THE SERVANT CHURCH

My favorite writers on the Church are Adrian Dulles and Edmund Schillebeeckx, neither of whom were notable liberals. Both have significantly influenced my concept of the Church as well as that expressed by the Bishops at Vatican II: Dulles in delineating various models of Church, Schillebeeckx in forming my vision of the Church as the Body of Christ who acts and speaks through it in the world today. Richard P. McBrien’s “The Church” is probably the best and most readable book on the subject in fifty years. When I started to formulate my vision for the Church of the future, not the heavenly New Jerusalem, but the church down and dirty in its members, I tried to put that vision in words in the context of the world today. I think it is the same vision as that expressed by Vatican II in the document De Ecclesia ("About the Church".)

My vision harks back to the early church we find in the Acts of the Apostles. It is the church described by Paul who wrote, “Have that mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE COUNCIL - PART II

Of the 70 draft documents submitted by the Curia for discussion, the bishops rejected 69 and asked that they be rewritten. The draft on the Liturgy was debated with massive support for sweeping changes. At an early session of the council an American bishop pointed out that most participants lacked fluency in Latin and offered to finance a system for simultaneous translation of the proceedings. At the suggestion of Cardinal Suenens, the bishops decided to start with the Constitution on the Church from which most of the other documents would follow. While the council was in recess in 1963, Pope John XXIII died and was succeeded by Pope Paul VI, a progressive committed to the ideas of his predecessor.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE COUNCIL - PART I

As a child and teenager growing up in Ireland sixty years ago, Catholicism was a very simple system: you said your prayers, did what you were told to do by the priest in his Sunday sermon and never really questioned it all: the symbols, the liturgy, the “bells and smells”.

But whether it was due to me or to the Church, in the post-World War II era through the 1950’s things began to change. Pope Pius XII, a cautious, conservative survivor of the upheavals and carnage of war, died in 1958. I vaguely remembered his election. This time the election of his successor, a seventy-six year old reputed moderate, Angelo Roncalli, Patriarch of Venice, was seen as a temporary compromise because of his age. His pontificate was to be one of the shortest in recent history, but also one of the most decisive. It put an end to the defensive mentality of the Church since the Reformation and the exaltation of the monarchical Papacy by the Vatican Council of 1870.

Let's Get Together

Fifty years ago John F. Kennedy was running for the Presidency of the United States of America.  He was a young, attractive and intelligent senator from Massachussets. However, he was a member of a group which had so far been unsuccessful in seeking the nation's  highest office --- he was a Catholic. This had  not  disqualified him from serving is the Navy and risking his life in his country's service in World War II, but for many citizens it barred him from the Presidency. Catholics were "second-class citizens."

Eucharist - a Mystery

Talk about sharing what your faith means to you! I can grasp why we never talked about religion when I was growing up in Ireland.  Mainly because we couldn't (or at least I couldn't) share our most intimate feelings with someone who might not grasp them. I lived in a parish where our pastor believed that children should receive the sacraments when they could express an understanding of them, not when they arrived at an age established by rules. Consequently, several of my classmates and I received the sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and Confirmation at the age of seven.

While I agree with his approach in theory, I cannot guarantee that I understood what the words really expressed. How many of us really can say that we understand the mystery of the Eucharist today?  Who can explain the mystery of transubstantiation? Can I explain my belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine after the words pronounced over them by the celebrant at Mass?

Cursillo

The other day a friend asked me what I meant by saying that a Cursillo was the most significant event on my spiritual journey. I knew what I meant, but I could not express it in a nutshell. I think Catholics, particularly Irish Catholics, are not accustomed to giving personal testimonies or witness talks. Yet that is what Christ told his disciples to do --- to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. When I was younger two topics were taboo in polite society in Ireland: religion and politics.

But times change...

Where is the Church?

Welcome to my blog! I was born in Ireland, but I have lived much of my life in America, mainly in Florida. Those of you with an Irish background may find my blog title familiar, from the old Irish blessing "May the road rise to meet you and the wind be always at your back."

We all like to reminisce about the past and sometimes share our vision of the future. I recall sitting late by the fireside enthralled as my father and old friends shared memories of events and characters from their youth. In fact, I remember upon my arrival in New York sharing some of their stories with neighbors from home now living in the Bronx.

However, I want to share other musings from my concerns about the future and the past of an essential part of my life in both countries, the Church.