More on Archbishop Rowan - this time by Damian Thompson
Damian Thompson is a prodigious blogger at the Telegraph Online. It says there:-
"Damian Thompson is Blogs Editor of the Telegraph Media Group," but his blog entries are usually to do with religion - Catholic stuff, mostly. He's usually a good read.
He has added a couple of musings on Archbishop Rowan's recent exercise in kicking himself in his own backside.
On 3rd April 2010 he wrote:-
Archbishop Rowan Williams should think twice before commenting on the Catholic sex abuse crisis…
… because there are plenty of unexploded bombs lying around his own back yard in the shape of sexual relationships between Church of England priests and teenage boys that have never come to light. Believe me. When I run through my mental checklist of Anglican clergy who were widely and credibly rumoured to be using their status to pressure post-pubescent boys and young men into sex in the 1970s, 80 and 90s, I realise that it is quite a long one. Also, that some of the prelates who chose to ignore this situation are still alive and highly respected retired bishops. As it happens, I agree with every word that the Archbishop of Canterbury has said about the Irish Church, and I do not suspect his motives in making those comments. It’s just a bit rich, coming from the leader of a Church in which traditions of English reserve have managed to keep so many scandals politely concealed.
It seems that we Catholics have more in common than I appreciated with our Anglican brethren.
Here is the link to the original article. The comments thread is full of strong reactions and agreements and is worth a wade through.
On 4th April 2010 Damian followed up with:-
The Archbishop of Canterbury eats his words
Well, that stunt backfired, didn’t it? Archbishop Rowan Williams’s Requiem for the Irish Catholic Church wasn’t scheduled to be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 until Monday’s Start The Week. But someone released it as a single just in time for Holy Saturday, thinking that no one outside the Vatican would object. Bad call.
The irony is that Dr Williams wasn’t really wrong about Catholic Church in Ireland. He said:
“An institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility – that’s not just a problem for the Church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland.”
Sounds about right to me, though I’d take issue with “suddenly”. The Catholic Church in Ireland has been busy draining itself of dignity and credibility for decades. The Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation can’t happen soon enough, and why is Cardinal Sean Brady still in office?
But obviously it didn’t occur to Dr Williams that the Irish hierarchy wouldn’t like their painful Easter made even more humiliating by a rebuke from the main Protestant denomination in England, the country they dislike above all others. And so now he’s had to apologise for basically telling the truth, adding rather less convincingly that “nothing could have been farther from his intention than to offend or criticise the Irish Church”.
What were you thinking, Dr Williams? You were apparently persuaded – perhaps in the studio on the spur of the moment, perhaps in advance – that your scathing thoughts on Irish Catholicism would enhance your moral authority on this holy feast day. Possibly your friends in the media convinced you that anyone can get away with saying anything about the Catholic Church right now: it doesn’t matter whether it’s true (the Irish Catholic Church has lost credibility) or false (the Pope is complicit in sex abuse). But they, and you, reckoned without the hair-trigger Irish temper, which is easily provoked by British patronising.
Oh, and nice cheap shot about the Ordinariate, by the way. But it won’t have the desired impact, because all anyone will remember about this weekend is that you had to eat your own words.
I confess that I found this rather strong. I have friends who must know better than me that think this Rowan bloke is okay but I have found him unconvincing most of the time. So I am no big fan. But Mr T here is clearly showing a significant lack of respect for him.
I have less respect for him that he did not stick to his guns. What he said had merit. He could have apologised for the timing and the tenor of this thrust but he should have shown some spine and backed up his words. As Mr T said, what people will remember is the embarrassing climb down.
Here is the link to the original article.
"Damian Thompson is Blogs Editor of the Telegraph Media Group," but his blog entries are usually to do with religion - Catholic stuff, mostly. He's usually a good read.
He has added a couple of musings on Archbishop Rowan's recent exercise in kicking himself in his own backside.
On 3rd April 2010 he wrote:-
Archbishop Rowan Williams should think twice before commenting on the Catholic sex abuse crisis…
… because there are plenty of unexploded bombs lying around his own back yard in the shape of sexual relationships between Church of England priests and teenage boys that have never come to light. Believe me. When I run through my mental checklist of Anglican clergy who were widely and credibly rumoured to be using their status to pressure post-pubescent boys and young men into sex in the 1970s, 80 and 90s, I realise that it is quite a long one. Also, that some of the prelates who chose to ignore this situation are still alive and highly respected retired bishops. As it happens, I agree with every word that the Archbishop of Canterbury has said about the Irish Church, and I do not suspect his motives in making those comments. It’s just a bit rich, coming from the leader of a Church in which traditions of English reserve have managed to keep so many scandals politely concealed.
It seems that we Catholics have more in common than I appreciated with our Anglican brethren.
Here is the link to the original article. The comments thread is full of strong reactions and agreements and is worth a wade through.
On 4th April 2010 Damian followed up with:-
The Archbishop of Canterbury eats his words
Well, that stunt backfired, didn’t it? Archbishop Rowan Williams’s Requiem for the Irish Catholic Church wasn’t scheduled to be broadcast by BBC Radio 4 until Monday’s Start The Week. But someone released it as a single just in time for Holy Saturday, thinking that no one outside the Vatican would object. Bad call.
The irony is that Dr Williams wasn’t really wrong about Catholic Church in Ireland. He said:
“An institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility – that’s not just a problem for the Church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland.”
Sounds about right to me, though I’d take issue with “suddenly”. The Catholic Church in Ireland has been busy draining itself of dignity and credibility for decades. The Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation can’t happen soon enough, and why is Cardinal Sean Brady still in office?
But obviously it didn’t occur to Dr Williams that the Irish hierarchy wouldn’t like their painful Easter made even more humiliating by a rebuke from the main Protestant denomination in England, the country they dislike above all others. And so now he’s had to apologise for basically telling the truth, adding rather less convincingly that “nothing could have been farther from his intention than to offend or criticise the Irish Church”.
What were you thinking, Dr Williams? You were apparently persuaded – perhaps in the studio on the spur of the moment, perhaps in advance – that your scathing thoughts on Irish Catholicism would enhance your moral authority on this holy feast day. Possibly your friends in the media convinced you that anyone can get away with saying anything about the Catholic Church right now: it doesn’t matter whether it’s true (the Irish Catholic Church has lost credibility) or false (the Pope is complicit in sex abuse). But they, and you, reckoned without the hair-trigger Irish temper, which is easily provoked by British patronising.
Oh, and nice cheap shot about the Ordinariate, by the way. But it won’t have the desired impact, because all anyone will remember about this weekend is that you had to eat your own words.
I confess that I found this rather strong. I have friends who must know better than me that think this Rowan bloke is okay but I have found him unconvincing most of the time. So I am no big fan. But Mr T here is clearly showing a significant lack of respect for him.
I have less respect for him that he did not stick to his guns. What he said had merit. He could have apologised for the timing and the tenor of this thrust but he should have shown some spine and backed up his words. As Mr T said, what people will remember is the embarrassing climb down.
Here is the link to the original article.
5/4/2010 8:32 PM
| Comments [1] | #Current Affairs
