Church leaders are confused on celibacy issue

ÁILÍN QUINLAN, (Irish Examiner, January 23) is a little unfair to Christianity and the Catholic Church.

Paradoxically, the veneration for the Blessed Virgin and her special role (and the spin-offs such as chivalry and courtesy) did much to set respect for women as one of the central objectives of so-called western civilisation.

That having been said, the fear of women among the managers and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church is so obvious (to everybody else but themselves) as to be embarrassing - and it explains in part their confused and frequently contradictory responses whenever clerical celibacy becomes an issue.