47 Comments

• Jerry Kelly | Oct 09, 2012, 04:22 PM EDT

  Más maith leis Caitleachas fíréanta, ba chóir dúinn dul ar ais go dtí an 6ú haois le sagairt agus mná rialta pósta más maith leo agus ban-easpaig mar Bhrighid taobh ar thaobh le fear-easpaig. Bhí eaglais iontach againn sna laethanta sin, ag fás agus ag obair ar son na ndaoine. /// If he wants 'authentic Catholicism', we should go back to the 6th century with priests and nuns married if they want and female bishops like Brighid side by side with male bishops. We had a wonderful church in those days, growing and working for the good of the people.

• Seanmor | Aug 29, 2012, 07:18 PM EDT

  jack112229: In your comment you use the term "Christ=like" in your first and last sentences -withour defining the term. I'm reminded of the navy chaplains saying the "Lord's Prayer" at 'lights out' every night while on a cruise of the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet in the early '60s. Since it was Jesus Chrish who composed that prayer, do you consider these military chaplains Christ-like for having said it on a daily bases, or were they lacking political correctness by serving in our nation's defense forces?

• casualMBA | Aug 29, 2012, 03:58 PM EDT

  Granted, the "little details" are not known by all (Golitsyn apparently had an insight on the transitions of political systems - and the preference of domestic societies - and their past corrections) and the resultant insight (Golitsyn, the little details of the past, or otherwise) can not be brought to the exchange of ideas (or lives and fortunes)without the experience of those pardonable little details. The Communists long range plan notwithstanding - whatever it is - "authentic" American Catholicism has winked at the little detail of Birth Control for decades. And, on the matter, of future corrections - Dubceks and Romanias aside - who owns this issue? A/B Brown feels (as many) "authentic" is important. Pardon me for asking, but would it be a "big" admission, in the spirit of "authenticity" (on the part of the hierarchy, the clerical, the academics,the political leadership, the laity), to acknowledge it?

• casualMBA | Aug 29, 2012, 01:28 PM EDT

  Dean, checklist clairvoyance can be attributed each week, after Fantasy Football results are tallied. This is not to say Russia is not a World Power, and the Russian Church is a concern for the Vatican, in its new search for "authentic" Catholicism somewhere - Russia, Africa, the sub-continent - but certainly not in Birth Control America, or the confiscated lands of the Fitzgeralds. Catholic families of "authentic" faith are all over America, but my point is the demographics of American society and the Church's conservative intransigence, is against them in the long haul. No one quarrels with "authentic" Catholic, Christian, faith. An "authentic" Catholic Church, as an institution, is another thing. If the Red Star on once Soviet weapons systems is a concern of symbolic collusion (beyond coalitions and fragmentation in the distribution and consolidation of power,) then I suggest you attend the "Small Navies" Conference, to be held in Maynooth in October, and solicit the opinions of European naval academics, naval and other service officers in attendance. The Shannon, and the Blackwater, and the Lee, and, yes, the Boyne, like all rivers, flow to the sea.

• casualMBA | Aug 29, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT

  Dean, take a chill pill, and, for a good read on the perils of facile interpretation, try Seamus Deane's "Reading in the Dark."

• eiriamach | Aug 28, 2012, 11:15 AM EDT

  DeanJackson, it's time to put a lid on your conspiracy theories and deal with the real issues at hand, such as those raised by the papal nuncio's comments. You've "clued us in" only to your fanatical, fearful retreat from the problems of clerical molestation of children, church interference in the laws of the state, and abuses of ecclesiastical power. Ireland will continue a nation of throw-away children and oppressed women as long as men like you continue to run away from, and distract discussion away from, the personal responsibility of priests and bishops for obstructing justice and suppressing human rights. You're trying to resurrect the ghost of Senator Joe McCarthy to find a scapegoat for the problem. It won't wash; the problems are not of "foreign" origin. They are as Catholic as any pope! No, it isn't communists conspiring against the Church; yes, it is pedophiles in the ranks of clergy, along with their justice-obstructing protectors. Try to break free from your conspiracy fantasies and confront facts instead.

