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WATERFORD, Ireland (LifeSiteNews) — An Irish Catholic bishop believes that crucial issues, including engaging traditionalists and advocating for the unborn, have been left out of his church’s national survey. 

On Sunday, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of the Waterford and Lismore diocese published a response to the Church in Ireland’s National Synthesis, calling for further reflection on the missionary outreach of the Irish Church. He pointed out the “mildly dismissive” attitude the document showed to the traditional Catholicism.  

“The synthesis … reveals an attitude to what could be termed ‘traditional’ faith which is mildly dismissive,” Cullinan wrote.  

From my own interaction with some ‘conservative’ or ‘traditional’ believers it was clear that many did not engage with the synodal process at a parish level. It would be interesting to research why this was so,” he continued.  

“Is it because they themselves feel marginalized? Or because they felt that Church teaching cannot be changed and that there was no need for this synodal process and that little fruit would ensue? Or perhaps they felt they simply had better things to do with their time? These are all questions to ponder. If the Church in Ireland is worried about groups on the margins of Irish society, then we will have to dialogue in a more serious way with what might be termed ‘traditional Catholics’.”  

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The bishop said that it was “vital” that Catholics continue to talk and listen to each other, “in prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit.” He expressed disappointment  that the June 18, 2022 meeting in Athlone, where the National Synthesis was presented, was too inwardly focused.  

“ … I came away from the gathering realizing that we had heard very little on mission and the missionary outreach of the Church. There was far too much introspection,” Cullinan wrote.  

“In the feedback from parishes in the Synthesis itself we see a lot of emphasis on participation and communion or more accurately community,” Cullinan’s letter continues. “But as the Synthesis itself states—the Holy Spirit also speaks in the silence, in the gaps.” 

Bishop Cullinan detailed some of the “gaps” which he noticed in parishes, namely the lack of “social and ecumenical outreach” to the poor and homeless, unborn children, and drug addicts. 

“Was there too much about ourselves and not enough about others?” he asked.  

“Where was the desire to encounter Christ in the poor, the unborn, the elderly, the refugee and the homeless? What emerged to put before our young people who are aching for hope and purpose in life?” he continued.  

“What alternatives were proposed to a life lost in drug addiction and self-gratification? What initiatives were put forward to support family life? Where was the cry for the healing of Jesus Christ upon our world? Why didn’t these issues emerge more strongly in the conversations around the country?” 

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The National Synthesis summarizes the diocesan syntheses resulting from the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference‘s “Synodal Pathway of the Catholic Church in Ireland”. The announcement of this Irish Synod was made in March 2021, months before Pope Francis initiated a universal Synod, which will conclude in October 2023.   

Ireland’s National Synthesis included a range of themes which were presented in both a positive and negative light: “Abuse as Part of the Story of the Church,” “The Role of Women in the Church,” “LGBTQI+,”“Liturgy,” “Catechesis,” and the “Covid-19 Pandemic”. 

Bishop Cullinan’s response to the National Synthesis acknowledges the hard work put into the process as well as its value in showing “what most people in responding to the questions…failed to address.” 

His outgoing message is not one of condemnation, but rather one that encourages members of the Church in Ireland to shift their focus from a desire for inclusive community to serving those who need missionary outreach. 

Since the publication of the synthesis, a few hundred Irish Catholics expressed concern that the summary inaccurately represents the laity, particularly on matters concerning Church teaching on homosexuality and traditional liturgy. The responses will be sent to Rome in September. 

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