Letters in The Tablet

Sister Myra Poole asks the bishops to support the ordination of women to the priesthood because this is the price "to pay in following a growing call 0f the spirit."
Another writer mentions the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were found lying to the Holy Spirit.
Oh, and Sister is not keen on priests being men because of the sex abuse crisis. Perhaps we should abandon the Doctrine of The Trinity and The Incarnation as well.

What happened to the Irish clergy

If Michael Voris is right, and he has not been sued, Fr Ledwith had an enormous influence over the Irish clergy, an influence that was utterly harmful. After being embroiled in the sex abuse scandals, he has, according to Voris, left the priesthood. It almost goes without saying that there had been a cover up for many years.

When will this plague end

I owe the Rosminians a great deal. One of them was good enough to be my spiritual director and he introduced me to a wealth of Catholic Spirituality.But the order has got it really badly wrong. How could they have kept quiet following the death of Fr Kit Cunningham when they knew about his past.There is now a wealth of knowledge about the consequences of sexual abuse. There is also a well documented history of Church cover up. With all that, how did they manage to get it so badly wrong?

The Culture of Death

It is easy for us to equate this phrase with issues relating to abortion and euthanasia. But Pope John Paul said that "Only a higher vision can motivate the choice for life. And the values underlying that vision will greatly depend on whether the nation continues to honour and revere the family as the basic unit of society."

The Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis

Many thoughtful people have recognized that only a small number of priests are guilty of this crime.What concerns them is the cover-up and they have every right to be concerned.Sadly,the Catholic Church is not the only institution at fault.There have been similar reports of cover-up involving other religious denominations,schools,the boy scouts etc.
Does this get the Catholic Church off the hook? No. All forms of cover-up involving this crime needs to be condemned.

Geoffrey Robertson QC

A certain Geoffrey Robertson writes in The Independent 26 April 2011 that "The bedrock of our constitution is the Act of Settlement ...A blood-curdling anti-Catholic rant..."
Must be a different Geoffrey Robertson from the one who wrote "The Case of the Pope,"an anti-Catholic rant.

The most important quote from the New Consultation

Which,alas,I did not previously quote properly:" If women who have an abortion show a negative emotional reaction to the abortion or are experiencing stressful life events,support and monitoring should be offered as they are more likely than others to develop mental health problems." In pro-life circles,this is known as Post Abortion Trauma.