The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has called Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s recent speech attacking the Vatican over child abuse ‘breathtaking’ and stated that, as in the Rupert Murdoch scandal, “people are no longer afraid to confront these empires’ corrupt practices and vast cover-ups.”
Dowd, the top-ranked NY Times columnist, stated that “The Irish were taken aback by the ire of the ordinarily amiable, soft-spoken Kenny, the longest-serving parliamentarian in the land. In his first few months as Taoiseach, the 60-year-old had not given any sign that he could throw such Zeus-style thunderbolts.”
Dowd said the Irish were “thrilled with his emphatic articulation of their revulsion at the tragedy, and his assertion of Ireland as a sovereign republic not under the thumb of Rome.”
Dowd’s column is a powerful shot in the arm for Kenny, who is relatively unknown in America but will benefit greatly from this exposure.
Dowd quotes leading historian Diarmuid Ferriter as saying that Kenny had changed the ground rules in Ireland for ever.
“If you look at some of his predecessors, going right back 50 years, they would have been very much of the view that they were Catholics first and politicians second,”
He said Kenny had made it clear at last that civil law was the law of the land, not what the church wanted.
“We’re fed up with hearing about canon law. This is a Republic, it’s about civil law.”
Garry O’Sullivan, the editor of The Irish Catholic, told Dowd the speech would have major resonance.
"The French Republic didn’t kick out the Catholic Church, but they set up a French Catholic Church and kicked out Rome,” he said. “Kenny has tapped into a vein in the Irish psyche, people saying, ‘Well done for standing up to those bloody bishops and the pope.’ It was lancing a boil.”
“The mighty have fallen from their thrones,” O’Sullivan said.
Dowd stated that what has happened to Murdoch and the Church this week was incredible.
“...In Britain and in Ireland, two dictatorial institutions that once dominated with fearsome power are crumbling, brought low by highhanded cultures inured even to crimes against children.”
Dowd noted that “A large part of the strategy of the Vatican and Rupert Murdoch in acquiring power was to create an aura of invincibility, a hallowed mystique. But those mythologies are cracking,”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:27 PM EDT
Any priest who touched a child sexually should be taken out and summarily shot.
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:25 PM EDT
The bible is a book written by dead perverts to justify the current crop of child rapists who read the bible!
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:24 PM EDT
PhlutiePhan, get back on your meds!
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:23 PM EDT
The confession is a joke. Telling some old pervert your secrets!
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:20 PM EDT
keneconnor is a dolt, Enough said.
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:12 PM EDT
Trealach you are a delusional fool.
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:11 PM EDT
These priests are child rapists, what is wrong with you people? Enda & Dowd are beyond right. The catholic church is a corrupt cesspool of perversion and self aggrandizement the world over. Or are you a child rapsist too Mc Breen? Throw them out of Ireland and nationalize all their land and schools.
patriot | Jul 29, 2011, 05:08 PM EDT
Go back to the Culdhee Christian Church that was there before Rome took over.
Liamkeyes | Jul 29, 2011, 04:20 PM EDT
Obviously, Mary has never heard the Village Orator in any Pub in Ireland. Furthermore, she should listen to the Village Atheist pontificate about the Church. While we're in the Village we should let the Village Idiot take the floor, he would have given a better discourse than Enda.
seanomelbourne | Jul 27, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT
McBreen ,It appears would rather a pedaphile priest go free and save his precious religion.
mcbreen | Jul 27, 2011, 10:06 AM EDT
Dowd would not be accepted in her haughty, anglophile click with out a little anti-Catholi bigotry.
McNamara31 | Jul 26, 2011, 01:24 PM EDT
mandrake.. Your words ring true for many of us who are parents
seanomelbourne | Jul 25, 2011, 07:47 PM EDT
Mandrake don't help him back his bags who knows what incriminating evidence he "spirited" away.Good riddance to his back and may the road take him to hell.
mandrake | Jul 25, 2011, 04:57 PM EDT
If I was still living in Ireland I would be helping the Papal Nuncio to pack his bags. Until there is some form of denunciation of these cretins from the Vatican we should have no ties with them. As a Jesuit educated father of two grandfather of three my hat's off to Enda Kenny. The quiet man has made a stand
SteelTown | Jul 25, 2011, 03:52 PM EDT
Irish Central is obviously fond of quoting the New York Times as a mark of legitimacy...but IC never cite the date of the quoted article... So we must accept the author's judgment that Dowd is the Times' 'top-ranked' columnist without benefit of actually reading the original article. Shame!
