We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
THE CHURCH MUST begin ordaining women and allow priests to marry if it is to survive, the Association of Catholic Priests has warned.
The ACP has made a number of recommendations to deal with the low number of vocations within the Church that will be discussed at the Irish Catholics Bishop Conference in Maynooth this week.
Fr Sean McDonagh of the ACP said that ordaining women as deacons would be “nothing unusual as they were ordained in the past”.
“It’s fairly clear historically that women have served in the Church, despite every effort to silence their voices since the 4th century.”
Women have to be a very major part of the future of ministry in the church. When you look around the church on a Sunday, who are doing most of the roles? Women.
McDonagh said that the Catholic Church was “facing an implosion in terms of vocations to the priesthood”, adding that there are only two priests under the age of 40 in the archdiocese of Dublin.
You don’t need to be a mathematician to see we’re facing a crisis.
The ACP is also calling for men who left the priesthood to marry to be called back to ministry in some form.
He noted that a 2012 survey of Roman Catholics in Ireland carried out on behalf of the ACP showed that 87 per cent of people thought priests should be allowed marry, while 77 per cent said they were in favour of women being ordained as priests. A further 72 per cent of respondents said mature married men should be allowed to be ordained.
In 1984 there were 171 ordinations or religious professions in Ireland compared to the more recent figure of just 22 in 2006. In 2013 70 people were studying for the diocesean priesthood in Ireland.
McDonagh said it was the “obligation of bishops” to raise the issue in Rome, He noted that Pope Francis indicated he was open to such suggestions in the past, stating: “We’ll take him at his word.”
The priest stressed that this was not an issue unique to Ireland, saying it was a problem “across the Catholic world that needs to be addressed”.
McDonagh said that praying for more vocations was “fine” but not sufficient by itself.
We don’t have a plan.
He warned that if the ACP’s recommendations were not acted on, parish churches could be forced to close down.
The Association met with representatives of the Irish Episcopal Conference last week. At the meeting Fr Brendan Hoban pointed out that there has been a priest in his parish of Ballina Co Mayo since the 8th century, but said, given the present statistics, he believes he will be that last.
He put a pocket-sized constitution in the hands of every Venezualan, nationalised their oil and reformed health/education. Aside from the megalomaniacal rants and ego, some of his best political qualities are non-existent in these waters.
A hero of the people.
Mao put his little red book in the hands of every Chinese. When Chaves came to power he changed the constitution. Then he changed it a further 3 times to suit his agenda. So which version did he give the people.
@Mick Jordan
The changes to the constitution were by popular referendum. You may already be aware that such events are a standard event in democratic states. Or, given the chequered history of referenda in Ireland, you may not.
Ahh so it was like Putin when he changed the Russian constitution to allow him return to the Presidency for a 3rd and possibly a 4th bite of the cherry. And he is so popular in Russia too!!!
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dhilis. A true leader who never lost sight of what he wanted to achieve for his people. A great loss. He will always be an inspiration.
A great loss to the world of left wing politics. He was a fearless leader for the poorest and weakest. I hope his legacy lives on.
Sad day for Venezuela, may he rest in peace.
and the rest of us, not many world leaders stand up to the yanky/Eu fascists quite like he did!!
the revolution will not be televised
God rest you Hugo Chavez. A truly great human being who put the poor before the corporations. A man who stood up for justice and equality and for freedom of small nations against imperialism of George W Bush. Heres hoping Venezuala elects his deputy and continues to re-distribute the oil wealth to the poor who continued to democratically elect Chavez against the wishes of the so-called democracy loving behemoth to its north. Hasta la victoria siempre. Viva Chavez siempre.
RIP.
A truly great man who benefitted the Venezuelan people immensely.
He was a person admired and respected by millions. He will be missed.
It’s a great loss to Venezuela. How I wish our leaders would take a leaf out of his book.
could you imagine Enda or Eamo standing up to the bosses like Hugo did?? never going to happen cos they’re a different breed of human compared to Hugo “no fear” Chavez
Extremely sad to hear of his death. If people look past the media characature of him and really assess and analyse his contribution to Venezuela’s poor they will see a truly committed and honourable man. That is why he was constantly re-elected by his people.
The revolution must wait Por Ahora (for now)…
In fairness Eamon Gilmore’s statement above defies belief – given what his Labour Party are doing to the Irish People at the minute.
And I see the other paragon of virtue Ahmedinejad is going on with his usual BS “martyr” statement on Sky News.
Chavez had good intentions and it’s a pity our “socialists” don’t have the same backbone. Was he a great man? History and time will be his judge.
His only failure was the international company that he kept.
oh yea Ahmadinejad the other DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED leader of Iran.
