Priest defies explanation

If the Catholic congregations in Stamullen, Co Meath, are on the wane, their enthusiasm will not be encouraged by the rather drastic measures proposed by one priest.

Children of lapsed Catholics or Catholics who are too lethargic in their religious duties for the liking of Fr Michael Daly, could find themselves seeking educational facilities in another parish, according to a diktat he issued at the weekend.

In so doing, he displayed a remarkable abandon towards the constitutional rights of those children in his zeal to blackmail their parents back to Mass and to be “contributing” families.

It may have slipped Fr Daly’s memory, but in January, 1973, the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1972, was passed that removed the special position of the Catholic Church from the Constitution.

To propose that the educational facilities provided by the State should be withheld from children for no other reason than to force lapsed Catholics back to their religion is too ludicrous to contemplate.

It is also offensive and utterly inane for the priest to threaten parents by holding their children hostage to his intemperate demands.

Of course, Fr Daly has every right to try to get lapsed members of his flock back as practising Catholics, but his method defies understanding. The answer to his outrageous proposition is clearly laid out in Article 42 of the Constitution that pays due regard to the “natural and imprescriptible rights of the child” in education.