Sir, – All my friends and relatives who tut-tutted when I left the priesthood in 1977 have since come back to me with a changed attitude. When they express surprise at how I could have foreseen what was to come for priests, sisters and brothers – high on post- Vatican 2 adrenalin then – I reply that it was not foresight. At 43 and in the prime of my life I could not wait around for popes, cardinals and bishops to get their acts together.
At that time I did believe the Catholic Church would eventually get its act together.
Fintan O’Toole (“Vatican loud on liberals but silent on abuse”, Opinion, May 1st) puts his finger on it now for many like me. “All that’s left is a double dose of sadness – for a generation of idealists; for a society in need of moral leadership that is being given just one more, all too familiar dose of the most abject cynicism”.
I walked away years ago from trying to bring change to the Catholic Church, unlike the priests with integrity within the Redemptorists, etc, and the Association of Catholic Priests. I admire their courage, but only from the sidelines.
In the last census form I filled in I gave my religion as humanism. On the front page of the same issue as O’Toole’s column was a simple but grand definition of it: “An ethical philosophy of life based on concern for humanity which combines reason with compassion”. That suits me.
Now on the brink of 78, the journey since my ordination in 1958 has been long, vitalising and perfectly logical.
I think. – Yours, etc,