• casualMBA | Aug 28, 2012, 12:56 AM EDT

  jacersagain, great affirmation, yet I would suggest Christ was not expressing His commitment to the institutional bureaucracy His Church has become (due,to some extent,to the success of the apostolic sharing of the gospel) as much as His presence as expressed in "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.(Matthew,18:20, in both King James and The American Standard)...The Catholic Church in America has already, regrettable though it is, imploded. It imploded with "Humanae Vitae" and, if you doubt it, count the feet of the faithful and religious who have voted with them since. This was long before we became a global village. Yes, there is a hard core, conforming faithful, but many, many, have found it necessary to seek their own reconciliation with the gospel outside the Church, or exist on its margins, since it prides itself on its intransigence. In a consolidation in a stronger Church you see a different future than I would see. Not all pessimism though. Perhaps, in the genuine Spirit of Vatican II, the future will prove a resurgence of worship where "...two or three gather in (His)name..."

• jacersagain | Aug 27, 2012, 06:52 PM EDT

  cas-MBA, firstly I think you’re forgetting that Christ said he would be with his Church until the end of time, so no implosion is going to happen. Secondly, the RCC, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and other Christian Churches are constantly working towards re-unification (It is Pope Benedict’s big drive thing), so the Christian population is going to explode, not implode, when unification eventually is achieved. It may not be as the RCC but probably an agreed re-named united Christian Church.

• McNamara31 | Aug 27, 2012, 12:51 PM EDT

  mairint... Did you know the North American superior of the Institute of Christ the King, Rev. Timothy Svea was sentenced to 18-months in jail for tying a 16-year-old boy to his bedpost. These abuses occurred after the death of the boy's mother. Abuse has occurred in the (Latin-rite) traditional communities as well.

• casualMBA | Aug 27, 2012, 11:08 AM EDT

  Err, finite ('population')is the intended phrase

• casualMBA | Aug 27, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT

  Stepping away from "simulated" Soviet Union breakup in 1991 and the Vatican theories,has anyone run the numbers on a finite (given the attrition rate of Mass attendance) on how many generations (given the current divorce rates among Catholics in Western societies) it will require before the laity will reach some critical implosion point of less than authentic, intact marital offspring? Just askin' :I

• mairint | Aug 26, 2012, 07:55 PM EDT

  The writers prior to this sound like a Dan Brown stew!! They want us in a time warp back before the printing press and mobile phones. Good grief!! The Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Brown, looks a fine young man and certainly says it how it is. Where Authentic Catholicism (who wants anything else?)is being practiced, the numbers are growing, mostly young people who appreciate the Traditional Mass. The priests in the Trad. form are young, well educated and from all corners of the world. There is richness and deep meaning in the celebration of the Extraordinary form of Mass. Just see what will happen in Limerick when the old abandoned Jesuit church is taken over by the priests of Christ the King. In spite of the ripping out of anything of value for auction, and all the decay - it will be lovingly restored and the people of Limerick will turn up to volunteer their help. God Bless them all.

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT

  (…more) So I have to ask, as McN31 reminded me of the asking: why cannot Archbishop Brown, as our Papal Legate, go back to the Vatican State and ask its head honcho (oops, sorry for the toyful irreverence!) our Pope, as to why we cannot celebrate the Eucharist in our own homes without a priest present as happened in the earliest days of Christianity? We have Saturday or Sunday dinners or evening meals with our families and friends with bread and wine present on the table and every good married Christian wears a gold ring, the home is nicely perfumed as if ‘frankincensed’ or ‘myrrhed'. So why can’t we be allowed to be authentic Christians in our own homes and neighbourhoods, doing things in memory of our Christ, with not a priest in sight? I think A/B Brown and our Holy Father the Pope might find great comfort in allowing this practice daily or weekly in our Christian homes. I post this w/ tks to McN31 and his reminder of authentic early Christianity.

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 05:00 PM EDT

  (…more) The earliest Christians followed the example of the Three Wise Men in giving gifts or presents of myrrh, frankincense and gold to the Infant Jesus and so built their community centres (churches) lavishly abundant with gold, frankincense and myrrh, which is why all Christian Churches (whether of Roman, Eastern or Russian Orthodox or Coptic Churches kinds) have at least two of these in every one of their churches. (So forget it, youze of you who demand that the Church sells off its “riches” to pay monetary compensation for the sins of a few; they are actually gifts or presents by ordinary people as in Bethlehem Stable birthday “presents” and cannot be removed from any Christian church anywhere except by stealing or agreeemnt to donate or pass on). These so-called “riches” are simple representations of the presents of the Wise Men from all Christian communities of men, women and children to our Almighty God, some preceding the establishment of Christianity in Rome through St. Peter’s presence and death in that city. These “riches” are always completely aside from the essence of ceremonies in every Christian Church - those of celebrating the Eucharist and those of sharing Eucharistic Adoration (but now with a ’minion’ present, a priest). So I have to ask… (more... and I’ll be probably castigated as a Protestant for the “more” sayings I next have …)