Only failure? What about judge Maria Lourdes Afiunes? To start…
All those red thumbs. I didn’t realise how unpopular ms. Afiunes was.
@Eamonn – His only failure was the international company he kept? His government had/has a dreadful human rights record. Any chance you might mention that?
Folks, I’m no fan of Chavez and his record. Let’s get that straight. I agree 100% with your comments above. It’s amazing that when someone dies – even with his track record – they suddenly become a “saint”.
For goodness sake everyone. He was no Stalin, but the country has sold off the rights to its own oil to China for the next 20 years and if anyone knows how to use the interweb look up who judge maria Lourdes afiunes is. The country is in an economic mess. The health system has been gutted because it was not Chaves’s own baby. This is what you all want for Ireland? This is your socialism? Well, you’re welcome to it, but find another country to ruin. All this set of comments shows is that if you bang an anti-American drum, you can pretty much get away with anything with western socialists.
I believe you are the first contributor to mention the US of A???
My point being that Western socialists will love a guy no matter what he does, as long as he does what Chaves’s done with his rhetoric.
Of course there is a looney left in the west. The fact remains that he cut proverty by more then half, a huge task in such a short time. I’m as anti left pro right as you will find but I still respect the man. The country is a mess still so hope it can move forward
I hope his cuts to poverty last. I really do. But my suspicion is that the oil revenues spent to do that are gone, and now they are selling the rights to future oil revenue to china. That is unsustainable, and I suspect it is the poor who lose out first, before all the kleptocrats Chavez enabled.
Before Chavez, most of the Venezuelan population were outcasts, completely abandoned in it’s own country. No health. No education. No water, gas, electric or any kind of public services.
They didn’t even had ID’s, that is: No legal existence or recognition, No Civil Rights. No Voting Rights. No voice. No Human Rights.
Venezuela had one of the lowest average IQ’s in the Americas.
Before Chavez, absolutely everything, except oil and tropical fruit juices, was imported from the USA.
All Venezuela’s oil revenue went back straight to the US industry and market, or to Venezuela’s political and business elite’s foreign private accounts in some fiscal paradise.
Years before Chavez, Venezuela nationalized it’s oil natural reserves.
Since Chavez, most of the oil and gas exploration, extraction and refinery is done, owned and run by the venezuelan public companies. Foreign investment participates in Venezuela’s oil business through joint ventures, with no more than 49% ownership.
Since Chavez, what Venezuela has been doing is to diversify it’s oil export’s market, opening a Business office in China and expanding it’s Asian oil fleet. Currently USA buys 65% of Venezuela exports.
Since Chavez, all Citizens, have ID’s, access to health, education, land ownership, housing plans, start ups and locally planned and managed projects public funding.
Since Chavez, poverty levels have been reduced by half. Literacy rates are now one of the highest in the Americas.
In only 14 years, the Democratic, Socialist, Bolivarian Revolution, under Hugo Chavez leadership, accomplished, for the benefit of the majority of the Venezuelan population, what nobody did in the previous 2 centuries of venezuela’s history, not even in the past more than seven decades of Venezuela being among the majors, sometimes the major, world oil producers and exporters.
That may explain why, after centuries, literally, of complete media silence and zero world knowledge about Venezuela, only fourteen years ago, all of a sudden, the corporate run world media started to “care” about Venezuela’s “freedom” and “liberties”, placing it in a new “axis of evil” bag, and has been kept busy spreading fear and hate towards a democratically elected “dictator” named Hugo Chavez, elected and reelected in the cleanest, fairest, most checked and observed voting events in the Americas, overwhelmingly voted by landslide majorities that until few years ago didn’t “existed” neither for the rich Venezuelans, nor for the now “concerned” industrial, “developed” nations.
I am anything but anti American, but we have a right (and a duty) to critisize our democracies.
Interesting fact is that while during the last 14 years poverty in Venezuala has been aleviatet to a great extent, whereas it has increased dramatically in USA even among the hard working middle class.
We must confront the privilged Elite who have destroyed large parts of the world. …You are a Donkey Mr Bush…two of Chavez’es best quotes .His best one was “do you smell the sulphur” when he took the podium after Bush left it at U.N convention. Adios Don Chavez R.I.P
It amazes me to hear so many people here eulogising a man whose government had a shocking record on free speech and human rights. But then that’s par for the course with some of the pathetic little socialists around here who, purely because Chavez kept having a go the United States, believe he was some kind of hero. He was nothing of the sort and if people can’t accept that they are simply in denial. If someone counted brutal thugs like Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Fidel Castro among his greatest allies then that says all you need to know about him.
Venezuela is the most corrupt country in Latin America, according to the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index but don’t let that get in the way of a good old anti-USA rant eh? And I’m no supporter of US foreign policy.
