Fr Mark Patrick Hederman: Church ‘will die without evolution’

The Catholic Church has 10 years to “get its act together” or it will become little more than a museum piece, according to the former abbot of Glenstal Abbey.

Calling for a new set of ethics to be developed, including sexual ethics, Fr Mark Patrick Hederman said: “The Church is relying on a set of principles that are not relevant anymore.

“Now that we have legislated for gay marriage and accepted that sexuality does happen for reasons other than procreation, now that we recognise that some of the most heinous sexual crimes have been perpetrated within the ‘sanctity’ of marriage, it is surely time to take a more comprehensive approach to the ethics of sexual behaviour,” he said.