Sir, – Your article raising the question “Just How Catholic Are You?” raises another equally interesting question – at what point do you cease to be a Catholic?
If you neither attend Mass nor believe in transubstantiation then, for lack of belief and lack of practice of the faith, one can reasonably assume you are not a Catholic.
Your report quotes average weekly Mass attendance figures of about 30 per cent, while less than half our older citizens and less than one-fifth of the younger population believe in transubstantiation.
On this basis, less than 30 per cent of the population is truly Catholic, not the 87 per cent reported in recent surveys.
Perhaps the difference is explained by people’s links with Catholic ritual surrounding birth, growth and death – the rites of passage – and the desire to hold on to these rites.
It must be said that the Catholic Church does ritual wonderfully well. In the old days, your reward for unflinching obedience to the church was to be allowed to partake in these rituals of life and death.
The challenge for the church today may be to accept that the majority of its members now feel quite entitled to enjoy the “hatch, match and dispatch” rituals without necessarily accepting the underlying teachings of the church and without feeling any obligation to allow the church a central role in their lives.
The fact that 30 per cent of all marriages now are civil ceremonies rather than religious is an indicator that the power of even splendid ritual is also in decline.
All of this suggests that rather than simply asking people what religion they are, future surveys should ask people what religion they actively practice. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – This week the Catholic Church in Ireland ordained married men as permanent deacons for the first time (Home News, June 5th). I have no problem with married men being ordained either to priesthood or diaconate, provided women are also ordained. At present, no women – not even the thousands of celibate women religious, committed to lifelong service to humanity – are considered fit for ordination either as deacons or priests, solely because of their gender. Yet the Bible refers specifically to women as well as men being deacons.
Deacons have no more sacramental power than any baptised Christian. They cannot say Mass, hear confessions, or anoint the sick, so adding an extra layer of male clericalism will not alleviate the priest shortage.
The prophetic Association of Catholic Priests is timely in its call for the inclusive church most Irish people want. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – A “five-point test” (“Just How Catholic Are You?” June 5th) claims: “The textbooks will tell you that you are Catholic if . . . your belief in the ‘Virgin Birth’ is coupled with a deep adoration for Mary as the mother of God”. This is incorrect. Catholics do not adore Mary; they venerate her. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Regarding the “five-point test”, Catholics do not “perform the sacraments”; Catholics do not “adore” the Virgin Mary; and Catholics do not believe that the Eucharist “contains” the real presence of Jesus Christ, but actually is the body, blood, soul and divinity of the second person of the Blessed Trinity. – Yours, etc,