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	Young Priests Fail to See a Futurein Fr D'Arcy's Kind of Faith By Rónán Mullen Irish Examiner March 29, 2006 http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/opinion/Full_Story/did-sgoiaYQKtIM7ksgTbBP-2fa91M.asp A FEW years ago I took part in a Late Late Show discussion about child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church. On the show that night were Fr Brian D'Arcy and a number of people who had suffered abuse by Catholic priests. Fr D'Arcy had to leave immediately after the show but, on our way out to the hospitality suite, he spoke to one of the abuse victims in a voice of great familiarity and intensity. "Won't you mind yourself?" he pleaded. Chatting to me afterwards, the person in question commented on 'how upset' Fr Brian seemed to be. "Do you know him well?" I asked. The person didn't know him at all, it turned out. On one level, Fr D'Arcy's obvious compassion was commendable. But I was left wondering, nevertheless. Was this man a hyper-emoter, a man far too in touch with his touchy-feely side, too ready to feel everybody's pain? How was it that he was never to be found on the unpopular side of a controversial argument, that he never defended his Church against unfair criticism, and that the only people he criticised over the years were erstwhile authority figures such as Cardinal Daly or the Vatican - people who were, by then, easy to criticise. However, a lot of people have great time for Fr D'Arcy. He is, by all accounts, a compassionate man who has been of great support to many people over the years. Like many priests, he has been there for people at crucial moments and they will not forget it. Nor should they. Yet it is undoubtedly the case that priests like Fr D'Arcy now stand in the way of the Church's development in the Ireland of the 21st century. In a newspaper interview last weekend, Fr D'Arcy told journalist Sarah Caden how he had surprised himself recently. "I said to a group of young fellas (priests) that we should get rid of all our priests. I told them that they should not waste their lives trying to keep Mount Argus going, or Ardoyne going, or anywhere else. I told them, get yourself a clean break and then see what the future holds. And everyone just looked at me and it was so awful that I had a terrible dream about it last night." Let's leave aside, for a moment, the rather odd advice given by an older priest to a group of younger men whom he should be regaling with good tips for their work in pastoral care, coping with social change, and prayer, to name a few. Focus instead on Fr D'Arcy's musings. His revelation is just the latest on the sleep patterns of public figures in Ireland. Readers will recall that Justice Minister Michael McDowell lost a lot of sleep one night last week after saying something shocking about the opposition's finance spokesman, Richard Bruton. The parallels are interesting. Neither Mr McDowell nor Fr D'Arcy are allergic to attention from the media. Over the years, both have specialised in dishing out harsh criticism, while aligning themselves firmly with popular opinion. In recent times, both have been prone to emoting very publicly. In McDowell's case, the dominant emotion has been anger at those who would dare question him. Fr D'Arcy, meanwhile, has wrung his hands in a very public way at the failures of bishops, but also surprised many by his scathing attack on younger priests and seminarians. These were "underdeveloped right-wing tyrants in the making, escapees from the real world seeking comfort in a certainty and power", he said on one occasion. Fr D'Arcy seems to have a problem with younger priests. "It still gets me that I'm the only one ... sticking my neck out," he said last weekend. "There are no other fellows coming up after me ... Instead you have fellas ... who feel they can never open their mouth because they won't get a decent parish." If his analysis were true, it would be a disturbing indictment of the Church and its timid, careerist priests. But that's why we should question Fr D'Arcy's words. Is he telling the truth, or is he engaging in character assassination? Could the real picture be different? Could it be that many priests, while sympathising with Fr D'Arcy's sincerity, don't see a future in his kind of faith? After all, Fr D'Arcy had nothing good to say about the institution of the Church in his interview, as published. There was no mention of God's role in his life, or the importance of faith when addressing the moral questions facing society. All we got was a larger than life portrait of a highly emotional 'me' figure who was critical of everybody but himself. Pope Benedict had some punchy things to say about such attitudes when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. "No one goes to Church to hear someone's personal opinions. I am not interested in what fantasies this or that individual priest may have spun for himself regarding questions of Christian faith. Anyone who preaches himself in this way overrates himself and attributes to himself an importance he does not have. Only by letting himself become unimportant can the priest make himself truly important because, in that way, he becomes the gateway of the Lord into this world." Perhaps what Fr D'Arcy represents, for all his goodness, is a flawed model of priesthood. In the 1960s and '70s a new kind of populist priest emerged, replacing the old authoritarian model. These priests were well-intentioned and saw themselves as popularising the Church for a new, more critical and secularised generation. But these men were not ready, emotionally or psychologically, for the next phase in Ireland's evolution. Soon, there were more hostile forces bent on excluding the Church from Irish life. The sins of the clergy were fuel to their fire. Crucially, these forces saw no distinction between old authoritarian priests and the new types. Sooner or later, it is every public person's fate to discover that their ideas are no longer in vogue. Fr D'Arcy may see the younger generation of priests as lacking in idealism by not following his ideas. In fact, they are incorporating some of his best ideas (the importance of closeness to people and unselfish pastoral care) while retaining the best of what the Church can offer: belief in revealed truth and the authority of authentic Christian teaching. The Church will always believe in the indissolubility of marriage, the sacredness of human life and the importance of the priest's role in serving the community. In the short term, such ideas may make for heavy weather. In the longer term, they are the Church's strength.
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