Young teachers in Catholic schools 'fearful' of admitting they don't believe in God

Many young teachers in Irish Catholic primary schools do not believe in God – but are afraid to ‘put their heads above the parapet’ and admit it, the Humanist Association of Ireland has claimed.

A study released yesterday for the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education project found that teachers in Ireland increasingly do not believe in God. 

Some 4,000 teachers were interviewed and at Catholic primary schools a majority under 30 said they “do not believe in a personal God”. 

Around 90% of primary schools in the State retain a Catholic ethos but the report concluded many are not delivering a high standard of religious education to pupils. 

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Humanist Association of Ireland CEO Jillian Brennan said the figures underline the need for a more diverse education system.

“We’re aware of plenty of teachers who are disadvantaged and discriminated against because Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act actually allows positive discrimination on the basis of religion,” she said. 

“What that means in reality for teachers in schools [where] it doesn’t align with their own personal values and ethos are forced to teach religion in the school system and many of them are fearful of putting their heads above the parapet, for fear of being disadvantaged in terms of future promotional prospects.”

The Government has set a target of at least 400 multi-denominational primary schools by the next decade - a target Ms Brennan believes will be difficult to achieve. 

“Right now, we have only in and about 170 and the pace of divestment is exceptionally slow,” she said. 

“Even if they did achieve that goal - which is extremely unlikely - it would still be a drop in the ocean; it would only put the number of multi-denominational schools at about 13%. 

“If you take it back to a more basic principle, is this really what we want for Irish society going forward? That we’re going to segregate our children on the basis of religion?”

President of Catholic Secondary School’s Parents’ Association Alan Whelan described himself as “shocked” by the report but said there is also “nothing new” in it. 

Previously, Mr Whelan worked as a headteacher in Catholic schools in England and hopes Ireland does not emulate the policies he found over there. 

“I knew and I was outraged by the fact that religious education and Catholicism is not and was not then being taken seriously by the authorities,” he said. 

“If I had had a report like this land on my desk about the ethos of the vast Catholic school for which I was responsible for, I would have resigned immediately.” 

Mr Whelan said there is “nobody forcing” people to teach in a Catholic school and it is important young people receive a high standard of faith-based education. 

“How can they be expected to prepare young people for the sacraments if they do not believe in God?” he said. 

According to the 2022 census, 69% of people in Ireland recorded their religion as Catholic - down from 79% in 2016.

Opus Dei statement in relation to interview by former member

Opus Dei provided the following statement in relation to an interview with a former member, Margaret Joyce, broadcast on Upfront with Katie Hannon on 22 April 2024.

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Everyone's experiences are unique and valid, and if Margaret was wounded while she was in Opus Dei, we sincerely ask her for forgiveness. Opus Dei is an organisation of the Catholic Church of people who want to do good, but it is not exempt from making mistakes. When we do make mistakes, even though it wasn’t intentional, we will always be ready to apologise and do what we can to make up for it.

Notwithstanding ongoing contact with some of Margaret’s family, we have never received such a complaint from her before and so we would like to ask her to contact us, through whatever channel and whenever and wherever she feels comfortable, so that we can better understand her situation and help her.

On the other hand, while we recognise that Margaret may have had a bad experience and that there are situations for which we must apologise, we categorically deny the allegation of exploitation.

Assistant numeraries are women in Opus Dei who, like all the other members, aim to love God and others through their work and daily life. In their case, their chosen work is caring for the people and centres in the family setting of Opus Dei. This work is paid in accordance with the employment legislation of the countries in which they live.

People ask to join Opus Dei of their own free will, and they can only join after reaching the age of eighteen. As with every vocation in the Catholic Church, there is a long process of admission and discernment, in order to ensure that only people who freely want to join can do so. A person has to reaffirm their desire to join Opus Dei not just once or twice or three times, but at least eight times over a minimum of six and a half years.

The vocation of assistant numerary is today being followed by thousands of women around the world with freedom, love and commitment, and has the same dignity as any other life choice. In fact, many women who joyfully live out this vocational call made a public plea a few months ago for their free and conscious choice to be respected and not demeaned.

