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Catholic newspaper applauds Taoiseach's Vatican speech

The Irish Catholic said in its editorial that the Taoiseach’s speech “captured the anger of a generation”.

A CATHOLIC PUBLICATION has said that Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech about the Vatican “captured the anger of a generation”.

The Irish Catholic has its front page entirely dedicated to an editorial on the speech this week, in which it states that “the time for hollow apologies is over”.

The editorial, titled Time for Penitence, states that “most remember an arrogant authoritarian Irish church and a privileged clerical caste that obsessed over sexuality and hell fire and neglected the tender compassion of Christ”.

Kenny’s speech “resonated with a younger generation”, said the editorial, and was an “emotional roar from much of Catholic Ireland to the Vatican for action now”.

The paper concludes that the Irish church “needs someone to grab it, shake it up and make it fit for purpose”, saying that Irish Catholics “love their church and want it back”.

While the Irish Catholic may have praised the Taoiseach for his speech, others were not so impressed.

According to the Political World forum, some mass-goers walked out of mass last Saturday at the Black Abbey in Kilkenny City after the priest called Minister for Justice Alan Shatter a “Jewish, non-practicing, atheist”.

As reported yesterday on TheJournal.ie, a Co Louth parish priest compared the Taoiseach to Hitler in a mass bulletin earlier this week.

Read the full editorial on the Irish Catholic website>

Read more: Column: No matter what, we still need the Church by Fr Tony Flannery>

Read more: Column: You, Me and the Holy See by Lisa McInerney>

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8 Comments
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    Mute David Lee
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:46 AM

    Everybody should walk out of every church in Ireland and see how quickly they can fix their massive problems when they don’t receive their weekly contributions.

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    Mute Simon Cunnane
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    Jul 29th 2011, 12:39 PM

    Wouldn’t it be handier not to bother going in the first place? :)

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    Mute Paul Lanigan
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:40 AM

    “Some people walked out….”

    What were the rest of the sheeple thinking? Doing?

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    Mute David Higgins
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:07 AM

    I swear I’d stand up and challenge a priest if anything like that was said in my parish. I know how the mic system works as well so I’d be heard :D

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    Mute Mike
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:18 AM

    I think its something to do with Irish people. We are very slow to complain. Most of us never give poor quality food back in resturaunts, give back drinks served in dirty glasses etc.

    I would guess the vast majority of people in the Church would have been horrified with what this priest said.

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    Mute seamus moore
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:10 AM

    That ‘black Abbey Friar’ would want to stop confusing his flock! Is he saying that Shatter is a non- practicing Jew, a non- practicing atheist or a non-practicing Jewish atheist? No wonder they walked out, their brains were overloaded with these ‘Black Abbey Mysteries’. With an apparent personalised rant like that, the good friar is certainly not a practicing Christian as defined in the gospels. Now, who threw that first stone?

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:37 AM

    David Quinn must have had a heart attack when he saw that.

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    Mute Hugo Fitzpatrick
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:10 AM

    maybe we should all walk in the churches and discuss the issue with priests who don’t agree with the general consensus of the public?

    yeah it won’t happen, and I’ve yet to spontaneously combust upon entering “holly” ground. But I bet they’ll judge me and assume a magical land of fire and negative judgements await me after death….

    The Vatican has treated this island the same way aspects of British rule did. Despite the great work our people did to spread and keep the faith since the middle ages.

    time we got respect as a republic and not some 2nd world back water the church can fiddle and manipulate.

    15
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