Apparently in the old days of newspapers, this time of the year was known as the silly season, although the distinction between the press at this time and any other is always hard to see. However.

The Catholic press this weekend produced two crackers, as Frank Carson used to say.

With every appearance of seriousness, an Irish correspondent in the ‘Tablet’letters page actually uses the expression ‘alter Christus’ of priests in the Roman Rite. No, re ally. Is there an Irish Brigadoon ?

I have no theological education, although I hope to devote some time to this later. The concept, I mean. This expression is one I find distasteful. All I will say is that it has been defined , if I have it correctly, as being something said about priests by other priests who did not have the guts to blow the whistle. And I shall not mention my erstwhile curate, done twice for paedophily,`the on-line gambler priest or even Cardinal O’Brien.

There will be an Amazon event in October. If nothing else, it will help the Roman Rite , to which most Europeans belong, to look at itself. I hope the other 23 sections of the Church get a laugh from this; after Cardinals McCarrick, Pell,and O’Brien , I feel they are due one.

But according to the ‘Catholic Herald’ panic has broken out in Rome among some . A Cardinal Mueller says ‘In all seriousness (sic) , in the formation of future pastors and theologians, shall the knowledge of classical and modern philosophy of the Church Fathers, of modern theology, of the Councils now be replaced with the Amazonian cosmovision and the wisdom of the ancestors with their myths and rituals?’

If you don’t know what’s worrying him, neither do I . A less charitable writer would have commented on the absence of good Italian restaurants on the Amazon. After all, some ultra-dynamic young Pope will transfer the admin centre of the Church to some Indonesian island perhaps, and why not in geocentric terms. The panic has started !

Interestingly,Amazonian Bishop Krautner- the only bishop with guts enough ever to say to a Pope- ‘What is the score here? People aren’t getting the Sacraments’ has commented adversely on the nonsense of ‘viri probati’. Atta boy!

I remind you that the average age of To Feed The Flock is about 86. Are bouncy castle Catholics going to return to our churches every Sunday to be faced with some senescent for Mass ? Or will they come to receive the Eucharist and General Absolution from a parish-elected thirty year old taxi owner ? I know what we think.

I leave you with this for the moment. No actuary will give you the odds on To Feed The Flock being alive to see this. You never know, of course, but while we’re here we’ll try.

All we ask is the Eucharist for ourselves, our children, and their children as Our Lord asked at the Last Supper. And for a billion Chinese.