Opus Dei recognises that there can be cases of bad experiences, but needs the people concerned to make a formal complaint. Opus Dei has set up a protocol for dealing with any such grievances and invites those so affected to make contact; in the case of Ireland, they can do so here.

For more info: https://opusdei.org/en-ie/article/q-a-about-the-financial-times-article/

Greyfriars to leave their Manchester Gothic Revival masterpiece

The Greyfriars have confirmed that they are giving up their stewardship of one of the finest Catholic Gothic Revival Churches in Britain.

They will leave All Saints, Barton-upon-Irwell, Manchester, in the autumn and are in discussion with a Catholic group to take over the Grade I listed church.

The Order of Friars Minor have not named the group they are negotiating with but said the church will be properly cared for.

“We have found it very difficult to staff all our friaries and rather than be not very good in the job, it would be better to if we can give All Saints a future in hands that will give it more time and attention,” said Fr Maximilian Mary Martin, Provincial Custos of Great Britain and Ireland.

There are 17 native friars in England and Wales, with the numbers rising to 23 including friars from overseas.  All Saints is the national home of the friars’ Crusade of Mary Immaculate. It has not been a parish church since 1961, and at present a monthly Mass is attended by between 50 and 60 people.

James Crowley, an architectural historian, who attends the Mass, has proposed setting up a building preservation trust to secure the long-term future of All Saints. He believes that, given its dedication, it could become a national centre for the keeping and veneration of relics.

He said, “All Saints has a precedent for this with the regular veneration of the relic of St Maximillian Kolbe at the first Saturday Masses, as well as that of St Anthony of Padua formerly after the daily Mass each Tuesday.”

He highlighted the successful national tours of the relics of SS Therese, Anthony and Bernadette.

All Saints originally had a rural setting on the south bank of the River Irwell but there has been major development in recent years including the major industrial estate of Trafford Park and the Trafford centre shopping mall. A site to the west is being developed to create a further 3,000 homes.

The church was built by Sir Humphrey and Lady Annette de Trafford and includes their chantry chapel. The family were benefactors of the Diocese of Salford paying for the construction of five churches and a school, as well as contributing to numerous other churches. Manchester United’s football stadium, Old Trafford, is named after the family.

Built between 1863 and 1868, All Saints is regarded as the finest work of Edward Pugin, eldest son of Augustus Pugin.

Vatican state can be sued for individuals’ abuse of office, Francis decrees

Pope Francis issued new laws governing Vatican City courts on Friday, clarifying judicial terms and creating a new mechanism for bringing lawsuits against the city state for damages over the maladministration of justice.

Amending several previous city state laws with a single motu proprio issued April 19, but signed March 27, the pope provided for enhanced stability in office for the judges of the Vatican state’s tribunal, and sought to put the court on a more professional and full-time footing.

The changes to the law are, according to the pope, the product of the “experience gained over the last few years in the field of administration of justice,” most likely a reference to the years-long Vatican financial trial which concluded last year by convicting nine individuals, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

The new changes to the law provide for retired Vatican City judges to receive an ordinary Vatican civil service pension, along with all other normal retirement benefits for which they qualify, even if they are eligible for other such pensions in Italy.

Also key among the changes is the establishment by the pope of a clear line of succession for leading the city state’s judiciary. 

Under the already operative laws of the Vatican, the chief judge of the ordinary court has a retirement age of 75, while the cardinal judge of the city state’s supreme appeal court retires at 80. Previously, both judges were required to present the pope with their resignations at the end of the judicial year, with the pope free to accept or decline as he deemed appropriate. 

Now, while Francis may choose to allow either judge to continue in office past their required retirement age, the pope has also created the offices of a stably appointed adjunct president of both courts who can function as effective shadows to the chief judges, ready to assume the role whenever necessary.

The current president of the ordinary court of Vatican City is Giuseppe Pignatone, who led the tribunal as it conducted the nearly three-year Vatican financial crimes trial. 

