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Updated: 13.45
OUTGOING US PRESIDENT Barack Obama is coming back to Ireland in the next 12 months, according to the US ambassador to Ireland.
Kevin O’Malley said Obama is keen on returning to Ireland five years after visiting his ancestral home in Moneygall, Offaly.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One this afternoon, O’Malley said: “The last sentence that the president said to me on Wednesday of this week when we were saying goodbye was ‘please tell them I’m coming’.
So I think that’s the President’s way of saying informally that you’ll probably see him again.
O’Malley predicted that the outgoing president would be coming in the next year or so.
Obama’s eighth cousin Henry Healy told TheJournal.ie he is delighted that the visit has become public knowledge and said he’s not shocked by the announcement.
He said: “Well it’s not new to me. It’s something he’s always said as recent as St Patrick’s Day. He said that once he leaves office he wants to get a round of golf in.
“I’m delighted that the ambassador has made public those remarks. It reignites the hope and it something to look forward in the coming 12 months.”
Healy, who is operations manager of the Barack Obama Plaza on the outskirts of Moneygall, said the president may even come in for a bite to eat.
The plaza is owned by Pat McDonagh, who founded Supermac’s.
“It’d be very hard for him to pass it. He’d have to drive by it if he’s coming into Moneygall. If you had something named after you, the curiosity would get the better of ya. He’d be well aware of the plaza. Maybe he’ll drop in for a five ounce burger,” Healy added.
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Who cares what they think?
The vatican usually talk sh!t but in this case there not wrong
“I Believe” cause of everything
@Stephen Connor: Only when it suits your ignorance
@Dow Dubrov: Actually if you live outside a city it’s almost certain these people have control of your local school, (and pretty likely in a city). They also try hard to influence our laws. So what they think matters, it’s not a little club that keeps to themselves.
@Niall O’Neill: yes im ignorant, even though your the one that denys facts
@Stephen Connor: You say you agree with the Church’s position that there are only two genders and that they are designed to procreate. Now, most women are born with XX chromosomes and men with XY. Activated SRY genes on the Y chromosome determines maleness. Caster Semenya has XY genes, but her SRY genes are not activated, meaning she has no external testes or any other male physiology. She has no womb or ovaries, but does have a vagina and internal (non-semen productive) testes. She does not fit the definition for either a man or a woman physiologically and, as she cannot produce children, she also fails to meet the Church’s definition of man or woman either. So, as you agree with the Church’s view, I’d love to hear your definition for her. How would you pigeon-hole her and why?
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: she is a male xy
@Denise Gerrard: but she’s not. She’s not male XY biologically, physiologically or genetically. She is, scientifically speaking, a female XY. It is rare, but it exists. Socially, she was raised as female, so that’s all she has ever known. This is the problem with having a binary system to attempt to represent what is, in fact, a much more complex issue. Technically, she is intersex as she has characteristics, both physiologically and genetically, from both traditional sexes while also lacking characteristics from both traditional sexes, too.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: ,ok fact she is Xy. Has testes internally ,high testosterone levels has the physical body . Muscle tone of a male and should never have been in sport with females . Yes she is intersex ,but not a trans person .
@Denise Gerrard: I was specifically talking about a previous commenter and his acceptance of the Church’s position that there is no such thing as anything other than male or female. That position rules out the possibility of intersex.
And they’re entitled to issue whatever sort of document they want.
Quite an interesting arcticle on the subject from someone who would describe himself as an atheist and libertarian and no friend of the Catholic Church…
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/11/questioning-gender-fluidity-is-the-new-blasphemy/
I was wondering what they’d come out with next to make themselves even less relevant. Good one Fran!
I’m transgender, and I have to say I agree. I didn’t change my gender – I was born transgender female (i.e. identified as male) and I will die transgender female (thankfully legally and socially recognised as such). And I certainly didn’t choose to be transgender!!!
@Deirdre O’Byrne: It would be interesting to hear more of your opinion on the topic, trans people seem to also recognise there are only two genders, I’ve only ever heard of a trans man or woman wanting to be the opposite gender. I’ve never heard of a trans person say I want to transition to trigender, just wondering your thoughts as a trans person on it. Would you say personality fits the definition better than gender?
@Rachel O’ Meara: well I’ve never ever heard of a transgender person who wants to be transgender. I most certainly don’t want to be transgender and, if I had a choice, I would choose to be male (having had some experience of both genders).
There are as many different experiences of gender on the planet as there are people on the planet who experience gender. For some of those people, neither of the labels/concepts/whatever of “male” or “female” quite fit. Hence they have to find different labels to try and convey their experience of gender.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: Sorry let me clarify, no one wants to be transgender as you say but from what I’ve read and heard from trans people is that they feel were born in the wrong body or the wrong sex/gender, as there’s only two they transition to the opposite male to female or female to male. That still makes two. My point is alot of people think girls have to be feminine and girly and boys have to be masculine and tough when that’s simply not true, gender has always been synonymous with sex and there are only two, would personality not fit the bill better than gender? Everyone as you say is different, personality is tied into that in a big way.
