Catholic priests - Laity should have say on celibacy issue

THE weekend proposal by Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh that Catholic priests should be allowed to marry is not a new one, although it is something which has always been anathema to Rome.

Consequently, it is 10 years since the issue was broached by Bishop Brendan Comiskey who was summoned to the Vatican for having the temerity to raise it.

In the interim, the Church internationally has become engulfed in a controversy of apocalyptic proportions, graphically illustrated here in the notorious Ferns Report.