Lazy assumptions on Church celibacy issue

THE resignation of Fr Maurice Dillane because he fathered a child gave your columnist Ryle Dwyer (Irish Examiner, January 21) an opportunity to weigh in with his two cents’ worth.

He thinks the Catholic Church should finally “get the message on celibacy.” He goes back 11 years and trawls up the intemperate remarks surrounding the Fr Michael Cleary and Bishop Eamon Casey controversies to bolster his argument. He finishes by making some lazy assumptions linking celibacy to falling vocations and declining congregations.

His analysis, by being so insular and of the moment, ignores the growth of the Catholic Church around the world, despite the celibacy ‘clause.’