Here’s some helpful reading material for the keyboard Marxists when they’re able to put down their copy of Das Kapital:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/17/venezuela-concentration-and-abuse-power-under-ch-vez
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/venezuela/report-2011
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/cubans-watching-venezuela_b_1940476.html
I would like to invite all the irish to go and visit Venezuela for a few days. I’m sure that your comments on how good he was won’t be the same after that.
I’ve been there- twice. And by and large the only people who hated Chavez were the same minority elite who gained massively for decades before he came to power. They had complete control of Venezualeas natural resources and they used that wealth to enrich themselves and not the nation (sound familiar?).
Most of the elite refused to use the currency and spent all their time living it up on the beaches of Miami whilst the poor starved. Chavez took their lives of Gucci bags and luxury cars away from them when he was DEMOCRATICALLY elected. The elite were a leech on Venezualean society and they couldn’t agree with the democratic will of the people so they responded by enlisting the help of the CIA to carry out the failed coup of 2002.
Chavez used Venezualeas oil and natural resources to improve the nations health and to lift them out of the poverty trap. Show me one previous Venezualean president who did that Jessy Canchica. The thing is you can’t because they are all sitting in Miami to this day enjoying the millions they corruptly stole from the nation.
If he done so much to improve Venezuela why did he have to go to Cuba for treatment? Are the hospitals in his own country so poorly equipped and staffed? Surely he pumped billions of oil revenue into the heath service? And surely he could have hired foreign cancer specialists to work in his super duper hospitals if the Venezuelian doctors were not up to the task? But no he had to go to Cuba. What does that tell you.
Jessy Cánchica — Are your from an elite, rich family per chance?
I see nobody is lining up to answer my question as to why he had to go to Cuba for treatment
No, I’m not ” from an elite, rich family” Petr Tarasov. In fact my parents voted for Chavez in 1998 for the same reasons everybody did because they were tired of the corruption and the people who had the oil and were spending dollars in Miami like Derek Larney is saying.
Now, we all are in the opposition, like almost half of Venezuelan people who voted against him in the last election (almost 5million people who are not rich by the way).
And it’s true that I can not name and previous president who used the nation’s resources to help the poor, but now after 14 years we have even more corruption and more poor people. How come the government which has had the most revenues from oil for the longest time still has 20.3% of extreme poverty? And that just to mention an example.
To finish, I invite you to read this article, written by a Venezuelan which is not only an opinion but facts:
Excellent article
Of course they are not, they have no information, only rhetoric. Chavez didn’t believe that the Moon Landing happened or that Al-Qaeda carried out the attack on 9-11. He thought Gaddafi was a great man. Gave him a peace prize. This is same Gaddafi that turned anti-aircraft guns on his own people. He lauded Mugabe. Mugabe??!! He had no problem with Holocaust Denial. He was setting himself up to be President of Venezuela for life. Murder rates in Venezuela increased dramatically during his tenure. Over the last two years, while receiving Chemo, he did not attempt to hand over control of the country. He has been sending free fuel to Assad, that other war criminal, so that his tanks and jets massacre his own people. Not a hero by any stretch of imagination I am afraid.
I would like to invite you to go and revisit Venezuela for a few days and, for a change, talk, just talk, with some of the Venezuelan majority that follows and loves Him, particularly among the poorest, just to tell you how “good” things were for them in Venezuela before Chavez.
@Mick Jordan i will tell u why, because in Venezuela it was easier for a doctor to make a ‘mistake’ in the operation or getting ‘confused’. It was easier for an anti-chavist to kill him or seriously worsten his health
In my opinion Hugo was a Cartel leader who looked after the vested interests of his elite family and colleagues while bribing the poor with just enough to remain on good terms. At the same time all the educated and talented venezuelian citizens emmigrated as result of not being in the golden circle and given no opportunity. Sounds familar, Perhaps this is why we irish love him!
A true Statesman that will be remembered and honoured for what he gave to the people, not for what he took from the people. RIP.
Rip Hugo . Here is a very good documentary made by Oliver Stone
Its actually laughable when I hear you lot going on about “He was loved by the people”. The North Koreans said the same about Kim ill Sung and Kim Yong Ill. And the Russians have video of the masses wailing and crying over the death of Stalin.
Well, they kept electing him didn’t they? You seem not to be able to cope with that fact. It’s us that should be laughing at you for being so stupid.
There you go again Petr. You can’t keep it civil. Would the possibility of electroral fraud no spring to mind?
Tell us about the CIS again. hahaha
Seriously though, do you have proof of electoral fraud? If not, I’m sure you like the withdraw the insinuation?
Re-read what I said Petr. I asked if the POSSIBILITY of electoral fraud had never entered your mind.