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT

  For a while I've meant to get back on to the good posts by McNamara31 earlier in this debate (acknowledging wrongly attributed posts). Aug 25th, 01.11pm, McN31 referred to early Christians and the celebration of the Eucharist in the family homes of the earliest Christians. He’s right about that, as I learned researching early Christianity from an old version of the Lion Book of the History of Christianity recording this practice. The head of a Christian family, the honcho, a married man or woman in his/her home, held the ceremony of doing “this” in memory of our Christ (not a priest in sight). Then there followed the practice of inviting one’s fellow-Christian friends and neighbours people to one's home to celebrate the Eucharist together (still not a priest in sight). Then there followed larger community gatherings to celebrate the Eucharist in a local “community hall” (yep, now here’s where a “bishop” appeared (really a ‘deacon’, as set by St. Paul) but still no priest in sight). Then there followed the building of basilicas in larger towns and cities (yep, you got it, Arch-Bishops appeared and still no priests in sight). (I stand to be corrected but I think the first big Christian basilica was built in present-day Turkey in the 2nd or 3rd Century AD). (More…)

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 02:09 PM EDT

  Dean J – yes, of course I know about Golitsyn. He was a famous capture for America. Or was he??? No one trusts a word out of the mouth of a political turncoat like this good oul’ Golly. You shouldn’t either. None of yr posts relating to or quoting Golly bears any substance in relation to authentic Catholicism. My story of the power of the Holy Rosary to demolish Communism does. Are you afraid of its power? None of the lip-service, forced to kow-tow to Communism, dockers of Gdansk was. Neither should you, as an authentic but misguided Christian.

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

  (…more for Dean J) (my 9th attempt to post this! - so pardon the time lapse in replying if it gets online) The President of Russia today, Mr. Putin, is a practicing Christian. Though Communism still exists in Russia as part of its new-found democracy, and elsewhere, it has none of the power it once had. It is a failed concept, destroyed by the power of prayer while holding simple Rosary Beads. Dean J, perhaps tonight, when you go to bed, you might pray a decade of the Rosary and sleep peacefully in thanks to Our Lady of the Rosary that there is no Red under your bed, or any Vatican bed.

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 01:44 PM EDT

  Why are my final two posts to Dean Jackson not getting through?? Can ICentral sack its Gremlins or at least send them out to lunch??

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 11:05 AM EDT

  (…more for Dean J) Well, the final collapse of Communism happened after Pope John Paul II, a Pole like Walesa and a Pope who placed his Papacy under the guidance of Our Lady of the Rosary (he visited and prayed at many Marian Shrines, including Knock in Ireland), wrote a one-page letter that was hand-delivered to Russian President Gorbachev saying that if he (Gorby) didn’t pull back the tanks, he (JP II) would abdicate his papal position and go and stand at the barricades with his people. Gorby read the letter, realised the huge import of it (reportedly his face went pale at the implications: masses of Catholics from all around the world would join JP II at the Polish barricades), picked up his phone and ordered the tanks back to base immediately. The rest is history – perestroika, glasnost and the open re-emergence of the Christian Russian Orthodox Church in Russian peoples’ lives. (…more..)

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 10:45 AM EDT

  (Whoops! My post didn’t get to preview stage… More gremlins in ICentral?? 2nd attempt, here’s hoping…) Ah Dean J, you’re now showing yourself up as a “Reds under the bed” paranoiac. Communism collapsed through the power of prayer of the Rosary, as asked for by Our Lady back in 1917 and honoured throughout the world by Catholics throughout the decades of intense Communism (I remember praying for the end of Communism with my father and mother too as part of our family Rosary). One hugely noticeable thing about the Solidarity movement in Poland which led to the collapse of Communism was the constant presence of Rosary Beads in the hands of Lech Walesa and his fellow Dockers in Gdansk during their protests. Walesa knew he had real power in the Rosary Beads in his hands throughout the whole episode and never let go of them. One other thing – you might remember that the Communist Russians rolled hundreds of armoured tanks up to their border with Poland, threatening to invade Poland to put down the Solidarity movement? Well… (More…)

