The "institutional" faith maybe but not the true faith in the hearts of serious Catholics like yourself and so many here. I think growing up in such a complete atmosphere of a totally Catholic country must have been pure heaven in the old days. In the US it was not like that. We were outsiders and somewhat suspect. We have this apostasy here but it was always here in a way so not as shocking. But I believe there are many many true hearts in Ireland in spite of the Church leadership.
I agree with your assessment, AED. The Church which God founded will prevail, despite all odds. I also agree with Catholics being considered outsiders and being somewhat suspect in the USA. Remember when JFK was running for President? That was unheard of.
We have been betrayed my friend, by the ministers of the church. The leadership in particular. And think of LA Salette, think of the warnings then. Those warnings are happening now,, as we speak.. And then think of what Mirjana Solo said in her book. "I wish I could divulge more about what will happen in the future, but I can say one thing about how the priesthood relates to the secrets. We have this time we are living in now, and we have the time of the triumph of Our Lady's heart. Between these two times we have a bridge, and that bridge is our priests. Our Lady continually asks us to pray for our shepherds, as she calls them, because the bridge needs to be strong enough for all of us to cross it". In her message of 10-2-2010 she said, " Only alongside your shepherds will my heart triumph. Many in the priesthood are in heresy, mortal sin, or have lost faith. However, we need them for what is to come. And they need our prayers more than ever. Let us do our very best to pray for them even when the thought comes to mind to condemn. Let us do our very best with the help of the Most Blessed Mother of God to give our frustration and anger to Our Lord who is already most offended. Offer it up best we can for those in the priesthood. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, please be merciful to me a sinner.
Yes! Thank you for this beautiful post. We MUST get on our knees for our priests and bishops. Today I had to watch about 2 hours of baptism classes on video to be a godparent to my nephew and niece (we have to go through classes again every 3 years, so I have attended a great many as I'm basically the only faithfully practicing Catholic in a valid marriage in my family. I'm the godparents of all of my nieces and nephews, which makes me very happy and honored!) Anyway, something that really stuck out to me was not only how layperson-led the whole thing was, but how toward the end, in some kind of attempt at getting people on fire with the Faith again, they said "Now is the time for lay people!" Like basically, it's our time. WE are the priests, prophets and kings, and WE are the ones who need to bring the Faith to the world, etc, etc. Which, yes, that's true...but... We can't just leave our priests behind and get all excited about how we lay people are going to do everything now. Didn't we try that already in the 60's? We can see the fruits of that... Puffed up lay people running our churches is not bearing good fruit. God gave the Church a hierarchy for a reason. We will flourish when the Faith is truly restored to our leaders. But for the Faith to be restored to our leaders, we must pray and sacrifice for them. So yes, it IS the time of the lay people, but it's our time to storm Heaven for the souls of our priests. We need them, badly.
I did see a video of the priest in charge in Knock a few years ago. I won't be uncharitable and perhaps I am mistaken but it disquieted me.
A lot of these bishops are more concerned in climbing the latter getting to the top. career bishops, its like how Ireland has gone, must be director of a company must get to the top.
And yet there is a revival going on there too. Didn't this book come out of a monastery in Ireland? Even if we can't see it, Christ and Our Mother are working on souls, we need to help them through prayer and penance. Perhaps people could leave copies of this book in pews of Churches in Ireland?
I’m sorry I read your whole post but my mind stopped at “classes for godparents” Classes for Godparents? 2 hour class for being a Godparent? Wow This would have been helpful to have. I think I did a terrible job with my Godchildren and wish now I could go back in time and redo everything. Did your church offer it? This would be a great idea to do to assist providing Catholic guidance esp these days when families are at a distances and not to be thought as too eccentric or old fashioned.
I find this a particularly moving thread. My dad's side of the family were from Ireland, generations back. And i have Irish friends from seminary, some who go to Maynooth this September. So, to see that piece by the Archbishop saddens me, yet it doesn't surprise me. He's typical of a generation of prelates who delight in declaring the demise of the church and, i suspect, they're totally fine about it; because these apparent crises in the church give them an excuse to justify their reforms and changes - reforms and changes that are solely motivated by their own personal biases, proclivities and political agendas. It's been like this for decades, with the church hierarchy exhibiting an attitude of almost embarrassment about their catholicity. A hierarchy that yearns for compromise with a fallen world that despises it so that, ultimately, these prelates will be overlords in a compromised and rotting edifice that demands nothing of them, does not expect them to be accountable to either the faithful or God Himself, and preaches that God is no longer offended by the sins of man. They have capitulated to modernity for decades now, under this bizarre pretext that they can mould Christ's church into their own image, an image where they are the centre - not Our Lord. And as for this notion these prelates have had that the church has to change to bring more people to Christ - well, tell me: how's that been going for the past fifty years? Admittedly, things look bleak for the church in Ireland, as they do for the church throughout the world. Unquestionably, these are very significant times we find ourselves in. But it's not over for the church in Ireland by a long shot. The church hierarchy need to be reminded that the people of God deserve shepherds who will keep us from straying from the path Our Lord laid out for us. If they don't, then be critical. I'm in the UK and have emailed our head honcho, Cardinal Nichols when i've had something to say. Granted, i'm not going to advise anyone on here to tell a Cardinal in the Catholic church to 'man up and grow a pair.' But we do need to speak forcefully to these prelates and remind them of their mission. Reach out to this Archbishop. That's my advice, and you're well within your rights to do so. I'll be firing off to him and giving it to him, make no mistake, even though he's not my Archbishop. I have no problem with that. After all, we have an obligation to admonish the sinner. That doesn't exclude Archbishops who appear to be putting the world before Our Lord, does it? Apologies for the lengthy post but that's my humble two cents.
Coca Cola PLC with a Cross on top. I see the Archbishop went to some trouble to point out that they are up the Financial Creek without a paddle. Err maybe closing all the Churches for a huge period time out of fear and thus stopping the collection plates might have played a part? Expect now massive close down of Parishes etc. No mention at all of the Archbishop taking any personal responsibility for any of this. This was all something...that just happened...nothing to do with himself. Hello? Hello Archbishop? Anyone out there?
I'm mostly Irish by blood my brother took a blood test where about 64% to 74% Irish by blood. It saddens me most of my grandparents who were Irish held on to the faith. My grandfather use to drive his cousins who were nuns to BC to study. What a shame. I think they were praying for me all those nuns. Mostly from Tipperary and Kilkenny.
the faith hasnt vanished !!! im still here !!!! we are just a little bit quiet for now.... PRAY HOPE AND DONT WORRY ..
The class is for both the parents and godparents. It mostly teaches what baptism is. I'd say the part specific to what you should do as godparents took up about 5 minutes towards the end... Mostly it was "pray for your godchild" but also occasionally send them a bible or remind them to pray and go to church. Yes, my church (childhood parish) requires these classes, as do every other novus ordo parish I know of, because Catholics at large know very little about their faith, and a lot of people who otherwise never step foot in a church do show up to baptize their child out of tradition. The class is a hope the Church can inspire these people to come back to regular Mass attendance and actually raise their child in the Faith.
