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A MAN WHO said he had secured almost 700 tickets as part of a Facebook campaign group to boycott Pope Francis’ Phoenix Park mass says he has changed his position on the campaign.
Richard Duffy told RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline last week that he would symbolically destroy the tickets as part of the Say Nope to The Pope Facebook campaign, which has attracted almost 5,000 people since it started last month.
However since the show, Duffy said he now understands that people of faith felt personally targeted by his actions, which was not his intention when getting involved with the campaign.
“I have come to realise that while I may not have been depriving anyone of their ability to practise their faith, I was depriving people of a choice as to how they wished to practise their faith.
Freedom of choice is important, it is something I value dearly. I must continue to support it.
Disgust
Duffy said that his initial intention in participating in the protest was to express his disgust at the”welcome mat” being rolled out for the Pope, “a mere seven years after the Taoiseach rightly stood up in the Dáil to condemn the actions of the church”.
“The media coverage over the last week or so leaves no doubt that many people are not happy with this visit,” he said. “However, the protest has had a secondary effect too. Many Catholic people fear they may not be able to obtain tickets to the event in the Phoenix Park and feel personally affronted by the method this protest is using.”
“I had viewed the inconvenience of tickets becoming unavailable to those who wanted to go as a necessary side effect of the protest, and not its aim.
“The primary goal of loudly expressing dissatisfaction has been accomplished.”
Duffy said that if the Phoenix Park event sells out he will contact the World Meeting of Families organisers to nullify his bookings.
Petty
In the Dáil last week the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the people taking part in the Say Nope to the Pope campaign as “wrong, petty and mean-spirited”.
“Protest is legitimate and okay, but denying other people the opportunity to attend a mass or an event is not legitimate protest in my view and is most unfair. It should be condemned,” Varadkar said.
But despite his change of mind on the Say Nope to the Pope campaign, Duffy disagrees with the comments made by Varadkar.
“I feel that this protest is important and I feel that this protest is legitimate.
“A number of people have described this protest as ‘petty’, I feel that describing any action taken against the abuses of the church as ‘petty’ is shameful.”
Duffy told TheJournal.ie that he will take part in more protests against the papal visit but none that will affect others right to practice their faith.
Volunteers
Separately, almost 4,000 volunteers are still needed to work at Pope Francis’ Phoenix Park Mass.
Organisers of the World Meeting of Families need another three to four thousand Papal Mass stewards to help direct the crowds expected in the park on Sunday 26 August.
A previous call-out for people to volunteer for two to three days during the WMOF conference and the Phoenix Park Mass closed on 30 June with just over 6,000 people signing up before the deadline.
“We need as many volunteers as possible to work with us across as many days as possible and now that we’ve gotten our number there [for the two or three days], we’re just looking to increase the number of people working with us for just one day,” Brenda Drumm, Communications Manager at the World Meeting of Families 2018 said.
“We have to rest our volunteers at a certain point. We will be operating shifts on the day [of the Mass], it will be a very early start and a long day.
We have a duty of care to our volunteers, that’s why we need so many.
Drumm said that the WMOF is confident that it will have at least 10,000 volunteers signed up in the next couple of weeks.
“We were aware through the process of asking for volunteers that there was an awful lot of people who would have liked to have given up three or four days but because of work and families that wasn’t possible.
Now that we’re at this stage we’re putting out a renewed call and will hopefully capture a lot of those people who were interested in volunteering for one day.
The media attention around tickets for the Pope’s Phoenix Park and Knock visits going on general release has already resulted in increased queries from people who are interesting in volunteering, according to Drumm.
“That tends to happen with big announcements. We found a similar boost in interest when the Pope’s itinerary was announced. We’re confident that we’ll reach the 10,000 target.”
Applications to be a Papal Mass steward can be made here but will close in the coming weeks to allow time for the training involved.
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Also a integral part of the Cologne story were the illegal immigrants who abused the German women.
@Kevin Dillon: Not according to police in Cologne who described it as an ordinary New year’s celebration. The accusations only came to light in late January after being published by media following posts on Facebook and other social media platforms.
@Kevin Dillon: They seem to have no compassion for these vulnerable women that were victimised. That’s the reason the Cologne incident epitomised the issues many people have with the far left. It showed them up to be the hypocrites they are. And this report walked headfirst into this. In the era when ISIS were at the top of their power, we were letting millions of unvetted migrants into Europe whilst serious crime and terrorist attacks were being carried out by migrants and children of migrants. You’d be insane not to question this. But apparently such common sense makes you racist. It doesn’t matter that you recognise that it’s not all migrants.
After criticising Australias border stance yesterday, I get your viewpoint, but labeling all criticism about the crisis as far right is just as labeling as those that supposedly call all migrants terrorists. There is a problem, but not all came from warzones for asylum, and chanced their arm without taking the legal route. They can move if they have the paperwork done.
