Monday 14 August 2017

IS PAT ANTI CATHOLIC?


In response to every single Blog, I write I get called "anti-Catholic" by a predictable number of comment makers - many of whom are obviously priests - and members of the Catholic Clerical Club. 

I am tired saying that I am not "anti-Catholic" but rather I am anti the widespread corruption that has invaded the Roman Catholic Institution. 

MY ORDINATION PIC - PENETCOST SUNDAY 1976

I have wanted to be a Catholic priest since I was 4 years old. This year I am 41 years a Catholic priest and I love being a priest today more than I did when I started out.

For me being a priest is about TWO BASIC THINGS - 1. Having a close relationship with God through prayer and reflection and 2. Being available to serve God's People 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Of course being a priest is rooted in being a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - and trying to live, as best you can, as Christ lived.

When I look at the life and teachings of Jesus I see two things:

1. The Jesus who came to comfort the disturbed.

2. The Jesus who came to disturb the comfortable.

Jesus was a HEALER and also a REVOLUTIONARY. 

He said himself:

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34).

Every disciple of the Lord is called upon to be a healer and a revolutionary - to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable.

And for me, that involves working towards the much-needed revolution in the Roman Catholic Institution which has wandered very far away from Christ and his teachings.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CATHOLICISM:

I am A Catholic Christian and I am not and do not want to be a "Protestant" or any other kind of Christian.

The things I love about the Catholic tradition are:

1. The strong view of God as Trinity.

2. The Bible (properly interpreted - not literally interpreted) - especially the New Testament.

3. The Seven Sacraments.

4. The original and good theology of priesthood as service.

5. The centrality of the Eucharist and the belief that Jesus Christ is truly present.

6. The (rational) writings of the Church Fathers.

7. Liturgical ceremony and symbolism.

8. The recognition of the role Mary played in Redemption - but without making her a "goddess". 

9. The example and writings of many of the saints.

10. The priest's Breviary.

There are many others.


WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT INSTITUTIONAL ROMAN CATHOLICISM:

1. The development of the Hierarchy into middle ages monarchism.

2. The dysfunctional-ism of Vatican centralism.

3. The development of the male, patriarchal Clerical Club.

4. The almost universal exclusion of women.

5. The dysfunctional and harmful Roman Catholic view of human sexuality.

6. Compulsory celibacy for clergy.

7. The horrible things done in Roman Catholic institutional history.

8. The vastness of Vatican and church wealth.

9. The alignment of the RC Institution with the establishment and with States.

10. The RC brainwashing that has ruined the lives of countless of millions.

11. The absolute arrogance of the current Hierarchy.

12. The hypocrisy in the Church and priesthood about sex with bishops and priests living promiscuous sex lives while demanding chastity of all others.

13. The vile sexual and other abuse of children, women, and men.

14. The systematic cover up of all this abuse. 

15. The widespread dysfunction in seminaries perpetrated by staff and seminarians.



There are many others.

Quite simply, my point is this:

I am NOT anti-Catholic.

I AM anti Catholic abuse and corruption.


I write this today to RESTATE my position.


I know I will be attacked by "MY MOTHER RIGHT OR WRONG" Catholics.

And those most in the attack will be those among the clergy who want to preserve the Clerical Club and those who want to inhabit the dark places they inhabit inside and outside of the seminaries.

It's really a battle between TRUTH and LIES

And between REFORM and THE STATUS QUO.

Image result for jesus the revolutionary

55 comments:

  1. I have to agree with all that you've said Patrick but I firmly believe that it won't matter a jot what you say against the Romans the faithful are either too blind, stupid or couldn't care less.
    I in my own ministry try to stay away from the Romans and for that matter the Protestant but to be there for all.
    What people want me to be a such as a minister is not possible, so they settle for who I am. Maybe you should try it.

