You’ve hit the nail on the head regarding the situation in Ireland when you said that the moral authority of our bishops has been undermined by the sex abuse scandals. Any argument made favouring the views of the church (e.g. the current abortion debate) is always met with the answer “why should we listen to a church that covered up the abuse of children for decades”.

Hindsight is a great thing, however I sometimes wonder whether we’d have arrived at this point, if the church had such unchecked power for decades (nothing corrupts more than absolute power etc) and made such a mess of the power they had. Hearing some of the stories from previous generations of the power and influence priests and bishops held in Ireland, sometimes makes me think about the position and power held by the Pharisees in the time of Jesus. If one good thing has come out of this mess, it’s that we now have a much more humble and less judgemental church in our country than we had in the past.

Thank you for dropping by! Isn’t it strange how many of us find ourselves in a similar situation with regard to passing on the Faith? I was lucky in that something about Catholicism connected with me when I was young, and whilst I left the Church – well, maybe didn’t pop in for a year or two – in my twenties, I always knew I would come back and I knew what a pearl of great price it was that my father had passed on to me. Now the challenge is to pass that on to our children in a world that has become disillusioned with itself and with God – and it’s not always easy, as you well know! I’m glad that you’ve joined the JACDers – they’re a great bunch and I rely on them a whole lot to get me through the tough times! I think that the Good Lord threw us all together through the podcast for is purpose.

Have a happy, holy and warm Easter.

God Bless you and your family,

Sean

My name is Frank and I’m a Dad of 2 girls (4 and 1), living in Kilkenny, Ireland. I’ve recently started listening to your show and I’m really enjoying it. My eldest daughter is around the same age that Caitie was when you started the Podcast, so I’ve found myself going back to your early shows to pick up some pearls of wisdom. I find our situations very similar in that the responsibility for passing on the faith in our house also rests on my shoulders alone. While my wife is a Catholic she stopped practising a long time ago – unfortunately something very common these days in Ireland.

I hope the settling in process in your new house goes well. I’m sure I’ll be dropping in with more comments and questions.

Frank

We’ve all been through moving and renovations so we know it’s no picnic!! Good luck with your project and we’ll be waiting patiently for your return!

Sean