Well, a basic difference is that all the privately run media freely attacks, disinform, ignore and lies at will.
Another difference is that, since Chavez, Venezuela had fourteen years of the fairest, cleanest, most observed elections, and with the highest participation levels, not only in Venezuela’s history, but in all the contemporary Americas.
the main thing i loved about this man,was his refusal to bend-over for the u.s governments.he was a great example of someone with a real backbone.goodnight sir,you are a true loss.
It amazes me to hear so many people here eulogising a man whose government had a shocking record on free speech and human rights. But then that’s par for the course with some of the pathetic little socialists around here who, purely because Chavez kept having a go the United States, believe he was some kind of hero. He was nothing of the sort and if people can’t accept that they are simply in denial. If someone counted brutal thugs like Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Fidel Castro among his greatest allies then that says all you need to know about him.
Venezuela is the most corrupt country in Latin America, according to the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index but don’t let that get in the way of a good old anti-USA rant eh? And I’m no supporter of US foreign policy.
Sorry, I thought my original post with links wasn’t appearing.
I’m from Venezuela, i´m a professional from a university and i’m not a rich guy, i cant afford a car, in Venezuela a Toyota Corolla cost like 103.000 $, the economy is a crap and anybody would kill you just to steal your phone and shoes, my dad cant use the social security cuz he voted agaist Chavez in 2002, trust me Chavez was just another crazy dictator.
2 people from Venezuela neither a supporter of Chaves both getting red thumbs because the are telling the truth. Something you lot are willing to completely ignore because it doesn’t fit into your political world view. And yet you all accuse the Americans of doing exactly the same thing. Bunch of hypocrites.
Well the Republic Of Ireland expressed its condolences for Hitler as well, so I guess this isnt too bad in comparison.
God help Venezuela now that this man has finally been murdered.
And you have proof he was murdered? Why not share it with us.
Chavez was a dictator pure and simple. The idea that he was murdered is ludicrous. He had no commitment to democracy and his country is an economic basket case. Support for him comes from the sort of people who still have posters of that terrorist che Guevara on their wall.
Cathal — Do you know what was the most eeeeevil thing about him? He halved child poverty. Baaaastard!
Never called him evil, just dictatorial. His is an extremely mixed legacy. Read all articles about Venezuela under Chavez which appear today, not just the anti American bandwagon stuff before hailing him as some sort of hero. Interesting also that amnesty are hugely critical of his regime as are human rights watch. And child poverty is still very high there. Democracy is not to be comprised on.
Cathal they don’t want to hear that. HRW,Amnesty etc its all lies and propaganda as far as they ate concerned. These are the True Believers. The Taliban of Socialism.
Great man will be missed by millions.Example of a man proud of his people & culture to be a rallying call for all downtrodden people.
Pity Ireland hasn’t produced such individuals in the Irish political mainstream parties FG/LAB/FG are just all parasites and euro lackeys who have killed this country’s progress. FG/LAB/FF have stripped Irish state of its resources of natural oil,gas,fisheries and large swathes of its citizens. Need a person to emerge here to be Ireland’s Hugo Chavez and hope we can find such a person or individuals to answer in Ireland’s darkest hour.
Sure higgins may aswell stand up and say bin ladin was a great man , disgraceful that our president, elected by the people of Ireland , uses our voice to declare Ireland is sad about a dictators death.
Petr human rights organizations have said the Ven. elections where a complete sham! The government runs the media. Political opponents have been assassinated and imprisoned! Is that the world you want.
Mark — You’ve drank the kool-aid! Don’t believe the hype. None of those things are true. The elections were declared free and fair by Jimmy Carter’s monitoring group. Nobody said they were a sham. Who told you they did?
The government doesn’t run the media. About 90% of the media is privately owned and operates round the clock.
Again Petr read the report from HRW. It makes your argument defunct.
Have you been to Venezuela, Mick?
Not recently no have you?
I didn’t mention recently. I asked have you been. Have you?
Then maybe you can answer the question as to why he had to go to Cuba for treatment when he was supposed to be spending Billions if not trillions of Dollars on infrastructures for the poor? Why isn’t there world class Hospitals with the very best medical staff available for everyone?
First Chavez, then Paul Bearer…. Sad times
R.I.P. Comandante Chavez
Let me see where do I want to live? America,Canada,Australia or Cuba, Venezuela, Communist China, Communist Soviet Union? Even China and Russia know the socialist experiment has failed! They are more capitalist then the USA could ever hope to be! In Venezuela you could be a poor peasant or a less poor peasant under Chaves. In the USA you can be a peasant or a billionaire/ president if you work hard! Sorry for the rant some folks thing this storie is about USA bashing not Chaves’s death!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say