tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post7190215216686469031..comments2024-03-27T02:55:10.109-07:00Comments on Irish Papist: The Ireland I Have Dreamed Of (1)Maolsheachlannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-74473877767448317292015-09-02T13:15:32.503-07:002015-09-02T13:15:32.503-07:00Yes, but I think you could pull it off, Antaine.Yes, but I think you could pull it off, Antaine.Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-42082383245363461252015-09-02T12:35:46.655-07:002015-09-02T12:35:46.655-07:00Chivalry is the way to go. I try to be that way, b...Chivalry is the way to go. I try to be that way, but yes I can't imagine doing the whole hat tipping thing. That might come across as trying to be too fancy and obnoxious I think.Antainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-6235327566048610762015-07-26T17:50:54.444-07:002015-07-26T17:50:54.444-07:00Excellent post. I look forward to reading the rest...Excellent post. I look forward to reading the rest of this "series."GoldRush Applehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04672912751538200761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-63129995704673975332015-07-20T13:43:56.643-07:002015-07-20T13:43:56.643-07:00I will never understand why people apologize for c...I will never understand why people apologize for commenting. I wish I had many more comments! Thanks for that, Roger. I am rather haunted by nostalgia for Catholic Ireland myself....Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-36434466318372919502015-07-20T13:36:07.968-07:002015-07-20T13:36:07.968-07:00Yes, Maolsheachlann, these terms are tricky.
But ...Yes, Maolsheachlann, these terms are tricky.<br /><br />But rest assured I am no more interested in a dictatorship of clerics than I am in a dictatorship of relativism.<br /><br />Christianity means nothing if it is not about freedom. <br /><br />Obviously perfect freedom in a fallen world is as impossible as perfect love and Ireland suffered clerical abuses of power …<br /><br />But what I find very moving about Catholic Ireland - for all its fallenness - is that the authority it gave to the Church was democratically willed. "Where the populace itself subscribe" to borrow your important turn of phrase.<br /><br />Today power resides elsewhere it seems to me and to me it looks less democratic than in Ireland of old.<br /><br />Heavy, complex stuff, which is partly why I have a lot of difficulty with forums and comments. And resist commenting much. But although I may be a more political creature than you (??) - I have been devouring one book after another about Dev, another political creature - I am really very moved by your cultural project too.<br /><br />I have been thinking today about you being crushed in Grafton Street among other things you are saying …<br /><br />There are things you are evoking that are mysteriously haunting for me. I tell myself I'd better resist commenting more, but I'm not sure I will be able. Will be reading your next instalment now ...Roger Buckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10722568291805894518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-56627351252449849912015-07-20T05:53:53.283-07:002015-07-20T05:53:53.283-07:00Thanks Roger. To be honest, I'm not entirely s...Thanks Roger. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what a theocracy is, strictly speaking. Strictly speaking, I imagine, a system where clerics are in charge...more loosely speaking, one where the teachings of a particular religion are imposed upon everyone. I wouldn't want either, although the Ireland I am imagining is one where the populace themselves subscribe to certain fundamentals of Catholic teaching, like the right to life.<br /><br />I haven't read Diarmuid Ferriter's book on De Valera...I have never in fact read any book on De Valera, apart from a short and heavily-illustrated one. I keep meaning to.Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-13623852462726762262015-07-19T23:42:25.083-07:002015-07-19T23:42:25.083-07:00Not only very interesting, but contains a great de...Not only very interesting, but contains a great deal of beauty. I am very interested where you are headed with this.<br /><br />So much here is inter-related of course. The importance of taboos, chivalry, non-gambling etc were part and part parcel of the traditional Catholic worldview fostered in Ireland before Vatican II.<br /><br />As for theocracy … well, not unlike Dev's words, it has become a dirty word in our new "seculocracy" which moves century after century to move authority from a moral maximum to a moral minimum.<br /><br />I am not sure that the Irish preamble rooting _ultimate_ authority in the Triune Christian God rather than "consent of the governed" is not theocratic, at least in some sense.<br /><br />Or that what the noble de Valera was aiming for was an approach that blended theocracy with democracy. I wonder if the most ideal political system necessarily entails both.<br /><br />But the new "seculocracy" is leading to what Benedict XVI called the dictatorship of relativism.<br /><br />I very much look forward to future instalments, even if I don't always comment like this.<br /><br />PS. God bless Diarmuid Ferriter for his great book on Dev ...Roger Buckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10722568291805894518noreply@blogger.com