Pignatone will turn 75 next month, nominally aging out of his position at the end of the judicial year, unless Pope Francis chooses to keep him in post. 

But while Friday’s motu proprio formally created and defined the office of adjunct president in Vatican City law, Francis had already nominated judge Venerando Marano to the position in June last year, with the appointment taking effect from Jan. 1 of this year.

At the same time, in a slate of appointments announced June 2, 2023, Francis reconstituted the Vatican City court of cassation — a Vatican City appeals court regarded by the Vatican press office as the city state’s “supreme court.” 

Although Vatican law requires that the court be led by the cardinal president of the Church’s highest canonical court, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and that a majority of the court’s judges be made up of cardinals from the signatura, Francis instead appointed the Cardinal Camerlengo, Kevin Farrell, to lead the body.

Francis also named a slew of other cardinals without canonical or other legal experience to serve as the court’s judges, including the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Cardinal Paolo Lojudice of Siena, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti vicar general for the Vatican City.

In a potentially significant legal development, Francis also on Friday created a new mechanism for suing the government of the city state when a person claims to have “suffered unjust damage as a result of a behavior, an act or a measure carried out in the exercise of judicial functions” by Vatican City officer, either through “willful misconduct or gross negligence.”

Individual court officers, judges or prosecutors, are themselves shielded from individual liability in lawsuits, even for acts found to be a “manifest violation of the law,” and instead the city state’s government assumes liability. The purpose of this provision is to ensure judicial officers have the freedom to act independently in office, without the potentially coercive fear of being pursued in court for their acts of office.

However, the city state itself then has a six month window to pursue its own case against the offending official, but the damages it can claim against them are capped at the equivalent of six month’s salary.

Establishing the legal premise that the Vatican government is liable for the criminal acts in office of its officials is significant. 

Currently making its way through the courts of the city state is a lawsuit brought by the former auditor general of the Vatican, Libero Milone. 

Milone is suing for damages for wrongful termination, after he was forced from office in 2017 by the leadership of the Vatican City Corps of Gendarmes and Cardinal Becciu, at that time sosituto at the Secretariat of State.

The court of first instance, led by Pignatone, ruled against the suit in January, and appeal is now pending. 

Milone’s legal team argued that the papal secretariat should be held liable, since the Secretariat of State bore ultimate responsibility for his appointment, as well as oversight of the individuals (especially Becciu) who compelled his resignation under threat of criminal prosecution.

However, in the Jan. 2 ruling, the court found that the individuals involved in compelling Milone’s departure did so via “alleged threats” and otherwise illegal or ultra vires means, “subjects therefore certainly unrelated to the Secretariat of State which cannot be therefore held responsible for such conduct,” the judges ruled.

Under the changes to the laws issued by Francis on Friday, however, damages of the kind sought by Milone are to be pursued “exclusively against the State to obtain compensation.” 

“The action for compensation cannot, therefore, be exercised against the individual magistrate, which in any case is also held by the State,” according to Francis’ revised text.

The new law does not apply to Milone’s case, since it concerns judicial officials and not Vatican City police or curial state officials like the sostituto. 

However, establishing the legal premise that individuals cannot be sued in Vatican City for criminal abuse of office, but that the state can, could prove influential in the appeal hearings of the auditor’s case.

Cardinal Parolin confirms Vatican aims to renew secretive deal with China this year

The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has confirmed to LifeSiteNews that the Holy See intends to renew its secretive deal with Communist China later this year.

In an email exchange, Parolin affirmed that the highly controversial Sino-Vatican deal that the Holy See has with the communist authorities in Beijing is set for renewal this autumn.

Responding to a question from LifeSiteNews asking if the Vatican intended to renew the deal, Parolin stated “with reference to your question about the Holy See’s agreement with China… we hope to renew it.” 

“We are also in dialogue on this point with our Chinese interlocutors,” the cardinal secretary of state added.

