Dead right Chris. The obscene excesses of the church are what I would class as inappropriate behavior

To quote Hitchens ‘whenever I hear some bigmouth in Washington or the Christian heartland banging on about the evils of sodomy or whatever, I mentally enter his name in my notebook and contentedly set my watch. Sooner rather than later, he will be discovered down on his weary and well-worn old knees in some dreary motel or latrine, with an expired Visa card, having tried to pay well over the odds to be peed upon by some Apache transvestite.’

Now thats a hat, feck the lot of ya’s. Im gettin me of of them.

Possibly the most moronic and dense statement of the year so far!

@Derek Delaney Great line , can’t wait to use it , thanks !

Its true!

Never thought of it that way Derek, good point

Comment of the week, maybe the year!!

Your pathetic, Where were your kids baptised then? In a church by any chance?

Yes they were against my will.They had to be baptised to get into school.As I was baptised.But id never practice religion because its the biggest con man will ever know off. Do you believe in santa clause? The tooth fairy? The sandman? Bigfoot? I can go on the point is there is no all seeing great man in the sky and for people to believe that, are either very naive or just stupid. The catholic church is one big fat fraud and earns, or cons should I say? millions of gullible fools money every year.So go and read some books of fiction, ie science books instead of your comic book the bible.

No i actually dont read the bible, but im still a little bemused by the fact your picture is seemingly taken in a church at your kids Baptism. It dosent make sense that you slag and belittle this institution when your picture is in one. Your the type of guy, not the only type it has to be said that runs to a priest for a mass, a funeral, a baptism, a wedding,to give last rites etc and still mock and abuse them and what they stand for.

Thats because its ingrained in irish society.As alot of people have said on here we are catholic but alot of us not by choice its the way the system works.Born a Catholic die a catholic.It means very little just you get christened, married, and have a funeral in a church. I think the same can be said for a pub haha does that make us all alcoholics?

Can’t having him saying something practical, so they knobble him with the accusation of being Gay… which is being treated as worse than being a paedophile, or protector of them.

“The principle of papal infallibility is now the fundamental principle of the Church. It is the glue that holds all dogma, all Church teachings, together. Without it, the whole Catholic system would disintegrate.”

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2012/05/postponing-self-destruction-of-the-catholic-church/

Thanks for the link Ru Ni Digs

Sorry should read ‘such as him’

The Roman Church is not declining – 84% of Irish people claim to be Roman Catholic. As long as people continue to mindlessly adhere to this disgraced institution (much as they continue to elect disgraced and corrupt politicians to office) the Roman Church will view this declared following as a vote of confidence in it’s corrupt administration.

84% had no choice in the matter. Most people are born catholic if their parents follow through with tradition. So the most anti gay cleric in Scotland is also gay. Well that speaks volumes for the corrupt nature of this so called church.

No choice? What law, rule or regulation requires one to declare themselves to be Roman Catholic on the census form?

Getting into most schools.

Sorry John, it’s not as simple as that. Most of us are christened as babies and from that point we’re ‘on the books’. There was a way out of the CC which was advertised in recent years thru a website countmeout.com – the church spotted the loophole and have stopped further cessations. You can write and demand that you want out but there is a ruling which allows the bishop to decide that you don’t really understand the consequences of your request.

I’m not making this up – it’s mad, Ted!

And while, yes, i can comfortably claim to be whatever the hell i want in life, if something were to happen to my wife and i tomorrow, and we weren’t legally prepared, the church would have a say on how we should be interred…

@John – Most people are just identifying with their religious background not actual ideology/beliefs.

Aw man… This just gets weirder & weirder!
Yes, the website ‘countmeout.ie’ used to assist people in defecting from the Roman Church until parish clergy were ordered not to cooperate with it by their bosses. That’s all that happened there. You can still do it yourself if you want to take the time and bother. What some loon in a big hat wants to think you are is up to himself!!

Personally I couldn’t a monkey’s curse what happens to me when I kick the bucket or who mutters what nonsense while they dispose of me in some hole or whatever. What does bother me is that the Roman Church is given to believe that it has the support of 84% of the Irish population in it’s discriminatory, corrupt and abusive influences while I’m alive!

I was lucky enough to get out before they found the loophole, you couldn’t make this stuff up, they now say its not possible to leave. So though I have a letter from the bishop confirming I’m out, I don’t know if I am or not. I need to consult a canon lawyer or maybe the tooth fairy might know. If all else fails I’ll send a letter to Santa.

Nonsense. I have been out of the catholic church for over forty years. They don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. They have no hold over anyone other than the parents of small children who are seeking education for their sprigs. This is now changing, albeit not quickly enough.

Hear, hear! And Ada, it’s great that you’re out of the church. You were ahead of your time :)

The point, though, is that at present, outside of excommunication (which is harder to obtain than you think) there is no way to officially remove yourself from the register. So, as John rightly pointed out, the church continues to look strong, and Ireland continues to look like a staunchly catholic country.

Which, in turn, also contributes to some ‘interesting’ political decisions by our masters, but that’s by the by…

Perhaps, because of it?

@ John Ruddy, touché! Yes, I agree.

Excommunication is one method but you would have to murder a bishop or cardinal and I don’t advocate that.

Nah, it actually pretty easy to be excommunicated and it usually happens automatically. They don’t even have to tell you. Technically I’ve been excommunicated, would LOVE to have it in writing. I’d have it framed!

My great grandfather was excommunicated on the initiative of Archbishop McHale because he was so active in his participation in the Land League.

In fairness, supporting the rights of tenant farmers was appalling behaviour and endangered mortgage repayments by large landowners to the Roman Catholic Church. So he deserved his excommunication.

I managed to get out before the website was closed down. I personally don’t favour supporting child sexual abuse organisations. It is no coincidence that the Roman Catholic Church don’t allow female priests. Women tend to to be hostile to and intolerant of child sexual abuse and would find it hard to adjust to the reality of the ethos of the Roman Catholic Church priesthood.

The fact that comment will prove more outrage than the sexually predatory and rapacious conduct of Roman Catholic clergy will confirm my views of the moral blindness of the Roman Catholic Chuch.

Great watch opens your eyes!

There’s no such thing as “God”.