JIM BRUCE,
Sir, - I read Frank O'Meara's letter about how the Catholic Church has changed (July 22nd) with a sense of fond recollection for the religion of my childhood. He rightly highlights the great reverence that used to surround the sacred rites of the Church. Sadly, all traces of the mystical have been ditched by the modern Church as it tries desperately to be seen as "relevant" to the needs of its increasingly sceptical members.
Where I part company with Mr O'Meara's analysis is when he suggests that the problems of the present-day Catholic Church are somehow due to the growth of feminism. Yes, it is true that feminism, when it tries to foist on society a pseudo-equality between men and women, simply replaces one problem with another. In the world of pseudo-equality, women should colonise male roles and institutions, rather than create brand new ones that reflect feminine values. However, insofar as feminism has raised awareness of the appalling manner in which women have been treated down through the centuries in a male-designed and dominated world, it has performed a great service for us all.
In this country, the place of women has been determined until relatively recently by the attitudes and behaviour of the Catholic Church. Married women were encouraged, sometimes by way of threats in the confessional, to bear as many children as possible, irrespective of the long-term consequences for their mental and physical health. A single pregnant woman faced the prospect of the notorious Magdalen laundries, and would certainly not be allowed to keep her child and raise it herself, even if she had the means to do so. Women married to drunks, or whose husbands beat them, had no redress but to suffer in silence and accept everything as God's will. If feminism has been instrumental in ending these evils, it is to be applauded, despite its own excesses.
No, the fact that the Catholic Church is in such obvious difficulties today has nothing to do with feminism. As with any organisation in trouble, the causes are pretty straightforward: poor leadership and a lack of clear goals. For instance, what is the purpose of the Catholic Church? To eradicate poverty? To stop women having abortions? To perpetuate its own existence? Or could it still have anything to do with leading its members to God?
It may seem a strange thing to say but, in a sense, the Catholic Church has lost its soul. Instead of being a source of spiritual leadership itself, it has become directionless. And, oddly, it seems hell-bent on avoiding any recourse to the One Person Who could save it. What would Jesus make of the Church today? - Yours, etc.,
JIM BRUCE, Beechfield Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.