reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

@Praxiteles wrote:

The idea strikes me that we could run an opinion poll and let the the viewers, all 200,000 of them, decide the issue and it might cause the HACK to muster up the courage to go.

The question that could be put is a simple one:

Do you think that the Cloyne HACK should resign in the wake of their recommendation to wreck the interior of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork?

Answers should also be kept simple: Yes or NO.

YES!

@Praxiteles wrote:

The idea strikes me that we could run an opinion poll and let the the viewers, all 200,000 of them, decide the issue and it might cause the HACK to muster up the courage to go.

The question that could be put is a simple one:

Do you think that the Cloyne HACK should resign in the wake of their recommendation to wreck the interior of St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork?

Answers should also be kept simple: Yes or NO.

Perhaps the administrator could set it up on the front page with all the poll gagets!

yes

Great idea, Prax! Let the HACK know that the time has come for a clean sweep. It is long past time for these old hackers to give way to the new blood, like Jim Kidney for example and others like him, who have the vitality, energy, and intelligence to respond to the obvious needs of such a noble and exquisitely beautiful edifice as St Colman’s Cathedral, Cloyne. These young people recognise the value of a great church like St Colman’s, and they have sufficient awareness of the religious and cultural significance of this building for Ireland and for Catholicism to want to do something substantial to preserve it for posterity. The future lies with them, the real heroes of tomorrow, not with the (day)dreamers and woolgatherers on the HACK.

Instead of grasping for power and then stagnating once it is in hand, the HACK, the hackers, and the hacklings ought to recognise that leadership involves nurturing subsequent generations in such a way as to prepare them for assuming high responsibility in their turn. The likes of Jim Kidney and his generation of future leaders are getting a distatefeul lesson from their elders in how NOT to manage affairs. We call it the via negativa: what NOT to do when the torch is passed to you.

By the way, those photos of St Mary’s Dungarvin, Co. Waterford, are absolutely appalling. How such a travesty could have been perpetrated escapes comprehension. That it should be tolerated at all any further defies all common sense.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Perhaps the administrator could set it up on the front page with all the poll gagets!

Admin : Would you be willing to do a short poll….? RTEs website often run a nice one where
user gets to see results to date after their entry…. just an idea…:)

http://www.polldaddy.com/

St. Joseph’s Church, Liscarroll, Co. Cork

Here is a picture of the interior of the church. A planning application was made on 4 April 2007 for largely unspecified wors that would see the complete devastation of the interior of this village church. Some 13 objections were lidged with Cork County Council. The Planning Authority wrote for further information on 25 May 2007 indicating that the supporting information accompanying the application was “totrally inadequate” to allow the PA make a decision in relation to a protected structure. The PA also wished to have written proof of legal title to the property. A new door has appeared on the church – which was not mentioned in the planning application. IT appears that the enforcement officer of Cork COunty COuncil has written to the Parish Priest on the subject. We await developments.

Yes

@PVC King wrote:

I think that the hierarchy should show leadership at a very high level to intervene in protecting the long term future of this most important liturgical asset. The faith has enough threats without compromising some of its most inspiring settings.

A poll would display the feelings felt by the architectural community to this very short sighted strategy being foisted on the people of Cobh. Opinion in the Donkey was 100% against the changes I wonder what reaction would be here?

PVC has identified the weak link in the chain: LEADERSHIP in the HIERARCHY. The vacuum in this department is at the heart of the whole issue re the preservation of church buildings in Ireland. It behooves us therefore to do a little honest inventory, just to know on which door one might knock with a reasonable expectation of gaining a hearing “at a very high level”:

Which bishops have opened any churches recently? What did these look like? Any award-winning examples?

Which bishops have recorded vast increases in church attendance for their dioceses over the last five to ten years?

Which bishops have published theological, exegetical, apologetic, or ascetical books that have won international acclaim? [Personal memoirs, autobiographical reminiscences, or episcopal musings accompanied by glossy photos do not count.]

Which bishops are known to be cultivating schools of theological thought or fostering the ferment of theological research?

Which bishops have distinguished themselves by calling attention to the Church’s teachings in the social order (just wages, protection of the pre-born, integrity of Christian marriage and family life, discrimination, just war theory, etc.)?

Which bishops have reported substantial growth in their local churches over the last decade?

Which bishops are renowned as the nation’s conscience? the nation’s top preacher? the Church’s voice in the media? Which bishops have the highest rate of Mass attendance on Sundays? Percentage of practising to non-practising members among the flock?

Which bishops are known as the defenders of the poor and marginalised?

Which bishops have inspired a renewal in the sacred liturgy? Or identified an architectural style for the new century (not to mention the millennium)?

Which bishops are founding schools of fine arts? colleges of the liberal arts? universities? choir schools? pontifical institutes of higher learning?

Which bishops are establishing techinical schools for future Catholic workers?

Which bishops are inaugurating media centres for the promotion of the Gospel and teaching young Catholics how to leaven the media?

Which bishops are influencing the performing arts?

Which bishop draws young people by the thousands to renew their faith and follow the Gospel by means of a lifestyle independent of the secular hedonism dominant in most sectors of society today?

Which bishops have taken the opportunity to expound the most recent papal teachings or implement the most recent canonical and liturgical legislation? Which bishops are most closely identified with the papal magisterium today?

Your answer to these questions will provide you with a clue to implementing the suggestion raised above. When the ecclesiastical hierarchy begins to pay attention to the governance of the Church (their first duty, it is presumed), then we may hope to see the preservation of old churches and to foresee the building of new churches to accommodate the growing number of Catholics who ought to be attending Mass on Sundays.

In the meantime, it may reasonaly be asked: who is taking care of those rotting doors in Cobh cathedral? Don’t knock too hard on those doors – or you may punch through the fabric. Don’t knock too hard on the doors of St Mary’s Buttevant, either, or your hand may come through on the other side.

Very interesting to note that no one has yet come to the rescue of the Cloyne HACK – not even themselves!!

A pleasure Kite to see another nail in the HACKS bier!