Renewal

My little church is long closed down

Almost twenty years

I loved its simple beauty

And its atmosphere

I loved the local people

Folk I called my own

Its stained glass windows

Sanctuary

Its stone

 

Benediction Holy Mass

Organ faithful choir

Incense smoke and candles

All there to admire

Priests’ house joined by corridor

Little school next door

Our Catholic institution

Give me more

 

Now we’ve suffered great collapse

Priests are growing old

Some were good and holy men

Others better not told

But there that was the problem

Secret society

Children suffered so much harm

In the name of piety

 

Brian Fahy

31 December 2022

 

+ Former Pope Benedict XVI has died today aged 95. This last day of the year prompts us to look back and to see the way we came. Recent years have brought sad stories of the clerical abuse of children and the secret ways of managing unmarried mothers and their babies.

 

Things that are hidden will be brought into the light, the Lord tells us, and rightly so. We are living in a time of purification and it will be very good for us.