I hold no no brief for any RC bishop including Baron.
But I liked the message.
PAT SAYS
I have been a daily Mass goer since the age of 4 – 66 years ago.
My relationship with God is the most important thing in my life.
Obviously, Holy Week and Easter are at the very centre of the Christian year, and these days are very important to me.
The highlights of these days are the Mass of the Lords Supper on Holy Thursday, The Passion of the Lord on Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.
At The Oratory, we celebrate all these ceremonies at 7 pm.
I bless the Holy Oils at the Thursday evening ceremony and with any other priest present, renew my priestly promises.
This is my 46th Tridum as a priest and my 24th as a bishop.
IMAGES FROM THE ORATORY ON HOLY THURSDAY
THE ORATORY – PRIESTLY RENEWAL OF PROMISES
BISHOP AND PRIESTS:
I promise to exercise the ministry of teaching and preaching worthily and wisely, aways preaching the true Gospel message.
Furthermore, in my own life, in every word and deed, I will always try to practice what I teach and preach.
I promise to celebrate faithfully and reverently the mysteries of Christ always and everywhere in accord with the Church’s true traditions.
I promise always to live my commitment to others in a way that is an enduring sign of my love of Christ the Lord and his holy people.
In particular, I promise always to have and to seek only appropriate and wholesome relationships, to observe proper boundaries, most especially with the young and vulnerable.
I promise each and every day to try to conform the pattern of my life ever more closely to Christ the High Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a pure offering.
I promise to dedicate myself absolutely and totally to being a true and faithful shepherd of God’s holy people always acting and living in love and service of them.
In particular, I promise to strive to avoid selfishness and materialism and any sense of entitlement or privilege.
So help me, Lord.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
117 replies on “GOOD FRIDAY.”
Very warmly and presented, Pat. The colours are restful. I’m curious about the blood cloth in front of tabernacle. Very abstract. I like the picture of Christ carrying a wooded cross. Who is the painter? Where did you get oils from? Hope the central messages of the Triduum finds a place in the hearts of all believer, clerics especially.
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Thank you.
I decided to have a WHITE / RED colour theme for the ceremony.
WHITE for the innocence and perfection of Christ as the Son of God and RED representing the blemishes, sins, and struggles of humanity and each of us.
The painter of the picture is Mother Frances Meigh, the painter, iconographer, and hermit I ordained – 14.9.1998 – the Feast of the Exhalation of the Cross.
The cross is also an Eagle, which takes Christ to the Father.
It was meant to be Station 1 of a Station’s of the Cross.
The oils are extra virgin olive oils.
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Symbols of bread and grapes (sometimes wine) have great significance not only for Christians, The Body and Blood of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
But also for our Jewish cousins bread and wine have great significance: bread and wine are ate and drank during the festival of Passover at the Passover meal. Sometimes called Seder meal.
UNLEAVENED BREAD AT PASSOVER (Matzah)
During the Seder meal, three pieces of unleavened flatbread are placed on top of each other and covered with a napkin.
These three pieces of matzah represent three groups of Jewish people: the Kohanim (priests), the Levites (members of the Levi Hebrew-tribe) and the Israelites.
WINE AT PASSOVER
Wine plays an important role during the Passover proceedings.
At a certain point when reading the story of the festival from the Haggadah, the 10 plagues inflicted on Egypt by God are read out.
As the plagues are read out, Jewish people spill a small amount of wine for each one.
It’s widely believed that is done in recognition of the fact that while the Jewish people were liberated, the Egyptians suffered.
Dating back to at least the early 11th century,1 we have a custom to sprinkle a bit of the wine from our cup 16 times during the recitation of the Haggadah:
^ Three drops when we say “Blood, Fire and Columns of Smoke”;
^ Ten drops when we enumerate the Ten Plagues by name; and
^ Three final drops when we say “Detzach, Adash, B’achav,”
(attributed to Rabbi Yehuda’s mnemonic for the Ten Plagues.)
While this custom is simple enough and pretty much universal, its reason is far from simple. For a Jewish man or woman it is steeped in overcoming their struggles and suffering under slavery in captivity – but most importantly – it’s to celebrate freedom and liberation!
Therefore, you don’t have to be a practicing religious Jew to celebrate the Passover meal. Everybody’s welcome. It’s an open table!
ABSTRACT ART. AND SYMBOLS. – MAKE OF IT WHAT YOU WILL
Deeper study of an abstract will afford one with deeper meaning and appreciation; just because something seems “simple” doesn’t mean it lacks validity.
To a certain extent, simplicity is a key factor in helping to understand worth, power, and cogency.
Validity is innate in the work itself!
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Your Oratory looks beautiful Bishop Pat.
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Thank you. We had a very powerful and moving ceremony.
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Seriously? It looked much better as a double garage. Totally gaudy and distasteful.
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There’s no pleasing everyone.
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There’s no accounting for taste dear
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”It looked better as a garage”? I’m guessing you don’t like church music and prefer beer to nice wines or G&Ts?
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The following is a list of abusers identified by the attorney general’s office. Those in bold text are still living, according to the report.
