Sunday 5 July 2015

Being open to change and the promptings of the Spirit

I can`t remember the number of times we were told at Ushaw how the modern seminarian had to be open minded and ready for change. As we gathered for our next coffee table Mass or heard traditional devotions being ridiculed I heartily agreed with the need for change. I always denied I was a conservative as I believed radical change was necessary if the Church was to flourish. This was back in the 80`s. Well not much changed and Ushaw is no more.

The problem of so-called conservative seminarians continues. Personally I would have thought anyone showing an interest in Summorum Pontificum should be commended for keeping up with the most recent developments and for wishing to embrace all the options available in the Roman Rite but it seems there is still fear of what is new territory.

The Irish Catholic carries a story about trouble at Maynooth, the country`s only seminary. In short six out of ten seminarians returning from pastoral placements have been expelled for being too `conservative` but their bishops have refused to accept their removal and four are being kept on while two are considering their future. Well that is what seems to be happening. The seminary say there is nothing untoward. The Irish Catholic reports it thus:

A number of Maynooth student priests who were reportedly asked to take time out of seminary because they were ‘too conservative’ are to return to the college in the autumn after interventions by a number of bishops, it has been claimed.

The Irish Catholic understands that of 10 diocesan seminarians who were due to return to Maynooth in the autumn after completing their pastoral year, six were recommended to take time out to reconsider their vocation.

Sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic that the clear impression was given to the students that they were so advised because their theological views were considered at the conservative end of the spectrum.

However, Msgr Hugh Connolly, President of Maynooth, rejected the claim, insisting that there has been “nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usual action between students, dioceses and the seminary in making a decision on what is the best next step for a particular student”.

Msgr Connolly said it was “not a question of conservativism” but rather a question of “getting the right experience”.

To help understand what the right experience is an incident in 2012 is of interest:


This is not the first time the issue has provoked controversy. Some years ago, seminarians were reportedly suspended for wanting to kneel during the consecration at Mass. In 2012, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said “it is not just that the number of candidates is low; it is also that many of those who present are fragile and some are much more traditional than those who went before them. While rejecting “priests or candidates who simply go with the trends of the day”, the archbishop warned there is “a danger that superficial attachment to the externals of tradition may well be a sign of fearfulness and flight from changed realities: and that is not exactly what we need”


If you don`t have many seminarians and the ones you have are rather `conservative` maybe the Holy Spirit is trying to say something.

P.S. For more background an article from Catholic Voice from 2011 can be read here

A number of Maynooth student priests who were reportedly asked to take time out of seminary because they were ‘too conservative’ are to return to the college in the autumn after interventions by a number of bishops, it has been claimed.
The Irish Catholic understands that of 10 diocesan seminarians who were due to return to Maynooth in the autumn after completing their pastoral year, six were recommended to take time out to reconsider their vocation.
Sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic that the clear impression was given to the students that they were so advised because their theological views were considered at the conservative end of the spectrum.
However, Msgr Hugh Connolly, President of Maynooth, rejected the claim, insisting that there has been “nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usual action between students, dioceses and the seminary in making a decision on what is the best next step for a particular student”.
Msgr Connolly said it was “not a question of conservativism” but rather a question of “getting the right experience”.
- See more at: http://irishcatholic.ie/article/bishops-rebel-over-maynooth-seminary-%E2%80%98heave%E2%80%99#sthash.85Tpmn7W.dpuf
A number of Maynooth student priests who were reportedly asked to take time out of seminary because they were ‘too conservative’ are to return to the college in the autumn after interventions by a number of bishops, it has been claimed.
The Irish Catholic understands that of 10 diocesan seminarians who were due to return to Maynooth in the autumn after completing their pastoral year, six were recommended to take time out to reconsider their vocation.
Sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic that the clear impression was given to the students that they were so advised because their theological views were considered at the conservative end of the spectrum.
However, Msgr Hugh Connolly, President of Maynooth, rejected the claim, insisting that there has been “nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usual action between students, dioceses and the seminary in making a decision on what is the best next step for a particular student”.
Msgr Connolly said it was “not a question of conservativism” but rather a question of “getting the right experience”.
- See more at: http://irishcatholic.ie/article/bishops-rebel-over-maynooth-seminary-%E2%80%98heave%E2%80%99#sthash.85Tpmn7W.dpuf
A number of Maynooth student priests who were reportedly asked to take time out of seminary because they were ‘too conservative’ are to return to the college in the autumn after interventions by a number of bishops, it has been claimed.
The Irish Catholic understands that of 10 diocesan seminarians who were due to return to Maynooth in the autumn after completing their pastoral year, six were recommended to take time out to reconsider their vocation.
Sources have indicated to The Irish Catholic that the clear impression was given to the students that they were so advised because their theological views were considered at the conservative end of the spectrum.
However, Msgr Hugh Connolly, President of Maynooth, rejected the claim, insisting that there has been “nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usual action between students, dioceses and the seminary in making a decision on what is the best next step for a particular student”.
Msgr Connolly said it was “not a question of conservativism” but rather a question of “getting the right experience”.
- See more at: http://irishcatholic.ie/article/bishops-rebel-over-maynooth-seminary-%E2%80%98heave%E2%80%99#sthash.85Tpmn7W.dpuf

