The Irish bishops are to travel to Rome to face the man in charge, Pope Benedict, and discuss possibilities for the church in the aftermath of the clerical sex scandals.
The talks are scheduled for the 15th and 16th of … Read more...
Category: Irish Catholic Church
Iris Robinson scandal – What now? Meaningful Change or Business as Unusual?
Last night’s BBC Panorama programme on the Iris Robinson affair, ‘The MP and the Whistleblower,’ followed much the same script as the original Spotlight programme. The Panorama showing, geared towards a wider UK audience, merely updated the on-going saga to … Read more...
Parish Priests Reflect on the Decline of the Irish Catholic Church
Today’s Irish Times features interviews by Rosita Boland with three priests at various stages of their careers, responding to what is beginning to look more and more like the collapse of the Irish Catholic Church.
All three condemn the … Read more...
Archbishop Eames & Peter Robinson’s Silence about Cardinal Daly: Questions about the Politics of Symbols, Gestures & New Discourses
Yesterday, DUP leader Peter Robinson finally commented on the death of Catholic Cardinal Cahal Daly. Robinson’s silence had become deafening, and pundits had begun to debate whether he was demonstrating the leadership skills of a First Minister for all … Read more...
Thoughts on the Death of Cardinal Cahal Daly – Peace, Ecumenism, & the Future of Irish Christianity
The former Catholic primate of Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, died yesterday at the age of 92. On the eve of what promises to be yet another difficult year for the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Daly’s death seems to have created … Read more...
New Monasticism Comes to Ireland: Dublin Event with Douglas Burton Christie, 16 January 2010
If old forms of Christianity in Ireland are passing away, there are new expressions of this ancient faith emerging throughout the island. One of these expressions, ‘new monasticism,’ will be explored in a one-day conference in Dublin on 16 January … Read more...
Contemplating Ireland’s Apathy: Do Irish Citizens Want a Say in their Future?
There is a stunning lack of accountability in Ireland. It doesn’t have to be that way. Writing in today’s Irish Times, columnist Elaine Byrne recounts how an indignant and industrious Icelandic citizenry has peacefully and effectively achieved meaningful political change … Read more...
A Victim of Clerical Sex Abuse Speaks Out
In all of Ireland’s current sex abuse scandals, it seems the perspectives of the victims keep getting lost as we focus on the bishops of the Irish Catholic Church, or on abusers like Liam Adams.
Today an anonymous victim of … Read more...
‘For the Good of the Church’: Will more Irish Catholic Bishops Resign?
In today’s Irish Times, Mary Raftery has offered a shocking analysis of recent comments by bishops named in the Murphy Report on child abuse in the Dublin diocese. Raftery argues that their public statements reveal a stunning lack of will … Read more...
Re-Organisation of the Irish Catholic Church
The word from the Vatican is that ‘the Irish Catholic Church faces major reorganisation.’ This comes in the wake of the child abuse scandals and their cover-up by senior officials of church and state.
Count me Out? Responding to the Report on Child Abuse in Dublin Diocese
The last time I attended mass – the Sunday before the report of the commission on child abuse in the Dublin diocese was released – the priest told the assembled faithful about a website that instructed people about how to … Read more...