Now we know price of church brainwashing

FIRST Ferns, then Ryan and now the Murphy report all show the depth of corruption in the Catholic Church and the depth of deference to this corruption was shown in the Dáil by our Taoiseach when he fell over himself verbally while bending the knee to the Holy See.

Instead he should have recalled the Irish ambassador to the Vatican and sent the Papal Nuncio home. In contrast, Mary O’Rourke, to her eternal credit, stood for the Republic.

It amazes me that many people are amazed at the extent of our deference to the church. When children are brainwashed from the age of four that religion is sacrosanct and cannot be questioned, the foundations of deference are laid. Parents teach their children this deference by word and example. Our primary schools, under the iron hand of the Vatican, inculcate this “ethos”.

This is the antithesis of true education which would strive to open the mind of a child to the wonders of the universe and everything therein. This closing of doors to real knowledge is a dereliction of duty by parents and teachers with the connivance of the state.

When doctrines of the Catholic Church, such as the Virgin Birth, transubstantiation, original sin, to name a few, are instilled in the child’s mind as absolute the stage is set for unquestioning servility to the church and to all its works and pomps.

The gardaí who covered up for criminal bishops and priests did so because of their religious brainwashing, likewise public servants and everybody else involved. People who believe that a country should be run according to the “ethos” of the majority religion need to put on their considering caps.

If Muslims became the majority religion in Ireland, should Sharia law take over? We need full separation of church and state, especially in education, if we are to pass on a proper democratic state to the coming generations. We have had government by clerics which left us with a residue of rottenness we will never forget. Murphy could not say whether a paedophile ring existed among clerical abusers. It is clear, however, that acover-up ring was in place all the way from the Vatican around the world and back to the Vatican. “Crimen Sollicitationis” confirms this and anybody who thinks the author of this Latin document cares about children is living on another planet. He probably cares more about canonising his predecessor and co-conspirator than he does about reforming the Catholic Church.

Paddy Phelan

Toureagh

Ballymacarbry

Co Waterford