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  2. Any and every institution has its hierarchy, its deficiencies, its wrongs. It is - and will be - difficult to change centuries of tradition. Look at all mostly male dominated structures, politics, banking, business etc. However, I and many other priests right across the land ignore the "system" which can easily crush enthusiasm, imagination and creativity. Most priests who are working are motivated by genuine service to those entrusted to their care. Many, many priests do their utmost to uphold the gospel vision of service. Sadly the horrific abuse perpretated by some leaves an awful legacy but those on the ground work diligently, caringly and ensure we create communities that are welcoming, caring and truly christian. Our efforts are not always perfect but we strive with integrity and honour to do the best. Allowing for our natural humanity, I believe the majority of priests have ther hearts in the right place - to serve God in service of others, always in imitation of Christ. It is not easy but I find my inspiration and strength in the selfless dedication of love and ssctifice in the lives of the people I am called to serve. Treating them with respect and always recognising their dignity, preciousness and gifftedness is a ground rule for me. There is so much in Church prayer and spirituality that benefits us all and it is enriching to share this on major Feast Days, like today's Feast of the Assumption. I, like hundreds of priests, while respecting the rich traditions of our Church, are also very cognizant of the ways the hierarchical church has damaged many good and beautiful people. As a priest in a parish I follow the mind and heart of Jesus, but always conscious of my need for his mercy, kindness and grace. I could not achieve much otherwise. While I abhor all hurt and abuse, again, many priests have spoken out against the crimes committed and have frequently condemned cover up. In the background of so many challenges MANY MANY Priests are faithful ministers of the Church and many of them serve well into their 80's and 90's with generosity of spirit. In my parish women are called forth, given more meaningful roles of responsibilities and are consulted on any major parish adventure, mission or parish gatherings. I hope this blog might celebrate this positive aspect of the Church and not allow bloggers who sit on the sidelines to throw their rocks of judgmenent with a delight and smile on their face. Pat, today under the guidance of Mary on this, her Feast Day, let us celebrate all that is good about Church, priesthood, service of others, Deacons, our prayer, spirituality, The Eucharist, the Rosary, the witness of priests and peoole working together. It is all there to see and to witness if we have "eyes" to see and "hearts" that want to know. GLORY TO GOD FOR TRUE PRIESTHOOD LIVED GENEROUSLY AND FAITHFULLY BY THE MAJORITY OF PRIESTS.....

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    1. I think there are some terrific priests...who are well aware they are trapped in a totally dysfunctional system. They know how corrupt it is and do the job for the love of God and the people.

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    2. Priests who knowingly function within a corrupt system are not mediating the love of God while sitting with the corruption and abuse.

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  3. I am not Patrick Buckley and am much younger than he, but, I have to say, I agree with virtually everything he said on this blog. I, too, loathe institutional Roman Catholicism and have noisily crossed swords with priests in my opposition to it. I am not popular, nor do I wish to be...among priests.

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    1. I often wonder if Magna does anything worthwhile in or with his life by way of making our communities and world more caring, kinder and christian. You seem like a very unpleasant person. Sometimes when we move out beyond our own world view we become happier, more content and fulfilled. Getting involved in the struggles of others leads to joy.

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    2. And you are assumptive, cynical, judgemental, and plain wrong.

      Yes, I can be unpleasant...on occasion, but not typically. Much like you, I imagine. (Actually, I don't need to imagine at all since you proved my point in your comment.)

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    3. Magna, 21.22. So it is easy to get to you in your own horrible interpretation of life's experiences and cynicism which you frequently display. Live in your own closed world. I prefer to be active in the community trying to help others. Side line critics and cynical commentators are anathema to me. At least you are honest - YOU ARE UNPLEASANT. Almost always!!!!

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    4. 23:14, you have again proved my point about you. Sad.

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  4. Pat, anon at 22.18 last night asked a very legitimate question. I know who you are talking about. You should answer the questions raised IN A TRUTHFUL WAY. No evasior or flippancy or blaming others....TRUTH PLEASE....