1. Father Louis Affrica
2. Father James Avant
3. Father Bruce Ball
4. Father John Banko
5. Father Michael Barnes
6. Father Thomas Bauernfeind
7. Father Vincent Bechtel
8. Father Ronald Belschner
9. Father Thomas Bevan
10. Father Maurice Blackwell
11. Father Louis Bonacci
12. Father John Bostwick
13. Reverend H. Cornell Bradley
14. Father William Braun
15. Father Laurence Brett
16. Father Frederick Brinkmann
17. Stephen Brotzman
18. Father Wayland Brown
19. Father Gerard Bugge
20. Father Robert Callahan
21. Father John Carney
22. Monsignor John Corbett
23. Father Brian Cox
24. Father Charles Coyle
25. Father Fernando Cristancho
26. Father Robert Cullen
27. Father Joseph Davies
28. Father Richard Deakin
29. Father Alfred Dean
30. Father Donald Dimitroff
31. Brother Francis Dolan
32. Father James Dowdy
33. Father Robert Duerr
34. Father John Duggan
The John Duggan identified as an abuser in this Report (a Jesuit priest) is not the same person as the late Archdiocese of Baltimore Chancellor John Duggan.
35. Father Frederick Duke
36. Father Walter Emala
37. Father Francis Ernst
38. Father Luigi Esposito
39. Father Terence Evans
40. Father Alfred Ewanowski
41. Father Kenneth Farabaugh
42. Father Alphonsus Figlewski
43. Deacon Joseph Firlie
44. Father Carl Fisher
45. Sister Theonella Flood
46. Father Daniel Free
47. Father Joseph Gallagher
48. Father Joseph Gerg
49. Father Steven Girard
50. Father Mark Haight
51. Father John Hammer
52. Father Edward Heilman
53. Father Marion Helowicz
54. Father Joseph Hill
55. Monsignor Robert Hiltz
56. Father George Hopkins
57. Father Joseph Hopkins
58. Father Robert Hopkins
59. Father William Jameson
60. Father Albert Julian
61. Deacon John Justice
62. Father Thomas F. Kelly
63. Father Thomas M. Kelly
64. Father Joseph Kenney
65. Father Simon Kenny
66. Father Paul Knapp
67. Father Michael Kolodziej
68. Father Joseph Krach
69. Father William “Jay” Krouse
70. Father Joseph Kruse
71. Deacon Thomas Kuhl
72. Brother Xavier Langan
73. Father Michael LaMountain
74. Father James Lannon
75. Father Ross LaPorta
76. Father Regis Larkin
77. Father David Leary
78. Father Francis LeFevre
79. Father Robert Lentz
80. Father John Lippold
81. Father Robert John Lochner
82. Father Anthony Lorento
83. Father George Loskarn
84. Father Edward Neil Magnus
85. Father Ronald Mardaga
86. Father Kenneth Martin
87. Father Joseph Maskell
88. Father Benedict Mawn
89. Brother Constantine McCarthy
90. Monsignor William McCrory
91. Father Francis McGrath
92. Father Eugene McGuire
93. Patrick McIntyre
94. Brother Lawrence Meegen
95. Father Raymond Melville
96. John Merzbacher
97. Father Joseph Messer
98. Father Ronald Michaud
99. Father William Migliorini
100. Father John Mike
101. Father Jerome Moody
102. Brother Eugene Morgan
103. Brother William Morgan
104. Father John Mountain
105. Father Timothy Murphy
106. Father J. Glenn Murray
107. Father Alan Nagle
108. Father Robert Newman
109. Deacon Leo O’Hara
110. Father Garrett Orr
111. Father Henry O’Toole
112. Father John Padian
113. Father John Peacock
114. Father Dennis Pecore
115. Father Adrian Poletti
116. Eric Price
117. Father Blair Raum
118. Brother Thomas Rochacewicz
119. Father Francis Roscetti
120. Father Charles Rouse
121. Brother Marius John Shine
122. Father William Simms
123. Father David Smith
124. Monsignor Richard Smith
125. Father Thomas Smith
126. Father Michael Spillane
127. Father Albert Stallings
128. Father Edmund Stroup
129. Brother Cuthbert Sullivan
130. Father Francis Sweeney
131. Father Alcuin Tasch
132. Brother Cuthbert/Joseph Thibault
133. Brother Thomas Tomasunas
134. Father Jerome Toohey
135. Father James Toulas
136. Father Gerald Tragesser
137. Father Jorge Velez-Lopez
138. Father Francis Wagner
139. Father William Walsh
140. Father William Wehrle
141. Monsignor Thomas Whelan
142. Father John Wielebski
143. Monsignor Roger Wooden
144. Father Howard Yeakle
145. Sister Francis Yocum
146. Monsignor Henry Zerhusen
Names 145-156 were redacted.
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Lists like this always bring out that their few bad apples claim, like so much else they say, is a lie.
They also misuse statistics to come to a figure of about 4% for abusive priests, which is an international average and does not represent what happened. At some times and places in Australia you had a 1 in 5 chance that any priest would subsequently be credibly accused of abuse. And of course there’s the 100% cover up rate by bishops.
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9.38
In order to make such a claim as a matter of fact, you would need to know the total number of instances of abuse in the area in question and for the relevant dates. Since you went ahead with making such an allegation without these, the integrity of your position is compromised.
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10.20
Seriously? How can anyone, apart from the bishops and priests involed in abuse themselves, know the total number of such instances? That’s the rub with cover-up: it successfully conceals the truth.
What we do know of such numbers is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg : we can be confident that the real numbers are very much higher.
It is YOUR argument that lacks integrity.
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Civil statistics for the totality of allegations? You don’t let nuance get in the way of an already failed argument, do you? Yours.
The totality of KNOWN allegations almost certainly isn’t the totality of allegations that were made but SUCCESSFULLY covered up, never mind those that were never made, for whatever reason.
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12.43
There are civil statistics for the totality of allegations in the population for those years for that region.
But of course you don’t let truth get in the way of a compulsive invective which, readers will verify, hasn’t been doing you any good since you started to comment on Pat’s blog.
