Church at a crossroads: Bishops, priests, and lay Catholics speak out

 Church at a crossroads: Bishops, priests, and lay Catholics speak out

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Examiner [Cork, Ireland]

September 4, 2022

By Conor Capplis

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As the Church’s three-year synod approaches its final year, Catholics in Ireland await the outcome with a variety of hopes and aspirations, writes Conor Capplis

The story of Jesus meeting a sceptical Samaritan woman at the well told in the Gospel of John is, for many Christians, a story of encountering Jesus and choosing his well as the source of eternal life. 

As the Irish Church faces a crossroads ahead, with many big decisions to be made, Bishop William Crean of the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne wonders what wells sustain the Irish people today.

The increasingly secularised nation has found new watering holes after decades of Church scandals.

“Where are people finding their sources of, say, imagination, vision, inspiration, motivation, direction, purpose and meaning?” he asks, speaking to the Irish Examiner at his palace in Cobh, Co Cork. 

“I find myself asking: for young people, what’s the source of their spirituality?” 

“Maybe…