Comments on: Irish Catholic Bishops Need To Be Collared

By: unstranger

unstranger — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:06:36 +0000

Spot on. Absolutely fucking spot on.

By: Mervyn Crawford

Mervyn Crawford — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:57:02 +0000

Religious belief is an assertion of the supernatural. It cannot be investigated scientifically. It should therefore not be any part of public civil society (the State). It is a private matter in that sense, or personal if you prefer.

Claims to moral superiority are no more than that. There are any amount of unfounded claims in this world.

Civil society needs to be organized on enlightened and proven principles. If an indvidual wishes to practice a religion that is their choice; but their private, unverifiable views must have no role whatsoever in the role of the State.

A person’s right to practice their religion must be defended in the constitution.

A principle dating back to the Enlightenment – separation of Church and State.

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:31:44 +0000

Any of you ever been to the Vatican or the other main basilicas in Rome? The amount of money gone into them over the centuries is DISGUSTING! SICKENING! Seeing as most of the world’s Catholic countries are/were poor (Ireland, Sth America etc), it’s sickening that so much money has gone into building the Vatican. Big business…

Why not give money back to these countries instead of ploughing it into an altar for someone in a red robe..

What was wrong with a simple church? I took my folks in there to visit (I lived in Rome) and even they were shocked at the scale of wealth on display…

Maybe Buckingham palace is the same for lots of British…I don’t know what else could you compare it to?

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:41:10 +0000

You can resign you know. see http://www.countmeout.ie/
I was opposed to doing this since I felt that as I hadn’t joined up as a consenting adult, I shouldn’t have to formally resign to leave. However, I’ve changed my mind as it is a definate way to send these people a clear message. And well done Bock – you’ve articulated my incoherent rage at all of this.

By: pauleire

pauleire — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:38:43 +0000

This cuntry’s minions (mispelling deliberate BTW) never leaves me shocked in its reaction to hierarchy to be honest…… Case in point….My mother had the dinner on the table tonight for me,a woman nigh on 60 years of age,who I called into this evening after a week,and weekend of driving this island to one work related event or another.She surprisingly would not acknowledge or entertain my wish to be buried: if it might unfortunately come to pass before her passing in anything but a catholic seromony.
” You were baptised a catholic,you’ll die a catholic”….what shocks me here is this woman is no fuckin fool… I grew up from the age of 6 in limerick city center in a “broken” home as the muckaroos in government or church chose to label it.
But it was ok as we had a representative of this high moral order to keep us and our happiness in the right amount of guilt……..”Padre Paedo”,as he turned out to be actually!Our local parish fuckwit(ur children) priest …..would make a big deal out of passing out my house,with his nose in the air on his monthly visits to the estate,and proceed to make a social pariah out of my ma and her partner,and ridicule the absolute happiness it is they revel in to this day?
Much to my shock it was when i turned up to another sunday dinner 13 or so years ago, and was shown an article in the tribune about this cunt who was also our hurling trainer,abusing an altar boy of a similar aged to myself .
Catholic guilt and all its brainwashing bullshit moralities are somehow still to this day,and will continue to the next, held up as how we should live our lives.I consider myself lucky to have escaped untouched but my mother,a non practicing catholic does not see it so.this is who we are!..Is it no wonder this country is fucked!
Every single person who calls themselves a catholic should watch this…..an oscar nominated documentary about a Limerick”man”
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=deliver+us+from+evil&emb=0&aq=0&oq=deliver+us#q=deliver+us+from+evil&emb=0&aq=0&oq=deliver+us&qvid=deliver+us+from+evil&vid=7745088455537169028

By: William

William — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:54:15 +0000

Bock you say they need to feel a policmans hand on their collars..agreed,problem is we dont have Police in the republic..we would need to bring down the RUC. Paddy your lot are different,they realised that the Catholic church was rotten 400 years ago.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:43:40 +0000

paddy you could be doing the work to creating the next crop of saints, but while there is a split in the responsibility in the Schools. And where there is little clear idea as to who has the spot where the buck stops. This situation is in error.
Now do not get me wrong, I could not care less if the C of I or the worshipers of Sirius want to set up a school. But you do not get to play both ends against the middle by demanding that the State pick up the tab for all costs. Except those where they might have any future liability, like when a lady attempts to sue the State for being damaged by her State payed teacher. Only to find that the lines of responsibility were hidden by a mire of mud.
I seem to remember on the edge of my mind that the sting of having to cover costs was abated by the Taxing Master or the Supreme Court itself, but I could be incorrect on this one.

By: Benny the Bridgebuilder

Benny the Bridgebuilder — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:38:43 +0000

@paddyanglican

A fine affirmation. May the force be with you.

By: paddyanglican

paddyanglican — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:49:24 +0000

I hesitate to comment here as I am one of those clergy involved in schools – a Church of Ireland/Anglican rector and ex-oficio chair of the ‘parish school’. I have to admit that I do have reservations about the teaching of religion (in a devotional sense) in the school environment. I think that this is something that ideally belongs in the home or in the parish setting. We can no longer assume that teachers are practising adherants of any religious denomination and it is dishonest to ask those who have no commitment to a faith to impart that faith to children. Also the reality is that non-Christian education is not available to most citizens of the state and therefore most settle for either their local RC or CofI schools and have no non-religious alternative. This is patently not right. However that said I do believe that good education is a worthy goal in itself and I happen to believe that in our school we do a damn good job for all the children be they C of I, RC, Methodist, Buddhist, Atheist, New Age, Muslim and all of the above are represented in our school. We have a very committed Board of Management which is strongly rooted in the parish and as a result gets huge support from the parish community. I do believe that all education will eventually be taken over by the State but this is not going to happen overnight. In the meantime I have to say I really enjoy the privelege of being a school manager and we have a superb team of teachers of various religious affiliations in our school. I actually think we are doing something very worthwhile and I am determined that on my watch that no matter what religious affiliation all children will be respected and protected and their diversity treated as a source of enrichment.
With these nuances I endorse everything Bock has said and I have made my own thoughts public at http://paddyanglican.blogspot.com/2009/11/response-to-murphy-report.html

By: Cynical Joe

Cynical Joe — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:36:48 +0000

You’re spot on again, Bock. But despite all the suffering that the latest report has exposed, there is a bright side to all of this: the country is starting to face up to reality. I must admit to having had a secret laugh about the whole thing. I have believed that the church was a corrupt, evil and self-serving society since I was in my early teens. Back then (70’s) I couldn’t articulate it so well, and I struggled for a while with the conundrum of how so many people in Ireland could be so blind to the obvious and so stupid to fall for this nonsense. It made me cynical and though it has taken 30 years, I am happy to have been proved right. I am enjoying watching those who didn’t have the integrity to look beyond their own greasy social-pole climbing to be honest about what the church was and wasn’t. The insipid, cowardly Irish suburban middle classes, their feeble obsession with social conformity and their obsequious obedience to their supposed moral masters. Boy do they look stupid now.