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TOM DEIGNAN

Irish Catholic Church headed for a Holy War

By
Tom Deignan

Published Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 12:56 PM
Updated Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 12:56 PM

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Irish Catholic Church headed for a Holy War | Irish News | IrishCentral




Congressman Patrick Murphy
Congressman Patrick Murphy

It almost sounds like a joke.

What happened to the Irish Catholic priest who stood before his parishioners and said that he was not only leaving the priesthood, but doing so because he wanted to spend time romantically with a mother of two children?

This is not joke, however. It happened recently in Ballymagroarty, Derry. 

And though it might be tempting to believe the angry parishioners began tossing rocks and rotten vegetables at the sinner-priest, in fact they applauded. Some even broke into tears.

The priest, for his part, did not mince words. He said he was leaving the priesthood because priests should not be forced into celibacy.

Such a heartwarming, spiritual story just in time for the holiday season.

The rumblings of division within the Catholic Church are painfully evident in the U.S., as well as Ireland.

In a story that just begs a headline containing the phrase “Fighting Irish,” Philadelphia Congressman Patrick Murphy came to the defense of his colleague from Rhode Island, Patrick Kennedy, the son of liberal lion Ted Kennedy, who passed away in the summer. 

The younger Kennedy has been in the news because it was revealed that Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence has asked Kennedy to stop receiving Holy Communion. 

Previously, Kennedy and Tobin had clashed over health care legislation and whether or not abortion should be restricted in whatever health legislation passes. 

Tobin, of course, was raising a broader question about whether or not Catholic lawmakers have a duty to make sure public policy follows church teaching on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

As of Tuesday morning, Kennedy had not commented on the matter. But Murphy defended Kennedy during a speech at Harvard.

"We don't legislate at the orders of the Vatican, we legislate what is in our conscience and what we think is good for our country," said Murphy, a Democrat and Catholic who supports abortion rights and is a leading advocate of ending the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy when it comes to gays and lesbians.

In the past, Murphy has revealed that a priest refused to bless his marriage because of the congressman’s support for abortion.

It’s very tempting to look at this and see a bunch of snooty elites who like to call themselves Catholics but seem very uncomfortable doing the actual work the church asks when it comes to the doctrines of the faith.

But certain Catholic bishops, such as Tobin, have also put themselves in a tough spot.  Is support for abortion a sin of such singular magnitude? 

Or do some in the church advocate limiting the sacraments for all those in a state of sin? Is it simply because Kennedy and others are public figures? 

Is it because Kennedy deems himself a Catholic lawmaker, and thus, Tobin and others want his policy decisions to be guided by faith?

The likes of Al Smith and even JFK himself spent difficult years trying to convince anti-Catholic Americans that their religion should not have anything to do with them being capable public servants. Do Tobin and others want this overturned?

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Posted by BlessedThistle on Dec 23, 2009, 12:30 AM EST
Patrick Murphy is a sleaze ball just like Kennedy. Abortion is well documented by many films how gruesome it is. How any one can deny the evil inherent in it is beyond even the ancient Greeks such as Hippocrates. Do no harm and no abortion!!! Doctors are no longer held up in honor for they themselves destroyed their respect by killing innocent children. The homosexuals in the Catholic Church screwed up the lay people with "no condoms" for married couples but all Catholics agree abortion is evil.
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Posted by 2BorNot2B on Nov 29, 2009, 11:40 PM EST
Sez DrArthurIde: >>I taught at the Roman Catholic University of San Diego where the conduct of inquiry was discouraged if it including investigating "truths" proclaimed by Rome<< -- USD is a pretty liberal university, so the claim this guy makes for having stopped working there because of their purported inclination to block investigation of 'truths' sounds totally bogus. Having taken a look at his profile and at the first url he offers here I'm not sure what the intent of this guy's argument is, other than self-promotion. His writings -which on he whole are rather academic and boring- have nothing to do with the subject at hand, nor with the anti-Catholic diatribe that occupies his post. Surely it is rather unlikely that USD blocked his "investigation" of Saint Iago, given that he wrote a manuscript about him. His reasons for unloading are then suspicious. In fact, as an academic he must know that a lot of data on lives of early Christian saints is not particularly clear or easy to verify, and some of them -for that very reason- have even been taken off the official calendar.
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Posted by vincentruane on Nov 28, 2009, 11:26 AM EST
In answer to the Philadelphia Congressman Patrick Murphy, How is supporting a system of evil which has killed over 70 million weak and defenseless growing American human beings since 1972 good for America? And how is setting the evil stage for the killing of a further 70 million weak and defenseless growing American human beings in the next 30 years or more good for America. To put this evil human horror in its true bloody perspective, Patrick Murphy and Kennedy support a system of evil which has and will kill more human beings than all the evil empires in the whole history of civilization or what's left of it. In relation to the remark of 'The Fighting Irish' killing a weak and defenseless growing baby who has no way of fighting back is as cowardly as it gets. In relation to Dr Arthurlde you talk about bigotry and then in the next sentence try to pretend that the millions and millions of unborn children killed should have had no human rights.The weak and defenseless unborn child by virtue of his or her conception is as equally entitled to his or her human rights and his or her human life as anyone of you fellow human beings! And lastly something for all of you child death promoters to consider:The unborn child by virtue of his or her having been killed or about to be killed has no voice in this debate. RIP DEMOCRACY!
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Posted by IrishEddy on Nov 27, 2009, 02:28 PM EST
As a devout Catholic I would do anything in my personal life to prevent a woman from having an abortion. If in the end I was not successful, I can live with the fact it was the woman's decesion. She has to live with the decision. I know of a "Catholic Hospital" that performs abortions. Which for me as a Catholic is very upsetting.
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Posted by maryjeandc on Nov 27, 2009, 02:16 PM EST
Patrick Murphy is one of the outstanding new Irish Catholic leaders in America. His district is not a safe one for Democrats and yet he leads on the issues. He is also a compassionate man as his support of Rep Kennedy demonstrates. Hurray for good consistent politicians who support hard moral choice women make every day....to give birth or not in favor of the good of the child and themselves.
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Posted by manhattan on Nov 27, 2009, 11:29 AM EST
Dr. Arthuride your comment is the most thoughtful and true account of the Catholic Churches intolerance and bigotry. And the church wonders why so many of us have left.In the 1960's when I was ayoung women we were told birth control was a mortal sin,so not daring to disobey the church women had babies year after year and to think it was celibate men telling us to do so. Then we had to be churched after the baby was born to wash away the sin I guess of doing what makes a baby. Confusing? you bet but it was women of my generation who finally questioned such the laws made by man that made so many unhappy women. Abortion is something no decent person would agree with but reality is that there is reason and story behind any such decision. Kennedy works for the goverment not the vatican. Would we be ok to go back to hangers and back door abortion? I say to the church walk a day in a scared girls shoes and stay out of the law of our land.






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