Sunday 16 April 2017

EASTER - EGGS - DEACONS - SAILORS

EASTER AT THE ORATORY, LARNE


PAT'S HOMILY:

"The old Irish people had many old sayings in the old Irish language. One of them goes:

"Nil aon dolas nac bhfuil ina dhiaidh sin a athas fein"

"THERE IS NO SORROW THAT IS NOT FOLLOWED BY ITS OWN JOY!

(Irish experts feel free to correct)

Those old Irish people lived in much harder times than any of us here ever will. 

They had no cars, buses and trains. Their transport was a home made donkey cart pulled by their humble donkey.

They had no milk men or supermarkets. They milked and churned and made butter.

They had no fridges or freezers. They kept the milk on the outside window sill and their bacon hung from the ceiling and had either been salted or smoked.

They fasted from midnight and went to Sunday morning Mass - often walking miles in their bare feet. They supported their priests with a load of turf or hay for his horse.

They had few doctors and relied on old "cures" passed from grandmother to mother to daughter.

Their human pleasures were the glass of buttermilk, the clay pipe, the odd drop of poteen and a Guinness at the odd wake.

But in their poverty and simplicity they kept their spirits up and had something that many people nowadays have lost - they had a massive faith in God - a faith that would put all of us here tonight to shame.

A famous psychologist once said:

HE WHO HAS A REASON TO LIVE - WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO LIVE.

In other words life becomes possible and meaningful when we have SOMETHING or SOMEONE to live for.

A few years ago the British Royal Family had a very bad year. Speaking about it afterwards Queen Elizabeth described it as an Annus Horribilis - a horrible year.

In ways 2017 has been a hard year for some of us here at The Oratory. We lost our beloved member Kate of 25 years standing.

I lost two old friends this year already - one of 44 years and one of 25 years.

Four weeks ago I lost my beloved sister Margaret.

******* lost his beloved grandmother.

****** has seen a return of his serious illness.

If we did not have a reason to go on and a meaning to life the world's darkness could quite easily swallow us up.

The year 27 AD was God's Annus Horribilis.

His son was rejected, humiliated and murdered. 

But God had an answer for his Annus Horribilis - just as he has an answer for all our horrible hours, days, weeks, months and years.

That answer was what we come here tonight to celebrate - the Resurrection of his son from the dead.

And because of that Resurrection:

Death has lost it's power for ever

Sin has lost its power for ever

Sickness has lost its power for ever

Depression and anxiety have lost their powers for ever.

Tonight - whatever is going on in any of our lives God is asking US to make HIM our reason for living.

He is asking us to make HIM our MEANING.

We all know here tonight that EVERYONE and EVERYTHING else has the potential to betray and disappoint us.

But we also KNOW - that no matter how LOW life brings us - just as life brought Jesus as low as the grave - God will lift us up as he lifted HIM up.

And he will do this again and again..............

And he will do it forever.

You will not remember all I have said here tonight.

But I want to leave you with a quote that you will remember.

It is this:

WHEN GOD IS YOUR REASON TO LIVE - YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A REASON TO QUIT.





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THE TELEGRAPH

 Patrick Scott

14 APRIL 2017 • 1:43PM

Jesus doesn't even make the top three when it comes to things Britons associate with Easter, according to a poll by YouGov.



Just 55pc of people said that they personally associate Christ with Easter despite the very obvious fact that the Easter weekend constitutes the biggest event in the Christian calendar.

This makes Jesus the fourth most common Easter associated for people in the UK - behind chocolate Easter eggs(76pc), bank holidays (67pc) and hot cross buns

Among young people Jesus is even less likely to be associated with Easter, with just 44pc of those aged 18-24 and 45pc of those aged 25-49 picking him as an option.

In both of these age groups people were more likely to say that they personally associate the Easter Bunny with Easter than the son of God.



Older age groups were far more likely to think of Jesus when it comes to Easter and there were a number of other big generational divides.

Just three per cent of those aged 18-24 associated simnel cake with Easter while among those aged 65 and above the figures was 29pc.

