Bring them on.

It is a matter for the Catholic Church authorities whether this person [Cardinal Sean Brady] should remain in his position as head of the Irish Catholic Church. It is a matter for the rest of us to point out that such people, who even to this day think they did nothing wrong, are not credible advocates for any moral cause. Furthermore, the cabal of bishops who surround Brady, and who have defended his actions, are equally unfit for moral combat.

…Of course abortion is a moral issue, and right at the heart of whether a woman should opt to bear a child or not for up to nine months, is a critical moral decision.

The only issue in the debate on abortion is whether it should be left to the woman to take this moral decision for herself, or whether the state should intervene and criminalise her were she, for whatever reason, to decide that she should not bear the child, depending on her sustenance.

Because of the dysfunctional misogynistic character of our society – which, incidentally, the Catholic Church has done so much to foster – it can only be the woman herself who can make that moral decision. The intervention of the state or any other agency or person in that decision is an abuse of the woman’s autonomy and personhood.

So if the bishops have the bottle to engage in public debate on a moral issue, bring them on. But, one suspects, their sense of self-importance, allied to a traditional and well-nurtured cowardice, will caution them to be selective in the battles they join.

 

Insufferable Preaching From Cabals Of Cowards (Vincent Browne, Politico.ie)

(Photocall Ireland)