fact of the event itself. This could impact on a number of levels:  

1)      The meeting showed that the people of God have a desire to organise and meet together to register protest at Vatican action or inaction, to instigate further action and to effectively be the people of God.  

2)      Churches, the people of God, in other countries, such as Austria and the USA , can see what can be done.  

3)      The event was broadcast on the National TV news that evening and reported in the national newspapers the following day. This is the “new evangelisation” in action; a witness that the Church is alive, well and not redundant.  

4)      The bishops, Papal Nuncio and Vatican cannot but be affected by such events.  

This was a new development in modern Church history. The people of God, with the Holy Spirit speaking through them, meeting together to call on the hierarchy to fully implement the Holy Spirit inspired and directed Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.        

In the editorial of the Irish Catholic of 10 May, Garry O’Sullivan summed up well when he wrote that the 7 May meeting made it clear: “that there is a piercing need in the Catholic Church in Ireland to create a space for dialogue: a space where everyone can express their hopes and anxieties about the future of the Faith.”  

O’Sullivan added that: “No one should be frightened by a plea for a space for dialogue. Such a place does not imply that everything is up for grabs or that essentials of the Faith may be set aside.” It does imply: “that there can be space to listen together to the Word of God and discern what the voice of the Holy Spirit is saying to the men and women…in this present generation.”  

He points out that Tertullian noted how non-Christians marvelled at Christ’s first followers on observing: “See how the Christians love one another.” We must practice this as we attempt to implement Vatican II, or the whole endeavour is meaningless.

More needs to be done. The Association of Catholic Priests, who called the 7 May meeting, must continue to unite with the non-ordained faithful to ensure structural change happens. It is essential that these two sections of the people of God work together for future change in the Irish Church .