Hot cross buns were also far more popular with older generations, as were Easter cards and the bank holiday association.

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EASTER MASS - LISTOWEL:

KING PUCK ON ALTAR IN LISTOWEL ( Pic submitted by AO)




GORGEOUS does not seem to have appeared this Easter

BUT - DIARMUID MARTIN will ordain Gorgeous a priest in 6 week's time.

ALL THE NICE BISHOPS LOVE A SAILOR!


RAY BROWNIE will ordain Puck in 6 week's time.

49 comments:

  1. Aside from any bishop ordaining him, how can a primary school principal let him in the door?

    That is where the blog should focus now.

    Bishop Ray Browne is deaf to complaints - he is also of the opinion that anything that happened during Puck's time in Maynooth is outside his jurisdiction as Puck was answerable to the Maynooth authorities at that time. Once Hugh Connolly signed off on him Ray thinks he cannot review that decision so he will not now or ever review it. FACT!

    Wait one generation, many hurt people and more faith-damage before the apology comes from Rat's successor.

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  2. No surprise about people not associating Jesus with Easter.
    Last week I happened across the corner on the top landing where the Muslims go to pray. The chances of finding the Christians doing something similar?

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  3. I loved your Easter homily blog(your own section at the beginning..) It was inspirational.. I hope you have a good Easter and enjoy the things that matter to you. Cecily

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    1. Thank you Cecily. At Easter and Christmas two things matter to me and in this order - doing my best for God / Others and a meal with family / friends.

      I hope that simple but special blessings come your way this Easter x.

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  4. Before or after ordination I am sure these two deacons will still be full of lust for DILFs. There is no known cure.

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  5. What is
    Dilf's

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    1. They're dads you'd like to... well, you know.

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    2. Are these two deacons even gay? What evidence is there to say they are?

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  6. So many people do not associate Christ with Easter because the churches have failed Jesus in their mission to make him known to all: to evangelize.

    The churches have instead made known institutions, in other words, themselves. Their pettiness; their worldliness; their desire to control others' lives; their obsession with human sex; their fear of human sex; their deeper love of money; their desire to be noticed and envied as men rather than as men after Christ; their utter hypocrisy as models of chastity; their abuse of the young and vulnerable; their willingness to ordain as priests candidates they know are ill-suited to the priesthood and who will shortly be set lose among the flock as wolves disguised as shepherds. This is betrayal; this is the mark of Judas. If this is the 'Christ' the churches lament the young not associating Easter with, then thank God for it.

    Christ tells us that he, the Father, and the Holy Spirit dwell as the triune God within each and every one of us. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Jesus said.

    Put him to the test. Spend a little time each day quietly accepting his invitation to meet him at the base of the human heart. There you will find love, not dogma. Not a bundle of theological and doctrinal neuroses.

    Despite the gloomy statistics above in Bishop Pat's blog, every time a person thinks selflessly of another, Christ is present. So the Easter egg you bought for that beloved child of yours, or that spouse or partner of yours, had Christ as its inspiration, even if the name 'Jesus' did not once enter your head, his spirit was in your heart. And which is more important?

    Christ IS associated not just with Easter, but with all our liturgical seasons in ways that the churches and the statiticians would not recognise and acknowledge. Because they associate discipleship with the observance of ritual and liturgy more than the freedom to worship Christ in pure spirit of heart.

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  7. My Easter day started with morning prayer on my own as I was in work and I didn't finish till 11.00am. I arrived in church just as the sermon was starting. The small church was full and the children were over in a corner making Easter Egg pictures and the older ones doing a word search. Two sermons in competition. The babble of excited children on one hand and a sermon of how Jesus conquered sin on the other. My attention varies between the sermon and helping my adapted 3 year old grandchildren twins make their egg collages. The message of the day for me was that the best way to celebrate Easter is to celebrate nurture and protect the gift of Life given us by God. Receiving Communion brought it all together. We are nourished through the grace of the the risen Lord.

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    1. That was nice, Sean!

