Madam, – Dare I suggest that the beatification of John Paul II, apparently copperfastened by the cure of a lone Catholic nun from Parkinson’s disease, seems a little hasty, ill-considered and narrow in outlook (Front page, May 2nd)?
Parkinson’s disease affects one in every 500 people: almost 8,000 people in Ireland live with this disease. It is a debilitating, progressive, degenerative neurological condition, affecting one’s movement and balance. As a Catholic priest and one of that 8,000, the miracle I pray for is that there would be further significant breakthroughs in the management of the disease or, even better, the discovery of a cure.
This, to my mind, is a more inclusive and catholic approach in that it seeks to embrace people of all faiths and none. The church needs to rethink its approach to beatification and miracles and to address the many thousands of people who are living with disease and for whom a miracle is something quite different than receiving a full cure! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It’s more than a little ironic that the Catholic Church is honouring a man who purportedly “cured” a woman of Parkinson’s when it opposes at every opportunity stem-cell research, which is a genuine modern miracle that could one day find a cure for Parkinson’s. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Irish Times(May 2nd), quotes a Catholic writer as suggesting a saint is "someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like". In the life of Blessed John Paul II we did and did not "catch a glimpse" of the likeness of God.
He was a remarkable human being. His sanctity and heroic virtue is beyond question. His impact upon human history places him among the great ones of the 20th, into the 21st centuries. I do not doubt that he sees the face of God in Heaven and I trust the judgment of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in declaring him Blessed.
Nevertheless, there is an aspect of the ministry of Blessed John Paul II which veils and obscures “what God is like” to the faithful. This beloved pope, who knew trauma and suffering in his own life, so terribly, from the early loss of his mother, brother and father, to the assassination attempt, in St Peter’s Square, which wounded him so terribly, on May 13th, 1981, was unable to empathise with young people, sexually abused by Catholic priests and religious.
He refused to meet with victims of clerical abuse on a number of occasions. What was the barrier that blocked him, who seemed to love young people so much, preventing him from understanding the spiritual devastation, wrought by clerical sexual predators, in the lives of young Catholics? He told the young people of Ireland, “I love you”, on September 30th, 1979. I was there as a teenager and, with the thousands of others, believed him.
Why did this great and holy Father, whom we all loved so much, refuse to meet young victims of clerical sexual abuse during his pontificate? There is joy and pain in his being declared “Blessed” so quickly by the Church.
How could Blessed John Paul II not realise that the God whom he proclaimed would be on the side of victims, against sexual predators like Maciel Degollado? And those,like Cardinal Bernard Law, who protected abusers? Blessed John Paul’s love for Catholic young people, therefore, was shrouded with deathly denial of honest acknowledgment of those whose depraved behaviour inflicted spiritual soul murder on Catholic youth. If he is truly in Heaven, praying for the people of God, these facts must be honestly faced and admitted. – Yours, etc,