83 Comments

• Maureen Hawkins | Mar 23, 2013, 11:48 AM EDT

  jetsnoone, you say, "lets move forward, already. No gays in the priesthood or military is a good starting point." I'm afraid you are directionally challenged; you have backward & forward confused.

• Observer12 | Oct 13, 2012, 06:16 PM EDT

  "Mary McAleese's very public statements are causing the youth of Ireland to turn away from the Church in droves" Er - the church, not Profesor McAlesse, has caused the turning way. The methodical cover up of decades of child abuse is not exactly a vote catcher

• eiriamach | Oct 09, 2012, 09:27 PM EDT

  Ronnie, whether I am a practicing Catholic or not is completely irrelevant. Whether I harbor any hatred of RCC is also completely irrelevant. To learn about logical relevance, look up "ad hominem," a common informal fallacy of logic. Criticize the statement, not the person (you'll find that rule among the canons of reason if you ever bother to consult them). The Lord would not recommend that anyone engage in "total condemnation of homosexual acts" while pretending a "total loving embrace of homosexual persons." Can it make sense that anyone would tolerate being embraced by people who totally condemn their sexuality? "The Christian thing to do" is to test those who claim to speak with the moral authority of Christ. And if they cannot make better sense than "total condemnation" of those they profess to extend "total loving embrace" to, then rest assured that they don't speak for Christ. The Gospels show that Christ warned continually NOT to "obey the commands" of hypocrites. I'm sure you can make better sense if you try.

• Ronnie | Oct 09, 2012, 06:45 PM EDT

  eirimach, it seems that u misunderstood my comments, but I think it is perhaps a good guess to say u are not a practising catholic or at least not striving to be one. your poisonous castigation of the church's handling of the child abuse scandal is probably prompted by you blind hatred of its ( The Church), total condemnation of homosexual acts as opposed to its total loving embrace of homsexual persons. The Christian thing to do is obey the commands of the Church on this matter, for the Church is instituted by The Lord Himself and thus the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

• jetsnoone | Oct 09, 2012, 03:14 PM EDT

  Wow, Mary Mc. leading the youth of Ireland to commit sin, mortal sin.....Millstone anyone?

• eiriamach | Oct 09, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT

  jetsnoone, forcing gays and lesbians to suppress or deny their sexual orientation, whether in the priesthood or the military-- both are places where they exist in significant numbers-- is a giant step backward. Open acceptance of human sexuality in its diverse manifestations, as long as it's manifested between adults by mutual consent only with other adults, would be a move forward. It would also be the Christian thing to do.

• jetsnoone | Oct 09, 2012, 10:34 AM EDT

  eiriamach: lets move forward, already. No gays in the priesthood or military is a good starting point.

• branagh | Oct 09, 2012, 10:33 AM EDT

  It was nice of Law to have the prominent heretic-chaser Mary Ann Glendon "lecture" McAleese - this lady is the Pat Robertson of the RCC. BTW,she created another stink when Notre Dame University in an admirable recognition of the first Black American as President invited OBAMA to speak at the university declining I think an honorary doctorate. Good for Notre Dame!

• eiriamach | Oct 09, 2012, 09:05 AM EDT

  Oh Yeah, Ronnie, that's the real problem: Your Church was infiltrated by lib women and lib gay men in the 60s and 70s, and when they called for liberalizing Church teaching on sexuality, men like Bernard Law figured priests also had the "right" to liberalize their own sexual behavior by raping minors in church! So the Vatican II reformers are to blame, right? You'll think that's right only if you're a moral relativist who believes that the cultural milieu somehow "causes" you to sin and gives you your excuse. Churchmen who accuse liberals of being moral relativists have been quick to claim "diplomatic immunity" from criminal prosecution (that's Law's status under Vatican protection) because, after all, they just couldn't help it, now could they, and because canon law is "superior" to state law, which prosecutes pedophiles and leaves women priests free to practice their faith. It's all the fault of the liberals who called for sexual freedom for mutually consenting ADULTS but who consider sexual molestation to be an inexcusable crime.

