TWO of the most powerful institutions in this country seemed invulnerable a generation ago.I am talking about the Catholic Church and the Fianna Fail Party.
It doesn’t seem that way now. The Church has been damaged by the revelations about the paedophiles in its midst and by the reluctance of their superiors to deal with them.
The concept of the priesthood has diminished.
The great majority of priests are decent men but the public do not see it that way.
Vocations are unlikely to increase.
Priests were never more needed, especially in rural Ireland where the concept of neighbourliness is breaking up and many old people are living alone.
The Catholic faith will never die because people need religion as a framework to their lives and because Jesus Christ preached an attractive doctrine.
The scarcity of priests may eventually strike water from that ancient rock known as the Vatican.
Some Pope will create a revolution by admitting that it is time women were ordained.
We deplore the status of women in some Mohammedan countries but we are blind to our own faults.
This radical change cannot but do the church good.
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SIC: EHIE