Church must focus on what matters

THE deep divisions among clergy in the archdiocese over the fallout from the Murphy report are a distraction from what really matters for the future of the church.

Clearly the bishops did their best in the context in which they were working and their best was far from good enough. It will not matter much if all or none of the bishops resign. The job of the church now is to heal and not to patch things up by some ritual resignations. What will matter is if we see the church unchanged in its perception of its role and in the way it conducts its relationships with its priests and its people, and in the way that bishops are appointed.

The bishops, with a few inspiring exceptions, have been their own worst enemies in adopting an aloof, impersonal and judgemental approach to their role, We all dreaded the regular and tedious pastoral letters read out on Sundays, informing us how to live our lives. The complexity and remoteness of the church as organisation has taken us a long way from the moving simplicity of the Sermon on the Mount.