@Rachel O’ Meara: I tend to agree with some of that, only the social meaning of the word ‘gender’ has changed. It is no longer part a valid definition of sex. So be it, words and meanings change, biology and realities don’t. Once we all fully break from that old pairing, the argument is over.
There will still, in biological fact, be only the two sexes, and everything else is about how we relate to these sexes. Call it gender if you want. We can accept, reject, ignore, feel compelled by, or even change our relationship. That is also a biological fact of the higher order brain, so it’s probably more than complex than solely a personality trait, or a cognitive choice, or a biological structure. For in the end all of our human reality lies constructed within our own skulls.
@Rachel O’ Meara: I wasn’t born into the wrong sex/gender – I was born transgender female, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. It’s a difficulty, but it’s manageable.
Now I don’t know how I can make it any clearer that for some transgender people, the male/female binary doesn’t cut it. You come across as someone who wants me to rubber stamp your pet theory – a theory that erases the experience of many people. No deal.
And as for “personality” – the fact is that I have a body that needs estrogen. On testosterone I suffer PMS-like symptoms (which I’ve suffered all my adult life up until transition). So no it’s not a “personality” thing.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: you changed your gender if you are now trans. You should not force us to believe something that’s simply not true. You’re a woman not a man and you should try find a way to deal with that.
@Clarissa: I could be wrong pretty sure Deirdre has transitioned to female (the name gives a clue) so well done you for recognising her gender!
@Clarissa: “You should not force us to believe something that’s simply not true.”
The Catholic Church has been doing that for 1600 years now.
@Clarissa: are you the same Clarissa I responded to above?
Again, what an original comment!!! OMG I’ve *never* heard anyone tell me that I need to “deal with” being identified as male at birth before!
Again, I’ve got some good news for you. I *have* dealt with it. And very successfully, thank you.
And as for what you believe – honey, I couldn’t care less. Rant, rave, and come up with “original” comments all you want. It all says far more about you than it does about me.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: haha, I was being nice giving you advice. God help you you are one deluded human
@Clarissa: funny. *I* was being nice giving *you* advice. I’d say “God help you”, but God doesn’t exist.
One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. You’re either born male or female. Live with it. It’s just another example of the nimby pimby snowflake society we now seem to live in.
@Michael MC Evoy: Not true, some people are biologically born with parts of both genders. It’s rare but does happen. Others are born physically one or the other but feel more like the opposite sex.
Quite a number of animals switch gender throughout their lives, it’s nothing new in the animal kingdom. One common example being the Clownfish which you may recognise from Finding Nemo.
Down with this kind of thing, it’s an ecumenical matter !!
There iare two genders , you are born into one or the other. Anything else is a ridiculous social concept if you feel you do not fit Into one of the genders get your head checked .
@MitchConnor: You are confusing sex with gender there.
Dopes.
WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK?? THEY SHOULD LOOK AT THE STATE OF THEM SELVES BLOODY HIPACRITS
@Marianne: Sorry, what?
@Marianne: well his position used to be able to incite wars over a particular region of the Middle East and considering there are an estimated 1 billion Catholics on earth who follow, to certain degrees, what he says, I think it’s greatly important people take note of what the Pope and Church say.
@Marianne: Gender isn’t something you can choose! But correct spelling is!
My comment agreeing with this with 800+ likes just disappeared. How convenient. Free speech much?
I now identify as an offended, triggered male.
“LGBT Catholics”. People are weird. Your sexuality is incompatible with this backwards religion. Give it up. If you still want to believe in nonsense start your own church.
@Toomasu Sumitsu: I’m no practicing Catholic but the ethos/teachings cover a wide moral range, just because you are incompatible with one strand of belief, doesn’t mean you don’t/can’t strongly believe and follow the other moral principles.
It’s not “love thy heterosexual neighbor”.
@Mushy Peas: and yes, I’m aware of the complete hypocrisy of the Church itself, but I stand by the point I made.
@Mushy Peas: I know what you are saying, however “lord of the rings” has some good and some bad moral teachings. Morality never came from any book and never will.
I think there are two sexes and gender is a spectrum where cisgenders make up the mean on the bell curve.
@Brendan Tannam: there is 2 sexes male and female but a child can be born and not be clearly male or female. They could be raised one way but then release they are not that sex. Not everyone is born with standard gentials. Then you have the controversial situation where a child takes hormones to block or change their development as they feel.
It seems some things are very complicated and there is a certain percentage of these hence the need to acknowledge that it’s not a simple male/female.
@Rory Mac Daibhéid: that’s intersex though and not trans
@Brendan Tannam: cisgender is a made up word , l am a woman a adult human female
@Denise Gerrard: every word is made up or did they all appear in a big book?