8 comments:

  1. Bravo Fr Michael for bringing this to the attention of non-readers of Irish newspapers.
    Yesterday we were at the ordination of John Bagnall, a late vocation who trained at Ushaw, Vallodolid & Beda in Rome. His First Mass was today at Langley Moor &, having known him for many years, we were invited. The Mass was OF but said strictly according to the rubrics which, sadly, is not always the case (especially with some more senior priests). Perhaps Fr John would also be classed as "too conservative" because he is not 'trendy' enough. Whilst I prefer the EF I am more than happy to attend the OF Mass when celebrated as it should be. If priests celebrate the OF correctly then, perhaps, they might be encouraged to become the 'complete priest' ready, willing & able to celebrate both forms of the Roman Rite. Sadly this can't happen if seminary presidents & staff chastise students for wanting the fullness of the Rite.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terry Middleton6 July 2015 at 02:17

    Well said, David.

    The Catholic Church in Ireland is in deep trouble. The people are deserting in droves, indicated by the recent referendum on so-called same-sex marriages.
    When we consider that the vast, overwhelming majority of Ireland's children have been educated in exclusively Catholic schools for the last 90 years, we must ask what sort of Catholic education are they getting now? Of course with leaders like the Rector of Maynooth and the Archbishop of Dublin we should not be surprised.
    Thank God for the Democratic Unionists in Ulster, no same sex nonsense there.

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  3. If I was in a position to advise these seminarians, I'd tell them to leave Maynooth and join the FSSP.

    Somebody in the Bishop's House said that "we have to reduce things to the ashes so that the fresh green shoots can appear." I wholeheartedly agree. Thank God Ushaw was closed! The Irish Bishops should follow suit and close Maynooth.

    I'm looking forward to the day when this diocese has no seminarians and a handful of priests left. Our future Bishop will then have no choice but to ask the FSSP and the Institute of Christ the King for priests. And these traditional priests will re-evangelise and rebuild the diocese.

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  4. Thank you for this Father.

    Off topic, I love your blog but find it very difficult to read with the white against the black background.

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  5. I think the new 'look' is much better.

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  6. Maynooth has has been associated with sex-scandals, with a senior cleric allegedly abusing seminarians etc. yet it was this seminary that that was kept open when all the other ones were closed down. Things are definitely not right in Maynooth. When the bishop of Elphin robustly defended marriage at the beginning of the referendum campaign, the two primates, Archbishops Martin of Dublin and Armagh rounded on him, publicly criticising him.
    This indeed is the age of the laity.

    ReplyDelete

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