Parolin has served as the Vatican’s secretary of state and chief diplomat since October 2013 and has been in the Holy See’s diplomatic service since 1986. His confirmation of the Vatican’s intention comes as the highly secretive with China deal is set for its third two-year renewal in September or October. 

The officially secret deal is believed to recognize the state-approved church in China and allows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to appoint bishops. The Pope apparently maintains veto power, although in practice it is the CCP that has control. It also allegedly allows for the removal of legitimate bishops to be replaced by CCP-approved bishops.

Speaking in July 2023, Parolin defended the secretive nature of the deal, stating that “the text is confidential because it has not yet been finally approved.” The deal, which “revolves around the basic principle of consensuality of decisions affecting bishops,” is effected by “trusting in the wisdom and goodwill of all,” Parolin said.

In comments made in July, Parolin additionally defended the deal as a necessary means of “dialogue” with the Communist authorities in China.

Pope Francis and Parolin have both been vocal in their defense of the agreement, with the Pope stating before its 2022 renewal that the deal “is going well.”

Indeed, in a 2018 letter to Chinese Catholics, Francis described the deal as forming a “new chapter of the Catholic Church in China.”

But outside the walls of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, criticism has come from Catholic clergy, freedom advocates, and China experts.

The highly secretive Sino-Vatican deal has been styled by Hong Kong emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen as an “incredible betrayal,” with the much-loved cardinal further accusing the Vatican of “selling out” Chinese Catholics. 

In 2018, the prelate called for Parolin to resign, criticizing his “complete surrender” of the Church to the Communist authorities.

“It’s a betrayal of the real Church,” Zen then said of the deal in July 2020 before adding: “It’s not an isolated episode. It’s already a long-standing policy of the Vatican not to offend the Chinese government.”

The ink had barely dried on the deal in 2018 before AsiaNews, a site that regularly documents the abductions and torturing of underground Catholics, reported that “(u)nderground Catholics bitterly suspect that the Vatican has abandoned them.”

Before the first renewal of the deal in 2020, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that “(t)he Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.” He linked to an article he penned on the subject in which he stated that “it’s clear that the Sino-Vatican agreement has not shielded Catholics from the Party’s depredations.”

Indeed, in the nearly six years since the deal was implemented, persecution of Catholics – particularly the “underground” Catholics who do not accept the state-controlled church – has demonstrably increased. 

The deal has led to a heightened increase in religious persecution, which the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China described as a direct consequence of the deal. In its 2020 report, the Commission wrote that the persecution witnessed is “of an intensity not seen since the Cultural Revolution.”

“All bishops who refuse to join the Catholic Patriotic Association are being placed under house arrest, or disappeared, by the CCP,” China expert Steven Moser told LifeSiteNews earlier this month. “Although the Vatican said several years ago that the Sino-Vatican agreement does not require anyone to join this schismatic organization, refusal to do so results in persecution and punishment. And the Vatican stands by and does nothing.” 

The closest the Holy See has come to acknowledging shortcomings with the deal is via its foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. The archbishop, who serves as Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, said last year that the deal was “not the best deal possible” due to the “other party.”

Just last month, Gallagher described it as still being “a useful means for the Holy See and the Chinese authorities to deal with the question of the appointment of bishops,” though very guardedly admitting limitations to the deal. 

Indeed, a series of episcopal appointments since the last renewal of the deal in October 2022 have highlighted the primacy of power wielded by Beijing in the deal. On three known occasions, the CCP appointed new bishops or appointed them to new dioceses, leaving the Vatican to play catch-up with the events and express its diplomatically worded frustration. 

New developments in favor of the Vatican in the deal appear, therefore, unlikely. In July 2023, Parolin had stated the Holy See hopes for “the opening of an established liaison office of the Holy See in China” that “would not only favor dialogue with the civil authorities but also contribute to full reconciliation within the Chinese Church and its journey towards a desirable normality.”

But Gallagher stated last month that while “we have always believed that this would be useful,” there was no “willingness or openness” from the Chinese authorities on the point.

Orthodox theologian finds papal title in need of explanation

The Viennese Orthodox theologian Ioan Moga is rather sceptical about Pope Francis' resumption of the title "Patriarch of the West". 