• Ronnie | Oct 08, 2012, 08:33 PM EDT

  I'm not surprised by Mrs McAleese's comments actually. She's quite typical of the a la carte catholics who emerged from Irish Universities in the late 60's & 70's. All they spoat on about is "rights", but readily shirk "responsi-bilities". She's has the neck to campaign for women's priests, but never uttered a peep in support for the irish living abroad to have the vote in our general elections while she was president. That's right, the irish living aboard, even for short stays LOSE the right to vote in all political elections in dear old Ireland. Its pure hyprocrisy actually. And she's on 150,000 per year pension ( index -linked of course)for the rest of her natural life. And she's not even Irish, she's from Northern Ireland, which makes her, strictly speaking a british subject. Now I'm no republican, just a normal Irish Catholic sinner whose sick to the back teeth of lukewarm half catholic, half irish people destroying our native and gifted heritage evrytime they open their double chinned gobs.

• michealcollins | Oct 08, 2012, 08:19 PM EDT

  Uppinko, are you having a laugh? Mary McAleese was elected by the people of Ireland!!!! My aunts and uncles voted for her, and they regularly attend mass. As for Law, he is hiding in the Vatican knowing that if he returns to the USA, he will have a lot to answer for. Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese did astounding work as the heads of state, and this notion that they are anti Catholic is ridicules. On one final point, The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland did something the British counld not do in over 500 years. They failed to provide leadership and protection to those who needed it the most, and you think its ok for a disgraced "prince of the church" to lecture the Irish head of state. "A group of arrogant, self centered politicians"?. Are you talking about the Dail or the Vatican? :)

• McNamara31 | Oct 08, 2012, 06:02 PM EDT

  On behalf of the 150 Sex-abuse victims of former priest John Geoghan who charge that Cardinal Bernard Law was told of Geoghan’s criminal activity as early as 1984 and did nothing, I say the man should have been dragged back to the states and prosecuted and all the others he was protecting.These are not men of God; they are men protecting an institution from litigation at the price of innocent children. How dare he preach to Mary McAleese. One thing is certain; if there had been women in power in the Vatican the abuse scandal would have ended the day it began.

• PATLETAXI | Oct 08, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT

  Last time I looked, Mary McAleese had not molested children, or indeed transferred those who did, to other locations to hide 'em! So who should be ashamed of whom?

• Bocktherobber | Oct 08, 2012, 04:30 PM EDT

  Jetsnoone -- Do you think public dissent is a bad thing?

• barneyjo | Oct 08, 2012, 03:58 PM EDT

  @irelandnorth - well said ( I think) Mind you given the level of attivism that runs large in the sentiments of some posters on this site, on can only imagine what your precise observations will mean to them!!

• barneyjo | Oct 08, 2012, 03:53 PM EDT

  @jetsnoone - but we DO have women marines and women pilots these days. Aint ya ever seen the movie "GI Jane"??

• jetsnoone | Oct 08, 2012, 02:36 PM EDT

  Mary McAleese's very public statements are causing the youth of Ireland to turn away from the Church in droves. This may, or may not be her intention but Mary knows she is popular and that the kids are very influenced by her "I'll do it my way" attitude. She is highly unqualified to rule on Church policy.

• kubs | Oct 08, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

  Arrogance personified! This is what happens when a political (whoops, did I say political? I must have meant religious) system refuses to put into place a meaningful set of checks & balances involving all levels of its constituency . Dear Vatican, can you pronounce the word "democracy"? Whoops, sorry again, I forgot . It's on your Banned list, isn't it.

• jetsnoone | Oct 08, 2012, 01:51 PM EDT

  And Mary McAleese has done what to help the people of Ireand???? Her gradstanding, by calling for women priests, mis-leads the youth of Ireland by encouraging public dissent. Don't need no women priests,women marines or women jet pilots. Keeping it real!

• jerryoneill | Oct 08, 2012, 01:38 PM EDT

  After listening to these pompous, pedophfile hiding idiots talk I finally figured out why they call themselves cardinals. It is because they are bird brains.

