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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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I buy the print version. I still would prefer the old broadsheet rather than the current glossy but…
In fact, all of Ireland hasn’t fallen. Northern Ireland, six counties out of 32, is still sound, albeit under siege. As I’ve said before, we need to concentrate all our efforts on supporting them, largely evangelical Protestants. Political differences are now immaterial. They are the last Hope of our benighted Island.
That the Sinn Féin (abortion supporters) party’s title means “ourselves alone” is so telling. Yes, the imperial self. They’ve supported murder, dishonesty and criminality for so long that their support for this supreme example of criminality is no surprise anyway.
My grandparents happened to have visited Ireland in the late twenties, and declared themselves very happy that their parents had emigrated to the United States because of the great poverty they found there. And yet, Ireland still had the faith. From the beginning of this Celtic Tiger business, and the overflowing prosperity, I expected the worst. Besides, I had read many years ago that television signals from the States were reaching Ireland. It doomed us, why should it not doom them?
From “Lovely is the Lee” by Robert Gibbings, published by Duttton in 1945 (Gibbings was an Episcopal priest who related his travels through Ireland in this book, together with many fascinating conversations):
“But, sure, we’re the richest people in the world,” said an old woman to me; ‘the priest said that. because, he said, “we have the faith.”
“Twas a great comfort to us when we heard it, indeed, you’d see the tears of joy in the people’s eyes and they goin down the road after Mass.”
Certainly many an Irishman, myself included, has teared up over the latest news that Ireland has become “the poor, the naked and the wretched one,” bereft not only of faith but of common decency, delirious with joy that now they can kill their unborn children. Whatever scandals may have caused the Irish to lose their faith, or given them an excuse for abandoning it finally, surely none of them added up to anything near what the Irish are about to visit on many innocents, for of course while it is wrong to abuse children, ripping them limb from limb on the scale they are about to do, is far, far worse.
O Lord, will you not make Ireland poor again and restore to them the faith of their fathers?
I wonder if Malta will go next?
The Catholic Herald published an article in their comment section a week ago on the subject of the Irish vote which I found both excellent and very sad
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2018/05/29/the-church-must-confront-its-failings-in-ireland/
Basically it pointed out a very unpleasant truth that there was no possible way for the Church to fight back because it was clear that if the Bishops spoke out on this subject, the fence-sitting voters immediately moved in the opposite direction to whatever the Church was saying. Generations are going to pay the price for the Church’s failings in Ireland, and the loss of faith in the Church that has resulted from those failings. Indeed the author – Ed Condon – puts it more strongly than this, referring to “the Church’s scandalous behaviour in Ireland” and saying that “it cannot be ignored that the abuse scandals which rocked the Irish Church, across entire decades, have managed to turn what was once the most Catholic of countries into a place where the Church is routinely invoked as a public bogeyman.”
God have mercy. Just how can a way out be found from this?
The Catholic bishops in Ireland need to be brave and make a stand for the Faith. The law to allow abortion in the Republic of Ireland still needs to pass through the Dail. The bishops should state that any Catholic TD’s who vote to put the legislation through will be excommunicated, to make the people realise that Catholic principles are important and worth fighting for. Their lordships should not at this stage try to be conciliatory with the majority of baptised Catholics who must have voted to allow abortion – they need to be valiant for Christ’s truth, show some leadership and point out to their people the grave error many of them have made.
Ireland has fallen indeed. Absolutely heartbreaking to someone who is Irish and has traveled to the emerald Isle on a couple of occasions. The young provided the decisive vote in the abortion referendum and 90% of them are reportedly educated in diocesan schools. Much of the blame rests on the shoulders of the Irish bishop’s who were silent in the face of evil. Here is a video of the Primate of Ireland who apparently misspoke after the vote. The language sounds familiar to those who lived through the Clinton years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QhqYHdQnkY . May God send us good bishop’s or we will all be lost!
The Herald rocks. I used to get the print subscription but it was a week old sometimes more by the time it got to you in the States. You can purchase the app for your iPhone and it is a lot cheaper. Also, it comes on Thursdays to download. Last but not not least, they are starting a U.S. based version sometime this year!
http://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/11/30/good-news-for-readers-the-catholic-herald-is-launching-in-america/