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10:20 is your daily reminder that cultists don’t understand how abuse affects people, have no idea how it presents, and don’t care.
This means your children are no safer in their churches than they were 30 years ago.
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5.31
An allegation is, by definition, a claim or an assertion that has been made to someone, and therefore is a known allegation.
But you are relying on semantics to obscure the charge made against you this morning that your integrity is compromised. Anyone who has read your vile comments here already knows that. Other commenters have expressed gratification that the seminary council stepped in at an early stage.
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It’s in a brown envelope, but not in the post.
Ok, I’ll negotiate with a go-between, Dom Eamon OCSO,
but only Dom Eamon.
Get back to me, via Fr. Michael Cullinan.
The vocations are on the way!!!
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At this time of year, where I live, Christians are celebrating their Easter ceremonies, the Muslims are in the midst of their fasting Ramadan, and the Jews are getting ready to celebrate the Sabbath. The Hindus, Sikhs and the myriad other faiths have so many regular celebrations that it is hard to keep up sometimes. As I observe these faiths, people and celebrations around me, I am struck that what often characterises so many of them and the people who engage in them, is hypocrisy. At the heart of all of these religions is, essentially, hypocrisy. Which, in its simplest form, is doing one thing in public and then doing the opposite in private. It is not just a question of the odd occasional contradiction, but often built in to the very fabric of how that religious life is led. So, Christians will tell you that they observe the injunctions to love, be respectful of life, live moral lives, be faithful etc etc., and yet what we so often see is selfishness, wickedness and criminality in their ranks. Which they excuse by saying that we are all sinners ! You need look no further than the behaviour of their clergy to see hypocrisy write large. The same could be said of you, + Pat, who have normalised hypocrisy by simply absenting yourself from widely recognised tenets of the Christian faith and still call yourself Christian. Here I point simply to your chosen gay lifestyle and actively homosexual relationship, which for most purposes as a non believer I find quite acceptable, but for someone like you who professes the Christian message and values, surely it seems rather like jettisoning that which is not convenient and living a life that is clearly in contraction to the Christian faith and tradition that you profess ? Sorry to call you out on this, because I admire much of what you do and say, but you will see that it is an obvious gap in the consistency and credibility of your position ?! I see Muslims during Ramadan all togged out in their gear and telling me that they are fasting when clearly they are not. It seems that as long as nobody sees a transgression and an hypocrisy, then it is not transgression or hypocrisy. I see young Muslim youth dressed like they live in Saudi Arabia, but you do down the alley ways and in to the parks and they are doing what all young people do and are shagging, pussy tickling and cock sucking, but will tell you that they follow the Prophet. I note that they make sure they do it well away from their parents and Imams otherwise they would find themselves subject to medieval punishments. Hypocrisy ? I think so. I could go on. So, from my secular point of view where I do not claim any religious or moral high ground, I simply observe that most people who profess religion and faith usually live a self-serving convenient form of it, or worse. Hypocrisy ? I definitely think so !
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You need look no further than the behaviour of their clergy to see hypocrisy write large. The same could be said of you, + Pat, who have normalised hypocrisy by simply absenting yourself from widely recognised tenets of the Christian faith and still call yourself Christian. Here I point simply to your chosen gay lifestyle and actively homosexual relationship, which for most purposes as a non believer I find quite acceptable, but for someone like you who professes the Christian message and values, surely it seems rather like jettisoning that which is not convenient and living a life that is clearly in contraction to the Christian faith and tradition that you profess ? Sorry to call you out on this, because I admire much of what you do and say, but you will see that it is an obvious gap in the consistency and credibility of your position ?
I respect both your opinion and your right to express it here.
I was born into an UNTHINKING faith.
My faith evolved into a THINKING faith.
That involved distinguishing between BASIC Christianity and ACCRUED Christianity.
It also involved using ones informed conscience to look at Jesus, Scripture, doctrine etc.
I do not see any contradiction between my current lifestyle (whatever that means) and my faith and ministry.
And I’m sure I have committed all the sins, I’m sure, including the sin of hypocrisy.
But as Oscar Wilde said: “There is no such a thing as an original sin. They’ve all being done before” 😀
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+ Pat, what you have really done is interpret the Christian faith you were born in to and the tradition and teaching that you accepted when you were ordained, in to something that is more convenient and favourable to you now. I would be easier with you if you had quite clearly made a break and established something that did not have as its foundation something that you then decided conveniently to jettison. It’s a question of consistency and honesty. If those are not there, then what invades is hypocrisy. What you might have created, I don’t know. That is for you to decide. But what you have concocted at present I think is perfectly open to criticism in the interests for openness, transparency, honesty and consistency. I don’t think you can in all conscience call yourself a Christian if you conveniently bypass a whole swathe of teaching, in this case moral and sexual, because it no longer suits you. You seem to have kept what suits you, and got rid of what doesn’t suit you, by your own calculation. That seems just a bit too self-serving and opportunistic. It is, in fact, what Purcell and co are doing as well, although they tend to be a bit more closeted than you. I really don’t intend to be horrible to you here, but I think it is important to test and examine what people of religion say and do. In your presentation there is inconsistency and hypocrisy. Just saying….
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Today, you accuse me of not being a Christian and of being a hypocrite.
We will just have to let Jesus judge me.
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9.30
To Pat’s interlocutor:
You conclude Pat is a hypocrite because his position on same-sex relations is different from those of Christian churches.
Yours is not the only possible interpretation of Pat’s situation, nor, I suggest, the most accurate one.
Alternatively, official church positions on same-sex relations are wrong. Many theologians, ethicists and ordinary Christians believe so.
So, Pat’s positions may be said to point the way ahead for Christian churches.