• Commonsence | Oct 08, 2012, 11:31 AM EDT

  Law goes down in history as the embodiment of what is (was) wrong with the Catholic leadership, not just in Boston but the entire world! It has been my pleasure to be in the company of Mrs. McAleese on several occasions, business and social, in Ireland and America. It is too bad that Catholicism has not more people of her intellect at the top and fewer of those of Laws. Unfortunately it is not past history but in fact present. The Bishops and their Cardinal bosses are about as functional and effective as the US Congress!

• glengesh | Oct 08, 2012, 11:27 AM EDT

  Canon law and the rules in golf have the same status, This man Law should be in front of a court. This is the type of person that has given us the Ryan Report , the Murphy Report, the Cloyne report all exposing these men as criminal pedophiles . They have milked Ireland for centuries but the game is over. Maybe we will get the republic where we can breath freely and once and for all be quit this Roman Talibanism.

• jamieLM | Oct 08, 2012, 09:24 AM EDT

  Cardinal Law should've kept his mouth shut about Mary McAleese in 1998 and concentrated on his own short-comings. At least, she wasn't covering up child sexual abuse.

• borefield | Oct 08, 2012, 08:01 AM EDT

  This Cardinal should be in Jail, not living the good life in Italy. While I don't agree with everything Mary McAleese says or does, he has lost his right to excoriate her . Until the Catholic Church comes to the realization that in this century the "Good Old Boys Club" has now come to it's day of reckoning , Priests need to have the right to marry and women need to have the choice to be Priests.

• BigDaddy | Oct 08, 2012, 07:54 AM EDT

  Lucia...However wrong the cardinal might have been, he was still right? And what Ireland has become is someone else's doing, huh? The LADY is the leader of a nation. If she does not speak about things the church thinks she shouldn't, then she isn't the leader, the church is. Haven't you seen enough concerning how the church runs things to have a mind of your own by now?

• IrelandNorth | Oct 08, 2012, 07:05 AM EDT

  (a) HM EIIR visited the Rock of Cashel during her visit of Leinster/eastern Ireland and Munster/southern Ireland last year. Might she have been revoking Henry IIs Council of Cashel? (b) Cardinal Bernard Francis Law's (CBFLs) Arch-Diocese of Boston is in the Commomwealth of Massacheutts, is it not? (c) Prof Mary McAleese wasn't just Ireland's second female president, but also the first president from the province of Ulster/northern Ireland, qualifying her as the first truly national head of state - one reason why some of us voted for her! (c) As first citizen, Roman Catholic hierarchy as Irish citizens were consequently secondary to her. (d) She's studying Canon Law specificaly, not [my]theology generally! (e) Red scare tactics don't work in Ireland, Great Britain or the mainland, where there's a much broader spectrum of political opinion than appears exist amongst political heresiological republican middle-America. (f) Roman Catholic hierarchy are explicitly precluded by Anglican Canon Law from becoming Lord's Spiritual in England's Upper Hse since the Reformation.

• IrelandNorth | Oct 08, 2012, 05:44 AM EDT

  A theocrat unelected by popular franchise offering a condescending inverted apology to Ireland's second female president elected by many thousands of votes in 1997, including my own. His theologically partitionist paradigm as offensive to Protestant Ireland equally. Neo-Cromwellian

• SherryKay | Oct 07, 2012, 09:32 PM EDT

  So,speaking as an Irish American former Catholic female I say Cardinal Law it is arrogant corrupt sexual cover up artists like you Cardinal Law,was one the biggest reasons I left the pedophile ridden and infested disgusting pathetic excuse of church myself. Cardinal Law just shut up and go into a monastry that requires a strict vow of silence!

• warlocks | Oct 07, 2012, 08:21 PM EDT

  Well i have always said Politics & Religion go hand & hand You jest can't seperate them. Both are Corrupt and created by Man. Both will and can Enslave the Minds of Men . and also take over Nations from within. due to the ignorance of the Human Masses . If in fact you tell a Fictional story long enough and often enough. it becomes The Truth in the minds of the Ignorant. nothing has changed It's still the same old story.Suppress the Minds of the People and you not only control them but you own their contry as well. with very little effort !

