By SHAUN KENNEY
Ireland — land of poets and heroes — is about to distinguish herself yet again, this time in the fight for human life against its enemies.
On May 25, Ireland will vote on a referendum to relax its Eighth Amendment, a law already weakened five years earlier when the health of the mother is at stake.
Ireland may exist in myth as a redoubt of Catholic values and culture, but the modern evidence is far from the truth. Wracked with sexual abuse scandals and cover-ups and staring down a tidal wave of material prosperity, the suffering that united the Irish people is dissolving into the mediocrity of Europe.
Yet there is hope — a desperate hope that certain abortion groups are desperately trying to cage. Though pro-abortion dollars are surging into Ireland and the media are presenting an inevitable win (visions of 2016, Mrs. Clinton?), social media are rippling with success from pro-life groups who are fighting back asymmetrically — not through the media, but through social media, word of mouth campaigns, and a community activism that understands a deeper secret still: Ireland wants to be pro-life.
The abortion lobby understands the stakes and is overwhelming the Irish people with outside money. They know that a nation with deep roots in Catholicism overturning over a millennia of history and faith would send shockwaves throughout the Catholic world.
So deep is their concern, they have not only monopolized the press and airwaves, but are warning themselves about possible “contagion” from social media, almost begging the question as to whether or not Facebook has learned its lesson (sic), all in the hopes that the censors will do their job and silence the Catholic laity.
Where are the bishops, one might ask? There are strong statements here and there, but there are no bishops fighting off the abortion lobby as if there were actual wolves gnawing at the throat of their flocks. No urgency is felt, no passion expressed. Merely the placid cowing of a once great hierarchy bent low by a media and political left who are keen to remind the public of the sins of the past should any of them step out of line.
So it is up to the laity to provide these outsiders their version of Stalingrad. Or perhaps Killeshandra or Kilmichael against these new Black and Tans?
Either way, the Irish people who still hold to the faith of their fathers should know that all of Catholic America is praying for their victory. Riamh nar dhruid o spairn Lann! That is: “Who never retreated from the clash of spears!”
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An anonymous writer asks whether or not the bad guys in the Vatican are on the run. I don’t know about you, but for one reason or another I suspect a tidal shift.
Of course, that’s a gut instinct, but it seems to coincide with a few newsworthy items. Many of the Bergoglians seem to be a bit reticent to use their spears as of late. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — all loyal to Pope Francis — has pushed back against intercommunion with our Protestant cousins. Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, even seems to have toned down some of his acidity.
It is as if Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation combined with Raymond Cardinal Burke’s gathering in Rome signaled a limit. Thoughts of turning the Catholic Church into a giant NGO (that’s United Nations speak for non-governmental organization; a charity ward) just earned the label of heresy.
More interesting to me is a further explanation of the idea of “rules” earning the status of cult. While one of my friends believes it is a veiled attack on tradition and by extension the Tridentine Mass, there’s another consideration to make.
Reading Paul Collins’ Absolute Power over the weekend, I found that he mentions the idea of rules and rigidity not in the sense of liturgical norms, but rather rules of faith such as Opus Dei and the Legionaries of Christ.
One should instantly note that Mr. Collins is a former Catholic priest who left the priesthood after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith investigated his book Papal Power, arguing that papal infallibility required the consent of the faithful in a grand sensus fidelium — ostensibly resigning before he could be removed.
Collins is ebullient in his praise of the progressive reformers, with narration and opinion infecting his work the closer he arrives to the present day. Nevertheless, one receives helpful intelligence on whose who encourage him: Mary Hunt with Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual; Jamie Manson with the openly heterodox National Catholic Reporter (a/k/a “The Fishwrap”); and Robert Mickens from the leftist political blog La Croix International — a well-funded sock-puppet organization that should really do a better job of covering up their funders.
Any small wonder why a rather obscure Australian priest like Collins who fulminates against papal authority would be dug up by progressive reformers? Any small wonder why their targets would be prelatures such as Opus Dei — the message having been sent with the virtual takeover of the Sovereign Order of Malta? Bastions of fidelity, they would prove to be rather inconvenient should certain German bishops demand their place in the sun.
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Bad news. The “x” on my old keyboard gave up the ghost. This prevents me from writing all sorts of useful words: excise, excommunicate, extraordinary, taxes, xylophone, and so forth. You never really know how much you use a letter until it’s gone.
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Good news — your prayers (as requested in my column of April 12) not only worked for my friend and his family, they spilled over to yet another friend who had a second surgery for a very similar malady.
This is where it gets better: Not only did your prayers work, they worked superabundantly. What was supposed to be a routine surgery turned into an emergency one, with chances of survival somewhere in the neighborhood of 6.25 percent. No worries — our patient is resting comfortably in the hospital, and is slowly coming around to health.
In the second case, this was a second surgery to correct what was missed from the first. Odds were much higher, but given its nature? Passed with flying colors.
As is the custom in instances such as these, a Hail Mary and Glory Be in thanksgiving would be more than appropriate, as would be my absolute and deeply heartfelt thanks for your prayers.
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Of course, I am succeeding (but not replacing) the inestimable Mr. James K. Fitzpatrick for the First Teachers column. Please feel free to send any correspondence for First Teachers to Shaun Kenney, c/o First Teachers, 5289 Venable Road, Kents Store, VA 23084 — or if it is easier, simply send me an e-mail with First Teachers in the subject line to: svk2cr@virginia.edu.
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