barneyjo | Jul 25, 2011, 12:39 PM EDT
@Trealach - he also happens to be First Minister of the Irish Government, a practicing catholic, husband and father, who, in a speech last week in the Dail, articulated the view of the vast majority of Irish (and other nationalities) Catholics who "seem" to be saying in opinion and electoral polls that they support what the duly elected government of the Irish Republic is doing. The Constitution can be changed; it is not forever written in stone. Article 15 for example was removed as part of the settlement reached in the governance of all of the island of Ireland. The secular state MUST be responsible for the protecton of ALL its citizens, from the very old, to the very young, and equally, the vulnerable. To do any less renders it far less than the Republic it proclaims itself to be. I am a practicing Catholic, I have raised my children within the catholic faith, and all still attend mass (though I have to wonder why sometimes) I have made the point to you before, if God is truly with his people on this issue, there is nothing that you, or I for that matter can do to prevent his manifest will being done. And consider this, if you are rejecting this will of God in all of this, what and where does that leave you??
McNamara31 | Jul 25, 2011, 12:27 PM EDT
kinvara7... Your comment regarding the early Irish Church establishing “private confessions” is a very important one and displays that at that time the world took on many practices established in Ireland. Also the early Irish church respected the role of women in church leadership. Brigit of Kildare established many monasteries in her day. And during this same timeframe priests were allowed to be married and even one of the Popes of Rome had a son who went on to be Pope. For the first 1200 years priest, bishops and 39 Popes were married. Celibacy existed for hermits and monks but was considered optional. St. Peter was married. When we look back on our history we can see there is a great distinction between the word of God and the practices/rules set and changed by men.
kinvara7 | Jul 25, 2011, 10:17 AM EDT
Trealach: Who says that Canon Law is God's Law? For example haven’t Cannon Laws been repealed in the past? Article 15 of the Consitution vests sole law-making power in the Oireachtas. It enacts the laws which govern this Republic, in accordance with the Constitution, which can be amended (example: divorce).
Trealach | Jul 25, 2011, 08:24 AM EDT
If that moronic baby-killing Kenny just read the preamble to the Constitution, he would soon realise that we are subjected to God's Laws (Canon Law) and that State law is subservient. The preamble, which he is sworn to up hold states "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity, from WHOM is ALL Authority, and to WHOM as our FINAL END, ALL actions of both men AND STATE must be referred ...." Kenny 'thinks' that legislation is the supreme law - good luck on that moron. The only part which Dowd got right is that he is "the longest serving Politician", and was a Minister in Government when the Government were sending children to the abuse centre - Magdalene Laundry. Not only is the man by implication a child abuser, but is willing to kill human life through abortion. This scumbag has no morals let alone moral authority. He is a poisonous abscess on the face of Irish Society.
newcanaan | Jul 25, 2011, 07:22 AM EDT
james you are a Coward, you delete any posting you disagree with, just like the dowds
kinvara7 | Jul 25, 2011, 07:21 AM EDT
@celticfour: It was the Irish who invented the practice of private confession and penitential discipline. This practice slowly replaced the public practice of confession and penance that was the norm across Europe before the introduction of private confession. The uniquely Irish penitential system was eventually adopted as a universal practice of the Church by the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. It was the case of Cook v Carrol [1945] IR 515 that created the concept of sacerdotal privilege in Ireland by upholding a priest’s refusal to give evidence. The decision is perhaps unusual considering that both parties to the case (one of whom was the penitent to whom the privilege attached) wished the priest to give evidence. I suppose in short, the concept of private confession as we know it, was created by the Irish and the case which establishes sacerdotal privilege in Irish law is not very strong. Like many areas it is a balancing act, an absolute privilege can lead to injustices.
seanomelbourne | Jul 25, 2011, 03:24 AM EDT
Maureen is a heroine nuff said
keneconnor | Jul 25, 2011, 12:58 AM EDT
Maureen Dowd is a moron. Enough said.
