Dear Lord, who'd be an archbishop these days?
It's a tough job in the
current climate.
But someone's got to do it, and last week our own
Diarmuid Martin attempted to bring some sense of dignity, reverence and
ahem, spirituality back to the much battered Irish church.
Last Tuesday, he announced new church guidelines for the faithful under the heading: First Communion and First Reconciliation.
They're pretty radical.
Martin
is hoping to see the roles of parish and parents increase and costly
communion outfits and other material trappings become a thing of the
past because, he says, they "detract from the sacrament".
Basically,
he's hoping that Catholics who wish their children to be reared in the
faith will take a more spiritual and intellectual role in the
preparation for Holy Communion and ease up a bit on the fake tans,
bouncy castles and horse-drawn carriages.
I wish the good archbishop the best but I fear he has a difficult battle to fight -- on quite a few fronts.
(We'll
kindly ignore the incongruity of a church, which, since the days of
Constantine, has consistently indulged in ostentatious displays of
wealth, pomp and pageantry to boast its worldly power, calling on its
flock to show a little restraint and "simplicity" when celebrating
religious festivals.)
But what Martin doesn't seem to understand
is that Catholicism, as practised in Ireland, is more of a cultural
tradition than a firmly held belief in a specific religious doctrine.
Or
perhaps he understands only too well, and is determined to rid himself
of the 'a la carte' crew.
Embarrassingly, a recent survey showed
that the majority of Irish Catholics are really ideological Protestants
in that they believe the bread and wine blessed during Mass is only a
representation of Christ's body and blood and not the real deal.
But
even though wars have been fought over such trifles, Irish Catholics no
longer think that such heresy matters much (if only we'd been as
pragmatic during the reformation!)
Two main issues seem to concern
Irish parents -- cultural tradition and education. Even though so many
parents today only attend Mass when they absolutely have to -- for the
major sacraments -- they still identify themselves as Irish Catholics
regardless of their (non) religious practice.
Sometimes beyond logic.
Here's an example that had me roaring at the radio:
Sometime
last year, when the debate about the need for more multi-denominational
schools was being discussed, RTE's Liveline (what else?) aired the
views of a variety of parents who argued that if too many Catholic
schools were turned over to the secularists, who would teach the
children the doctrines of the Catholic faith, who would prepare them for
their first Holy Communion and Confirmations?
The obvious answer
to this, of course, was -- eh, you, the parents, in conjunction with
your parish and school, as is already a successful practice in Educate
Together schools.
This, of course, is exactly the concept being promoted by the Archbishop of Dublin.
But
these Catholic parents were having none of it. Teach their children
themselves? Take time out of their very busy schedules to attend
meetings about religious stuff? Ah now, Joe, this is real heresy you're
proposing.
Because, one woman argued, as Irish (there was a lot of
emphasis on being Irish as opposed to, well, newcomer) Catholics, their
children had the right to be given instruction on Communion and
Confirmation during school hours by teachers. This is what had always
occurred.
This was Irish Catholic tradition.
As is the tradition that
the only role of parents was to spend far more than they can afford on
celebrating these events.
I've spoken to so many parents who can't
afford to get their washing machine repaired but will spend hundreds of
euro or more on all the insane 'necessities' for a 'Holy' Communion.
Seemingly, families in Ireland spent about €45m on First Communions this year.
And
you know it just looks bad, parents, to be whinging about cuts to child
benefit and the cost of the household charge (all very legitimate
whinges!) etc, etc while choosing to voluntarily spend wads of cash on a
religious celebration. I don't mean to be horribly judgmental and say
will you ever give over this nonsense but ... . for Christ's sake, will
you ever give over this nonsense.
Similarly, a whopping €26m was
collected by children in the form of cash gifts from family and friends
-- who probably had better things to do with their money, like pay the
gas bill.
When my daughter told me, with great awe and envy, that
her friend had "made" over €500 in donations from family and friends, I
asked would such riches be enough to entice her to become Catholic.
(I
piously added that membership of a religion is a serious business,
respect must be shown for those who truly believe, and just for the fun I
said that kids who can't explain transubstantiation shouldn't get any
cash.)
After a bit of a think, she admitted -- no, she prefers
learning about all religions and keeping an open mind, but she added
that the money was very tempting.
Presumably the lure of Cash for
Communion is one of the sins of simony that Archbishop Martin is trying
to stamp out.
But apart from the froth and the frills and the
insanity of spending, the other issue that seriously concerns many
people is their child's education.
Many parents understand the hypocrisy
of belonging to a church they don't believe in, but find their child
has no option but to attend a Catholic national school (92 per cent of
schools) and partake of Catholic sacraments because the majority of
schools in the country are Catholic and a non-Catholic can consequently
face fierce discrimination within the education system (I know this from
experience).
I've spoken to so many parents who have honestly said: "I
don't believe in any of it [Catholicism] but what choice do I have?"
Hopefully,
discussions between the Minister for Education, the Catholic Church and
various other school patrons will eventually result in this monopoly
being broken.
The Church's attempt to make so many wishy-washy
Irish Catholics seriously consider the responsibilities of their faith
is admirable on many fronts.
But what's the betting there'll be a
(religious) war waged by those a la carte Catholic parents who are
determined to uphold their children's cultural rights to bouncy castles,
fake tans and fabulously inappropriate costumes -- all in the best
possible Catholic taste, of course.
I await the schism ...