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Who can call themselves a Christian? Everyone receives a different message and have different opinions based on their own life experiences, and possibly instincts.
The majority agree that killing is wrong. Despite this, many people today worryingly support the murder of unborn children. A politician who openly supports the murder of unborn children suggested it has made Ireland a more caring and compassionate society.
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11.02
A well-made argument, Seamus. But an inconvenient one for many, re abortion.
If you cannot love an unborn child, then you can never achieve the degree of love to which God calls each of us.
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I love it when the cathbots bring the non issue of abortion into every argument as their way to suggest everyone else is terrible. 😂
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6.22
You ought to be familiar with the practice of reducing everything to a single issue since that is how you operate, only in your case it’s the crime of child sexual abuse.
To employ such a modus operandi ultimately means you have no concern for the victims, current and historical.
You use their suffering as a means to an end, your end.
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Thank you @ 8:12 for an intelligent sensible contribution. Irrespective of the extent or otherwise to which I agree with your observation I appreciate reasoned comments as a pointfor debate.
As this blog all too often degrades into infantile tittle tattle of clerical bitchfest I become less inclined to participate. [How does one relate to someone persistently commenting on table legs, sex and chocolate!!!?]
I do agree there is much hypocrisy in religion, along with inconsistency and irrationality.
But sure it’s all 👍 okay: it’s a mystery!
MMM
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MMM, there is no such thing as an athiest. Atheism is not only illogical; it’s impossible.
All atheists believe that love exists, and, as God is love, then no ‘atheist’ can sensibly proclaim himself a denier of God’s existence, because he would be denying what he already believes exist. Logical fallacy.
Believers, and so-called ‘atheists’, differ only insofar as the nature of love, but not its reality: its existence.
By George, I think I’ve cracked it! (Someone pat me on the back.)
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Anon@ 1:51: you seem to misunderstand atheism.
An atheist makes no assertion as a fact that God, or gods do NOT exist.
An atheist says that he or she sees no reliable objective evidence for the existence of God. In doing that, he/she agrees with the weight of evidence, scientific and otherwise, and invites “believers ” to provide such evidence.
As I’ve commented earlier, but has not (yet?) been posted: I believe God or gods, are human wishful projection capitalised on by religion, especially the RCC with its pronouncements, hierarchical institutions, vestments, ….and silly hats!
MMM
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MMM, there is more than one way of asserting something as factual other than saying it. I believe you’ve gone way beyond your claim of intellectual neutrality on the God-issue. If this weren’t so, then you wouldn’t, here, soff at Theism (Christianity, in particular) and scorn its believers. The fact that you have done both on occasion suggests that you do indeed consider that God (or gods) do not exist, as a matter of fact.
Consider this. The body dies, but what happens to the non-corporeal parts of a human being? Such abstract qualities as kindness and compassion? In a word, love. They cannot die, precisely because they are not corporeal. And, yet, they do exist. So, if these qualities have existence independently of the body (and they do), what happens to them after physical death? They do have existence; we both can agree on this. So, what (if anything) ends their existence? It cannot be physical death, since these qualities are not physical.
Abstract human qualities + human death =
What, MMM?
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@ 4:57: Perhaps Ash Wednesday’s phrase answers your question.
“Momento homo, quite pulvis es et in pulveram reverteris”
‘Cos that’s it. What’s left is dust, nothing more.
The abstract quality you refer to, love, is an evolutionary derived trait perpetuating mutually useful preservation. Nothing more ,….or less.
And YOUR proof for the existence of a supreme all powerful loving God who selectively chooses who dies of cancer or manages to live through a cataclysmic disaster………is?
MMM
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Mourneman, what you describe for people like you is a generic atheistic agnosticism. But the curated “evidence” including body theology is a projection by popes aimed at inducing sexual hangups in the young with their playful WJD, and playful chaplaincy, and playful seminary, now that there aren’t takers for “confession”, but they must be made convinced that there is no access to any worthwhile God except through said popes, by means of the now redundant sacramental system, the highest speciality they can think of.
I’ve been in parts of my country where I saw enough different changes in doctrines that, to admit seeing them, amounts to treason in the eyes of the diplomatic power. There is no trust in providential gifts in ordinary people. By dumbing down then overspecifying, the hangers on of popes have destroyed trust, between one ordinary person and the next, let alone between any of them and their padre (or an occasional good bishop), or especially a real God.
So if pope Tagle soon says it’s a sexual free for all for all to avoid annoying clergy, or if commerce and government adopt body theology to keep the “catholic schools” on board, it will make no difference to the level of trust among anyone. And an insatiable demand for expensively “trained” clergy to be transferred to quangoes and movements to constantly rewrite and re-rewrite catechisms, canon laws, ceremony rubrics etc.
At least Bp Pat is outside that whole system. The evidence you requested is given at length on every day’s blog and similar blogs. Derisory (in meaning) I call it. You felt the reality in the wind when you made your change of course.
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6.45
MMM, you have just intellectually snared yourself for a second time by ignoring the very empirical principle you stated earlier: that atheists do not make statements of fact about such things as the existence or non-existence of God without reliable, objective evidence.
How can you say categorically, without such evidence, that human beings end up as dust after death, and only as dust? Have you, in fact, reliable, objective evidence for such an extravagant statement? I’d love to see it.
Abstract qualities (like compassion, care, kindness, and all the rest), cannot become dust, because they cannot suffer corporeal death. They do exist, though, and even you cannot deny this truth. So, where do they go after death. What happens to them? You dodged this question completely. Not a good look for a committed atheist.