• Bocktherobber | Oct 07, 2012, 07:30 PM EDT

  Cillowen -- Do you live in Ireland?

• oaklongan | Oct 07, 2012, 07:19 PM EDT

  In the above photo of former Irish President Mary McAleese, she definitely resembles actress Jean Murray Stapleton 'Edith" Archie Bunker's wife in "All in the Family"--who is more like McAleese in real-life than the submissive character in the TV series. Just sayin'...Looking forward to Samain! : )

• Bocktherobber | Oct 07, 2012, 06:57 PM EDT

  Jetsnoone -- Your research lets you down badly, but that's not surprising. Mary McAleese is personally against abortion and has always taken that position. But she is liberal on other matters, and she represents all Irish people, not just Catholics. Obviously you understand nothing at all about Irish politics.

• jetsnoone | Oct 07, 2012, 06:48 PM EDT

  So, Mary thinks we should have women priests?....Her opinion would have some clout if she were pro-life but me-thinks we're dealing with a big time liberal here who is for abortion.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 07, 2012, 06:37 PM EDT

  Mairint -- Did you not know that women are allowed to study theology these days, without being whipped? It's true - women can study complete nonsense just like men.

• skiadvocat | Oct 07, 2012, 06:33 PM EDT

  Who's this Cardinal causing all the fuss? Is this the same guy that was back in Boston when the scandal broke? I thought his name was Cardinal Lawless. I'm almost sure that was his name because the Boston Cardinal certainly didn't no a damn thing about civil laws in MA and USA. Yeah, I'm sure his name was Lawless, because that's certainly how he conducted himself.

• Joe Kelsall | Oct 07, 2012, 06:31 PM EDT

  Jeez! Coitus interruptus? My post was aborted 'mid term'! I was just about to add that church leaders should be hung by their own entrails, when my message disappeared. No doubt I'll have a queue of pilgrims outside of my house tomorow morning, declaring it a 'miracle' (;o)

• Joe Kelsall | Oct 07, 2012, 06:26 PM EDT

  I am an Irish citizen living in Liverpool, UK. The Upper House (Lords)actually has bishops sitting amongst the legislators. You can tell the Bishops' car park: they have the best cars! I am always bemused at this mixture of Church and State in the Upper Chamber? And,that when matter a of Church and State needs a decision, the Church inevitably backs the State. Rien ca change! The recent 'sit ins' around St Paul's Cathedral demonstrated that loyalty of the Church to its paymasters. The conundrum inthe Republic, is that the Church seem to do it by choice

• mairint | Oct 07, 2012, 06:19 PM EDT

  So when is Mary McAleese going to process down the aisle garbed as a 'woman priest'? Studying Theology in Rome? So if she does not end up masquerading as a priest will she seek to lecture softened minds on how the Church should be run? Lord save us from those who try to change Your establishment to fulfill their feminist ambitions.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 07, 2012, 05:30 PM EDT

  How did our head of state end up being lectured by any cleric, whether Catholic, Jewish or Muslim? Surely somebody should be sacked for allowing that to happen?

• SCVMalcolm | Oct 07, 2012, 04:32 PM EDT

  It's not just the Irish Church. Here in the USA years ago the Roman Church and the Mormons were at opposite polls about almost everything. Now the only real difference between the two are their underwear and their rituals! How sad!!

• Lucia826 | Oct 07, 2012, 03:42 PM EDT

  However wrong or misguided the cardinal might have been, does not alter the truth of his statement regarding this "president" of Ireland. The lady needs to shut up when it comes to anything theological or anti-life. I am sick of what Ireland has become...it is like a crappy caricature in a circus sideshow.

• Gearoid4 | Oct 07, 2012, 03:13 PM EDT

  @RichardP, I agree that Cardinal Law is on very shaky ground, when it comes to lecturing others. My point is that the subject under discussion i.e permissibility of women to male holy orders, should be judged precisely on it's own theological merits and should not be lumped in with the sex abuse scandals, in order to denigrate the honest positions adopted by those who agree with Church teachings.

