I am often asked why, compared to elsewhere, the Catholic Church in Ireland is in such profound crisis.
The answer is simple: bad bishops.
I don’t mean that the Irish Church is plagued with one or two rotten prelates.
No, they are all incompetent and ineffectual.
For the past 40 years, they have overseen a dire seminary system.
They have catastrophically mishandled the child sex abuse crisis.
They have refused to discipline members of the clergy whose practices were, and in some cases still are, bordering on the heretical.
Worse, they provide no clear doctrinal direction to their flock.
The result is that few Irish Catholics consult the Catechism, read papal encyclicals or understand the meaning of the Sacraments.
This has produced a Church which is Catholic in name only.
In sum, the Irish bishops have no moral authority.
Neither do they have any moral courage.
This was spectacularly exposed when, last year, the Irish Prime Minister abused his parliamentary privilege to deliver an unjustified attack on the Vatican.
Instead of taking to their pulpits to condemn Enda Kenny for his outburst, they elected to bury their mitres in the sand.
It was left to a handful of brave priests to challenge the Taoiseach - as it is each time the Irish government declares war on the Catholic Church.
That is why it was so refreshing to witness the Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien so stridently defend the Sacrament of Matrimony at the weekend.
No Irish prelate would dare confront the Government, let alone the liberal lobby, in such dramatic fashion.
Indeed, no Irish prelate would know how to formulate a theologically coherent response to those who seek to redefine our most precious institution.
Now, it is true that the Catholic Church in Britain has had its fair share of problems.
Thanks, however, to some fine Episcopal appointments in recent years, the situation has vastly improved.
Thanks to the moral courage of its leaders, the Catholic Church stands as an uncompromising bulwark against the tide of liberal lunacy.
Back in Ireland, not only do the bishops refuse to oppose that tide.
If anything, they can be seen surfing the waves at its summit.
Everyone knows that reform of the Irish Church will only happen when we have seen the last of the current crop of bishops.
Such is the reason why, even from within clerical ranks, calls have been made for them to collectively resign.
So why, pray tell, don’t they just lay down their crosiers and depart with dignity?
Might it be that, along with all their other faults, the Irish prelates have become desensitised to the sin of pride?