It really doesnt matter whether love is considered an evolutionary trait; the point is it has existence independently of the physical body. It is a personal trait, not a corporeal one. Like love, personhood cannot die either, since it, too, is not subject to corporeal death.
These qualities, the good AND the bad, constitute the human soul: personhood. They survive corporeal death, because they are not themselves corporeal.
By the way, raising that separate issue about God, and human suffering, was a strawman, and an intellectual own-goal. Two logical fallacies, together. Neither of which can answer the pertinent question I asked you, about those qualities, their objective existence, and their not being subject to corporeal death. So, I’ll ask it again:
Where do these qualities, which cannot suffer physical death (and must, therefore, survive it) go once the physical body is pronounced clinically dead?
Don’t be like those commenters you triumphantly claim don’t answer your questions about evidence for the existence of God. So, answer mine, sensibly this time. You wouldn’t want to look as clueless as you believe those others to be, would you?
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@9:02.
I do not feel obliged to answer/disprove the assertions you make. They make no sense to me, such as when you assert that an emotional reaction called “love” somehow “exists” as an entity after the ‘loving person’ dies, and that the continuation of such “loving existence” provides evidence for a deity/Creator/Jesus, or whatever form of supernatural existence you believe in. Feel free to continue in your beliefs. Maybe I’ll share some of them when you are able to provide some coherent evidence.
Meanwhile I continue to marvel at scientific discovery of universes thousands of light years from Earth. I wonder if “love” has some significant part to play in their, and our, continuing passage through time?
TIME?………Now that opens up a whole new dimension of questions!
MMM
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6:45
So, mournful Mick,team-leader, good without God brigade, is proficient in latin! Mick, who do you say I am…?
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@ 7:55: My memories of studying Latin are verrry rusty! So I failed to see the auto-correct of ‘quia’ to ‘quite’. And you didn’t correct me……..
Mr Dumb Dumb Dolittle. Shame!
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11:02
Mournful, as a former team leader social services in GB, you have little or nothing to say on child sexual abuse, which I find very peculiar, very odd, and shameful. Have you any practice wisdom to share? Any comment on social workers role as ‘soft cops’. Your obsession seems to be proof for the existence of God? Might this obsession be age related…? Just askin’, like…
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8.12: Excellent and a very prescient commentary. I profess a Christian Carholic faith and make no apologies but I also see the many obvious contradictions and hypocrisy – including my own – within those of any faith. We work within our humanity, its imperfections, limitations, vulnerabilities and sinfulness, therefore we will fail the ultimate test of our proclaimed faith in Christ. Thus, for all Christians, there is need for daily renewal of faith, prayer and understanding of Christian living. However imperfect our religious faith may be, when I look within my community the people who are always caring for others and who build up their community are mostly people who attend our Church. It inspires me that their faith urges them to be servants of one another. We are not perfect but must ensure to emulate Jesus Christ. Its good nevertheless to allow our perceptions to be challenged as 8.12 has done.
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Did Jesus forbid a loving sexual relationship ? Jesus forbid sexual relationship which are selfish and remain full of lust and not develop into a loving relationship. Many people are born homosexual and it is a crime for them to pretend they are heterosexual when their body is telling them they are gay.
A loving sexual relationship is very healthy for body and mind. People born asexual can live a fulfilling life being celibate but the problem arises when so called celibates live a suppressed sexual live and all the problems that arises from that. Perhaps Jesus is calling gay men to the priesthood to do his valuable work of bringing us to a christian life.
Fr Peter McVerry said that he could only do Gods work by being a celibate and would not be able to do what he does if he was in a married relationship with a family.
Time for serious talk about the strong human emotion of sexuality.
Also what is the difference between a gay relationship and a hetero sexual relationship that uses contraceptives to deny life. It could be argued that contraceptives also murder life by denying life.
Oh the hypocrasy indeed.
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That is a wonderful sermon.
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It amazes me how seemingly very intelligent men, are taken in by this fantasy book and actually believe it happened. That’s not faith to me, it’s sheer stupidity. Hiding behind a fantasy book as cover for your homosexuality.
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I am not hiding behind anything. My sexual orientation has been the public domain for quarter if a century.
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Not you in particular – but it resonates with the majority of other clergy.
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9.00: But you miss the point of comment at 9.56: despite you making your decision you still embrace a religious faith – Catholicism – and you embrace all its riruals and mass and sacraments. You therefore act out of a religious framework which I believe is admiable and worthy. Yet, any religious framework is full of contradictions and moral strictures that often causes great conflict, confusion, burdens and shame. I subscribe to a religious faith but I can appreciate the observation about religious adherents being full of hypocrisy and a cause of division. If we truly belong to – and believe the gospel message of Jesus without all the added bits and pieces, we’d be dressed today in the robes of our Saviour, bent down in real service with no material trappings of any kind. Therein lies the real challenge but also the inherent contradictions of all who say “yes” but whose lives fall very far short of the Master Servant we profess to imitate. Yes, our humanity is broken but we are still a little too shabby in true commitment to Christ.
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8.58
A fantasy book? The Bible? What’s fantastical about love? Love exists, right? So, it can’t be a fantasy. Moreover, there are degrees of love. Yes?
See? We are already on common ground. You the atheist; me the believer. The gap is closing already. Isn’t it exciting?
The only difference between you and me is that I go a little further: I believe that love, in its highest degree, has perfect form, and that it has even a name: Jesus, the Christ. And this day, we commemorate how far he was prepared to go for you, for me, and for everyone else.
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12:19, you say that ‘love has perfect form’ etc. How do you define and describe this concept? Does ‘hate’ have a perfect….. or imperfect form?…….Oul Nick perhaps?
