Church authorities are in no position to complain about lack of consultation by Government

The Catholic Church doesn’t have a great record in consulting people. It is a pyramidal structure, completely controlled by male clergy. Nobody else has any say in decision-making, least of all women, writes Tony Flannery

Many of the parents of today’s candidates for communion and confirmation are not committed to the Catholic faith, or to attendance at church

I was quite surprised, indeed taken aback, when some bishops announced they were going to ignore medical and governmental directives, and advise their priests to begin to celebrate the sacraments of first communion and confirmation.

The fact that among the early ones out of the traps were Bishops Doran of Elphin, Cullinan of Waterford and Deenihan of Meath made it a little less surprising. They would typically be the ones on the more conservative end of the hierarchy, and, especially in the cases of Elphin and Waterford, having a tendency to go it alone.