Vision and prophecy are hardly accepted in our society that is addicted to virtual and tangible realities. I was touched by the letter of Kieran McCarthy – ‘Church and parishioners must work together’ (June 7) – regarding the sympathy and readiness of the laity to help their priests. However, his expression that “he hopes it is not too late to do something” I think says a lot. How have we come here? In most African countries, with the example of Uganda, our missionaries, generally from the West, structured the Church from bottom up, starting with the small Christian communities upwards. This Cell Church is so crucial in administration of the Church sacramentally and in the social sphere. It is surprising that the ‘Mother Church’ is grappling to set up a structure of the Church without or with few priests.
There is however much to be worried about, it seems history has never been a better lesson. The former cradle of the Catholic Church lies in memory: Egypt, Tunisia, Somali, Syria, Turkey to mention but a few. Are we watching the same phenomena unfolding before our eyes? Evangelisation in the nascent Church was sparked off by persecution and immigration (Acts 8:4). However, seeing the trend of immigration today, it has very little or no single Catholic or Christian colouring. I have often wondered whether a study should be made on why the Catholic Church finds it hard to sustain itself in a social and economic developed environment. Which itself implements.
What next after the restructuring? That is the biggest question, the Church will still find it hard to reach its people and especially the youth. In the long run this will be more detrimental to the evangelising mandate of the Church. Recently a colleague who has retired from the Missions in Africa expressed what I always thought: “There is no crisis of priests, what there is unequal distribution.”
I agree with him, and I wonder who is going to have the courage to accept that we have become a fully mission land. In my country, Uganda, each diocese ordains an average of 15 priests per year. Each diocese can supply Fidei Donum priests to another diocese in the West for some time, as it was done the other way round for the last decades.
This will have to happen if the prediction for Hilary Davies (The Tablet, June 17) is true that by “2050 Africa will be by far the most Catholic continent in the world”.
I know some sceptics do not think that there is a need to look south, but the NHS to survive had to look somewhere beyond. Even recently truck drivers were in demand and the list can go on. What about a vocation that is very rare and precious. Who will say like Jesus, “Love for your house devours me?” The ‘Black Babies’ have grown, please trust in them.
REV CHARLES LWANGA KAWEESI
Portglenone Monastery, Co Antrim
US is chief provocateur in bitter war
America has announced it will be providing Ukraine with cluster bombs. This is an alarming and highly controversial escalation in the conflict and a sign that all is not well with Nato’s much-vaunted Ukrainian counter offensive.
The US has been the chief provocateur in this increasingly bitter war. The US has urged Nato members to exhaust their arsenals to the tune of billions. They have been instrumental in preventing meaningful dialogue between the warring factions. They have persuaded that there can be complete victory for one side over the other – which is errant nonsense and a damaging approach to adopt.
The US once again has demonstrated its incredibly blasé concern for life in other parts of the world. Whether it be in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, et al, the American foreign policy is one of confrontation, agitation and provocation to a point of innumerable deaths and destruction for their perceived rivals. Their comprehension of history is as feeble as Biden’s grasp on diplomacy. Their value of democracy is as hollow as their words on security and peace.
For example, Crimea, the hotly-contested region in this current conflict, voted on March 16 2014 to re-join Russia. Eight-two per cent of Crimeans engaged in the referendum – 96 per cent of those who voted in the Crimean referendum voted to re-join Russia. Contrast that with the 72.2 per cent of UK voters who took part in Brexit. This non-violent, bloodless, legal and democratic action did not violate the Ukrainian constitution that had been shredded by a violent coup by right-wing, Russian-hating neo-Nazis. Yet this referendum was immediately condemned in the west as a Russian ‘invasion’. Their stand would be laughable if it were not for the devastating consequences that the people of Ukraine and the contested regions are enduring today.
There is little to gain from peace and America is not a nation in the conventional sense, but a vast business empire where there is no appeal in serving the interests of bridge-building, unless it is their bridge and built for their purposes.
LAURENCE TODD
Belfast BT15
Importance of publicly-funded broadcasting
The problems that have been exposed in the management of RTÉ are getting the attention they deserve. The BBC has experienced similar problems. Misuse of publicly-funded broadcasting can have important implications for matters of democracy and justice in Ireland and globally. Privately-owned and commercial media sources are also subject to similar abuses and may be far less amenable to the sort of accountability we are now seeing at RTÉ. Mainstream media globally, including Irish media, are heavily influenced by US and Western commercial media. RTÉ does some good investigative reporting but has been falling short in several important areas. RTÉ news reporting on the EU, Nato and the war in Ukraine has arguably been unduly uncritical. Public broadcasting should not become a government broadcasting service. The reorganised RTÉ must promote a more independent form of investigative journalism prioritising the most important national and international issues, as befits its role as part of the fourth estate.
EDWARD HORGAN
Castletroy, Co Limerick
Republicans believe in equal treatment
I have been asked many times why Sinn Féin and the IRSP didn’t march in the Belfast Pride parade in the early days of Pride when their support was needed. The reason is that at the time Pride started out, republicans where banned from marching in Belfast city centre. Both SF and the IRSP didn’t bring banners on to the march as they didn’t want the demonstrators attacked by the RUC. Not bringing banners on the demonstration in the early days was an act of keeping people safe. They did march as individuals and some were shocked to see how the LGBTQ community was treated by those opposed to Pride. Today republicans march from all sections of the republican family and over the last few years RNU have been good friends to the Belfast LGBTQ community.Republicans always believed in an Ireland of unity that treats all the nation’s children equally and that’s the very ideals of republicanism.
SEÁN ÓG GARLAND
Belfast BT10