McNamara31 | Jul 25, 2011, 12:14 AM EDT
Murdoch and the Vatican have crossed paths in the past. In 1998 Rupert Murdoch was awarded a "papal knighthood" from Pope John Paul II. At the time many were totally astonished that a purveyor of newspaper sex, scandal,smear and nudity was made a Knight Commander of St Gregory at a ceremony in Los Angeles. Murdoch, who was not even Catholic, appears to have been honoured purely for donating large sums of money to the church. His wife at the time (since divorced) was Catholic. Sickening
bunkerisland | Jul 24, 2011, 09:15 PM EDT
Seems I recall Bertie, near a decade ago, agreeing that the government would share in the compensation for victims of clerical abuse almost excusing "the Church" and relieving them of some financial responsibility, "good catholic" that he was.
pilib04 | Jul 24, 2011, 08:28 PM EDT
Although I would like to believe that An Taoiseach Enda Kenny will finally put an end to the "seal of the confessional" NONSENSE in protecting child molesting priests and bishops, I severely doubt it. That's just wishful thinking. When all else fails, our Church has been able to hide behind the confessional. I no longer accept this as a Catholic. It's simply too horrific that the faith of my fathers would use the confessional to protect child rapists! Both the Bishops and priest who commit these crimes and the Bishops who cover them up MUST go to jail!
seanomelbourne | Jul 24, 2011, 07:01 PM EDT
Well done Maureen "viva la revoultion Irelanda" free from religous hypocrisy and a right wing murdoch press.
Seahmush | Jul 24, 2011, 05:01 PM EDT
What do you think about this? Not very impressed. Enda Kenny was put into office to sort out the massive economic problems facing Ireland. So far, he and his Government haven't tackled the major challenges they need to address - basically, they are chickening out of dealing with the excessive Government spending they inherited from the previous administration. Remember the 100 days promise? Therefore, it is no great suprise that Kenny is making a big deal of the Cloyne report, hoping to fill in the remaining days up to the Dail's annual summer holidays. It's just like the old days - every time we had difficulties that needed urgent attention from our politicians, they suddenly took an obsessive interest in the situation in Northern Ireland. Now, it's Brave Ould Enda (and his speech-writers) saving the Irish from those nasty Italians. Hopefully, when he comes back from his holliers, he'll finally do something about the economy, before the IMF/EC etc realise that he's about as useless a foot-dragger as the last lot. BTW, I've actually read the Cloyne report (400 pages, I need to get out more!) and didn't find much to shock in it. Check it out - it's available online as a PDF.
themurphia | Jul 24, 2011, 04:40 PM EDT
The trolls the trolls...!...Esmerelda...Trollgate has returned in the guise of Quasimodo...hunchback like with his de/formed opinions and twisted accomplices...A batch of new 'pretenders' have materialised in the last 24 hours ...trying to avoid 'vicarious liablilty' for their employers no doubt...nothing an ISP check couldn't establish...
BishopSean | Jul 24, 2011, 03:38 PM EDT
While I'm sure Gary O'Sullivan was calling for a more democratic and interdependent Catholic Church, the French Revolution succeded in large measure in dechristianising France; something from which France has not entirely recovered. Let's hope our Irish people, now more connected than ever to the rest of secular Europe, will retain what is of value while rejecting what is wrong. The lesson of Skellig Michael and other Irish outposts of Christian learning is great--they were "sellers," of right teachings; not "buyers" of false and pagan arguments earlier pagans were enforcing throughout Europe.
BishopSean | Jul 24, 2011, 03:16 PM EDT
While several valid points here, the Gary O'Sullivan statement to the effect that Ireland should do what France did is disappointing. France started the first humanist government, complete with prohibitions of freedom of religion. They first deified the goddess of reason (a prostitute was enthroned on the altar of the Cathedral of Notre Dame); then changed over to their depersonalized “Supreme Being.” The Christian calendar was rejected; the seven day week and Sabbath were replaced by a 10-day week with one free-day—imagine how our Irish people would like this! They killed (among others) thousands of priests and sisters and sent many more to “Devil’s Island.” It was with the (imperfect) dictator Napoleon’s rise to power that their worst bloodletting was stopped. It’s a shame DeValera caved in to hierarchy’s demands for an official religion; but there is a better model than France--The American model.