And what about other human emotions, …..envy, covetousness, pride etc?
I can’t see much logic or intellectual rigour in your assertion but maybe you could help me understand?
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Not all truth requires intellectual rigour, either to undestand it, or to express it to others. Even divine truths can be simple to understand. The genius is in their very simplicity.
There are degrees of love. Love simply isn’t love, anymore than one piece of art, or literature, or science is the same as all the others. We can know this about love from our own experiences of expressing it. We know that sometimes loving can call for greater effort or sacrifice from us than on other occasions. This means that there is a hierarchy of love, which, in turn, means that somewhere there is a pinnacle of love: its highest and greatest degree.
If we are honest, we know that we do not love perfectly, but logic tells us that there must, nevertheless, be somewhere, or in someone, that elusive degree of love that we know is perfect.
If this degree of love is perfect, then it must have perfect knowledge and understanding of what it is to be love of such quality. It must, therefore, have intelligence and creativity, too, for without these it could neither know nor understand what perfect love is. Thus, perfect love must have perfect form. Judeo-Christian tradition calls this degree of love and form ‘God’.
We know, even in the abstract, that this highest and perfect manifestation of love must exist, for everything that is good and that exists in our world is a degree of its highest and perfect form.
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1:14: frankly the assumptions involved in your tautological verbal gymnastics amaze me! I think I need to lie down in a dark room after reading them!
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I liked that painting white and red symbolism as it’s abstract. Did art in my state exams but I never liked it except for history of art. But now I grew to like some bit of art there since my visit to famous NYC art museum.
Its funny over few decades that my dislike of art has changed to some bit of respect towards art itself. 😉
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Deaf Guy why don’t you wean yourself off this blog and move to Amsterdam
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anon at 9.41am
LOLOL why Amsterdam?
Will be gone by end of this year as i reliased my interests lay elsewhere.
btw, received whatsapp message from a mate in Thailand as he is in Pattaya for 7 weeks. He was trying to wind me up
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9:41am Why don’t you stop telling people what to do.
DF is a valued online community member.
And what’s he supposed to do in Amsterdam, anyway? Dance in a window?
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5:54 Deaf Guy provides invaluable insight into his experiences in the deaf school, the Holy Ones want to shut him up and hope he won’t post on the blog if he moves to Thailand.
The Holy Ones & their cohorts don’t change their spots, zero remorse, they want to carry on their evil two faced lifestyles and they want the sheep to cough up and shut up.
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Good Friday, what the hell is going on here? There’s nothing good about Friday or any other day for that reason, my life is in tatters and you are harping on about good days, awk come of it darling
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11.30: Deaf Guy – you ask why Ansterdam? You’d be be well at home with the tulips and hookers along the strips!!!
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Majella at 1.43pm
Lolol.
Never been to Amsterdam City except for few hours walkabout at Schipol Airport on transit to other places few times.
Yes I have heard about hookers, cannabis from friends who went there 10 years ago. They didn’t return but some funny stories there re deaf man from wealthy family and a hooker which had me in stitches, 🤣.
Amsterdam was just one off re my friends but more frequent trips to exotic countries in far Asia.
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No need to go all the way to Amsterdam, Majella, there’s hookers, drugs and all kinds of tulips in urban and rural Ireland.
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A cathbot homily for Good Friday.
Today is the day when Jesus was silent against his accusers so stop telling the truth about us.
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Jeysus doesn’t exist
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Today is my mums 10th anniversary and it has just flew past our Pat. Heading to the felons later and I’m glad the laws have all changed now and our bars don’t have to close early anymore because of the DUP. Happy Easter ya all
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I lost my mum 24 years ago, she left us with dad and run off with a woman to England. I think that scenario has nearly been worse than her dying. Knowing she is out there somewhere and just doesn’t care about us is worse than her being dead. Death would be closure
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Sorry you’ve had to live with such pain. Your mother betrayed you all.
There is no greater pain that that caused by someone who should treasure you above all else.
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I did not have sex with that chocolate! And I do not eat tables!
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Happy Easter Pat, may the Lord bless you and Eduardo at this sacred time. Just been discharged from the mental health unit in City Hospital and today is the start of my new life.
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Hi Michael, take it one day at a time. Take things slowly, yeh, and please keep in touch on the blog.
Just a kind suggestion: do you like pets? Adopting a cat was the best decision I ever made in my situation (she got pregnant to an alley cat and now I have two).
Cats, and dogs, bring so much healing and comfort. And they’re better company than most humans. I kid you not.
God bless x
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How can Fr. Tom Deenihan and Fr. Paul Connell preach the gospel on this Good Friday as they continue their persecution of Dom Benedict Andersen? How can Pope Francis preach the gospel on this Good Friday after his erroneous episcopal appointment of Fr. Paul Connell?
“Andersen said he had spoken to Deenihan a few months before, in February 2020, about some of his concerns in the monastery. He even said he was thinking about leaving. He said Deenihan had made him feel like the problems were his to solve.”
Fr. Tom Pontius Pilate Deenihan trying to wash his hands of episcopal responsibility. When episcopal responsibility and integrity is clearly beyond Fr. Tom Deenihan, he should resign from episcopal office. When episcopal responsibility and integrity is clearly beyond Fr. Paul Connell, he should not be appointed to episcopal office.
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10.08: Seamus: Your obsession needs to be addressed seriously. You are condemning others all the time. On this Good Friday, listen carefully yourself to the Passion Narrative. Stop continually judging and condemning. Listen to Jesus.
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11:06, Fr. Tom Deenihan and Fr. Paul Connell have persecuted Dom Benedict Andersen. Why are you turning a blind eye to this scandal? How can they possibly preach the gospel on this Good Friday?