• mayoman | Oct 07, 2012, 02:40 PM EDT

  eiriamach: Perfectly stated. I couldn't agree more.

• Eschetic | Oct 07, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT

  What a difference 50 years can make in the arrogance of some "conservatives." When the Senator John F. Kennedy was running for president - the second Roman Catholic to gain his party's nomination to the office and the first with a realistic chance to win, the church was falling all over itself to assure those of other faiths that while it provided moral leadership, it did not coerce its followers into actions which were contrary to the interests of those who did not follow all its specific teachings - that it would not "call the shots" for ANY Catholic office holder. Now that it is not unusual for U.S. voters to place their confidence in those of the "true faith," SOME of it's less scrupulous leaders don't feel the pronouncements of their more ecumenical fore-bearers are worth honoring. In the long run they are so very wrong - and hurt both the spirit of responsible secular government and worse, the church itself. Fortunately, both most American Catholics and Irish voters have shown the ability to follow rational church teachings and to think for themselves.

• eiriamach | Oct 07, 2012, 02:33 PM EDT

  It's just more degenerate male muscle flexing against female intelligence and dignity. It's what the central administration in Rome means by "renewal." Cardinal Law dealt with McAleese as though she were an American nun on the bus. But as the American nuns know, when Paul VI concluded that the Church "does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination," he undermined his own "authorization" by silencing discussion on the issue. Being bullied by these Catholic boys whose sexual development was stunted in adolescence can be infuriating if we forget that no mere human being can exercise authority over the conscience that follows Christ.

• truth seeker | Oct 07, 2012, 02:22 PM EDT

  She was so right to show this arrogant man up for what he really is. He should have gotten a stiffer punishment for his handling of abuse cases in his Diocese. That was the story that broke open the depth of pedophilia in the Catholic Church. He also was the one who had the audacity to try and get the Sisters in the USA slammed for doing Social Justice for the marginalized. Luckily it all backfired on the Vatican and clergy involved! Mary McAleese is a very intelligent and educated woman. She could beat him in any argument of Canon Law as well as every other Law issue.

• RichardP | Oct 07, 2012, 02:21 PM EDT

  @Gearoid4: I appreciate the point you are making Gearoid but when Cardinal Law lectured President McAleese about the Catholic Church's rules he did so from a very weak position having broken the very selectively himself. If a member of the RCC accepts the organization's position on female clerics I do not intend to criticize them but the act of that evil man lecturing a Head of State about her position is repugnant. It would be like an Parish Priest in Montana lecturing the Premier of Quebec on resource conservation.

• SisterMaureen | Oct 07, 2012, 02:08 PM EDT

  Why is it that articles like this fail to shock or surprise me any more? The chutzpah, the arrogance of this man! Clericalism - the abuse of power and authority is still very much alive in the RCC. I especially agree with the following statements of the former Irish president Mary McAleese: Speaking ahead of her book launch in Rome, McAleese also said Irish bishops got their handling of abusive priests ‘glaringly wrong’. She attributed this to ‘utterly atrocious advice and lack of training’. She added: “The Irish bishops were regrettably in thrall to a few canon lawyers whose views held sway. “The advice seems to have been to ignore canon law and ignore civil law. Sister Maureen Paul Turlish Advocate for Victim/Survivors & Legislative Reform New Castle, DE, USA

• Joe Kelsall | Oct 07, 2012, 01:59 PM EDT

  Jeez! Mary McAleese should have guessed the intellect of her attacker. His initials are BF!

• Gearoid4 | Oct 07, 2012, 01:58 PM EDT

  One can sympathize with the situation that Mary McAleese found herself in, pertaining to the arrogant and condescending lecture that she received from Cardinal Law, without having to agree with her views regarding such issues as male-only priesthood. It would be a pity that one would have to bring up the terrible scandal of child-abuse to use as a weapon to hit those who happen to agree with the Church position with integrity and firmness of belief.

