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Bishop of Cork and Ross says foreign priests will save Irish church

Polish priests already serving parishes in Cork diocese

ANTOINETTE KELLY,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Thursday, August 30, 2012, 7:37 AM

Updated Thursday, August 30, 2012, 7:37 AM

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Bishop John Buckley

Photo by Corkcathedral.ie

Foreign priests will save the Catholic Church in Ireland with the help of the laity, according to the Bishop of Cork and Ross.

Bishop John Buckley told the Irish Examiner that Polish priests are currently making a big difference in his diocese and will have a major role to play in the future.

He said that the increasing number of foreign priests will ensure that Irish Catholics will be able to attend a full Mass in 15 or 20 years time.

The paper says the Bishop made his remarks after reports emerged that proposals outlining how lay people could hold Communion services are being circulated amongst bishops ahead of an October gathering.

The report says that the plans are a direct response to the ageing of priests and the vocations crisis.
Bishop Buckley said, “There was a trend in the past that other countries came to Ireland looking for priests for the Far East, South America and Africa.

“A shortage of priests will be of concern in the years ahead but at the moment we have developed pastoral areas and parish councils which mean that parishes are working together to ensure that there is a priest for Mass when the local priest is on holidays, etc.”

The diocese of Cork and Ross currently has three Polish priests and an Indian priest serving parishes.
Speaking to the paper, Polish priest Fr Kazimierz Nawalaniec - or Fr Kaz as he is known - said he ‘feels great’ ministering in the Church of the Assumption in Ballyphehane.

He said, “The people in Ballyphehane are very good to me and I am very busy with my work. I would say they have embraced me and for any other priests looking to come to Ireland I would say that you will be very busy, having more than enough to occupy your time.

“If the Catholic hierarchy is serious about encouraging more foreign priests to move here, they should establish some kind of formation or training course to help priests understand Irish culture.”

Nster.com

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seanomelb | Aug 31, 2012, 08:28 PM EDT

To be fair woundedknee you may be correct as 'Taid" may be the modern Irish form of taimid. I was schooled in Gaelic but with the passing years and lack of practice I cannot be sure.E.G ta me = taim. BTW I was schooled in Dublin.

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Seanmor | Aug 31, 2012, 08:16 PM EDT

WoundedKnee: More info about Irish verbs, which may be analytic or synthetic, Example of the synthetic forms are "Táir(2nd person singular) and táid" (3rd person plural). The analytic forms of these verbs are "Tá tú and "tá siad". Both forms have the same translations, but the synthetic form is an neater package, and is more widely used in Kerry than in other Gaeltach areas. Go raibh maith agat to WoundedKnee for opening such an interesting question and to Irish Central for providing a platform for discussing it. Go maire an Ghaeilge go hearr aimsire. (May the Irish language live until the end of time).

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Seanmor | Aug 31, 2012, 06:33 PM EDT

WK: your give a very good answer to seano's question. As far as I know, he forms "táir" (you are -singular) and táid (plural) were very much in use in the Kerry Gaeltach up to the middle of the last century(if not still) and there were similar forms for all the other tenses. By the mid-60s such forms seemed to be discouraged and abondoned by An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (Official Standanrd). For example, in the habitual past tense ("used to"), there was a simply word "thagaimis" (we used to come). Another way of saying this expression is "thagadh muid" (we used to come)also uses an economy of words. I'm not trying to give the impression that I'm very familiar with all the nuances of Irish grammar because I'm NOT, but I'm impressed and encouraged with you knowledge of that beautiful language that was spoken for many centuries throughout the whole Irish nation. Go maire an Ghaeilge go deo.(May the Irish language live forevber).

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McNamara31 | Aug 31, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT

New leadership with moral integrity will bring new priests.

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WoundedKnee | Aug 31, 2012, 11:55 AM EDT

seanomelb: You have asked me a question so I will answer it to the best of my ability. I have always used Tá an ceart agat to mean "You are right". This is definitely standard Irish, and it parallels a similar structure in other Western European languages. French has "Vous avez raison" and Spanish has "Usted tiene razón". All three of them mean something like "You have right/reason)". As to the form you suggest, it seems to be from Munster or Kerry Irish. In Kerry Irish, and it's not a form I claim much familiarity with, "you are" is "táir". What you suggested, táid, would be plural "they are". So if you want to say You are right, it would need to be "táir ceart". But I would defer to someone else as to whether that actually is correct in Munster Irish.

