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Liberation theology or right-wing theology? Time to choose – by Joe McVeigh

By on November 6, 2025

 

 

 In my lifetime as a Catholic priest, I have met many wonderful and radical Christian thinkers, writers and activists –people who have taken Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about justice seriously. Close to home was the late Fr Des Wilson who inspired me and many others to think about a different way of living and thinking about the Christian faith. He influenced me early on in my life as a priest in the Catholic Church with his writings and his decision to live and work with the poor and oppressed in Ballymurphy.
 In the 1980s, when I went on study leave to New York, I was fortunate to meet and become friends with Fr Daniel Berrigan S.J. and his circle of friends and then with people involved in the Catholic Worker movement in New York and Baltimore. Many of these people acted in solidarity with the prisoners in Long Kesh who were on hunger strike.
Others involved in the liberation movement whom I encountered along the way were from the United States or South and Central America – people like Bishop Helder Camara from Brazil and theologian Jon Luis Segundo and human rights activist Noel Correa from Nicaragua.
 I also kept in close contact with Irish missionaries. I learned a lot about the radical church from a short visit to El Salvador in 1995 after the war had ended. The poor were still traumatised. Their love and admiration for Monsenor Oscar Romero was still very evident.
 Two radical thinkers from whom I have learned a great deal in recent years are Richard Rohr -a Franciscan priest and Joan Chittister -a Religious sister in the Benedictine order. They both live in the USA but have travelled all over the world with their message of Hope and their radical understanding of the Gospel of Justice. I have been blessed to meet both and enjoyed listening to them speaking about the need for Justice in the Spiritual Life. I came to realise that working for Justice is at the core of the Gospel.
There are many more radical thinkers and activists in the Church and the world. It is on these wonderful and courageous people that the future Christian church must depend for they have done much to promote a living, progressive theology of liberation.
It has become clear to me for a number of years that Irish Christianity has to become a radical movement for justice or else it will be merely a performance. That’s not just my opinion. I hear it from many in the six counties who were once Catholics and who felt they were let down by the Catholic Church leaders during the years of British and Unionist repression when they demanded their basic rights. The Church can only become a radical Church if a dialogue begins within the Church about the radical meaning of the Bible and the need to take sides.
The radical thinkers and writers have been saying as much for many years. I first heard this view expressed at a Student Christian Movement (SCM) conference in Drogheda around 1973. The speaker was an American liberation theologian, Rosemary Radford Reuther, who died recently. This was all new to me at that time. I never heard about liberation theology during my seven years in Maynooth when I was preparing for Ordination to the priesthood.
  Liberation theology is based on the teaching of the Prophets about Justice and on the new teaching of Jesus about the reign of God which led to his crucifixion on Calvary. It is also influenced by the fearless witness of the first believers that Jesus of Nazareth was vindicated by God the Creator of all when he was raised from the dead. The early followers of Christ who formed the Christian community took the Gospel seriously. They were for the first two centuries in total opposition to the Roman empire. Many suffered persecution and became martyrs. From the blood of martyrs the new Community was born.
Irish missionaries took the Sermon on the Mount seriously and in many countries especially in Southern and Central America, they lived their lives in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. They joined in the struggle for human dignity and justice. They risked their lives in doing so.
Irish missionaries called on the Church to cut all ties with the political and military elites in society. They called on the Church to stop supporting businesses that were tied to oppressive regimes. Liberation theology is committed to building a Church that will be a Church of the poor and oppressed and a Church that will give up all privileges.
I have also come across some right-wing Catholics who are opposed to change and who want to go back to the pre-Vatican II hierarchical church and the old liturgy. They will always support the political right wing status quo.
It is decision time for the Irish church. It has a choice -to adopt the model of Liberation theology or continue trying to be a middle of the road church more concerned with charity than Justice. 
 The Irish Church must return to the basics of the Gospel and make a preferential option for the poor and oppressed. The Church in Ireland must commit all its resources and energies to the struggle for justice and equality in Ireland. That will involve support for the new Ireland- free from British interference.
 