"A historic title is being reintroduced - but without a declaration of intent, without interpretation," the professor of Orthodox theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna told the Kathpress press agency (Tuesday). 

"A late, undeclared renunciation of the undeclared renunciation," said Moga, who believes: "Ecumenism deserves more."

The ecumenically-minded Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013) had the title "Patriarch of the West" removed from the list of papal titles in 2006, his first year in office, causing irritation among the churches of the East.  

Francis reinstated it around a fortnight ago. 

Moga explained that the problem with the renunciation in 2006 was not the renunciation itself, but the lack of an explanation: "Above all, it was irritating. Everyone could interpret it differently because the renunciation left a vacuum of interpretation."  

Benedict XVI had no reason to snub the Orthodox then or later. 

According to Moga, the same problem exists today with the silent resumption of the title.

The Transylvanian-born theologian pointed out that the title "Patriarch of the West" had hardly played a role in the Orthodox-Catholic discussion even before that; and: "The problem was and is the primacy of jurisdiction. That remains open, with or without symbolic titles." 

He did not understand the excitement among some Orthodox theologians in 2006, said Moga, because: "A relic from the past that no longer has any relevance in Roman Catholic ecclesiology must not be overestimated in a serious ecumenical discussion."

Title is a shell

The ancient model of the pentarchy ["five reigns" of the patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem; editor's note] that has been brought into the discussion "no longer corresponds to a reality even in the Orthodox Church, but is merely a reference point for the church community in the first millennium", said Moga. 

"Merely renouncing or resuming titles will not bring us any closer to this early church model. We know that from the dialogue so far. It's always about what the respective church understands by it," the theologian continued. While the current patriarchal titles in the Orthodox Church correspond to a canonical reality, the title "Patriarch of the Occident" is ultimately an empty shell, Moga believes: "What does 'Occident' mean from a canonical or ecclesiological perspective? Who belongs to this Occident? Does it refer to Roman Catholic Christians in Africa and Asia? If not, then to which 'patriarchate' do they belong? What do we do with 'South America' then?"

Moga also considers it problematic to refer to the Roman rite as the "Patriarch of the West". 

To summarise, he does not see the resumption of the title by Pope Francis as an ecumenical sign in the direction of Orthodoxy or the Eastern churches. 

For him, a much stronger signal came from 2020, when the title "Vicar of Jesus Christ" - according to Moga, an "ecclesiologically and theologically very problematic title that Orthodoxy has traditionally criticised" - was listed for the first time in the papal yearbook ("Annuario Pontificio") under the new category of "historical titles". 

The inclusion of the category "historical titles" shows the distance of the current Pope Francis from this title, said Moga: "That was and is to be welcomed."

Cardinal Burke receives donations for Vatican flat

The US Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke (75), known as a critic of the Pope, has apparently been allowed to stay in his Vatican flat. 

This emerges from a report in the French newspaper "La Croix" on Sunday. 

In it, the newspaper's Rome correspondent Loup Besmond de Senneville writes that the cardinal has turned to financial supporters who have promised to pay for his flat in Via Rusticucci, a few metres from St Peter's Square. De Senneville confirmed this when asked by katholisch.de.

Media reports about the US cardinal's official residence and salary caused a stir last November. It was initially reported that the Pope had cancelled his salary and his flat. 

However, Francis had issued a decree on Vatican rental flats. 

It states that senior members of the Curia must pay the market rent in future. 

According to "La Croix", Burke's 400-square-metre flat is said to cost around 8,000 euros a month, while other media even report monthly expenses of around 12,000 euros, which can hardly be afforded with a cardinal's salary of 4,500 euros. 

Last year, the Argentinian newspaper "La Nacion" wrote that the cardinal is supported by donations from wealthy US families. 

In addition, Burke, who comes from Wisconsin, owns property worth around 50 million US dollars in his home country.

The canon lawyer Burke was appointed president of the highest ecclesiastical court, the Apostolic Signature, in the Vatican in 2008 and was promoted to cardinal shortly afterwards. 

