Insider is fulfilling obligation to give her opinion on Church
WILL Pope Francis respond to Mary McAleese’s letter requesting an explanation for the attempt to bar her from the Voices of Faith conference in the Vatican?
Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s undermining of such a prominent and dedicated member of the Church has shaken many Catholics.
Once again Rome appears ready to slap down any Irish Catholic who raises their head above the parapet to ask difficult questions. In recent years, a spate of Irish clergy was silenced. Now, it is the turn of the laity.
Pope Francis is known as a pope of surprises and is given to symbolic and spontaneous gestures. Maybe he will respond.
But Ms McAleese’s address contained a number of stinging rebukes to the Vatican. Her assertiveness won’t have gone down well with the conservative old guard who expect greater deference and want little truck with such a radical manifesto for female inclusion.
In a recent article in the ‘Mayo News’, Fr Kevin Hegarty asked if Ireland’s co-patron St Brigid was a bishop. One of his conclusions was, “whether or not Brigid was a bishop, it is clear that she found a warmer welcome in the leadership of the Irish Church than Mary McAleese found recently in the Vatican”.
There has been a reluctance among the Irish hierarchy to comment on our latter-day Brigid’s comments.
Are they fearful of falling foul of the Vatican’s prohibition of the discussion of women priests?
The Irish Independent approached six prelates on Sunday for a comment on Ms McAleese’s address. No one would comment.
The only response was given by the new Bishop of Ossory, Dr Dermot Farrell, who said her “questions come out of a conviction and a deep faith”.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin acknowledged on International Women’s Day that the former President’s challenge to the internal culture of the Church “was brutally stark”. He said “some may find it unpleasant or unwelcome. I must accept the challenge with the humility of one who recognises her alienation”.
On RTÉ’s ‘Marian Finucane Show’ on Sunday, the retired Maynooth theologian Fr Vincent Twomey criticised the former President’s “overthe-top” expression of her views and he also accused her of misusing her position as an ex-President.
But Ms McAleese is not cowed by such criticisms. She has highlighted that Pope Francis has used “quite feisty language” on occasion, particularly when castigating the Curia. And yesterday, Ms McAleese said: “I didn’t go to Rome to whisper.”
She has also drawn from her 10 years of study of canon law to show that she is fulfilling an obligation, as required by Church law, to give her opinion on matters she believes are for the good of the Church.
This is criticism by an insider who loves her Church – and is much better informed and committed than most of those who glibly tell her to leave, if she doesn’t like it.
She is not cowed by criticisms. ‘I didn’t go to Rome to whisper’