There are still many unanswered questions as to the origin of this issue! What is it thats makes a person reject their body? The issue arises in the mind of the individual its a very complex situation… given the nature of the mind you cant be born into the wrong body! You are born into the body you are in. Personally one would wonder why has this risen in drastic numbers over the last ten years. It is being promoted through a social movement… its nearly becoming trendy to be transgender… Children are very delicate in their formative years… I would definitely be against medicating young children with hormone therapy… It would be better until such individuals have reached the age of 18 then they could persue gender reasignment therapy. It must be a tough situation for a person
@pete: it has nothing to do with rejecting the body. For whatever reason, my body needs estrogen to function properly, yet doesn’t produce any. Without estrogen from tablets/patches, I suffer PMS-like symptoms. And as a consequence, I transition from male to female.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: I hope that you find happiness in your journey. Everything works out for you.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: of course you don’t have enough estrogen your a Male
I’m going to issue a document myself rejecting the idea that people can turn into bread and wine on a Sunday morning. It will be as relevant to the Catholic Church as this one is to everyone else.
Completely agree. The idea that gender is something you can ‘choose’ is complete and utter nonsense.
@Mike Conway: err .. no. You can choose to be anything you like. A farmer, a gay farmer, a trans farmer, a non-binary farmer or a kerry farmer. And if you get fed up, change again. We live in a democracy.
@Mike Conway: err .. no. You can choose to be anything you like. A farmer, a gay farmer, a trans farmer, a non-binary farmer or a kerry farmer. And if you get fed up, change again. We live in a democracy. I
@Paul Whitehead: You can choose whatever you want to be, but you cannot choose your gender. It is a black and white, simple biological fact.
@Mike Conway: as I said earlier, as a transgender person, I agree. I didn’t choose to be born transgender female.
@Paul Whitehead:
That’s called make believe.
What chromosome make up do all the other alleged genders fall into place as?
To be fair, his lot are hardly educated in these matters, pay them no attention like the irrelevant organisation they are.
This organisation is desperately in need of either updating their xenophobic views or disbanding entirely. While transgenderism, homosexuality and gender is not a choice; being a Catholic and more importantly being intolerant is
@Cathal: It is possible to be a catholic, gay and tolerant. Though in fairness, the church doesn’t make it easy. It is like treading an ever-thinning tightrope. There is much I love about the catholic faith and the rest I just bracket and ignore. This repulsive document being in the latter category. I look to the early church for inspiration, particularity Benedictine spirituality, where ‘’sex’ was unimportant. Charity and love were the foundations of christianity, not what you did with your pecker.
This is from a religion founded by a man who allegedly turned water into wine.
@Crispin Sodmonk: No wonder he got so many followers. If they could do that now I’d Def be a follower.
@Crispin Sodmonk: and whose priests convert bread and wine into the body and blood of a man that people then ingest. Their main symbol is an ancient Roman execution device which the followers wear around their necks.
However most Catholics don’t think about that side of things too deeply and just plod along because “shur what’s the harm?”
@Sara McS:
The symbol represent the reality of the man’s death, he horrifically died on a cross for us.
Communists worship hammers, sickles and red stars on their crusty hats, what’s that all about?
There’s xy and xx encoded in almost every cell of the human body. The bodies biological gender is at the core of the human condition.
Other conditions like Klinefelter syndrome and hermaphroditism are medically defined ‘intersex’. Ones expression of their preference has no bearing on the biological fact
Interesting when the catholic church and the alt-right anti-science fascists agree. Both are wrong of course. Gender is a choice and should be. Two sexes, multiple genders.. why does that upset people lol. It has zero impact on anyone else’s life if as a man I choose to be trans, binary, non-specific or just a plain old straight and boring guy.
@Paul Whitehead: The Catholic church are Alt-right Anti-science fascists though!?!
@Paul Whitehead: Gender dysphoria should not be encouraged
Catholic LGBT
Catholic LGBT
@John Sadlier: As is a huge percentage of priests. Sadly these priests (and sisters) do not have the courage to challenge this kind of offensive document, a document that reenforces prejudice and violence. Some priests or sisters remain celibate but many don’t. The latter are hypocrites. They contribute to the violence against LGBTQ persons.
The RC Church doesn’t own the high moral ground today , and when the did they were lying to their congregation of sheeple . No creditably hasn’t the real world!
Why was my early comment deleted?
@Thefallguy: same here
What about people who are born intersex. Often its a doctor who choses gender in this case, how dose the church explain this. If a human can be born with a mutation of both male and female genitalia, is it so different to be born transgender.
Purging comments, shame
Gender is based on DNA due to the biological functions but gender is part psychological like make up, clothes, hair styles, so it can be psychology effecting societies expectation of sex based on DNA as DNA’s function is for reproduction in 2 main ways?
Another comment purge tut
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