Irish columnist uses abuse crisis as springboard for familiar proposals

August 25, 2011

An Irish columnist, in the course of berating the bishops for their handling of the sex-abuse crisis, unintentionally provides an illustration of how that crisis has allowed Church critics to pursue their own pet projects.

Martina Devlin observes that the mishandling of the sex-abuse crisis has severely damaged the status of the Catholic Church. The real problem, she adds, is that the Irish hierarchy--with the sole exception of Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin--failed to recognize that their response aggravated the problem and badly hurt the status of the Church. Then, in a stunning non sequitur, she offers a solution:

One way forward would be woman priests, another is optional celibacy.

Devlin does not bother to explain how the ordination of women, or the end of priestly celibacy, would improve the performance of bishops.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Church is self-destructing in response to sex abuse (Irish Independent)