If you wanted to contrast two stories from Ireland to highlight the everyday reality of the church, then this past week provided two perfectly juxtaposed events.
In one, the story that got the most attention, the hangover of the worst excesses of clericalism could be observed. It involves a ‘celebrity’ priest being showered with compliments from the adoring media, with headlines proclaiming him to be a ‘popular Waterford priest’ and mourning his laicisation. His priesthood was recalled by parishioners who remembered sometimes showing up to Christmas Mass early, just to hear him (not the Mass itself it seems).
The priest in question made headlines in the Catholic blogosphere in 2017 after a bizarre impersonation of Shirley Bassey on a travel show on state media went viral.
Much of the public commentary around the laicisation was based upon the suggestion that there was something about a priest’s exclusion that was different from that of a lay person, which seems completely at odds with much of the liberal rhetoric surrounding the upcoming Synod, likewise many liberal commentators appeared to poke criticisms at both the bishop and the pope, which of course we know is something that liberal commentators tend to find fault with when Traditionalists appear to do it.
In the same week, there was very little discussion of another, more moving story involving the family of a Buddhist woman who was murdered last year in Dublin.
Urantsetseg Tserendorj was a mother of two who was murdered in the increasingly violent capital, with a 15 year old child due to stand trial for the killing soon.
Her grieving family had sought a Buddhist Temple in which to hold a memorial event for her, but as there were none available in the locality, they instead emailed the Oratory in Dublin, St. Kevin’s Latin Mass Chaplaincy in Harrington Street.
The Mongolian community attended Sunday Morning Mass in large numbers in order to honour the memory of Urantsetseg Tserendorj. President Michael D Higgins attended, as did Urantsetseg Tserendorj’s husband, Ulambayar Surenkho.
The administrator at St. Kevin’s, Fr. Gerard Deighan was quoted in The Irish Times as saying
A few days ago I received a simple email asking if Urantsetseg’s name could be mentioned at Sunday Mass in this church since this church had special significance for her husband
I had no idea at the time how significant this invitation would become nor the large number of people that would come along to show their respect for Urantsetseg and their solidarity with your family
We pray that she is at peace and that those who continue to mourn her tragic loss will also find peace as the time passes on. We pray also for peace in the hearts of our fellow citizens and an end to all kinds of violence in our city and in our land.
The cleric obsessed liberal wing of the church in Ireland would do well to read the story from Saint Kevin’s and to realise that the church is not merely about them, it is about God first and foremost, it is about what Pope Francis calls ‘the smell of the sheep’ second.
Another liberal priest in Waterford Diocese wrote last year in a newspaper of his disgust with ‘ultra Catholics’ who wish to receive Communion on the tongue. Imagine being that parishioner and seeing your priest speak about you in that fashion, not to your face, but to a secular media outlet. It is highly unlikely that the those providing the Traditional Latin Mass in the same Diocese would have felt the same level of disgust towarda their ‘ultra Catholic' parishioners.
If we are to be honest about the upcoming Synod, we must ask why the liberal wing of the Irish church is trying so hard to preserve the cult of the priest, particularly that of the kind who sings Shirley Bassey on state media and who uses their authority to lambast parishioners to a wide audience instead of speaking to them privately, as with the Communion incident.
The Ultra Montanist Anglo Saxon publications of the American Catholic blogosphere must ask themselves if their chiding of Traditional Latin Mass communities is really about the faith, or about themselves trying to soak up some of the glories of clericalism by proximity, attained by sycophantism.
One thing is certain, something that needs to be brought to attention after the widespread slandering and bullying of Traditional Latin Mass communities in the wake of the document from last summer and it is this:
Of these two stories that hit the headlines in Ireland this week, the smell of the sheep was only apparent in one and the smell of clericalism was apparent in the other.