• RuthAnn | Oct 07, 2012, 01:54 PM EDT

  Bernard Francis Law should have been denied his status and title in the Catholic church, as soon as his coverup of the child abuse scandals in Boston were revealed! This man is a loose cannon of pomposity beyond comprehension! Where, oh where is the Light of Christ in this servant of God's life? Snuffed out I'm afraid by illusions of grandeur. Give it up, Bernard Law!

• RichardP | Oct 07, 2012, 01:49 PM EDT

  So glad I gave you the chance to get on your podium again WoundedKnee - perhaps you can go to the UN and argue that Ireland is not a Sovereign Nation - or at the EU or anywhere else you can contrive in your 'cleverer-than-all-the-rest' mind. When your definition(whatever it is) of Sovereign Nation' is accepted legally then I'll accept it too. Her salary is irrelevant to the issue between her and Cardinal Break the Law.

• katiemac | Oct 07, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT

  And I am sure it came as a complete shock to McAleese that she was out of step with the Church. Cardinal Law had it right.

• pilib04 | Oct 07, 2012, 01:22 PM EDT

  As I have posted on a number of occasions here, Bernard Law should be returned to the USA to stand trial for his participation in cover-ups, concealment and facilitation of Child RAPE!!! This cruel, foul, sad excuse of a human, should be tried by a jury of his peers! It is an absolute disgrace that Holy Mother Church continues to hide this animal. Of course, he is not the only one in hiding in the Vatican. Unfortunately there are way too many. "Cardinal" William Levada (the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the man who attacked our American Sisters) is another one of these criminals hiding out.

• WoundedKnee | Oct 07, 2012, 01:15 PM EDT

  RichardP: "a Sovereign Nation".... Are you crazy? Ireland a sovereign nation? Haven't you been reading the news for the past few years? And how about McAleese's pension--maybe a quarter a million a year? For 14 years "work". Not bad, eh? Gives her plenty opportunity to spout off garbage.

• RichardP | Oct 07, 2012, 01:05 PM EDT

  Cardinal is a guy playing dress up, covering up the criminal acts of his fellow employees in an organization that creates fears among millions in order to lead them into thrall with an organization that cares little for real Christianity. @Phlutie: You think McAleese is the problem here? What colour is the sky in your world? One of the participants as the Head of State (albeit more ceremonial than functional) of a Sovereign Nation; the other was a regional manager of an organization which has conspired in criminal acts by its staff and condoned the unspeakable suffering inflicted on thousand - millions over the centuries.

• redhand32 | Oct 07, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT

  His Holiness Herr Ratzinger, and his Knights of the Round Table like Pedo enabler Law basically threw the RC Church and laity under the bus to preserve the hierarchy. Consequently, the Criminal Conspiracy (aka the Catholic hierarchy) has lost all credibility and moral authority, including criticism of Ms. McAleese.Of course there will always be those coat holders such as Wild Bill Donohue who will defend Herr Ratzinger, Law and their ilk to the death. As a result of the criminal conspiracy and its resulting irrelevance, Catholic schools, churches and other RC institutions are closing all over the place in my area, as the hierarchy continues to demand even more money from the laity to support what should otherwise be allegedly prosecutable under Rico Criminal Conspiracy statutes in the US.

• Nicomax | Oct 07, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT

  Bernie The Enabler messed up so badly he was forced to sell his large house and surrounding acreage to Boston College using the proceeds to pay off the church's legal fees and payments to the abused. His next home should not have been the Vatican but Walpole State Prison.

• barneyjo | Oct 07, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT

  @jetsnoone & phlutiephan - what the last few years has taught that when the truth is out there it WILL set you free. Of course you have to let that happen. You can deny it if you choose, but it doesnt make that truth any less!! Mary McAleese has not expressed a more critical view than has already been expressed by others within the Church; the best example of which I can think of is Saint Pio, who left us in no doubt as to the views of Christ on the stewardship of the church on earth. At least this should be the case for "true" believers!!

• butlerreport | Oct 07, 2012, 12:37 PM EDT

  Law is a criminal who ran to Rome when he saw trouble coming. He should be in a US prison not cloistered with his frocked buddies in Italy.