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    1. We are not talking today about yesterday's blog do so on yesterday's blog. In case you haven't noticed today's blog is on a different subject and we are all discussing today's subject, let's not divert away from it please.

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    2. 10.52 - A very illiterate contribution....silly and inane....

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  5. The faithful are quite happy to pay the priests to do all the thinking for them. They cannot separate the institution from the mystical. I don't think you are anti catholic. I don't know the figures for the UK but in Germany 160,000 left lat year. It was 180,000 the previous year. The church is quite happily destroying itself. It is totally dysfunctional. It is an unweeded garden grown to seed.

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    1. I imagine that Church taxes of 8% or 9% (depending on the particular Land to which a Catholic belongs) of the total amount of tax paid to the BZSt has absolutely nothing to do with the 160,000 non-practising nominal Catholics electing to leave the Church and that their reason for going through a formal bureaucratic of renouncing membership is inspired by purely spiritual anguish at the dysfunction of the Church.....

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  6. If it is any consolation, from the vibes myself and family pick up from the priests, none seem to think much of the bishops. As long as they said they were anti birth control, married priests and woman priests..they got the job. Any person with brains or integrity left years ago. The only thing that I disagree with you is that I really like Seamus Ahearne. Any one who ministers in Finglas is a hero.

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  7. I would like to meet you Magna Carter - what are the chances?

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    1. 10.29: I doubt if Magna is one person. I believe his persona is used by others - it's obvious at times.I think his name is Legion....why would you want to meet him/her/it as frequently the writings suggests someone not too mentally stable!!!!

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    2. Why would you like to meet me? There's nothing special, nothing significant, waiting for you at the end of your nose.

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  8. 04.04 Your comments on Priests and the great service they provide sound very commendable as is your defence of them. However, returning from Mass earlier for the great Feast of Our Blessed Mother, I'm left disappointed by my Priest. The Mass in a N. Ireland parish was rather rushed and NO homily! If a Priest is busy could he not offer us a one or two minute snippet reflection on such an important Feast? Am I being too unreasonable? The same younger PP once said the weather was too warm outside to warrant giving a homily! What is his theology of Priesthood and what does it say about his Seminary training? Is this the level of service and teaching we should expect from out Priests?

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    1. As a classroom teacher I have to agree with you, poster at 10.48.
      The lack of even elementary ore-planning in most homilys is very obvious and very disappointing. I am not just referring to the boring repetitive delivery but to the lack of interesting or inspirational content. I have often thought that if that homily was an excuse for a class lesson you would have a riot on your hands and a resounding "Fail" from that observing school inspector who has slipped into the back row! But we, too are always needing to be challenged and improve also... I know that...

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    2. Reading 10.48 I also totally agree. Not offering a little reflection on Our Lady's Feast Day is inexcusable. It shows when a Priest has not prepares, waffles, repetitive, speaks without notes. It's easy to start but very difficult to wrap it up without any notes - this is were repetition sets in.

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    3. It was the feast day of the dedication of our Church, it makes it even more sad that a homily or small reflection wasn't offered by the PP on so great a Feast.

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    4. That old Queen Ronan Drury taught homiletics in Maynooth for decades. It's his fault that Irish clergy sermons are shite. Cobbled together from half-remembered thoughts for today, a rehash of the readings (as if the congregation has not just heard them), or whatever pops into the mind in the journey from the sacristy to the ambo.

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    5. 17.03 I couldn't have put it better myself.

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    6. You both obviously failed his course!

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    7. 20.31 I didn't take his course nor attend Maynooth. I'm agreeing with 17.03 because of the shite I and others have to listen to because of ill prepared and poor homilies - sometimes no homily at all. So you can make foolish assumptions.

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    8. He's a good man and an inspiration at 93. He has shown huge levels of kindness away from the spotlight. His real talents are displayed for all to see in the decades of his editorship of The Furrow.