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    2. The big difference here Sean is that despite receiving Communion it was not Communion within the Catholic Church. Even Bishop Pat Buckley's Communion and Ordination is recognised by the Vatican as valid but illicit. Yours Sean is just totally invalid, your Anglican Ministers are as an Ex Archbishop of Birmingham said once, "They are all laymen dressed up". Dream on.

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    3. But Sean can still validly "confect" the Eucharist due to his valid ordination as a Catholic priest of Elphin diocese.

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    4. No Pat, with all respects to you or your Office, Sean is an apostate that's a real game changer. I would like to think Pat you are not an apostate despite what others accuse you off.

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    5. I treasure my faith and my priesthood.

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    6. 16.07. What can I say Human judgement or the grace of God. We have a church of England curate in our parish who is now an RC Priest. Where is he in the league table of clerical reliance. No one denomination owns the Jesus franchise. Is Christian Unity Week a waste of space. When the Pope wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury following the recent London killings was he writing to a dressed up civilian. Belittling other Christians is a very shaky road to be on given the history of Christianity in the Island of Ireland

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    7. You are an apostate, whatever way you choose to dress it up. When Queen Elizabeth I murdered her Sister and many others because they were Catholic that's history Sunshine. You now belong to that Establishment? Proud are you? Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas More, John Southworth and many more murdered by the Church you now belong too.

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    8. look at all the words here, validity of communion, label of apostate. In this church, in that other church...

      Sad commentary, archaic commentary, outdated theology.

      The Holy Spirit can act through any person in any way that fulfils the will of God. Some people find their fulfilment in expression of Christian faith in the Catholic Church, others in expression of faith in the Anglican Church and others in the expression of faith in the Oratory Society. The small minded will emphasise their small mindedness by focusing on their faith system being the right one. The intelligent amongst us will know that the important thing is that we are all Christians.

      The is only one God. But with the variety of people there will be a variety of valid ways to find God and worship. This is best done without trading insults with brother Christians.

      CR

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    9. @22:13 Cardinal Nicholls when preaching at the re-internment of Richard III reflected on how lucky we are in this age that political differences are settled in a somewhat different manner! Elizabeth I desired not to not make windows on peoples souls, she was a friend of later Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion. Pope whoever it was that excommunicated her and in so doing made every catholic a potential assassin has as much blood on his hands! To defend her monarchy and her realm, she was forced to take this threat seriously and this was taken advantage of by hardline protestants. Thomas More (My patron saint!) if HBO's The Tudors is correct, burnt protestants at the stake, though perhaps he had in mind saving their souls. Many Anglicans as well as Catholics admire his conviction unto death. Did Henry VIII need to put him to death? I doubt it. Thomas would have lived out his life in obscurity I would have thought and I doubt he would have got involved with The Pilgrimage Of Grace failed coup, although the protagonists may have sought his patronage. Actually, I sometimes wonder if they hadn't been deceived of Henry's benevolent intent but kept going, if they might have won and history been very different? Late middle age church reformers like church reformers today, play an important role in the church catholick ongoing discernment of the spirit, though today, for many in the west at least, the cost is not demanded in blood, though this cannot be guaranteed in perpetuity. I wonder at people who believe they have "God In A Box!" Whenever I get too "Certain" God "bowls me a googly" and I am challenged to look again. "What does love dictate in this given situation?"

      I must say though that I hate words like "Apostate" and "Heretic" When I was at Farnborough Abbey we had two oblates from Norfolk come to visit on occasions. One, Rev Jack Jones was a non stipendiary Anglican priest and his friend Peter Hogan, a Roman Catholic lay person who worked at the Walsingham shrine. The Prior, Dom David Higham allowed Fr Jack to celebrate the Eucharist at a side chapel in the crypt. On one occasion I overheard Dom Andrew the scaristant talking to the MC Dom Bede about preparing for "The Heretic's Mass." I said "That's not very nice!" I recall they took a hardline "Orthodox" response which did not alter my opinion. D. Andrew also warned me not to attend! I didn't, but perhaps now wish I had. Peter & Jack entertained myself and a friend years after I left F'bro on a day visit to their home in Norfolk. Lovely pub lunch and trip around various churches and sites of interest. Lovely people demonstrating Christian hospitality and genuine concern (Love) I was moving away from Christianity at the time and I regret not keeping in touch. I have since learnt from a website that Jack died in 1998, I'm not sure about Peter, but his headstone mentions his beloved friend and uses the latin "Cor Et Cor Loquitur" which leads me to conclude that Peter has indeed died also and they are buried together? Help me out latin scholas!

