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Gerard Condon Religious Literacy Nihal Abeyasingha Amoris Laetitia Gerard Condon Religious Literacy Nihal Abeyasingha Number 3 Amoris Laetitia and Pastoral Discernment WE REMEMBER MAYNOOTH A College Across Four Centuries Gareth Byrne Volume LXXII Volume Bernadette Sweetman Edited by Salvador Ryan and John-Paul Sheridan Responses of Clergy and Hardback 512pp. Illustrated throughout Lay People to Covid-19 Price: €50 The Furrow Robert Egan To mark its 225th anniversary, this beautifully- Voting and Conscience presented volume captures an institution that has held a singular place in modern Irish Church history. Aloysius Gonzaga Lumala With contributions by current and former faculty African Reconciliatory and alumni, including Eamon Martin, Theology Mary O’Rourke, Frank McGuinness, Susan McKenna-Lawlor and Liam Lawton, Michael G. Lawler March 2021 among many others. Todd A. Salzman A truly special gift for anyone who has passed The Jesus we Believe in through Maynooth’s hallowed halls! was Right Brained ORDER NOW: W: www.messenger.ie | T: +353 1 775 8522 March 2021 Available in all good bookshops €4.50 (inc. VAT) Volunteer Priests Needed My name is Brian Kavanagh and I was ordained in 1992 (Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin). I work part-time in the Parish of Allen and in the Marriage Appeal Tribunal in Maynooth, Co. Kildare. I am also an accredited counsellor with NAPCP and work with ACCORD marriage counselling services. I am in the third year of a Masters in Psychotherapy in Dublin City University. This year I am required to conduct research and complete a thesis. My research ‘aims to explore the experiences of priests in their counselling role in light of their seminary formation’. I NEED VOLUNTEERS! I would like to invite Priests ordained since the year 2016 to participate. Your engagement will involve an interview and your anonymity and confidentiality will be guaranteed. Your participation will Resources for Lent from Trócaire be greatly appreciated. LENT RESOURCES FOR PARISHES FROM TRÓCAIRE ARE AVAILABLE ON THE FOLLOWING LINK https://www.trocaire.org/our-work/working-in-ireland/parishes/resources/ Please contact me on 087 6162675 These include: if you are willing to assist me in my research project. (1) Lent Parish Resource – exploring the work of Trócaire in South Sudan (2) Lent Stations of the Cross Many thanks. (3) Homilies for Lent Brian (4) Exploring the Sunday Gospels with Children For more information on the resources and Lent parish webinars during February and March please contact: [email protected] Volume 72 Number 3 March 2021 –––––––––––––––––––– The–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Furrow Articles Gerard Condon Religious Literacy: Lessons 131 from the Pandemic Nihal Abeyasingha Amoris Laetitia and Pastoral 139 Discernment Gareth Byrne/ Responses of Clergy and Lay 147 Bernadette Sweetman People to the Covid-19 crisis Robert Egan Voting and Conscience 154 Aloysius Gonzaga Lumala How African Reconciliatory 161 Theology can Enrich the Sacrament of Penance Michael G. Lawler The Jesus we Believe in was 168 Todd A. Salzman Right-Brained: “Go and Do Likewise” Liam Kelly, O.F.M. Homilies for April (B) 176 News and Views Vincent McBrierty The Sign of the Cross 180 Christopher Garrett Covid-19, Immunity and 181 Religion. Letter to the Editor 183 New Books Niall Coll Women’s Ordination in the 187 Catholic Church P.J. McAuliffe A Calvary Covenant/Hearers 188 of the Word Michael Collins The Eagle, The Tiger and 189 Covid Séan Corkery Paradise 190 Pól Ó Duibhir No Complaints 191 ISSN 0016-3120 © The Furrow Trust The Furrow –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A pastoral monthly founded 1950. The motif on the cover of The Furrow is from Jeremiah 4:3, which reads in the Vulgate: Novate vobis novale Et nolite serere super spinas. Yours to drive a new furrow, Nor sow any longer among the briers. Editor: Pádraig Corkery, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. E-mail: [email protected] (for editorial enquiries, typescripts etc). Rates: Single copy €4.50 (plus VAT 37c and postage: Rep. of Ireland €2/Elsewhere €2.90). Annual Subscription: Republic of Ireland €75.00. Northern Ireland and Great Britian Stg£70.00/€75.00. Foreign: €90.00/$106/Stg£84.00. Student rate €50.00/$56.00/Stg£46.00. If you wish to avail of our online subscription please follow this link: https://thefurrow.ie/register/ Subscriptions are payable in advance to the Secretary, The Furrow, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Telephone (01) 7083741; Fax (01) 7083908 (Codes: National 01; International +353-1). E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.thefurrow.ie. Subscriptions can be paid by cheque or online through The Furrow website. Single articles can be purchased and downloaded from our website: www.thefurrow.ie. Back numbers and advertising rates available from the Secretary. The Furrow’s bank is the Allied Irish Bank, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Bank Giro Code No. 93–32–01. Back