EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT GERARD MOLONEY CSsR
THE SLEEPWALKERS
C
hristopher Clarke's seminal work, The Sleepwalkers, tells how Europe went to war in 1914. The Cambridge history professor demonstrates how the statesmen of that time were "sleepwalkers, blind to the reality of the horror they were about to bring into the world." The preventable catastrophe cost 20 million lives, destroyed three empires, and planted the seeds for an even more destructive war a couple of decades later. Today, as we survey the state of the church in Europe and the western world (and indeed the state of Christianity generally), it can seem as if we are also sleepwalking towards disaster. We are well acquainted with the collapse in religious vocations and church attendance; we know about the greying of the priesthood, the closure of convents and monasteries, the amalgamation of parishes and dioceses, the heavy burdens placed on an exhausted clergy. We have felt the impact of rampant secularisation and a hostile press. We know the trends. Actual statistics spell out just how bleak the situation is in Ireland and many other countries. The average age of diocesan priests is now over 70. Within a decade, few clergy will be under pensionable age. To plug gaps, priests will feel obliged to die with their boots on. The great religious orders of men and women are planning for a soonto-be-realised future where they will have to severely curtail their current ministries and close big houses. Winter is upon us. None of these facts surprise us. The writing has been on the wall for quite a while. And even though we have prayed for vocations, and bishops have encouraged perpetual adoration in an attempt to get God to do something about vocations, it is evident that this strategy has failed. God isn't listening; God has decided that other solutions are required. And still, it has seemed as if those
in leadership haven't been listening but are intent to keep on sleepwalking. Many people will be sceptical, with some justification, that the synodal process currently underway will negotiate a path out of this crisis. They have lost faith in Romeled, men-only synods to achieve anything tangible. Of course, the process is different this time. There is a sincere effort to consult with ordinary church members, to hear from people in the pews. There is an acknowledgement that the crisis will only deepen unless action is taken. But unless there is a willingness to discuss difficult and contentious issues, unless there is real and meaningful lay participation, unless Rome is genuinely prepared to acknowledge the voice of the faithful; unless the church imitates rather than opposes the synodal model currently underway in Germany, for example, then little will change, and the fateful sleepwalk will continue. As I sign off as editor for the last time, I offer my modest proposals for the church I long to see in my lifetime: 1. That the church will remove any structures, laws or traditions which now hinder rather than facilitate its mission to proclaim the Good News. Our world needs to hear the Gospel message as urgently today as at any time in the last 2,000 years. Nothing manmade should stand in the way of this task. 2. That the church will be experienced as truly the People of God. The church teaches that it is made up of all the baptised, but many do not experience this to be the case. They see it instead as an elite club for celibate male clerics, who appear determined to preserve the medieval structures of the institution. 3. That women will be given actual ownership of the church and be enabled to exercise ministry at all levels.
4. That Catholics will have a real say in choosing their leaders at the local and diocesan levels. Bishops should not be foisted on people and priests as a result of some secret Roman manoeuvrings but should emerge out of an open and transparent selection process. 5. That the church at every level will identify with and not be afraid to speak out on behalf of the weakest and most vulnerable in society, as Pope Francis insists. The church must not only be prophetic but be seen to be prophetic. 6. That the LGBTI community, many of whom are alienated from organised religion, will feel welcome in the family of church. 7. That divorced and remarried Catholics, many of whom find themselves in this situation through no fault of their own, will be offered a means to be fully reintegrated into the worshipping community. 8. That the Gospel will be proclaimed and heard as Good News. Too often, in the church's teaching and preaching, people do not hear God's word as good news. They hear it as something that enslaves rather than liberates, as a series of forbidding rules and regulations (especially around sex) rather than as a truly joyful and life-giving message. 9. That priests and religious who have left the ministry will be invited to return to it, if they so wish, thus enriching the church with the wealth of their gifts, talents and experiences. 10. That the 2011 translation of the liturgy will be replaced by one that’s easier to pray, theologically coherent and uses inclusive language.
Gerard Molonry CSsR Acting Editor
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