Sir, – I read with interest Martin Henry’s letter on clerical infighting (August 13th) in which he quotes the Latin proverb “Homo homini lupus, femina feminae lupior, sacerdos sacerdoti lupissimus”. A translation could go like this: “Man behaves like a wolf towards another man, a woman behaves with another woman in a more ferocious way than a man with another man, and a priest behaves with another priest in an even more ferocious way”.
The sad conclusion is that priests can be even more aggressive with one another than they would be either to a woman or lay people.
Why don’t Roman Catholic priests treat one another like decent human beings? Where is the love of Christ and the gospel message of tolerance and forgiveness? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – While many of us in the Catholic Church are seeking reform, and others sincerely promote a strengthening of traditional values and practices, maybe it is time for us to begin a conversation that seeks to find common ground? Jesus Christ never excluded anyone. The objectives of the Association of Catholic Priests are worthy of reflection and discussion at this critical time.
Can we not come together to listen and talk to each other? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The article by Patsy McGarry (Home News, August 6th) on the “unseemly assault ”, by theologian Fr Vincent Twomey, on the membership of the Association of Catholic Priests, almost makes me weep over the future of our church.
Fr Brendan Hoban, responded by stating that among the membership are theologians and liturgists who have shone much more brightly than he, in the theological firmament. No wonder people are leaving the church . Speaking as a lay theologian, the first step they should both take is to look at the words of “Jesus”, in John (Ch 13: V 12-15). Then, after they have washed each other’s feet, perhaps they can reach out to the suicidal, the depressed, the homeless and the other broken and battered people within our great country.Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has stated that in some parishes in Dublin Mass attendance is now down to 2 per cent.
Instead of arguing over changes to the new Roman missal, perhaps the Association of Catholic Priests should address this issue, not just in Dublin, but in churches all over our wonderful country. We have enough “empty preachers of the Word of God in our churches, people who have not heard the Word in their own hearts and therefore cannot share the boundless riches of the divine Word especially in the sacred Liturgy”. Perhaps now is the time to get lay speakers such as Mickey Harte of Tyrone, John Waters, Senator Rónán Mullen and other gifted lay speakers from every parish in Ireland to preach the enduring Word of God at our Masses and measure the response of the faithful. – Yours, etc,