Just been on Irish radio with the estimable Clifford Longley to talk about the weekend’s child-abuse developments. Clifford takes a pop at Dr Rowan Williams for apparently acting as another church leader scoring points at the expense of the Roman Catholic Church with his “lost all credibility” comments. I pursue the “they just don’t get it” line, saying that outrage directed at the media and the Archbishop of Canterbury makes the Catholic Church in Ireland look arrogantly dismissive of this terrible crisis.
But it’s two Irish phone-in guests from the pews, as it were, who provide a microcosm of the severity of this issue. John and Frank go hammer-and-tongs on the issue, one of them invoking a terrible history by placing the child-abuse crisis in the context of Spanish Roman Catholics siding with General Franco in Spain, the other accusing him of “losing his religion” and suggesting that 99 per cent of Irish priests are innocent (I’d put that percentage higher actually).
In truth, I probably stoke the fire by saying that Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of All Ireland, should have resigned….
If I had been in Spain during their civil war, I darn sure would have been a supporter of Franco against the Marxists, socialists, and anarchists who made up the Republican side, so I don’t think the RCC has anything to apologize for on that score.
So would I have been, Mr. Miller. And as far as I am concerned, Spain needs another Franco today.