Church teaches Education Minister Richard Bruton a lesson on divestment

Richard Bruton plans to divest patronage from Catholic primary schools. We’ve been here before and the Church still holds all the cards, writes Michael Clifford.

Nobody does it better. Nobody manages to manipulate events and people in order to retain power, and particularly money, better than the Catholic Church.

And sure, why wouldn’t they? Nobody has been around as long, survived and prospered through empires and wars, held sway over the lives of millions, for good and ill. Through it al,l the institution has retained the ability to get what it wants on its own terms.