Friday, December 18, 2009

CATHOLIC CHURCH- STATE RELATIONSHIP ON PRESPICE OF CHANGE

Introduction;

The Catholic church in Ireland has been indicted for its complicity in its collusion in non disclosure of material which was sought by a State appointed commission to investigate the degree of this non cooperation.
The State sought documents from the Vatican pertaining to the extent and type of child abuse perpetrated by priests. The violation of children has been utterly depraved .
The Murphy Commission requested documents from the Vatican in order to determine the degree of the non -disclosure of documents by bishops to the commission. The Vatican did not acknowledge the requests . The defence of the Vatican has been that the Commisssion did not go through the proper diplomatic channells . It maintained that it should be treated as a state and as such documents the orthodox channels should have been used .
The Catholic Church has enjoyed a special position in Irish political life . It had at one time been afforded a ''special position ''under the Irish constitution.
One Bishop has resigned , Bishop Murray of Limerick.
5 other Bishops stand indicted in the public conscience for the same offense which Murray was guilty of ie refusal to cooperate and disclose to the police the names and identity of the offfending priests . Their depraved sexual abuse of children has been tryly shocking.

One priest has been hauled from the courts this week in shackles , to prison for life . There are others who must follow.
But here I address the reason why the bishop in my own diocese must resign.


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Should Bishop Drennan of Galway resign or Must he be retired


In a word yes . Immediately.
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly .
Should Dr Drennan wish to wallow in the self satisfying delusion that he is better serving his congregation by staying he should look at today 18 Dec .2009 poll on the Galway Bay FM Radio web page . 77 % wish him to go.; 23% wish him to stay.
Despite this Dr Drennan has spoken this morning about the many calls from well wishers and those pleading with him to remain. This is curious perspective in the light of this poll.
But perhaps more well wishers ring the palace than those silent majority who were hoping at least until this afternoon that he might have chosen to act honorably and go gracefully .
They will have been disappointed that he has not done so . Many will startled by the bishop's trenchant obduracy, most especially now that he has attacked Diarmuid Martin , whom Drennan believes has disparaged him.

Dr Drennan does not have a user friendly personna . He comes across as cantankerous , curmudgeonly misanthrope .He has little charm or warmth about him. He exudes a lofty haughter ; an aloofness which not simply alienates - it is hectoring and scarcely what he sees an an outrageous chalange to his authority And he has been less that magnanimous in his own defence .
He has offered no solace ; no comfort; no piety , repentance or contrition.
He is ruthlessly doctrinaire ; a fundamentalist who has manifestly lost the drift of the message of his founder , the gentle Nazarine carpenter .

The common denominator running through the defence of the remaining bishops is the one famously used by Bart Simpson
'' I didn't do it . Anyway no one saw me ( me do it)''

The absence of a single genuine utterance of true remorse is deeply upsetting to the congregations. The remorse they do express seems sadly to focus more on for themselves
In seeking forgiveness they are only asking the remaining faithful to secure for them their tenure in the comfort of their palaces. - '' I have only a few years to go ...'' - an utterly asinine excuse .'' .and ''.if I thought that I would better serve their interests by going I would .go instantly.''
And this disguised platitudinous self centered pity plays to the most fervent and pious of their congregations , most particularly the elderly , who have invested a lifetime in their sincere personal faith in their pastoral carers , and who are loath to accept failings in men they believe are conduits to their God.

These utterings now , especially Dr Drennan's are an unworthy display or hubris . They are worse ; they are an affirmation that their lust for power eclipses all else .

This seems to be a well rehearsed strategy. Deny , remain obdurate ,obfuscate denunciate the vileness perpetrated on the children - but then back off.- NOT ME .
I was not involved .I knew nothing. They have nothing on me.
If the Church through its religious and secular representative , the Papal Nuncio ,is not now called in by the Minister for Foreign Affair to account for the bishops betrayal and abandonment of the common law , this would be an indictment of Minister Martin in his capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs .
If through the Byzantine channels of communication , which the Vatican has sought to use in order to thwart further the legal process the Pope through his own diplomatic channels fails to respond , and his servants ( employees) fail to cooperate with Stait Eireann in providing to the legal custodians of this state , every document which is relevant to the systematic abuse of children- not just those documents which are specifically known to exist - but those documents which are pertinent , Germain , relevant ( as these terms are used in common parlance in the English Language and without availing of the absurdity and demeaning defence of '' mental reservation'' - to the entire case then relationships with the Vatican must change utterly and formally so. The Vatican in these circumstances would have to be regarded as a hostile state .

Ultimately people will have to face the courts for the criminality which the church engaged in in concealing by collusion the evidence which they held and withheld from an Gardai , for that is what the Murphy Commission was all about ; the church's failure to cooperate with the state's own investigating authority .
This is not an exercise in revenge . It is rather more what a '' confident and mature Independent secular state should insist in doing with errant and aberrant members of its citizen ; who if convicted are common criminals.- (but not ODC's)
To haul the convicted elderly men away from the courts in shackles , which seemed to be the case last week - that seemed wrathful and an unnecessary display of bravado , which only serves to confer martyrdom status on them ,when they should be simply reviled and put away.
This is the mature execution of punishment for crime .
Old Testament Justice is not required here ; the laws of Aquinas will suffice.
Cannon Law has been made redundant the very instant that the Vatican insisted on the ruse of obfuscation insisting on the use of diplomatic channels in engaging with an investigating authority commissioned by this State .

''Roma Loquitor , Causa Fineta ''- This no longer applies since the Vatican have elected to be treated as a State rather than a religion .

''Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's ''-
That is the road the Vatican have chosen to go .

And as for Drennan - He must listen to the voice of the people . It is not difficult to hear the silence of the angry rumble ; and if he is still in doubt he could have a look at the Galway Bay FM Web page .
The voice of 77 % of the people should surely warrant his attention and should assist him focus in this , his time of '' reflection''















































1 comment:

Recorder said...

http://catholicheritage.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-were-different.html

We participate in the sin of another: by counsel; by command; by consent; by provocation; by praise or flattery; by concealment; by partaking; by silence; by defense of the ill done.