One of the surest signs that the hierarchy of the Irish church is out of touch is their insistence on repeatedly offering interviews to The Irish Times upon their installation, fielding the same questions over and over again to an increasingly dwindling readership.
‘Would you like to have been married?’ ‘What do you think of women priests?’ and so on.
The obligatory interview seems incredibly confusing given the perpetual hostility of The Irish Times towards Catholicism. Imagine the Church of Ireland Primate giving an interview to An Poblacht, or Ireland’s chief Rabbi offering an interview to Bishop Williamson, that is where we are at with the level of masochistic self loathing that leads any Catholic bishop to be interview in that publication. On any given week, it can publish articles that call for the church to be stripped of its lands, removed from education or banished from Ireland altogether.
On Good Friday, the ‘news’paper published the following headline:
A man is beaten, whipped and crucified, is this really suitable content for children?
The ‘article’ then compares waiting to open an Easter Egg with the crucifixion, stating that it was ‘almost the same as being crucified if you think about it’. Just when you think that the inanity can’t delve any deeper, the author writes of how a ‘big ride’ played Jesus in a passion play when she was younger.
The poorly written article makes a painstaking effort to somehow suggest that the story of Christ’s death and resurrection is not suitable for children. Yet, it is so weak, so uncreative and so abrupt that you are not sure if the author and editor merely gave up once they had sufficient spite infused into the piece (of rubbish).
Perhaps the publication in question would be better served doing a follow up piece on some of its former journalists and staff rather than attacking Christians on one of the holiest days of the year.
Better yet, perhaps our bishops could remember said articles before they grant condescending interviews and subject Catholics to the same old ‘I’d like to see priests get married’ headlines.