• jacersagain | Aug 26, 2012, 06:12 AM EDT

  Yes Dean, I see you are taken by the many conspiracy theories regarding who is in charge at the Vatican, particularly since the time of Pope Paul VI who is alleged to have been kidnapped and hidden away while a lookalike imposter took his place in public (photos for comparison available online; bing or google ). But there are many good and true people living in the Vatican State who would know what’s going on, including its Head of Security, Davide Giulietti, its Swiss Guards and America’s CIA/FBI who train the Vatican’s security personnel. It is after all a very tiny place, smaller than many parishes (population less than 1000), where everybody knows everybody else. There’s freedom of movement in and out of Vatican City - there would certainly be people who’d “come out” and tell the world of what’s happening in the City if there were Communists in charge. Communist infiltration is a not a new thing: the governments of the USA, UK, France, Germany and many others were all infiltrated by Communists. However, there are people in the Vatican who acknowledge that Satan has invaded the sanctity of the Papal state and yes, I believe that too (read up on the “Smoke of Satan”). I watched a BBC TV programme last year - “Vatican – the Hidden World” - giving a fascinating insight of the Vatican, including sight of the now glass-encased bones of St. Peter. I was struck by just how ordinary the people of the Vatican State are, except that they are doing extraordinary things and very authentic Catholics.

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 08:09 PM EDT

  (More…) If the Dean, or any readers of this post haven’t read Lúcia’s book, you can visit your local library or order it online at Amazon or, if you’re in Ireland, you can buy it in your local Veritas or Eason’s bookstore. It’s a truly fascinating read. When you’re done with reading it, pass it on to someone else; it’s just too fascinating to deny others the read. Like the Dean, I have my own reservations about the 3rd secret of Fatima as revealed by the Vatican apparatus' modus operandii and I really don’t believe that the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II was its fulfilment. I think there is more to come, something really terrible, even for non-believers and Catholic-bashers to comprehend its happening.

• casualMBA | Aug 25, 2012, 08:07 PM EDT

  jacersagain, small need to seek Absolution, is there, for 'damnable' "coitus interruptus"?...the Church has prescribed, as far as I know, "c.i." (not IC) as a "natural" form of birth control, in compliance with the approved rythm method...A strict life issue advocate, however, may surface to advise you of more appropriate duties ref. Penance...continued official denial of the birth control pill, though (in contrast to behavior,) is bewildering to me

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 08:05 PM EDT

  Dean Jackson’s post at 07.06am Aug 25th interested me greatly. Most times I enjoy and respect the Dean’s posts, they’re usually good and Christian but never really hit the hotspot (that’s alright, I rarely do as well, but, like him, I try to). I’ve been to Fatima, not as a pilgrim but as a tourist (although I happened upon a pilgrimage taking place while there, and slipped into the big crowd to join part of the beautiful ceremonies) and visited the various places around Fatima which are all recorded in the book “Fatima in Lúcia’s Own Words”. While there, I was amazed that being at the site of the Apparitions of Our Lady didn’t affect me as much as I was affected at being at the site of the water well where the Angel of God first spoke to the children of Fatima – Lúcia and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco – telling them essentially to expect “things are gnna happen”, as they surely did and historically recorded. Since then, to this day I’ve pondered and wondered over that extraordinary feeling at the well; I drank of its water and poured some over my head and still have not found an answer as to the why I spontaneously did that, or why it happened. I’ll always especially remember how, when we queuing tourists went into the house in which Lúcia and her family lived, her Gran-Aunt, black-clad and sitting at the door to welcome all into the house, how she smiled in greeting everybody in front of me and yet, when my turn came to stand in front of her and our eyes met, she actually stopped smiling and bowed her head down (me shuddering at the memory right now – did Lúcia’s Gran-aunt she see that I may be damned to hell? What am I??). (More on Dean J’s post)

• casualMBA | Aug 25, 2012, 07:45 PM EDT

  In the case of the Fitzgeralds, defending " 'authentic' Catholicism for the future," who twice turned down royal pardons rather than surrender the Papal Nuncio, the confiscation of their lands, and its resultant societal collateral, has never been offset by the return of sizable Irish lands.