@neilo: Correct me if I’m wrong but I had thought one of the attacks came through the Mediterranean route. The others were first generation. But the fact that they were first generation goes to show that integration may not be working (these guys grew up in a cultural enclave in Brussels) which is a serious concern as we could have more attacks in 20/30 years from european citizens as a result of todays policy.
@neilo: yeah I agree. But the issue is how do we stop this form of terrorism and will it only get worse as a result of todays policy?
The IRA had a clear objective and peace was reached because compromise was found. With these radicals there’s no compromise, they’re ideologically against everything the west stands for. I agree destabilising the middle east gives strength to these radicals but they don’t have an express view we can meet them halfway on.
@neilo: Merkel did!! She said all the Syrians were welcome, that’s a fact! And of the 1:6 million of them who did get to Germany, only 2:9% of them are employed! That’s a fact as well.
A recent report from Greece said they had a sizable amount of Caribbean”refugees”. They got on a plane to fly to Turkey then paid smugglers to get to Greece. Get informed. Europe is full!!
@neilo: it’s not an open border policy but a policy of mass immigration (as opposed to safe zones and support in home countries/neighbouring countries). Also the policy of ferrying people who are a few miles off the coast of Libya to Europe only encourages people to make the journey, supports traffickers, and results in more tragedies occurring at sea.
@neilo: sorry I should probably be clearer. When I say policy I don’t mean an express government policy (I don’t really know what express policies are in place). I’m going off how they are operating. From what I see there is a complacency in settling millions of people without sufficient background checks from areas which are war torn and not war torn. The Dublin convention also appears to be being ignored.
To be honest I’m surprised the % of refugees from. Third world countries is not higher. But being from a third world country is not sufficient to get asylum and is totally unsustainable.
Regaridng the boats I agree it’s complicated, but the best system may be one similar to Australia as they successfully managed to stop the boats and deaths at sea.
@neilo: The thing is, if you don’t have an express ‘closed borders’ policy, it will be interpreted as ‘open borders’.
@neilo: yeah hopefully they can get some form of process set up in North Africa.
I don’t know if it’s true that the majority of applicants in Ireland or the EU are rejected and the people deported. As far as I know most applicants who are rejected stay for in excess of 10 years (in ireland anyway) while they go through appeal after appeal. Also I just had a look at http://www.asylumineurope.org and on 2017 there were 2,910 applications and 90 were rejected. However I know many of these are still pending.
I don’t even think it’s a problem in Ireland. I’m more talking about the EU as a whole and countries such as Germany and Sweden.
@neilo: thanks Neilo. Maybe it is getting better and things will be done better for all involved in the coming years.
@neilo: “and the applicants deported,as in the case in most EU countries” You must know very well that that is totally untrue.
Can we not have a sensible discussion on immigration. Not labeling those with legitimate concerns as far right and not labelling those that want us to show compassion as lefties. It is possible to want both.
@Philip Morgan: no you can’t. We’re all intolerant & racist for even wanting to have a rational discussion on such a topic. I feel a good dose of cultural enrichment is just what Dr Varadkar ordered.
@Philip Morgan: Yes let’s have that. I’m open to sensible suggestions.
What do you have in mind?
@Lou Sypher: Speak for yourself anonymous one.
I want a chat with him.
As a result of the obvious bias in favor of uncontrolled immigration. I have become extremely sceptical of stories in the media reporting on it. I suppose that makes me “far right”, so be it.
Far right AKA citizens concerned about unvetted mass immigration
Hardly ground-breaking, cutting-edge nor original research!
Thats a no brainer , If something is topical in the news it’s obvious it will become topical on twitter an example the journal during the casey debates , stories supporting casey and polls here were getting exaggerated support to what he actually got at the polls.
Plenty of alt right bots right here in the journal comments section, mostly English, attempting to give a skewed view regarding immigration to Ireland.
@European Bob: too early for leftys
anyway yeserday was dole day
poor lads and laseys need a ly in
after the beer day
@Flippermac: Why do you write your comments like they’re a poem? It’s like I’m reading Seamus Heaney if he had just suffered massive brain trauma.
@WilliamMorris: well that’s one good thing I did to day
would you like a pain killer
poor thing
@European Bob: Dont be silly ” alt right bots”. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the VOX party on its historic election in Spain. Democracy only works if everyones voice is heard.
@Graham Light: rubbish
Between this and their “report” on “hate speech” DCU are on a role. I don’t see science here only judgment based on their far left leanings, and that’s coming from someone on the left. If you don’t fully agree with them and have nuanced opinions on complicated topics you’re “far-right”. You just get lumped in with some lad that said “rapefugee” on Twitter. How could DCU be wrong. Their views are backed up by a report! Do you have a report?
Etat nye pravda!
Wouldn’t the far right be better off joining a union if they want to be financially better off and job security.
Ah, ‘framing’, the crime that is not a crime when we do it.
have your say