• mayoman | Oct 07, 2012, 12:28 PM EDT

  Millions of Catholics agree with Mary McAleese that women should be able to enter the priesthood. This is a sound and practical solution to an urgent problem. However very few people would ever condone the sort of criminal cover-up Cardinal Law engaged in. This appalling hypocrite should have been locked-up and tried for aiding and abetting the abuse of children, as well as for obstruction of justice. He certainly should never have been rewarded with a fat job in the Vatican.

• kerry214 | Oct 07, 2012, 12:09 PM EDT

  Bernie Law was Queen for a day in Boston. Now he is Queen for a day in Rome.

• Ray1Gordon | Oct 07, 2012, 12:07 PM EDT

  Cardinal Law is the one who is a disgrace to the Catholic Church for covering up for the criminal acts of his priests. Law should have gone to prison, where he belongs. He is in no position to criticize anyone.

• bunkerisland | Oct 07, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

  The Cardinal has been hide out at the Vatican for some time now. Returning to the States might lead to incarceration and an end to all the pomp, protection, fine food and making of his bed.

• BigDaddy | Oct 07, 2012, 11:55 AM EDT

  Phlutie...let's interpret the Bible as Bronze Age mythology basically combined with the writings of Paul...You've got people talking to bushes and people claiming to have fasted for 40 days in the desert. Try going 40 days without water, see where you wind up. No where do I see Christ's teachings being practiced on a large scale. If you want a literal application of the Bible and you believe in a tripartite God-head, then you have to believe that the Almighty is a communist.

• liammurf | Oct 07, 2012, 11:42 AM EDT

  Church is one item, Ireland is another. The church believes and states that only MEN can become priest. That's the answer. For her to state her feelings and the leader of a country is improper, as is his comments. Case closed, they were both wrong. AMEN

• OmahaSeamus | Oct 07, 2012, 11:38 AM EDT

  It's an honor to be insulted by "The most evil man on the face of the earth"

• PhlutiePhan | Oct 07, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT

  Who is Mary McAleese to tell off the Irish hierarchy? She is one the snakes that St. Patrick threw out. Let's look at some facts on Cardinal Law. He was sent from Springfield, Mo, to straighten out the mess left by Cardinal Medeiros. Shanley and Geoghan were sent as chaplains to the gay community. If one of the two was not murdered in prison, the Archdiocese of Boston would owe millions of dollars since the final verdict was not finalized. I am surprised that Ms. McAleese has not accused Cardinal Law of hiring a hitman. She has accused him of everything else. He tried damage control from a "firefighter" perspective. We now know that pedophiles cannot be reformed and forgiven. So, now McAleese is in Rome to reform the Vatican. She is "studying theology in Rome". She is there for a political reason and taking a class or two in the "Theology of Ball Room Dancing" as Matt Leinert did while winning a national championship at USC. Let's interpret the Bible as the Word of God and work toward reform. The obvious fact that Ms. McAleese is, at the very least, a radical feminist with all of its nuances is only part of her world socialist agenda with the support of such as Gerry Adams. While in the Navy, I had a chance to talk with Brit officers about this same issue.

• mal | Oct 07, 2012, 11:25 AM EDT

  Equally troubling is that Irish Bishops saw fit to invite this criminal to Ireland. Were they looking for guidance in shielding their pedophiles?

• johnozed | Oct 07, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT

  Bernie Frankie Law was a bit jealous of Mary McAleese wearing and looking better in a dress. SO now he shops in the Prada outlet shop in the Vatican. It all works out, she has the history and integrity and he has all the boys he can handle.

• Clancey | Oct 07, 2012, 11:06 AM EDT

  Just another woman-hating "Prince of the Church." You should expect nothing more.

• WoundedKnee | Oct 07, 2012, 10:55 AM EDT

  Law was a pretty incompetent cardinal, but then again McAleese was a pretty incompetent president. I guess they cancel each other out--Good Riddance to both of them.

• irishbrothers | Oct 07, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

  Ah,raise a glass to Mary McAleese. Lawless Law was moved to Rome to escape legal action for his role in covering up the continuing sex abuse scandal that exposed the corrupt Catholic hierarchy centered in the Vatican. With Benny Ratz wearing the crown, a version of a Vatican Third Reich will continue vs. actual remorse, remittance and repair.