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    10. So it was ok to murder Catholics like at Fotheringay? The Orders of the bastard Queen Elizabeth I as history records her. I'm making an historical point here.

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    11. It's painful and uncomfortable I know, but it's what happened.

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    12. Sean, no hassle.

      It is the mark of the typical Maynooth formed Catholic to start fights with fellow Christians. I am proud to say I disappointed their formation staff by being an actual Christian and listening to the teachings of Christ.

      CR

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  8. Bishop P., is it possible that the majority of people in Kerry diocese are ignorant of the potential danger that this deacon (Jones) poses? If they are, then they are blameless. But if they do know and don't protest his ordination, then they will rightly be criticised, along with Bishop Browne, for permitting the ordination to the priesthood of a candidate so clearly unsuited psycho-sexually as Jones.

    The same applies to the people of Dublin archdiocese if Byrne is ordained, too.

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    1. I admit that I generally hate Magna Carta's views and have been a source of attacking him. I totally agree with him on this point and I'm sorry for perhaps misunderstanding him.

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    2. A good dose of common sense is required here.
      Puck and Gorgeous pose no threat to children......it's time there was a bit of calm where these lads are concerned. They're two young men who are about to be ordained to the priesthood and, yes, maybe they haven't always lived up to their calling......who has? It's time to back off guys. I honestly believe that many of you who post comments about them are secretly attracted to Puck and Gorgeous. Let's wait and see how they get on before rushing to judgment. Most of you would have been right at home on Good Friday as part of the baying mob.

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    3. True, there is no evidence or suggestion they pose a threat to children.

      However, IF what is being alleged about them is true, they MUST NOT be ordained.

      This is no mere matter of "haven't always lived up to their calling". This is about a chosen lifestyle that is in direct contradiction to their "calling".

      In fact, what they are alleged to be engaged in, clearly shows that they do not have a calling from God to be priests.

      There may indeed well be some sort of "calling" taking place - but it is not from God.

      To ordain men who are prowling the internet for promiscuous "unattached" sex is to fly in God's face and to court His Wrath.

      Furthermore, it is alleged that a deacon raped a man at a Church property. This has been reported in the media (Irish Independent) and one of these deacons has been associated with that alleged rape.

      To ordain that man to the priesthood, with that allegation hanging over him and not cleared up, is so shocking that I just cannot believe Diarmuid Martin would that stupid.

      Indeed, if DM were to proceed in these circumstances, it would indicate DM being seriously sexually compromised himself - or mentally ill - either way, unfit for office as Archbishop of Dublin.

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  9. Loved your homily Pat. I really admire the fact that you have never quit in spite of all you have had to put up with over the years. It can't have been easy.My late husband always admired you. I regret that he passed away before I discovered this blog as he would have enjoyed it immensely. Happy Easter .
    AO'D

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    1. Thank you. It has not been easy. But the good Lord has NEVER let me down. Happy Easter x

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  10. May the Risen Christ work on all our hardened hearts.

    Happy Easter Bishop Patrick Buckley illicit or not.

    Jesus didnt say to his apostles go preach the Gospel and Baptise in my name to only the licit Roman Catholics.

    He did how ever say to those disciples who complained to him about others doing things in his name that "they musst be for us not against" I'm sure +Pat you can give the proper quoate.

    It's so sad that there are those who say I'm only for Appollos Christ, I'm only for Pauls Christ, I'm only for Muhammad etc etc. It only seems that they are onky for themselves let face it.

    This is the first time in over 40+ years that I have not been invited to play an active role in the Roman Catholic Easter ceremonies, infact if anything I was left feeling cold and isolated as I stood at the back of the church.

