Mary McAleese calls for gay marriage, slams Pope on Vatican II

Besides, with Vatican mouthpieces like the current Papal Nuncio to Ireland, the inert Irish bishops and those who, like Bishop Kirby, still lie about sexual abuse, where else is a saving reform to come from but people like McAleese? She's right about loss of credibility among the ordained. It will take bold theological thinking to break through the bigotry of Catholics like jetsnoone, who poison discussion with words like "degenerate." From "The Gift of Authority": "Christ promises that the Holy Spirit will keep the essential and saving truth in the memory of the Church, empowering it for mission (cf. Jn 14.26; 15.26-27). This truth has to be transmitted and received anew by the faithful in all ages and in all places throughout the world, in response to the diversity and complexity of human experience [including, I would add, the experience of homosexuals and women]. There is no part of humanity, no race, no social condition, no generation, for whom this salvation, communicated in the handing on of the Word of God, is not intended." McAleese is the voice of reform, the voice of Christianity's future.

What is wrong with you people, from Mary McAleese, the author and down below!!! A marriage between man and woman is THEE only way. You are encouraging mortal sin along with causing the breakdown of this world. I'm shocked at the stupid people (all of the above) who would dare to encourage this lifestyle! Wow, and Jim O'Shea? Writing such tripe is appalling! Get a job as a janitor, you'd be better at it!

Isn't the headline for this article misleading? Mary McAleese criticizes the Vatican's back-peddling on Vatican II reforms. In particular, recent popes have refused to allow the collegiality of bishops that Lumen Gentium, the Constitution of the Church, called for. They have centralized and strengthened papal absolutism at the expense of the bishops and, of course, priests, nuns and other laity as well. The way that the recent new Missal translation was imposed without the bishops approving Vox Clara's rewrite is one case in point, and there have been many others. As Giovanni Franzoni wrote in "Vatican II: Lost and betrayed" "Day by day, we see rules, decisions, interpretations emerging from the Roman See that, in our opinion, are in radical conflict with Vatican II." Bishops Mark Santor and Cormac Murphy-O’Connor in "The Gift of Authority" (1998) called for a Vatican II "understanding of universal primacy and conciliarity which complements and does not supplant the exercise of episcope [bishops] in local churches." (These documents are available online.) Surely McAleese, speaking from her studies and experience, can make valuable contributions to reform of Catholic faith and practice in Ireland.

Women are the only hope the church has, if it has any chance at all. Men have screwed things up beyond recognition, and as Fr. Bede Griffiths, the saintly Benedictine mystic once said, "Don't worry about the Vatican--it will all come tumbling down some night while we are asleep." I hope so. It's long overdue and time to scrap all that nonsense and rebuild it. I hope it's not too late. And let's get the pope's butler on CNN with Piers Morgan. Gabriele has a lot to say.

Oh Mary! I am so in tune with you. I am also a believer in people being able to enjoy their lives in whatever combination they wish. You have stated all the facts and with such clarity and intelligence. THANK YOU.