The big question for Labour won’t be answered by a change of leader

The plight of the Catholic Church in Ireland, beset by scandal, dwindling numbers, and rapid change in the surrounding culture, is an ironic juxtaposition — in terms of timing and context — with the Labour Party.

In comparison with Labour, Irish Catholicism is in rude good health. There is no threat of extinction.

If much reduced, the Church will continue. Seen from the outside as rigid in its orthodoxies and plodding in its processes, it is in fact the mother of reinvention.