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 07:31 PM EDT

  (…more) So, after reading your post of 7.11am, I decided to ‘Bing’ if the Bible had references to birth control on which His Holiness Pope Paul VI might have based his decree (I really don’t know if he did use the Bible, or Tradition, or both or if he relied on advices of the learned theologians involved in VC II for his decision). To my surprise, I actually found a few references in our Bible - referring to verses in Genesis, Acts and Revelations which space in this post doesn’t allow me to expand on but anyone can Bing or Google for the info. One which jumped out at me was reference to “pharmakeia”, a potion-making practice prior to and during the 1st Century AD and later which aimed to stop or prevent pregnancy. Finding out that one “damned” method of preventing pregnancy which shocked me personally was that withdrawal by a man during coitus constituted a form of artificial birth control… I used to do that regularly w/ my late wife – arrgh! I didn’t know that withdrawal to prevent impregnation was a sin, so now I find I have the husband-long stain of this sin on my soul; a sinner I shure am and now must confess it next time I seek the Sacrament of Penance.

• casualMBA | Aug 25, 2012, 07:29 PM EDT

  Hear, Hear, eiriamach!--- and Amen to acts of charity, listening to the Spirit, albeit the "mission" emphasis...It is not clear A/B Brown's homily to "authenticity" stretches across the gulf between the present centralization of power and the participation, and Spirit, of the Vatican Council era...an apostolic, inclusive Church (but not necessarily a gay et al. invasion of an Irish society) does not necessarily translate into hardened positions on "life issues" not even contemplated in the NT, apostolic, era!...if this displays, McNamara31,"The age old IC blogger software problem" should be resolved...on eiriamach's further comment ref. women celebrants and priests, LOL...even if (we can wish,no?)the conservative tack and centralization of Vatican power were to be reversed, into liberalization and decentralization, there would not be gender capitulation in the Church...nor gender indifference...why?...The Church seems to be committed to self-destructively fracturing over the "life issues" of birth control (a non-issue in Christ's time), for which there are NO NT references!!!...thereby, allowing a breadth of interpretations on all kinds of modern issues(heart-lung interventions, Petri dishes, etc.) not anticipated in NT Judea...yet the institutional Church, with a hard core of conservative faithful has "dug in" on the life issues-without NT references...on the other hand, apostolic celebrants, however, will bring up hosts of NT references, and any discussion of gender expansion will only be yet another distracting, fracturing issue.

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 07:22 PM EDT

  eiriamach @ 7.11am, I’m sorry if my post at 7.50pm 24th instant appeared to suggest that birth control, abortion and euthanasia were mentioned in the Bible; that was not my intention. However, the teachings of the RCC, the Protestant Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Coptic Churches among other Christian churches are all based on the Bible and on Tradition. I am not fully au-fait with Vatican Council II (VC II), never studied it or its aftermath since I am just an ordinary bloke. VC II happened while I was a slip of a lad busy playing football and hurling or chasing girls but I do remember the horrified feelings that followed in Ireland and throughout the lay membership of the world-wide Catholic Church when Pope Paul VI decreed that artificial birth control was sinful and not to be used by Catholics (in fact, most Protestant Churches also agreed with that at the time; most still do). (More…)

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 07:17 PM EDT

  Happyhippo – we have an expression in Ireland for people like you. You are “bollicks’d”. You are so blindly unaware of the authentic retribution that the Catholic Church, as a whole, has been designating for the sins of the few that tainted the whole Catholic Church’s mission of Christ. On the topic of compassion for the abused, have you checked out the real compassion that the Church has shown to abused people? No, you didn’t. Do.

• Happyhippo | Aug 25, 2012, 04:21 PM EDT

  Yea right got ya, how about if the Catholic church showed some authentically genuine compassion to the victims of sexual abuse,they are still trying to cover their tracks in the Vatican, as if the abused were the cause of their own misfortune.

• eiriamach | Aug 25, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT

  You have a good weekend, too, McNamara! I'm guessing that users posting from mobile devices is throwing IC software off track, but I don't know really. ' Hope they can solve the problem.