      What could he do with 60-70 students for 50 mins once a week in the 80s? The programme didn't value sacred eloquence as it was quaintly called, and as the name on the door of St Mary's reads.,

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  9. 10.48 You are on the ball. Perhaps this catholic vs roman thing is more prominent in Ireland. The proddies say the creed and are catholic too. It is important to be aware of all theologies in order to make a valid comparison and informed choice. When I was growing up it was one size fits all and everyone else was damned to hell

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  10. The contribution from 04:04 is probably, imho, one of the best, insightful and pertinent I have read for some time.

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  11. Patricio, you are about as convincing as Hitler denying he was an anti Semite. Give us a break!

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  12. Pat anti Catholic AS IF

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  13. Is this Sean Page the same fellow who is married to a divorcee having abandoned priesthood for her? Are they still together?a

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    1. 16.03 I don't think you are that bit interested in Sean Page or his current situation. I think you are just to make a cheap nasty dog, it's obvious by the tone of your remark and language.

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    2. At 16.03
      Your comments display your charitable, Christian nature. Jesus must be proud of you.

      (In case you missed the sarcasm) Sean Page - a man I do not know - displays himself on this blog as a well discerned and well formed man. He is clear in his humanity, charity, trust in God and his humility. You on the other hand have displayed the hostility of a man who is either bitter & twisted or who has failed to mature past untested ideological views of the world. I pray you are the latter.

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    3. 16.03 Jazs is that yourself that is in it. 16 37 18.48 Thank you both

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  14. The issue, Pat, is not whether you are anti-Catholic. No one cares about that. We are well used to anti-Catholicism, especially in the North.

    The issue raised again and again is the ethics of what you are doing. It was raised pointedly again yesterday. Here is the substantive complaint/anxiety about your tactics:

    "Pat, how can you possibly allow that person at 17:39 to name that priest? How can you justify that as a Christian?

    I don't know that priest. I know he is an Armagh priest but I have never met him. The priests named on this blog are generally not known for their piety. It is normally something scandalous.

    It seems that any vicious crank can come on to your blog and throw a name into the mix. How do you know that 17:39 doesn't have a grudge against the priest he has named because he tripped him up on the hurling field in 4th year at school or something?

    Anyone can say anything they like about whomsoever on here.

    Should you not make a very strict rule that no name appears on here without a thorough investigation and without the person making the accusations having communicated with you personally? Anonymous complaints are surely unacceptable and dangerous!

    What will you do if some person is named on your blog and that person takes his own life? You have the cheek to write about poor Sinead's mental health. Some of those whose names have been bandied about here in the past are quite young. They could well be victims of a vendetta. What will you do if one of them is driven to suicide?

    Could you please explain how you justify this? What is your rationale? Do you have one?"

    Maybe you would address the issues raised by that comment?

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    1. You are on here again 16.09 repeating what you said yesterday and yes, it's getting rather tedious now. What are you trying to prove? Can we stick to the topic of today please, you have tried yet again to divert us away from it earlier today. You really do have some motive by bringing it up for the third time since yesterday.

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    2. 22.18 yesterday and 08.04 and now again at 16.09 today all with the same question, do you realise that you are now sounding like a Parrot. You try to convince us that you don't know the person being discussed - I'm afraid you do protest too much and your argument now sounds very unconvincing. Give us a break please.

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    3. Shut up 16:21. Pat, have you any answer to the concerns 16:09 legitimately raises?

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    4. 16.32 You are 16.09, give us all a break please. You really now prove you have an agenda.

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  15. To be fair Pat only publishes things supported by evidence. I've brought info to him before but without supporting evidence. The result was that Pat offered me pastoral support without publishing support.

    It is fair to observe that there are those commenters who are anti-Pat and will find fault in what he does through how he does it simply because they cannot accept the truth of what he does.

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    1. Pat has a very low threshold for what counts as "evidence." What would be dismissed in other settings as hearsay is deemed acceptable as evidence on this blog. There seems to be no effort to verify information beyond "this person told me" and no weight is given to the possibility that the person giving this information has an agenda of their own. Evidence on this blog seems to mostly consist of dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi.