issues of The Furrow are available on microfilm from: ProQuest Information & Learning Co., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, U.S.A., and JSTOR. The Furrow is published by The Furrow Trust and edited at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. The views expressed in its pages are in no way attributable to the College authorities. The Furrow is printed in the Republic of Ireland at Naas Printing Ltd., Naas, Co. Kildare. _____ 130 Religious Literacy: Lessons from the Pandemic Gerard Condon Why do so many Irish Catholics know so little about their faith? While literacy in most spheres of life has blossomed, thanks to the information revolution, knowledge about religion has evidently declined in recent decades. That’s despite the fourteen years of Religious Education (RE) provided by schools, and the many opportunities for adult faith-formation offered by the Church, even if few these are taken up. It is poignant for Church leaders to notice the enthusiasm (from, “en Theos”, literally, “within God”) of the confirmandi on Confirmation Day, only to see that attitude, and the accompanying knowledge, whittled away over the following years. Like forgetting how to calculate long-division, the religious knowledge and skills acquired at school are easily forgotten in the absence of a living contact with the Church. The trend is likely to have accelerated over the past year, as the Covid-19 restrictions have diminished the visibility of the Church, to all but her most committed members. a world devoid of mystery The effects of religious illiteracy are arguably as detrimental for society as they are for the Church. In the absence of religion, human experience loses its transcendental dimension. The wonder and awe of a life consciously lived in God’s presence is replaced by the lesser deities of shopping, fitness and entertainment. A world without God gradually loses its reverence and sense of the sacred in all of creation. It might, one day, become indifferent towards the weak and the vulnerable. Religious literacy promotes accurate information about the Church’s beliefs and practices. In its absence, society’s religious knowledge is reduced to outmoded and mildly offensive Gerard Condon, is a priest of the Diocese of Cloyne and a Diocesan Adviser for Religious Education. Address: Teach Paróiste, Ballygriffin, Killavullen, Co. Cork. This article is based on a contribution to a colloquium on religious literacy at the Loyola Institute, Dublin. _____ 131 THE FURROW stereotypes. For many Irish people today, the image of the Catholic Church is derived from media reports of its abuse scandals and its caricatures in TV programmes like Fr Ted and Mrs Brown’s Boys. pharisaical concerns For the parish priest, the signs of reduced religious knowledge are more mundane. They are disguised by decades of socio-religious muscle memory. Baptisms, marriages and funerals, alongside other family milestones like First Communion and Confirmation, continue to be observed with pride. Our churches look well and the structures of Catholicism are intact, even in those parishes without a resident priest. Our patronage of schools, too, is regarded as a benign influence. But there is a hollowing out of this infrastructure by the secular zeitgeist. For many, if not most Irish Catholics, the role of the Church has been reduced to that of a service provider. In parish ministry, I no longer assume prior knowledge of the liturgical rites when parishioners are planning a baptism, a wedding or a funeral. That lack of knowledge is more profound than say, knowing the name of the oils which the Church uses at a christening, or the river where Jesus was baptised. There is seldom a shared understanding that the infant is being welcomed into a community of faith. Rarely is the invitation accepted, let alone volunteered, to have a baptism included with Sunday Mass. Yet this was the vision (and the provision) of the Second Vatican Council. Instead, the sacrament of welcome is a stand-alone ceremony, essentially a family celebration. At funerals, the role of the eulogy has grown in importance, especially among those Catholics who do not regularly attend church. This reflects the legitimate need to thank God for the deceased’s life and their achievements. But the Order of Christian Funerals emphasises the role of Christ in securing our eternal destiny. For fear of causing offence, I find myself avoiding those prayer options which acknowledge human shortcomings and our need for a divine saviour. The practice of making an offering to the priest for a Mass has also evolved to reflect the reality that most Catholics only attend Church for personally relevant occasions. The Mass stipend used to be a private arrangement between the priest and the donor. Nowadays, the family that “reserves a Mass”, expects it be the publicly stated intention for the entire congregation. This misses the point that the Eucharist is offered on behalf of all the faithful, for the wider Church and for the world.
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