    It was a full house in the Roman church this morning which was nice to see the pews filled for the first time in as many years, but then there was no were else for tgem to go.

    I offered my seat to two youngsters thats why I was standing by the way

    However having reflected all day about how in over 40+ years that it was the first time that I hadn't been asked to participate in any of the services etc I can now say

    ALLELUIA Alleluia..how liberating it is not to be under any obligation or sense of service to the Roman clergy. I do admit though to feeling sad about not being of service to the faithful, but as we know you cannot to that without being under the clerical cosh.

    Happy Easter +Patrick and all those Catholics who see themselves free from the earthly dictatorships May the Risen Lord guide our hearts in ways of truth and love.

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    1. B H I can only agree with all that you say. I believe I also have felt a sadness at times but I strive to see the bigger picture and am heartened by the encouragement and challenge I get from ordinary folk who accepted me warts and all and gladly invite me to journey with them in faith and learn from their experience.

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    2. Why would you be in a Catholic Church Sean. You freely admit to now being a member of the heretical Anglican Church/Church of England. Make up your mind Sir.

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    3. 22.24. Many non Roman Churches are Catholic. Look at the Creeds. It is attitudes like yours in a modern world that saddens me sometimes. However I wish you well.

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  11. Happy Easter Pat great work, would love if you were appointed Bishop of Galway it's in a mess. Full of secrets more Priest's removed and stepping aside then any other Diocese.

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    1. As for removed and stepping aside, it's a long list.
      Tom Brady - under investigation. Alan Burke - resigned, or got the push. Frankie Lee - the star of the diocese! stripped of priesthood, but still living in church property and receiving diocesan funds.
      It's not the first time that Galway has funded and housed a priest for an extended period of time. Look at Enda Glynn, for example. The diocese must have surplus funds. It will need them for Frankie, the way he's talking! Wonder what the media will think of all this!.....

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    2. If you think Galway is bad, which it is, consider Armagh!!!

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    3. Yes, that vile and horrifble Fr X. Everyone knows he lives in Co. Louth and Amy is doing nothing about it. Pat your sitting on this news, it's about time to name and shame.

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    4. This should have been "Pat, you're sitting.."
      This is because "you're" in this case is a shortened form of "you are" and not the ownership "your"

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    5. Yes, that pig, Fr X should be named. Pat you seem to be friendly towards that urchin, you have a duty to name him. Archbishop Eamon has hauled many Clergy in, its only you who can reveal Fr X and he is in County Louth where the rest of them are sent. Be truthful Pat as you sit on a lot of knowledge. I think you hold back on a load of secrets.
      Armagh PP

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  12. It is unfair to name individuals, look at the bigger picture here, the leadership question, how funds are spent, the intention of the parishioners when they place money in the collection basket, how is this money being used, by individual priests and by the Diocese.
    The activities of some individuals are questionable around their lifestyle and the use of funds. Also the locations or beaches they go at night for fun. If there was through leadership this could not happen.

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  13. I imagine Gorgeous and King Puck may have done something 'particularly nice' for Martin and Brownie respectively to ensure their ordinations.

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  14. Is there any chance that these two deacons are victims of terrible slander by vindictive persons? Could they be innocent of the accusations?

    It just makes no sense that Dermot Martin and Raymond Brown are going to ordain them if they are guilty as accused.

    There are only two possible explanations if their bishops are "determined" to ordain them and they are guilty:

    RB and DM are (a) mentally ill; or (b) compromised and being blackmailed.

    If either of the above is the case, Rome needs to intervene, urgently, to stop the ordinations and remove Martin and Brown from office.
    Happy Easter Pat.

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  15. The Archbishop of Dublin is not Dermot Luv.

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    1. Who is Dermot Luv(or should that be Dermot Love?)

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  16. Is there a date and venue and time for Byrne's ordination?

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    1. Re/date, time, venue of an Ordination.. These would normally be on your invitation.. Best to go by that..

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  17. Gorgeous and Puck will not be ordained this year.......that's definite. I have it on very good authority........it's not happening this year. So perhaps you can all move on with your lives and let Puck & Gorgeous get on with theirs.

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