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    2. The "evidence" though is very often flimsy hearsay... Then the vultures gather..

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  16. No reason why the poster can't have an "agenda"--as you put it--. You are not the one who decides! You are trying to control others--probably an ingrained habit. You will pursue like a terrier...

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    1. It depends on what the agenda of the person supplying the information is. If their agenda is to provide truth and justice, that's great. If their agenda is to destroy the good name of another person, that's not so great. I think it's reasonable to hope that there would be a distinction made between these two agendas. However, this blog seems to make no distinction and no true investigation in order to seek independent and unbiased verification before publishing.

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  17. The One who decides the agenda 18.55 is Pat not you because it's his blog. I agree with the poster at 18.44 Pat publishes things supported by evidence from my own experience. Sometimes gathering such evidence takes quite an amount of time. Its clear that Pat is not anti Catholic rather anti corruption and anti abuse of power within the system.

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    1. Keep up, for Heaven's sake! - - Isn't that precisely what we have been trying to tell you..

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  18. 17:38, what agenda do YOU have? A perfectly reasonable concern has been raised? Are you the person who named the priest from Dungannon several times already? Which Pat allowed! By all means get rid of corruption and expose it - but do it responsibly and within the constraints imposed by Christian charity!

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    1. You are the Priest from Dungannon 21.14 or someone close to him. That is clear for all to see given your many interventions on the blog last night and today. You simply protest too much.

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    2. I am not the priest from Dungannon. I do not know the priest from Dungannon and I have never had any contact with him in my life.

      I do not know ANYONE, to my knowledge, who knows the priest from Dungannon and I have never spoken to anyone about the priest from Dungannon - ever.

      All that I know about the priest from Dungannon is what is being flagged here by you and whoever else has it in for him for whatever reason.

      How do we know that those naming that priest on here - and being permitted to do so by Pat Buckley - are not doing so for some trivial reason or some grudge? In which case the good name of every innocent priest in Ireland is up for grabs!

      Pat Buckley has a grave responsibility for what is said on here. He is allowing names to be bandied about. It has happened before that the names of totally innocent and exemplary priests have been thrown into the mix here by malicious and faceless individuals.

      There was a news item yesterday about a man who was confronted by vigilantes accusing him of being a paedophile. The man took his own life. There are similar dangers with the grossly irresponsible behaviour on here presided over by Pat Buckley.

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  19. Yip! -agree with that.. "By all means get rid of corruption and expose it" you said.
    So it's nothing at all to do with giving this tired old blog a bit of a gizz up? No? Perish the thought...

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  20. I'm afraid your reference to 'The Priest's Breviary' is sad.
    The Prayer of the Church doesn't belong to priests.
    If you have been saying it since diaconate as if it did I can't imagine what your theology is like.

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  21. As a priest I know once said of The Church (and excuse the language), "she might be old, she might be ugly, and she might be a whore, but she's still my mother." I agree Pat that while we may disagree with elements within The Church, just as we may fight and disagree with family members, that does not mean that we are anti The Church or anti our family. To me I was born a Catholic, I was raised a Catholic, and I will die a Catholic. I see the same in you Pat, Catholicism is not just in your bones but in your everything.

    While I don't have nearly as many gripes as you do Pat with the institutional Church, I see in you a love for The Church. But sadly the temptation for all of us (Cardinals, Bishops and Laity included) is that we can want to reinvent the church in our own image and likeness to suit ourselves. The problem with this, is that it is no longer Christ's Church but my church. Also we then invent it with a rose painted set of glasses as we see the faults elsewhere but not with ourselves as well.

    What we need to do is accept that the Church is full of dysfunctional and imperfect people, just like ourselves. To pray for The Church. To be the best living witnesses to Truth, Freedom and Love that we can be. The rest is upto God, after all it is His Church.

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