Pope Francis removed him from this position in 2014 after Burke criticised him on moral theological issues. 

Two years later, Burke and three other cardinals publicly criticised the papal letter "Amoris laetitia" from 2016 and the opening of the reception of communion for remarried divorcees contained therein. 

The US cardinal also lamented the participation of lay people in the World Synod last autumn. 

Together with four other cardinals, he had expressed doubts about papal decisions and criticised Cardinal Victor Fernandez, Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith, for his vague answers.

After alleged sex party: New bishop for Polish diocese in crisis

After scandals and a bishop's resignation, the Polish diocese of Sosnowiec has a new leader: Pope Francis has appointed the former auxiliary bishop in Tarnow, Artur Wazny (57), as the new bishop of Sosnowiec, as announced by the Vatican Press Office on Tuesday. 

Wazny succeeds Grzegorz Kaszak (59), who resigned from his office in October following several scandals in his diocese. 

The Vatican did not give a reason for the move at the time.

Kaszak had headed the southern Polish diocese since 2009. 

According to media reports, in 2010 several trainee priests accused the rector of the local seminary of having sexually abused them. The seminary was later closed.

Another incident followed in September 2023: at an alleged sex party organised by a homosexual priest, a call boy is said to have fainted after taking sexual enhancers. 

According to the media, the priest allegedly refused to allow the paramedics to enter his home, whereupon they called the police. 

Critics spoke of a moral decline in the diocese, which they also blamed on the bishop.

Opponents of liturgical reform bring church split into play

In the dispute over the form of the liturgy, opponents of the liturgical reform are calling for a split in the Syro-Malabar Church. 

According to Indian media reports, a convention of over 300 priests from the Ernakulam-Angamaly Grand Archdiocese convened by Apostolic Administrator Bosco Puthur on Friday was unable to defuse the dispute over the direction of the celebration. 

"If the synod is not willing to give our mass the status of a variant liturgy or allow us to continue it, the better way seems to be to be associated with the Vatican as an independent church," a spokesperson for the opponents told UCANews told UCANews on Monday. 

In this way, the separation of the church would not be linked to a schism, but instead the archdiocese would be elevated to a church of its own right linked to Rome.

The demand for the separation of the archdiocese was raised after Puthur made it clear that the synod would not move away from the standardised form of the liturgy it had decided on. 

The threat of disciplinary action at the meeting against priests who refuse to celebrate the uniform form could not dissuade opponents from their protest. 

The standardised form requires the priest to face the consecration ad orientem, i.e. with his back to the people. The opponents of the liturgical reform want a continuous celebration versus populum, i.e. facing the people. 

According to the protesting priests, a change to the liturgy that has been established for 50 years would not be accepted in their parishes.

St Thomas' Christians already divided into many communities

The liturgy dispute has divided the Syro-Malabar Church for decades and has escalated even further since the 2021 synod decision. 

In December, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Grand Archbishop George Alencherry and the Apostolic Administrator of the Grand Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. 

At the same time he published a video message to the faithful urging them not to leave communion with the Church and to adopt the unified liturgy. 

In January, the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church elected Raphael Thattil as the new Grand Archbishop. 

The election was accompanied by the hope for a pacification of the conflict. conflict. 

In response to an Synod's appeal for unity the opponents of the unified liturgy reacted negatively. The Grand Archdiocese continues to be led by an Apostolic Administrator.

The Syro-Malabar Church in south-west India is the largest of today's churches and communities of the Thoma Christianswhich is said to have been founded in the 1st century by the Apostle Thomas on his missionary journeys. 

Through links with the Assyrian Church of the East, it celebrates its liturgy in the East Syriac rite. 

In the course of Portuguese colonisation, the Thomas Christians were forced to adopt Western forms and hierarchies and broke up into several churches. 

There are already two Catholic churches of the Thoma Christians: in addition to the Syro-Malabars, there is the smaller Syro-Malankar Church, which celebrates its liturgy in the West Syrian rite.