• eiriamach | Aug 25, 2012, 02:05 PM EDT

  Yes, McNamara31, married priests, and the early Christian Church also had women as full participants in the liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist. Especially in churches drawn to the gnostic elements of the Gospel, women would consecrate the bread and wine, baptize, preach and teach. Elaine Pagels writes, "Among such gnostic groups as the Valentinians, women were considered equal to men; some were revered as prophets, others acted as teachers, traveling evangelists, healers, priests, perhaps even bishops" (The Gnostic Gospels, p. 60). The epistles of Paul provide additional evidence, but also show the influence that Roman notions of male social gender role and hierarchy had as the early Church began to organize itself into an institution. In the third century, hierarchy, bureaucracy, authority and obedience replaced the shared priesthood of the people. Now, I think, RC cannot save itself by tightening its ranks into an exclusive cult of the politically like-minded, but might save itself by rediscovering its ancient foundations and by breathing in fresh air from that window that John XXIII threw open on the world outside the Vatican.

• McNamara31 | Aug 25, 2012, 01:47 PM EDT

  eiriamach!The post starting "Hear, Hear, eiriamach!" Is not mine. The age old IC blogger software problem strikes once again.Have a good weekend.

• McNamara31 | Aug 25, 2012, 01:11 PM EDT

  The 'authentically Catholic' church originally established in the centuries after Christ died, had a married priesthood where people gathered in the homes of other followers of Christ. It wasn't till centuries later, when Roman values and their love of ornate grand churches and vestments and church holding of the finest wealth collected from all the corners of the world, became the norm.The Romans also had great respect for politicians and political thinking, which probably established the earliest versions of canon law. In time, it seems the values of protecting the corporate interests and wealth of the church overshadowed the values Christ himself left for his followers. The most important message Archbishop Brown can communicate to the Vatican, is the Irish haven't lost their "true" faith, only their confidence in the men who failed to follow the "authentic teachings" of Christ, and chose to follow what was good for "Vatican Inc" especially when it came to our children.

• McNamara31 | Aug 25, 2012, 12:55 PM EDT

  Hear, Hear, eiriamach!--- and Amen to acts of charity, listening to the Spirit, albeit the "mission" emphasis...It is not clear A/B Brown's homily to "authenticity" stretches across the gulf between the present centralization of power and the participation, and Spirit, of the Vatican Council era...an apostolic, inclusive Church (but not necessarily a gay et al. invasion of an Irish society) does not necessarily translate into hardened positions on "life issues" not even contemplated in the NT, apostolic, era!

• Mousemess | Aug 25, 2012, 10:40 AM EDT

  Ardeaspag Searlas Donn/Archbishop Charles Brown. Authentic, meaning what, anti-gay bigotry and no abortions for women in case of rape, incest or even to save a mother's life?

• eiriamach | Aug 25, 2012, 07:27 AM EDT

  jacersagain, one other thing: "anti-Catholic"?? No, not anti-Vatican II-Catholic at least. See Jesus' last prayer, for the unity of his church. The Vatican has rejected that mission and revised the agenda of the last church council in the interest of centralization of power. Where does "authority" in the Church come from? From listening to the Spirit and studying the signs of the times in light of the Gospels. The Vatican has adopted its own, mostly political, missions now, and has cut itself off from the Voice of the Spirit, from Divine Wisdom. Since "mission" comes from God and not from any Church, it's now a Christian mission to call back Catholics to Christianity, to their God-given missions. That's not anti-Catholicism; its pro-Christianity.

• eiriamach | Aug 25, 2012, 07:11 AM EDT

  jacersagain, thanks for your comments. I'd just like to know where, in the New Testament, you find "Christ and his Apostles" "teaching" about "artificial birth control, abortion, euthanasia." It seems to me that the kingdom of heaven, which Christians are challenged to bring about ("Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth....") is focused on healing the sick, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, in other words, caring for humanity and helping turn minds and hearts to the things of the spirit. Nothing about birth control or abortion is in the NT, as far as I can see. We have no idea what Jesus thought, or whether he thought, about such things. ~~~As for GeorgeDillon, alias WoundedKnee, he might try reading the US Constitution with his brain in gear. Every time someone tries to censor me or exclude me from a forum that's open to others ("Buzz off"), they simply give me another reason to exercise my freedom of speech, and another incentive to do it. When GD and his Gaeilgeoirí tíoránta Meiriceanaigh buddies stop trying to shut people up and drive them out, I might not have anything left to say!

