Contrasting faces of the church

It seems like some of the bishops are in revolt. Certainly a number of them are planning to defy the laws of the State.

The Government is currently advising that communions and confirmations should not take place and will offer further advice on their resumption at some point in the future. No doubt this is frustrating to people who wish their children to receive their first communion or their confirmation, ceremonies which are a rite of passage for children.

However, they are not so important that public health advice should be ignored surely? Apparently so.

This week a series of Catholic bishops including the bishops of Killaloe, Meath, Clogher, Raphoe, Elphin and Waterford-Lismore all told priests in their parishes to go ahead with communions, due to take place in mid-August.

So they are going ahead with plans for these religious ceremonies in contravention of the Government’s most up to date public health advice.

I find this to be quite remarkable.

Is there any other comparable institution that has taken such a position? I can’t think of any.

Many other large institutions like the GAA, or music or theatre venues, whose survival is in doubt due to the public health advice that limits or bans spectators at events, have done nothing like this.

Yet a number of Catholic bishops have decided that this is the right thing to do, regardless of the obvious risks that putting on these ceremonies holds.

The Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr Fintan Gavin has said nothing on the topic, despite a number of recent press releases.

Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe told RTÉ News that “when you have 50 people at regular mass, 50 people at baptisms, 100 people at weddings, 50 at funerals and 40,000 at Croke Park, I think we can very safely carry out the ceremonies and the aftermath of them in a very regulated and safe manner”.

Perhaps this is the case and they could carry them out in a safe manner, but what kind of precedent does this set?

Some people have long called for the separation of church and state. It seems that some Catholic bishops are keen to achieve that more fully too.

A Cork priest was in the news this week for much sadder reasons.

Father Con Cronin died on Tuesday when he was hit by a bus in Monkstown. The bus driver, who suffered a suspected heart attack, lost control of the bus, hitting Fr Cronin and some parked vehicles. He died at the scene too.

Shocked parishioners have been paying tribute to Fr Cronin, known for his sense of humour and openness. The much-loved priest was curate in the parishes of Passage West and Monkstown.

Many people have paid tribute to him in the most heartfelt ways possible. Often tributes are paid in quite neutral ways that don’t give a sense of the person at all.

This has not been the case with Fr Cronin at all, who clearly was deeply loved by the people of the area he served for nine years.

May he rest in peace.