Bishop Doran provides an antidote to scandal

ANTHONY O’Leary, while criticising Bishop Kevin Doran (‘Church caused first breach in “communion”’, Letters, January 7), in fact unintentionally triggers an exploration of how well a Catholic bishop such as Bishop Doran seeks to live up to his responsibilities in these times – he “and a few”.

Due to the limitations of human nature it always possible to recount outrages committed by individual Catholics in the past. Equally due to the same limitations some untrue and unfair allegations occur.

All outrages committed by Catholics are scandals and serve as grist to the mill for Mr O’Leary’s schema. But first and foremost they are contraventions of Catholic teaching or they amount to an ignorance of such teaching.

Given the certainty of temptation that Catholics undergo not to adhere to the Church’s teachings, it is obligatory for a Catholic bishop, among other things, to remind and challenge the baptised to do good and avoid evil; to clarify categories of evil for the baptised; to outline the consequences of serious evil acts for both time and eternity; to preach the redemptive process provided by Christ’s mercy through His Church to mitigate such consequences.

Each bishop has the duty to do this, openly or privately as appropriate, in season and out of season, irrespective of the number of the baptised who are listening.

This is the only means of stopping what Mr O’Leary, with some validity, terms the “Church’s continuing slide into moral irrelevance for most of the population”.

Bishop Doran’s efforts at pursuing his ministry in this way reveals a concern for the welfare of all in time and eternity. His efforts provide an antidote to scandal given by individual Catholics, and strengthens the faith of Catholics seeking to be faithful to the teaching of their Church. Neil Bray Cappamore, Co Limerick