An article in the new magazine, Ceide, which is being launched by the President, Mrs Robinson, at Ballycastle, Co Mayo, today, criticises "the secretive, idiosyncratic process" by which Catholic bishops are appointed. It also blames the former papal nuncio, Dr Gaetano Alibrandi, for making a series of safe appointments when risk and imagination were needed.
Describing the process by which bishops are appointed as "one of the great mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church", the unsigned article concludes that it is geared to "surfacing a particular clerical prototype".
A successful candidate "will have invariably demonstrated an absolute loyalty not just to Rome but to the Holy Father, is sound on Humanae Vitae and vehemently opposed to what is perceived as a a dangerous drift in the direction of a series of modern isms: secularism, liberalism, materialism."
The article, A Bishop for Cork, New Departure or Same Old Story?, is not signed.
Using a sporting metaphor, it says of current Irish Catholic bishops, "ball-stoppers and cornerbacks abound. No creative wingers there. No episcopal Maradonas to carve an opening in what presents as the impregnable defence against the encroachment of the modern world."
It says the present Papal Nuncio, Dr Storero, "is not too impressed with the intellectual calibre of the present episcopate," and blames Dr Alibrandi, who was involved with the appointment of 44 bishops, for the situation. It continues that "apart from the usual requirements, the received wisdom on the clerical grapevine was that a hearty laugh, a sycophantic demeanour and an interest in fishing were, in his [Dr Alibrandi's] dispensation, no obstacles to advancement in the Irish church."
Dr Alibrandi's appointment of "a series of safe men at a time when risk and imagination were so obviously needed" had "damaged irreparably the confidence and credibility of the Irish church," it says. "Elegant and graceful Diego Maradonas found themselves champing on the sidelines," it continues, while "the Church Militant had, in a mere generation, been supplanted by the Church Incompetent."
The piece indicates that the next Catholic bishop of Cork and Ross may be appointed in September. The post became vacant last October on the death of Dr Michael Murphy.
Possible successors mentioned include the auxiliary bishop of the Cork diocese, Dr John Buckley; the parish priest of Ballygarvan, Co Cork, Father John O'Mahony; the former vice-president of Maynooth College, Father Tom Clancy; and the Jesuit priest, Father Bartholomew Kiely. It suggests the current Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, may succeed to the post, "but that prospect, for a number of complicated reasons, is not universally welcomed."
The magazine is edited by Father Kevin Hegarty, former editor of the priests' magazine, Inter- com. The editorial committee is chaired by Prof Mary McAleese, and includes John F. Deane, Denis Coghlan, Robin Wilson and Father Enda McDonagh.
The magazine is managed by Father Brendan Hoban. The former RTE director-general, Mr Oliver Maloney, is chairman of the management committee.
