Gay abortion and wedding, Pope Francis goes to a Catholic Ireland very different from the past

Article by Giovanni Panettiere published on the newspaper.net website on 22 August 2018

Forty years later John Paul II a Pope returns to set foot in Ireland. On Saturday it will be the turn of Francesco, engaged in the final two days of the world championship of families. From Wojtyla to Bergoglio, in these decades, on the one hand, the pastoral care of the Church has changed, today more attentive to the distant, by the faith as by the doctrine, on the other, the social fabric of the island of Smerald has profoundly changed. Result, Rome and Dublin have never been so distant.

In the tour of the last three years, thanks to the progressive secularization and above all the repercussions of the pedophilia scandal in the clergy, Ireland has definitively shaken up the image, stereotyped but reassuring for the Holy See, of European Roccaforte of the more traditional Catholicism. First the referendum, which gave the green light to homosexual marriages (inadmissible for the magisterium), then, last May, the popular consultation in favor of the decriminalization of abortion (crime punished with automatic excommunication from canonical law) sanctioned a divorce in the air at least since the beginning of the new millennium.
Since that is, the bubbone of sexual abuse on minors in the Irish clergy that saw the commissioner of seminars, religious congregations and diocese by the Vatican, as well as the resignation, from 2006 to 2016, of half of the bishops of the island, guilty of having missed the dossiers on violence, has broken out. Among these also Monsignor John Magee of Cloyne, at the time particular secretary of three popes, in the order Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.

Practically zeroed in its leaders, at first the church of San Patrizio, hit in pride, has not managed to trigger reaction other than the defensive. Accusations judged exaggerated, attacks on scoops of scoop. In doing so, the ecclesial institution ended up widening the moat with a society in the shock in front of the wardrobe, first ajar and then wide open, of the horrors perpetrated by the men and women of God. Letter to the Catholics of Ireland', written by Benedict XVI in 2010, to start tiringly to turn the page, becoming aware of the abuses accomplished and placing their triggering factors (Ratzinger pointed his finger at the inadequate procedures in the choice of candidates for the priesthood, the poor human formation of clerics, the tendency in society to favor the clergy and a worry "out of place"For the good name of the Church).

Today the path of conversion is underway. Despite some very influential resistance bags, the Catholic community is also trying to collect the challenges of modernity involving the new generations in particular.
The restart of the Church in Ireland passes mainly from women, who, harassing and marginalized in the traditional imagination of the island, primarily within the home, are increasingly gaining important positions in pastoral structures. This is the case of Noirin Linch, head of the Central Office for Catechesis, or by Paula McKoown, director of the Living Church of Belfast, a body created by the diocese of Down to relaunch the paths of faith, in particular those for children.
In Limerick, however, in 2016 the diocesan Synod ended, the first in the country for half a century and for seventy years in the diocese. Strongly desired by Bishop Brendan Leahy, the event was a historical opportunity to renew the journey of faith, focusing on listening and active participation of laity.

In this evolving ecclesial context on Saturday, Pope Francis will land in Dublin, called to present, for the first time in an international meeting, the cornerstones of his apostolic exhortation on the family. As is known, 'Amoris laetitia', published two years ago at the end of a double Synod of the bishops, he combines truth and mercy, the beauty and joy of marriage with the reception towards those who live emotional situations paid in a past not too remote as' irregular' in parishes as in official documents. It is no longer time of walls, the 'Cine Hospital' church, according to the auspices of Bergoglio, needs bridges to meet men as they are (not as they should or could be) and announce the conversation gospel to them.

The pastoral emergencies were clearly universal, the meetings organizers put themselves in the wake of Pope Francis between accelerations and braking that aroused some embarrassment."At the world meeting everyone is welcome", even homosexual couples. To say it, a few weeks ago during the press conference to present the event, was the Archbishop of Dublin, Monsignor Diarmuid Martin, taking on the responsibility, as the contact person of the appointment, of the removal from the flyers of photos that portrayed partners of the same sex.
Even a video of the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, Monsignor David O'Connell, would have been changed to exclude his statement that all families would have been welcome to the meeting, including the rainbow ones. To the question of journalists if he was responsible for the two 'corrections'In the course of work, Martin replied: "I don't think I'm. But, having happened in the World Meeting of Families, I take responsibility as responsible for the event, and, if you make mistakes, I take responsibility for it".

Not new to gay friendly externalizations (in the aftermath of the referendum victory of the yes to the homosexual wedding said: "I supported the cause of the No, without giving voting indications, but I am happy to the delight of gays and lesbians, the result will bring improvements in their lives. A social revolution in Ireland is underway, the Church must confront reality"), the Archbishop of Dublin has invited Llreist At the meeting the Jesuit Father James Martin. Not a random name, but rather the religious who is spending himself most in the dialogue between the ecclesial institutions and the LGBT galaxy. For the first time, so to the world meeting of families, an appointment wanted 30 years ago by Pope John Paul II on a three -year basis, the knot of pastoral, lesbians, bisexuals and trans will also face. A further signal of the effort of the Irish Church to re -establish the threads of dialogue with a society that, with all its contradictions, perhaps more than the others in Europe is offering the people of God the opportunity to question themselves and its doctrine, in itself not static but in evolution.

However, that the road to regain credibility and respect is still uphill for the church of San Patrizio a couple of data, unthinkable up to thirty years ago: on the one hand, the drop in the vocations remains frightening, with just 25 seminarians throughout the island, on the other, the closure after 850 years of the Seminary of Belfast, a symbolic city of a conflict in which the confessional data (Catholics/Protestants) has worked as petrol on the fire of a patriotic and class violence in itself. Furthermore, the efforts to leave do not convince anything but secondary figures in the country. First of all the Catholic Mary McAese, President of the Republic of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. "The Church is the last fortress of Misoginia", The feminist lawyer does not tire of repeating, on the front line on the civil rights front, which lastly rejected the baptism for children (“It's a coercion").

As if that were not enough, in recent days the endless scandal of pedophilia in the clergy has been having serious repercussions on the worldwide meeting of families. Due to the recent report on thousands of abuses in Pennsylvania (over 300 priests in the last 70 years), two US cardinals have decided to give a flat rate. This is the Archbishop of Washington, Donald Wuerl, on which suspicions of cover -up, and Sean O'Malley, Professor of Boston and above all president of the Pontifical Commission for the protection of minors hang. The latter, among the paladins of the fight against pedophilia, has chosen to remain in his diocese to follow the investigation open to the ST John seminary up close to inappropriate behaviors of different seminarians.

On the basis of the Pennsylvania dossier a few days ago Pope Francis himself played the mea culpa with the publication of the 'Letter to the people of God'. An unprecedented document, because for the first time, demonstrating the seriousness of the situation, a pontiff writes to all the faithful scattered around the world. Many are asking in these hours in Bergoglio to face the theme of pedophilia in the clergy even during his visit to Dublin where he should meet some victims of abuse in private. After all, the island of Smeraldo, together with the United States, was the country most affected by the plague of pedophilia.

Among the first to ask for an intervention in this regard is the Archbishop of Dublin. "My hope is that Pope Francis - said Martin - Want to challenge the Church in Ireland to be different. He must speak frankly of our past, but also of our future. We need a church that inspires confidence"