As I said, I will be keeping an eye on the upcoming Eucharistic Congress.
For the last while the Congress Bell has been travelling around the country drumming up (if you'll excuse the term) enthusiasm for the Congress. It has now made its way to Rome where it has been rung by no less a person than the Pope himself.
I was interested, therefore, to see a tweet (above) in the IEC stream saying that Minister Pat Rabbitte had rung the bell, in no less a place than Rome itself, and inviting us to view this happening. Unfortunately when I pressed "view photo" a cloak of invisibility seemed to descend and all I got was a blank space.
Not to be discouraged I clicked on the link given in the tweet only to be met by a firmly locked door (below).
What, I wondered was going on. Had the Minister taken fright at the dissemination of a photo showing him in cahoots with the church in these delicate times when even the Angelus bell on RTÉ is provoking apoplexy in some quarters.
Or perhaps he suddendly remembered the ammunition provided by the above photo to those critising the symbiosis of Church and State at the time of the last Congress in 1932.
If any of this is the case, the Minister is on a hiding to nothing. The internet is like the elephant, once it has seen something it never forgets. So I tapped into the elephant's memory, in this case the site of the
Enjoy
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Despite the most serious Twitter-harrassment over the last week, the Eucharistic Congress People have not reacted to queries/criticism of the "missing" picture.
ReplyDeleteI can only conclude that this is an indication of a vast Church/State conspiracy to avoid their mutually embarrassing each other.
It does add point to some of my comments in an earlier post on the issues facing the Church in the course of this Congress.
Stay tuned.
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The picture is still missing from the @iec2012 Twitter stream after three weeks. It is still accessable on the Franciscans' website.
ReplyDeleteThe only conclusion I can come to is the following. Minister Rabbitte was in Rome for Paddy's Day. He attended the St. Patrick's Day Mass at St. Isadore's College as a matter of course. After the mass he was doorstepped by the bell which he sheepishly rang. I didn't make up the sheepish bit, just look at the photo. When he realised that iec2012 had taken a publicity photo he was embarrassed and while the congress had already tweeted it, they took down the photo but did not delete the tweet, and that is why there is a blank space in the tweet and there is nothing available at the Facebook link.
However, nobody appears to have told the Franciscans of the Minister's embarrassment, so the photo remains up on their site. Deo Gratias.
Remind you a bit of the sort of not-joined-up-government we are getting at present.
Bring on the Holy Ghost, that wise old bird who can Cenaclise the faithful at the drop of a whatever.
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The Franciscans appear to have revamped their site, and as a result the photo of the Rabbitte and the Bell does not seem to be any longer accessible. Atleast, the link above no longer works and I can't find the photo there.
ReplyDeleteBut never fear. Yours truly has a copy so there is no reason why this man should sleep peacefully in his bed at night.