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Reply to; seamusviiisays:
Apr 7, 2023 at 12:10 pm
Seamus ignore your detractors, if you believe that Benedictine monk, Dom Benedict Andersen the co-founder of Silverstream Roman Catholic Priory in Stramullen, has been wronged, as long as Pat agrees, never give up on this blog and elsewhere, it is all too easy to diminish, forget, as time goes on, that this man in your opinion was pushed out.
Benedict’s rules, POVERTY, CHASTITY, AND OBEDIENCE, not much of that at Silverstream, from what we read.
Thankfully there are people like you, who fight for those who are persecuted. Keep it up.
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11.05: As soon as I see Seamus’s name, I close my eyes and rhyme off his verbiage. It’s repetitive and most ridiculous at thus stage. Seam6s still hasn’t told us if ge gas materially helped his fried, Dom B or if he has asked him to visit for a break or if he has personally approached Bishop Deenihan by calling, by email or by letter. When Seamus answers these questions his blathering here is all faux outrage.
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While I admire Seamus’ ostensible tenacity it is all words and not backed up by action. Seamus have you
Written a letter to Tom Deenihan outlining your concerns?
Asked to meet Tom Deenihan to discuss Dom Benedict?
Provided material assistance to Dom Benedict?
If the answer to these are no then please give it a rest.
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I do the same with Dead Guy and MMM, that insufferable bore.
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Anon at 1.07pm
I will be gone from this blog at end of year.
Are u happy now?
Good Friday pontius pilate present 😃
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@ 4:09
Why don’t you take a slow boat to China…
You might bump into shanghai lily…
Go, now.
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There is no smoke without fire. There is no hypocrisy without scandal. Upon the announcement of an episcopal appointment it must be ascertained has there been a scandal and has someone been adept at minimising the scandal?
If Fr. Paul Connell had supported Dom Benedict Andersen, would he have been appointed this week?
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Seamus refer to my comment above. Have you lifted your arse to help Dom Benedict?
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12.44: Why wait till the end of the year, Deaf Guy? WHY…Go now on your way.
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12:39, quod scripsi, scripsi.
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Seamus, there is no point, whatsoever, writing to Fr. Deenihan. Write to Pope Francis!
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Reply to;Anonymoussays:
Apr 7, 2023 at 10:20 am 9.38
If that is what it takes to convince you of the horrific sexual abuse of Roman Catholic children & minors, have a look at the following, especially number one, with names and dates of sexual predator Roman Catholic priest.
Remember those are the names of the KNOWN sex abuser Catholic clerics, & same for those sexually abused, there will be many in Maryland who have never come forward, many will be dead. God alone knows what the exact number really is.
It is certainly appropriate on this Good Friday to have a doubting Thomas.
John 20:25
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
1)List of Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sexual Abuse
the Archdiocese of Baltimore
https://www.archbalt.org › Child and Youth Protection 2 Feb 2023
2)Redacted report detailing years of abuse in Maryland Catholic Church released0:12 / 1:35 WJZ
117K subscRead the full redacted report on sex abuse in Baltimore
3)Archdiocese released by AG’s Office
baltimore; BY CBS BALTIMORE STAFF UPDATED ON: APRIL 5, 2023 / 2:14 PM / CBS BALTIMORE
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12.39: Monsignor Toddus: Seamus gas no intention of moving beyond his laptop mouthing. He runs into hiding when challenged about the practical support, help or assistance he should give. Seamus is just a coward.
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Dear Bishop Pat Buckley,
I am writing to you today to express my support for Abbot Richard Purcell, who has recently been the subject of criticism and negative commentary from some members of the Catholic community.
As an independent bishop, I believe that it is important to stand up for those who are being unfairly attacked or maligned, and I believe that Abbot Purcell is a dedicated and inspiring leader who has made significant contributions to the Church.
I understand that there may be disagreements among Catholics about certain issues or teachings, but I believe that we must always treat each other with respect and charity, even when we have differences of opinion. It is not productive or helpful to attack or vilify those with whom we disagree, and I believe that such behavior is contrary to the spirit of Christ’s teachings.
Abbot Purcell has dedicated his life to serving the Church and has shown himself to be a thoughtful, compassionate, and wise leader. I have personally been inspired by his example and have learned much from his writings and teachings. I believe that he is a gift to the Church and that we are fortunate to have him as a member of our community.
I urge you and others in the Catholic community to treat Abbot Purcell with the respect and dignity that he deserves, and to engage in constructive dialogue and debate on issues of importance to the Church. May we always strive to build up the Church and promote the Gospel message of love, mercy, and justice
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Go on: admit it. You’re a wind-up merchant.
Abbot Purcell has made a significant contribution to the Church? A-hah, hah, hah 😂
Sorry. 😥 That was rude.
Yes, he has indeed made such a contribution, but it’s just not quantifiable: God knows how much damage his sexual jollies have done to the Faith. And if even God doesn’t know, then that contribution is more than significant; it’s bloody colossal! 😗
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Has to be a piss take
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12.39
‘As an independent bishop, I believe…’
Excuse me, but are you an independent bishop as well as Pat?
Well, I never!
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Commentator 12: 39 has clearly never met the mostly elderly Cistercian monks who have suffered under him as Abbot of both Roscrea and Mount Mellary. He was rude and dismissive of them and lorded it over them. All this while he spent huge amounts of time outside the monasteries. He kicked up a great time, vino, meat eating, gay saunas.. all the high life -totally anathema to the ‘Strict Observance of OCSO’. Even in the monastery it was one rule for the lord abbot and another rule for everybody else. so engaging in constructive dialogue is not really the solution. He should be shown the road and go and live an honest life for a change. His legacy will be an empty Mellary and Roscrea. both will be 5* hotels..
