Stirring times in Glasgow last week! In the Archdiocesan newspaper, ‘Flourish’, Archbishop Tartaglia shared with us “my thoughts on where I think we are” in planning future parish provision. Essentially, there were “Where are the people ? “ and “How many priest and deacons will there be ? ”
He also mentioned that a new auxiliary Bishop would be appointed.
The newspaper was probably printed too early for him to mention the plea of guilty to three sexual assaults on young people accepted by one of the finest preachers in the Archdiocese.
Now there are less appealing bishops than Archbishop Tartaglia , and unlike other Archbishops in Scotland he’s prepared to at least acknowledge a letter. But what an unfortunate series of events.
We do try to avoid cliché, but the rearrangement of deckchairs on the ‘Titanic’ can hardly be avoided now, can it?
Very few people have ever been killed or injured in fights at the back of our churches here in Glasgow to get the latest edition of ‘Flourish’ . So it’s fair to assume he’s talking to churchgoers.
Imagine if you will, the captain of the ‘Titanic’ talking in a not yet invented tannoy to those in the lifeboats. In the article, Archbishop Tartaglia is speaking in geographical terms of the city when he asks ‘Where are the people?’. Those of us in the lifeboats know from our own families , and at least two generations within them, where the people are. They are no longer in church. They are drifting silently away from the Church into the darkness, like the lifejacketed victims in the famous ‘Titanic’ film to a very different life without the Sacraments from the one they were baptised into. Unlike the original, there are many lifeboats- or parishes, if you are still with me- without seamen to control them, who could save those still aboard. The Captain- still Archbishop Tartaglia- says he hopes to find , and I quote, ’suitable priests from wherever’, the missing seamen .
My Jesuit former English teacher used to suggest that we run the other way if we saw an extended metaphor approaching, but bear with us. In 2015, to ignore Pope Francis’s offer to extend ordination, as he has done with the Eastern Rite, is for the captain of the ‘Titanic’ to tell all sorts of rescue ships not to bother, we’ll be fine. Why can’t the bishops accept his offer to extend ordination and give us the duly Ordained Ministers , from our parishes, who would provide the Eucharist to the Flock ? And in particular why can’t British bishops? The Scottish ones certainly owe us. Do we really need to hope , however improbably unlikely this is, for the miraculous provision of ‘suitable priests from wherever’?
This extended metaphor thing is quite addictive. We now see what Fr John Tracy, SJ meant. But bear with us one last time, for two last points , as he would have said.
How would those in the lifeboats have responded to this tannoy announcement, as the ship descended into the depths, to the news that the ship had a new First Lieutenant, other than by detaching removable parts from the lifeboats and trying to throw them at the Captain ? We feel that the announcement of a new auxiliary Bishop for Glasgow is equally irrelevant.
Finally, but far more significantly than the Church in Scotland seems to feel is relevant, what if the Captain had had to mention that one of his most trusted seamen had played an active part in trying to scuttle the ship , as regrettably one of the finest preachers in the Archdiocese has done ?
We have now abandoned the Titanic metaphor, you may be pleased to note.
We simply ask- why don’t our bishops abandon the notion that the Tridentine priest is , in general, the only method of providing the Eucharist for the Flock , and extend ordination as Pope Francis has asked them to consider ?