• lokionline | Oct 07, 2012, 10:11 AM EDT

  Finding yourself on the wrong side of history must really suck. Maybe Law will write something about this.

• knockatee | Oct 07, 2012, 10:06 AM EDT

  And how was Cardinal Law punished for covering up sex abuse? He got a plum job in Rome. He should be in jail.

• hermitTalker | Oct 07, 2012, 10:00 AM EDT

  irishphotograph It was an ENGLISH pope, the only one the RCC ever had who allowed the English to conquer Ireland. How much advice he got is something of which I know nothing. Not a grand slam by the popes, as if there were several at that same time. One would like to have the full context and actual conversation with the cardinal and president McAleese, who was speaking for Catholics, and in the USA handled Anglicans/Episcopalians who were joining the RCC as married clergy also was noted for taking the clerical abuse seriously. His bishop-auxiliaries handled those but he took the rap as the head, See you are back on here Bock. As a journalist in a former life we were trained to get all the facts. No longer an honoured principle with today's tabloid media mixing it up with 24/7 internet blogging.

• CitizenWhy | Oct 07, 2012, 09:51 AM EDT

  This most pompous cardinal among the pompous college of cardinals actually thought he would be pope, so he felt free to lecture a head of state. just as the pope lectures/hectors governments around the world. His desire to be pope was the main reason behind his cover up of outrageous child sex abusers, one of whom raped a boy on the altar. Perhaps he got his plush job in Rome because he might have been able to reveal the role of Vatican big wigs in encouraging him to cover up. And perhaps the job was created to shield him from US prosecutors.

• Hunter03 | Oct 07, 2012, 09:46 AM EDT

  The people of Boston are probably worse off for having Cardinal Law as their cardinal. And the diocese is a lot poorer due to his illegal actions. Too bad he hasn't recognized his own sins and apologized to the people on Boston. He continues to show his arrogance.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 07, 2012, 09:44 AM EDT

  Why was that ridiculous old man given the opportunity to lecture a head of state?

• CelticQueenUSA | Oct 07, 2012, 09:40 AM EDT

  This man was out of time and out of line to lambaste her. The shame he was hiding if any would have better been up for discussion. He should be in jail.

• Irishphotograph | Oct 07, 2012, 09:35 AM EDT

  HOW THE ROMAN POPES GAVE IRELAND TO THE ENGLISH TO RULE OVER US ROME WANTED TO SUPPRESS THE CHURCH SAINT PATRICK HELP ESTABLISH. THE CELTIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH. This was indeed what King Henry did and one of his first acts was to call the Council of Cashel in 1172 at which the ancient Celtic Church of Ireland was brought into submission to the yoke of Roman bondage. As for the Papal insults that the Irish were a rude, ignorant, uncivilized people, had not the missionaries of Patrick's Celtic Church brought the uncorrupted Gospel not only to the rest of the British Isles but to Europe? Was it a savage people who produced such beautifully illuminated Christian manuscripts as the Book of Kells, and who preserved the primitive Christian faith in their communities even under Viking attack, whilst Papal Rome was sunk in, the depths of vice and superstitions? The Roman Catholic writer O'Driscoll admits: "The Christian Church of Ireland was founded by St. Patrick, existed for many centuries free and unshackled ... and differed on many points from Rome. From the days of Patrick to the Council of Cashel was a bright and glorious career for Ireland. From the sitting of that Council to our own times the lot of Ireland has been unmixed evil and all her history a tale of woe." Views of Ireland, Vol. 2, Page 84.

• bogsidebunny | Oct 07, 2012, 08:29 AM EDT

  Thank God I'm an Atheist!

• jetsnoone | Oct 07, 2012, 08:10 AM EDT

  Mary, stop your crying sob story.....the Cardinal was trying to do you a favor, as it is a great sin to mislead the youth of your country by using politics and the media to change the Church...honest, private discussions with the Cardinal would have been the way to go....