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Liberation theology or Right- wing theology  by Joe McVeigh
 In my lifetime as a Catholic priest, I have met many wonderful and radical Christian thinkers, writers and activists –people who have taken Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about justice seriously. Close to home was the late Fr Des Wilson who inspired me and many others to think about a different way of living and thinking about the Christian faith. He influenced me early on in my life as a priest in the Catholic Church with his writings and his decision to live and work with the poor and oppressed in Ballymurphy.
 In the 1980s, when I went on study leave to New York, I was fortunate to meet and become friends with Fr Daniel Berrigan S.J. and his circle of friends and then with people involved in the Catholic Worker movement in New York and Baltimore. Many of these people acted in solidarity with the prisoners in Long Kesh who were on hunger strike.
Others involved in the liberation movement whom I encountered along the way were from the United States or South and Central America – people like Bishop Helder Camara from Brazil and theologian Jon Luis Segundo and human rights activist Noel Correa from Nicaragua.
 I also kept in close contact with Irish missionaries. I learned a lot about the radical church from a short visit to El Salvador in 1995 after the war had ended. The poor were still traumatised. Their love and admiration for Monsenor Oscar Romero was still very evident.
 Two radical thinkers from whom I have learned a great deal in recent years are Richard Rohr -a Franciscan priest and Joan Chittister -a Religious sister in the Benedictine order. They both live in the USA but have travelled all over the world with their message of Hope and their radical understanding of the Gospel of Justice. I have been blessed to meet both and enjoyed listening to them speaking about the need for Justice in the Spiritual Life. I came to realise that working for Justice is at the core of the Gospel.
There are many more radical thinkers and activists in the Church and the world. It is on these wonderful and courageous people that the future Christian church must depend for they have done much to promote a living, progressive theology of liberation.
It has become clear to me for a number of years that Irish Christianity has to become a radical movement for justice or else it will be merely a performance. That’s not just my opinion. I hear it from many in the six counties who were once Catholics and who felt they were let down by the Catholic Church leaders during the years of British and Unionist repression when they demanded their basic rights. The Church can only become a radical Church if a dialogue begins within the Church about the radical meaning of the Bible and the need to take sides.
The radical thinkers and writers have been saying as much for many years. I first heard this view expressed at a Student Christian Movement (SCM) conference in Drogheda around 1973. The speaker was an American liberation theologian, Rosemary Radford Reuther, who died recently. This was all new to me at that time. I never heard about liberation theology during my seven years in Maynooth when I was preparing for Ordination to the priesthood.
  Liberation theology is based on the teaching of the Prophets about Justice and on the new teaching of Jesus about the reign of God which led to his crucifixion on Calvary. It is also influenced by the fearless witness of the first believers that Jesus of Nazareth was vindicated by God the Creator of all when he was raised from the dead. The early followers of Christ who formed the Christian community took the Gospel seriously. They were for the first two centuries in total opposition to the Roman empire. Many suffered persecution and became martyrs. From the blood of martyrs the new Community was born.
Irish missionaries took the Sermon on the Mount seriously and in many countries especially in Southern and Central America, they lived their lives in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. They joined in the struggle for human dignity and justice. They risked their lives in doing so.
Irish missionaries called on the Church to cut all ties with the political and military elites in society. They called on the Church to stop s
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

In my lifetime as a Catholic priest, I have met many wonderful and radical Christian thinkers, writers and activists –people who have taken Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about justice seriously. Close to home was the late Fr Des Wilson who inspired me and many others to think about a different way of living and thinking about the Christian faith. He influenced me early on in my life as a priest in the Catholic Church with his writings and his decision to live and work with the poor and oppressed in Ballymurphy.
 In the 1980s, when I went on study leave to New York, I was fortunate to meet and become friends with Fr Daniel Berrigan S.J. and his circle of friends and then with people involved in the Catholic Worker movement in New York and Baltimore. Many of these people acted in solidarity with the prisoners in Long Kesh who were on hunger strike.
Others involved in the liberation movement whom I encountered along the way were from the United States or South and Central America – people like Bishop Helder Camara from Brazil and theologian Jon Luis Segundo and human rights activist Noel Correa from Nicaragua.
 I also kept in close contact with Irish missionaries. I learned a lot about the radical church from a short visit to El Salvador in 1995 after the war had ended. The poor were still traumatised. Their love and admiration for Monsenor Oscar Romero was still very evident.
 Two radical thinkers from whom I have learned a great deal in recent years are Richard Rohr -a Franciscan priest and Joan Chittister -a Religious sister in the Benedictine order. They both live in the USA but have travelled all over the world with their message of Hope and their radical understanding of the Gospel of Justice. I have been blessed to meet both and enjoyed listening to them speaking about the need for Justice in the Spiritual Life. I came to realise that working for Justice is at the core of the Gospel.
There are many more radical thinkers and activists in the Church and the world. It is on these wonderful and courageous people that the future Christian church must depend for they have done much to promote a living, progressive theology of liberation.
It has become clear to me for a number of years that Irish Christianity has to become a radical movement for justice or else it will be merely a performance. That’s not just my opinion. I hear it from many in the six counties who were once Catholics and who felt they were let down by the Catholic Church leaders during the years of British and Unionist repression when they demanded their basic rights. The Church can only become a radical Church if a dialogue begins within the Church about the radical meaning of the Bible and the need to take sides.
The radical thinkers and writers have been saying as much for many years. I first heard this view expressed at a Student Christian Movement (SCM) conference in Drogheda around 1973. The speaker was an American liberation theologian, Rosemary Radford Reuther, who died recently. This was all new to me at that time. I never heard about liberation theology during my seven years in Maynooth when I was preparing for Ordination to the priesthood.
  Liberation theology is based on the teaching of the Prophets about Justice and on the new teaching of Jesus about the reign of God which led to his crucifixion on Calvary. It is also influenced by the fearless witness of the first believers that Jesus of Nazareth was vindicated by God the Creator of all when he was raised from the dead. The early followers of Christ who formed the Christian community took the Gospel seriously. They were for the first two centuries in total opposition to the Roman empire. Many suffered persecution and became martyrs. From the blood of martyrs the new Community was born.
Irish missionaries took the Sermon on the Mount seriously and in many countries especially in Southern and Central America, they lived their lives in solidarity with the poor and oppressed. They joined in the struggle for human dignity and justice. They risked their lives in doing so.
Irish missionaries called on the Church to cut all ties with the political and military elites in society. They called on the Church to stop supporting businesses that were tied to oppressive regimes. Liberation theology is committed to building a Church that will be a Church of the poor and oppressed and a Church that will give up all privileges.
I have also come across some right-wing Catholics who are opposed to change and who want to go back to the pre-Vatican II hierarchical church and the old liturgy. They will always support the political right wing status quo.
It is decision time for the Irish church. It has a choice -to adopt the model of Liberation theology or continue trying to be a middle of the road church more concerned with charity than Justice. 
 The Irish Church must return to the basics of the Gospel and make a preferential option for the poor and oppressed. The Church in Ireland must commit all its resources and energies to the struggle for justice and equality in Ireland. That will involve support for the new Ireland- free from British interference.
 
…

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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