Help us Holy Father, the Church is dying

In an open letter to Pope Francis, Fr Joe McDonald says he is ready for the battle to save the Church and Ireland’s very soul. He pleads with the pontiff, in this his ‘cry for help’, to take action to address the betrayals of the past in a bid to regain the trust of young people and to secure a future for the Church here

DEAR Holy Father,

Please forgive this intrusion. I realise it may be the responsibility of others to do this, but I fear they may not do so because of diplomatic convention or protocol, real or imagined, whilst others are a little tired, indeed a few even seem disheartened. For my part, I am neither tired nor disheartened, in fact, I am energised and girded for battle. A friend of mine recently remarked that it is a tough time to be a priest and I found myself asserting that it is in fact a great time to be a priest, an exciting time. I write to you from a spiritual bunker. I also write to you with a real sense of urgency, as the clock is very much against us. Every week things get worse, with opportunities lost and still more cracks of disunity appearing. I am based here on a little island on the edge of Europe where the spiritual darkness is deepening apace.