My message for Enda

I emailed Kenny a few days ago.  I was waiting for his reply to post along with mine - but it hasn't come, not even a bland acknowledgement.  Here's my message to him:

Dear Enda,

the disgust I and many orthodox Catholics in the country had when you made that ludicrous speech in the Dail attacking the Vatican, based not on anything in the Cloyne Report, but clearly on the prejudices of you and your advisers, including some ordained, is increasingly turning to anger as the implications unfold. 

When I read the speech I thought, "this is something Paisley would have been proud of in his day".  When we heard that you were being quoted by the Chinese authorities in support of its persecution of the Catholic Church in China we were no longer shocked.  This is what you have brought the country to.

Last week the Chinese authorities arrested dozens of lay people and priests who would not support the State choice for bishop.  These are the people whose ideology you now share.  I hope Enda you feel proud.

Brendan Doyle

Sticking with the China theme and the way it's used Kenny's speech to support their persecution of the Church, now we're seeing the ghastly circle move homeward as more stupid Irish people point to the Chinese Patriotic Church as the way forward.  Letter in today's Irish Times reminds us of the words of Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe on his tour of China, and quoted by the then Beijing correspondent, Conor O’Clery (October 30th, 1998): “Sometimes it can be just as heroic to live with an ambivalence as it can be to make sacrifices to pursue a very definite and distinct line.”

I don't know if the quote is genuine, but if it is, well, another reason to be glad that bishops retire at 75!