Letters Extra

In addition to the letters published in this week’s issue of the The Tablet you can find more correspondence here, available free.

The new translation of the Mass

If we are to load our liturgy with historical reference, (as Cardinal Pell apparently wishes us so to do), the authorities might note that the particular problem for a Roman official in welcoming a revered Jewish teacher 'under his roof' was the presence of the Lares and Penates - the gods of the family and the place, whose physical presence in various parts of the building made it in effect a pagan temple. All institutions have their guardians of customary authority, that is their nature, but it should not be their purpose. Dr Field-Bibb points rightly to the mystification of the liturgy as an issue: the use of obscure language distances the people from the Mass, and the effect, if not the intention, is to emphasise the superiority of the one who utters the words over those who hear them said. The form of words that will soon be redundant reminds us that we each come before the Lord, recognising the baggage we carry, the problems we make for ourselves, and asking him to heal us,- not out souls (whatever they may be): looking to His authority to do so and his desire that we be one with Him, each and every one of us.

Vatican visitation of the Irish Church

The headline “Visitation must end Clericalism” of your editorial (5 June) should indeed be the objective of this Vatican visitation to the Irish church but I suspect that the outcome will be a far different and a more depressing one.

 Firstly, the investigation is flawed from its inception as it is an accepted legal axiom ( Nemo iudex sui )that no one or no institution can or indeed should be a judge of itself as justice must be seen to be done as well as being done. Only for the independent lay Irish investigations of the Ryan and Murphy reports into institutional and clerical sex abuse it is extremely unlikely that the truth would have emerged as forcefully as it did and survivors would have been justified. It seems that the Dublin Archdiocese is the only Irish diocese where children can be guaranteed their safety when in contact with the clerical church. In these circumstances how can a few highly placed hierarchical figures be relied upon to reform structures that that inherently resistant to change without a root and branch reform in the universal catholic church.?

Secondly, the absence of independent lay experts especially women to work alongside this highly clericalised investigation also bodes badly for an open investigation. Thirdly ,its terms of reference make no mention of the publication of its findings to that we can judge whether proper procedures and methodologies were followed. Fourthly , the ongoing Vatican investigation into women’s religious orders and institutions in the United states does not give one confidence that the Irish Vatican investigation will act any differently when it comes to reforming the church to face the challenges of the 21st century.

While I cannot impugn the integrity of this Vatican constituted investigative team, its role already is tightly confined by its clericalised makeup and its Vatican prescribed terms of reference In such circumstances asking the visitation to end clericalism in the Irish Church is ,I’m afraid , a pious dream.

The beginnings of life

Michael Sean Winters (Sister of Mercy, 5 June) in saying ethics is something that the Catholic Church “reduces” religion to, ignores God’s perfection as personal and moral. Nor would Bishop Olmsted’s mention of God have made any difference to people’s appreciation of God’s moral identity as life itself, if they would go on discriminating between the life of a mother and that of her child. Charles Curran (Catholics are not Utilitarians, 5 June) also disregards the moral dimension of personhood, when he confuses killing of the innocent, with the killing in self defence, of those who choose to threaten the lives of others.  Tina Beattie (In the Balance, 5 June) goes further to fatally misrepresent the eternally constant identity of human personhood, as a process, and its initial moment of take-up by a temporal body, as gradual. Its resulting development is not, as she thinks, “into”, but “as”, a human being, but on the basis of thinking it is the former, she regards the embryo, as “pre-human”, and accordingly denies its equal right to life to that of its  mother, particularly when in tragic competition with it. In spite of an appeal to early Church teaching to support her subordination of unborn to post natal human rights, Prof Beattie rejects more recent, clearer teaching to the contrary, as potentially imposing the ultimate sacrifice on mothers. Situations, however, don’t have to be imposed to remove the middle ground between heroism and wickedness, in responding to the moral challenges they create.

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