• jacersagain | Aug 25, 2012, 06:31 AM EDT

  Ah now now Wou’knee/Georgie Boy, lay off eiriamach. She’s one of the best contributors on ICentral on religious matters with her thought-provoking posts, even when they are clearly anti-Catholic. Methinks she’s an “at heart” Catholic who wants our Catholic Church to be more Christ-like from the top down and that’s no bad thing.

• WoundedKnee | Aug 25, 2012, 04:53 AM EDT

  eiriamach--You're a Bible Bum. You have no right to try to inject your silly spiel about what authentic Catholicism is like. Buzz Off back to your Bible Readings. We Catholics don't need bigots like you.

• jacersagain | Aug 24, 2012, 08:00 PM EDT

  (…more) The fine line between the perfectness of Christ, the near-perfectness of His Apostles (Judas betrayed Christ, Peter denied knowing Him in His hour of need and Thomas completely refused to believe in the Resurrection until physical proof was given to him by the Risen Christ) and the struggle to be a Christian Catholic today in their sense of Christianity back then is immense. I can’t help feeling there is a big gulf between the Christianity of the Apostles’ time and what we have today. I don’t know how that gulf can be closed. As a Catholic, I keep my life simple and do my “not-always-right” best I can to be a Christian, guided by responses to my daily prayers, especially the Lord’s Prayer, the most beautiful, simplest and most rewarding of all prayers. That gives me my sense of a Christian ‘authentic Catholicism’, so perhaps A/B Brown should be spreading the Good News of Christ by encouraging people to pray the Lord’s Prayer each day instead of seemingly calling people back to an “authentic Catholicism” that seems out of date to too many people, the very people he wants to practice "authentic Catholicism". The Lord’s Prayer is eternal and timelessly relevant to every person in every generation all over our world; A/B Brown can’t go wrong publicly drawing attention to that instead of his unrealistically-addressed subject sermon.

• jacersagain | Aug 24, 2012, 07:50 PM EDT

  I agree to a large extent with Seanmor, eiriamach and jack112229 below. The ACP in Ireland is right to ask what Archbishop Brown meant when he called for more ‘authentic Catholicism’ in the future. If the RCC believes it’s the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, then we must assume it means it’s the True authentic Christian Church. I believe it is and that it is doing wonderful work throughout the world but I also think that it must do something about its apparent lack of charity on some aspects of human living and quality of life in these modern times. I do believe there are very many great holy Priests, Bishops and Cardinals in the Church but there are very many great holy monks, nuns and laity within it too. They have a right to express their sense or interpretation of Christianity and I think the Church as an Institution should at least listen to what they say. The crux of many a present-day sociological matter (artificial birth control, abortion, euthanasia a-la Tony Scott in England (RIP) yesterday etc) is that these interpretations often do go against the Church’s teachings, which are all based on the teachings of our Christ and his Apostles. (More…)

• aloistmartin | Aug 24, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT

  Support of the Fascist Right Wing Protector of the Faith Juan Carlos II ( And his Enlightened Entourage of Latin Speaking Aristocrats ), The Globalizationist EU, and the American Pentagon Notwithstanding, I. Presume ?

• jack112229 | Aug 24, 2012, 01:19 PM EDT

  It would be very Christian like is the church would encourage all members to be Christ like and not set up a world policy of stearnness as when clamping down on the Nuns in America to do Vatican stuff rather that care for the sick, feed the hungry and the poor. A Cardinal giving the envocation for the GOP convention in Florida is not a Christ like image.

• casualMBA | Aug 24, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT

  Father McDonagh for Papal Nuncio "pro tem(pore)"!!!

• eiriamach | Aug 24, 2012, 12:42 PM EDT

  Every day, "*authentic* Catholicism" has less and less to do with *authentic*-- meaning faithful to the example and words of Christ-- Christianity. When he can get his mind off saving his institution and focus on faith, hope, and love, the nuncio might find something to say that is relevant to people's spiritual lives.

• Seanmor | Aug 24, 2012, 09:28 AM EDT

  One wonders if he what affect Archbishop Brown's suggestion will have on the average Irish Catholic. By "authentic Catholicism" the Papal Nuncio probably includes the Church's teachings on social and moral issues. In recent years he R.C. Church has substantially declined in all parts of Ireland, but there are stil;l laws to protect the unborn on both sides of the Border - at least for the time being. But the Dáil has pssed a law that recognized same-sex unions, which violates the tenets of the Church that are based on the Holy Bible, which is the word of God.