KathyCallahan | Jul 24, 2011, 03:00 PM EDT
Vatican usurpers in Ireland set up a parochial plantation culture mentality and a voiceless way of life. Establishing the first autonomous Irish Catholic Church is the way to go into the future.
eiriamach | Jul 24, 2011, 02:13 PM EDT
Thanks for covering Dowd's comments. Now I think it's time to hear from the Irish bishops about the Taoiseach's asserting the primacy of civil law. In an article on the ACP site, Brendan Hoban points out that "Part of the problem is that the Irish Catholic Church has been effectively neutered by the over-control of Rome and consequent obsequiousness of the carefully-chosen Irish bishops." The silence of the Irish bishops is deafening. They're like soldiers standing at attention and waiting for their marching orders as though anyone needs papal permission to acknowledge a just and necessary state law. If they hope to play a part in the coming changes, they must make their positions known now. AB Diarmuid Martin has criticized the other bishops, but according to Hoban, has not gone far enough, and I agree: "But Martin needs to ... name a wider truth. He knows that there are cabals too in the Irish Church and in Rome actively undermining the teaching of the Second Vatican Council by refusing to allow, much less facilitate, a People’s Church. And Martin, to be logical too, needs to make it clear that the reason why the Irish Catholic Church has made such a mess of child protection is not because of the failures of a few convenient scapegoats but because lay people have been systematically excluded from positions of influence in the almost fifty years since the Second Vatican Council." Their deafening silence will not deflect the nation's mood and determination, reflected in Kenny's words. Mamaginnty, you may be right, but Kenny has at least one attribute of leaders: he understood the need to make a decisive break in the direction of churchmen obeying the laws rather than helping to write the laws for everyone else but exempting themselves. He seized the moment and got it right. Now it's the bishops' turn to show they understand.
mamaginnty | Jul 24, 2011, 01:04 PM EDT
Maureen is making Kenny sound like a great leader, once the Coyne report came out he had to speak up, otherwise we would still be waiting on the goverment to do something. His office wrote the script, he just read it to the people, thinking this will help his loss of voters.
tippboy | Jul 24, 2011, 12:57 PM EDT
Kenny's popularity is now through the roof in Ireland, despite the economic misery. Nice to have a Taoiseach with some guts at last.
nicgearailt | Jul 24, 2011, 12:57 PM EDT
Before ever the Maureen Dowd opinion was printed,I ,without prompting from anyone,thought Enda Kenny's speech was absolutely on target.There has been a great need for it's leaders to speak loudly in defence of the rights of children.Clearly ,the response from Rome never entertained the thought that children needed to be protected from those priests who sought to harm them.Society is judged by how we care for our most vulnerable..children and the elderly being 2 of those vulnerable groups. So, well done Enda Kenny, for speaking loud and clear on behalf of children.We need people of the female gender in Rome..sooner rather than later..that's a topic for another day.PS. I love to read Maureen Dowd...she is always thought provoking..am proud of her too.We need someone with her courage in Rome...
CaptainCon | Jul 24, 2011, 12:07 PM EDT
It must be a very weak religion if it cannot exist without an obviously corrupt band of witchdoctors.
barneyjo | Jul 24, 2011, 10:31 AM EDT
@PhlutiePhan & mbernice - Oh really!! I'm sorry, but I cannot recall the last time that upwards of 100 Irish Citizens were gunned down in their own country by one of their own!! Of course, not forgetting the twenty nine plus unborn twins that were murdered on Omagh Streets in 1998by the Real (genuine, honest to goodness, 100% original) IRA. Totalitarianism in action that day!!
LoyalCitizen | Jul 24, 2011, 10:10 AM EDT
Another out of touch journalist who does not have to live with the repercussions of their mistakes.
PhlutiePhan | Jul 24, 2011, 10:05 AM EDT
Pure and simple, a move toward an Irish Socialist Republic. Religion has always had corruption. However, to "throw out God with the bathwater" is exactly what the Brits predicted. Edna Kenny is only a means to an end. The real power is the Provisionals and their connections to Iran, China, and Uncle Hugo. Maureen Dowd is only saying what the Obama Administration and his radical feminist Catholic women friends believe.
mbernice | Jul 24, 2011, 09:37 AM EDT
Once again I am fascinated by the supporters people in Ireland feel are legitimate. Maureen Dowd? No one takes Maureen Dowd legitimately except for the New York Times editors. From my point of view here in America, as I have written before, I'm all for the prime ministers openly chastising the Vatican - however when lies are used in such an address - which they were, and Irish society decides to buy into it - what's the difference between the Vatican and Irish government. If you want to know the steps to totalitarianism, it would be accepting on face value much of what is said in this time period and believing those that speak this so called "truth". Reject Catholicism if you must - but be careful of the paradigm you are replacing it with. The most shocking thing to come out of this, isn't the Vatican's behavior but the lack of faith of ordinary Irish. I don't mean faith in the Church, truly there is a lack of faith in the God of the Bible - as if the Bible doesn't show what humanity really is and who God is in relation to us. This is more shocking.