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esatdigiwank | Aug 31, 2012, 06:46 AM EDT

Easy to tell from Bishop Buckley's profile picture that he could do with a woman in his life. No Polish priest will track me down, try to rein me back into , what do you call it:- the Flock ha ha.

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cillowen | Aug 31, 2012, 12:16 AM EDT

Another St Patrick's like missionary will come to convert the atheistic Irish - all is not lost. Africa, Far Eastern countries I'd say are primed to do g-d's work.

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seanomelb | Aug 30, 2012, 09:35 PM EDT

Missionaries landing in Ireland!! Will they have blankets and coloured beads to bribe the populace or a letter from the boss apologizing for screwing the Irish in their fist mission many moons ago. Women priests are the answer to the RCC woe's. Wounded knee I may be wrong ,should your Irish phrase read "Seanmor taid cheart" I know it's useless asking ciaradexy as her disdain for Gaelic is well recorded.

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Seanmor | Aug 30, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT

WoundedKnee: Is has for long been my experience to find opposition to an Ghaeilge by R.C. clergy on this side of the pond. From 1984 to 1991, I often attened Irish language classes at a Presbyterian church hall in N.Y.C. - after the pastor of the local R.C. church REFUSED to rent us space. At my wedding in a METHODIST church in the Western Catskills, Irish prayers and poems were recided. At East Durham in the mid-80s our organization was DENIED permiission by the Bishop of Albany to have an Irish mass said. Twice within the past 5 years, I was invited to say a prayer or do a readingin Irish at my wife's Methodist church, where we were married. I wish we had more Cardinals like Tomás Ó Fiaich. Is mór an meas a bhi aige ar an nGaeilge.

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ciaradexy | Aug 30, 2012, 04:58 PM EDT

Seanmor, Irish is not spoken by the majority and hasnt been since before the famine. Move on like the rest of us. Its only Polish people attending mass here these days and every mass in the gaeltacht is said in Irish.

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glengesh | Aug 30, 2012, 03:45 PM EDT

The Roman Church has always been essentially anti Irish, its loyalty is with Rome. Any dissent or seperatist tendencies have been heavily routed out of the country. I welcome married priests and above all women priests. The present crowd with their amoral leader Brady are the Gaulites of Rome.

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WoundedKnee | Aug 30, 2012, 02:47 PM EDT

seanmor: Ta an ceart agat. I have spent hours in Dublin on a Sunday morning trying to find a church where I could attend mass in Irish. Much more likely to find Mass in Yoruba or Tagalog. With a few noble exceptions--the lexicographer Fr Dineen for example--the Catholic Church in Ireland has always hated the Irish language.

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WoundedKnee | Aug 30, 2012, 02:44 PM EDT

The catholic Church "should establish some kind of formation or training course to help priests understand Irish culture". Not likely. The Catholic Church in Ireland has never supported Irish nationality or culture. They even sent English-speaking priests to minister in Irish-speaking areas.

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Seanmor | Aug 30, 2012, 02:30 PM EDT

No doubt Polish priests can better relate to Polish immigrants in Ireland than can Irish priests. For one thing, Irish prelates gladly permit the use of Polish when ministering to Polish immigrants. But most high rhanking Irish clergy fiercely oppoes the use of an Gaeilge, even in the Gaeltach areas.

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pilib04 | Aug 30, 2012, 01:57 PM EDT

Paul, I agree with your sentiments about women priests. They already exist in the U.S., although the Vatican has ordered them not to practice as priests. Fact is, by Canon Law, they are priests, nonetheless. There are quite a few things that the Vatican has ordered down through the ages that the faithful have ignored and/or disagreed with. Certainly the faithful were against the heretic burnings, the shenanigans of the Vatican Bank, Fascist and Nazi collaboration, protection of child rapists-priests, "giving" Ireland to England, ordination and promotion for cash, to name a few. Be sure to look up the women priests. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith issued a blanket excommunication for all ordained women priests and the bishops who ordained them (Latae Sententiae). Our women priests have a valid apostolic succession with the Roman Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. Our women priests also serve the faithful in Scotland, Germany, France, Austria, Majorca, Mexico, South American Catacombs, and Canada. I do not know of women priests located in Ireland but there are certainly a number of them with Irish surnames.

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