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2:07
Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are
It’s long been acknowledged that Abbot Purcell and his senior level colleagues who support him are an arrogant bunch.
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Has Abbot Dick Purcell replaced that refractory table yet?
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It doesn’t need replaced sure he came inside Dargan, hence the nickname, bareback Purcell
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A monk with a pierced penis should hardly be regarded in a positive way
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This comment is in church speak so every statement should be understood to indicate the opposite is the fact.
Cf the Vatican making out JP2 didn’t have Parkinson’s.
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12:39: You failed to mention lust,why so?
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Not many comments for this time of day. Seems the Bad News (clerical scandals) will always eclipse the Good News (the gift of salvation).
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I found Bishop Barron’s homily weird.
Looking prayerfully at the crucified Christ, I’m not facing fear; I’m facing Love, which overcomes all fear, because it is stronger than all fear.
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Pat, I posted you a comment on love, but it hasn’t appeared. I’m not sure I can remember it, but it was a response to the commenter who said he couldn’t believe that intelligent people would believe a ‘fantasy’ book like the Bible.
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I love my boyfriend and he doesn’t love me so how is there a God?
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God cannot MAKE anyone fall in love with another. If he could, he would make us all fall in love with him. And if he did, we simply wouldn’t be human.
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The Crucifixion painting by Weyden is awful. It looks like Jesus has been hung on a kitchen wall, and those figures on either side of the Cross (presumably Mary and John) look like they’re more concerned with the damage done to the tiles than anything else.
And why are Mary and John in white? To symbolise purity? Innocence? (Or just high fashion, maybe. )
John wasn’t innocent: he fled Gethsemane buck naked. As the Yanks would say, “he high-tailed it outta there!” What a memory for Jesus: the sight of a cowardly backside bobbing about as it receded into the distant yonder.
Horrible painting.
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2.21
You need to read the gospels more closely and to stop reading i to them.
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2.21
You’d have preferred a warmer, more intimate crucifixion, ar perhaps, more of a baroque scene.
I believe in ‘De gustibus non disputandum.’ But in your case, all your taste is in your mouth. No historical awareness on your part of the significance of 14th century colour. All you have offered is a spontaneous, highly subjective, hysterical reaction.
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Several comments here today by people telling Seamus to help Dom Benedict. how would someone even get into contact with DB to offer support, moral or material?
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The point wasn’t to get him to help Dom Benedict, of course.
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Of course not, 5:16 pm, Seamus’s interlocutors are almost certainly Deenihan or Silverstream stooges … but it’s not a bad idea to ask how someone might be able to help DB
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There are questions that Fr Shammy needs to answer.
1) Where is Dom Benedict?
2) Has Fr Shammy been in contact with DB?
3) Has Fr Shammy written to or visited Bishop Deenihan to complain?
4) Why has DB not made a statement? That statement could be made through this blog. I am sure PB would be very accomodating.
I think if these questions were answered people might be a bit more understanding. The use of the word gangster is highly derogatory.
Fr Shammy can be compared to W Mulvihill. Boring, raving and obsessive.
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Wow! Tom’s little buddies are active even on Good Friday!
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8.48
Keep it up, Seamus. Your campaign is having some effect.
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This is the first Good Friday I have experienced since leaving the Roman Catholic Religion for a Bible Based Christian Church. A really beautiful exposition of the seven last words of Christ followed by a members only sharing of the Lord’s Supper. It has moved me to get baptised (believers baptism) after Resurrection Sunday. Thank you Pat for leading me out of the Roman Cult and to Christianity.
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LOL I love the way RC trolls on here try to talk about other denominations and get it wrong because they’ve never left their own little enclave. 😂
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7.08: Good for you. Hope you’ll ve happy. BUT – don’t condemn everyone. All this week so far in our ceremonies our church was packed with true Christians and genuine believers. They’re not part of any cult. Neither am I and I’m grateful to God for his manifestations of love through the people of grace I encounter, along with religious and fellow colleagues, in our parish community every day. I wouldn’t becso arrogant or self righteous as to judge their faith or ommitment to God. Wait till your new found community is exposed, like all other religious groupings….for its improprieties, if such hasn’t already begun!! Its the pattern of all religious groupings.
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11:08 ‘true Christians’
Nice to see you can read the inner disposition of everybody there.
Shouldn’t you have been concentrating on the liturgy, though.
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If you abuse in any form an innocent child or a vulnerable adult and destroy their life even to the point of suicide then you too can never understand the meaning of Gods love.
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Bishop Barron and World on Fire can seem like a marketing gimmick, but a well done message for this most holy of days. His efforts as a diocesan bishop seem so far to be well thought and generous.
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10.51
Not a view shared by everyone.
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Agree – shallow self promotion
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10:33pm it’s all PR gurus in the Roman Catholic Church these days.
So much money spent on media and public relations experts all geared to gloss over and attempt to justify their indefensible decades of ongoing ill treatment and abuse of victims and survivors.
Meanwhile the RCC employs every trick imaginable to deny justice and compensation to ageing victims, thus deliberately and maliciously retraumatising these victims on an ongoing basis.
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The WoF stuff like Bibles and Office is done to a very high standard, but perhaps it can seem overly slick, but it’s good stuff and very worthwhile if someone wants to continue a Family Bible tradition with a contemporary translation. As to his diocesan efforts, some decisions a bishop makes will make many happy and enrage some or the reverse. I don’t think it can be helped.
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