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Eamonn Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Aer Lingus says the failure of other European airlines is 'good news'

Stephen Kavanagh believes the failure of Monarch, Alitalia and Air Berlin shows ‘the market is working’.

AER LINGUS CEO Stephen Kavanagh has described the domino-like collapse of European carriers as “good news”.

Speaking at the European Aviation Conference in Dublin, the airline boss said the failure of Monarch, Alitalia and Air Berlin in recent times has shown that “the market is working”.

“As a management team and as a business of 4,500 people, we believe that we have to fight to compete to earn our right to exist,” Kavanagh said. “We see failures of poor businesses as opportunity for Aer Lingus.”

Each of the three airlines cited by Kavanagh had been propped up by their main shareholders in recent years before their eventual capitulation.

In the case of Air Berlin, it filed for insolvency after UAE-based airline Etihad announced that it would no longer serve as a cash cow for the German carrier, where losses doubled in 2016 to an eye-watering €667 million.

Kavanagh said increased competition in the aviation market has generally been “very beneficial” for both Aer Lingus and the Irish economy in general.

Interestingly, the CEO’s predecessors had in 1985 strongly lobbied against the launch of Ryanair over fears that Tony Ryan’s low-cost carrier would cannibalise the Irish air travel market.

“Ryanair has been very, very good for Aer Lingus,” Kavanagh said this week. “That discipline of having to justify your existence on a daily basis has been transformational from an Irish consumer’s perspective.”

90397583_90397583 Stephen Kavanagh Sam Boal / Roillingnews.ie Sam Boal / Roillingnews.ie / Roillingnews.ie

Check-in duty

The two-day European Aviation Conference – which was attended by people from the aviation industry, researchers and government officials – was hosted by Kavanagh’s alma mater, Dublin City University (DCU).

The airline chief said he owed his knowledge of the airline business to his student days working at the national carrier’s check-in desk three decades ago.

“I was incapable of holding a conversation without profusely sweating,” he said of his younger years. “Check-in gave me a human interaction every 30 seconds. There’s nothing like that to force you out of your shell.”

As well as helping Kavanagh deal with shyness, he claims the stint taught him about “how all the pieces within the business fitted”.

“Starting at check in for me was simply, in retrospect, the best place I could have started because it forced me out, but it also gave me a real understanding of the economics of the operation,” he said.

Airport spend

During the 45-minute keynote presentation, Kavanagh touched on a number of talking points that have been on Aer Lingus’s radar in recent times, including the carrier’s frustration with infrastructure at Dublin Airport.

The airline has repeatedly complained that the existing baggage system, parking stands and taxiways at the state’s largest airport aren’t in line with Aer Lingus’s transatlantic growth aspirations.

When Aer Lingus chief operating officer Mike Rutter announced the Dublin-Philadelphia service last month, he said relations between the airline and the airline have “soured immensely” over the issue.

Kavanagh was much more muted when he addressed the issue at DCU.

“We have untapped potential,” he said. “What we’re missing at the moment is that proactive investment which I’m absolutely confident will generate reward.”

To help illustrate the point that Dublin should be seen “as a hub, not a spoke” in global aviation, Kavanagh showed a picture of Skellig Michael island, which shot to fame after it was used as a filming location by the Star Wars franchise.

shutterstock_365660273 Skellig Michael island Shutterstock / UTBP Shutterstock / UTBP / UTBP

He noted that the Kerry island was used by the filmmakers as location for “the remotest reach of the universe where Luke Skywalker spends his years in exile”.

“For decades, Ireland’s remote geographic location on the periphery of the European land mass and all of its major markets had been generally accepted as being disadvantageous to economic development,” he said.

“That’s a mindset that we in Aer Lingus have had to change because it suppresses opportunity.”

Kavanagh also drew comparison to the 19th century inventor Guglielmo Marconi’s view of Ireland to Aer Lingus’s bid to make Ireland a link to the North America.

“Marconi recognised when he laid the first transatlantic telegraph in 1901 between Clifton in Galway and Newfoundland, that geographic position of Ireland also creates significant opportunity where you see it,” he said.

“We’ve been laying our effective comparison to Marconi’s cable to building and creating a gateway at Dublin Airport to compete not only for business between Ireland and North America, but rather between Europe and North America.”

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Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute molly coddled
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:12 PM

    I may not agree with their choice, but I respect and admire them for the courage of their convictions.

    A couple of months ago I spent quite some time in the company of one such person, they were caring, gentle of spirit, kind and a calming presence for me, never once mentioned god. This all came about as I sat with my mum and watched as she died from cancer in a hospice. I had no idea this lovely person who became a good friend was a nun until a week before my dear mum passed.

    She was there for me when I needed comfort and consolation in a strange town many miles from home.
    I will be forever grateful.

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    Mute joanie
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    Jan 30th 2015, 9:43 PM

    Molly your comment hit a nerve with me when I read it , a lovely lady used to come and visit our family when my father was dying from cancer . We enjoyed her visits , she was really there for us . it was only after my dad died and we visited the hospice to thank them , that we realised she was a nun !

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Jan 31st 2015, 1:04 AM

    Have been atheist since I turned 15, now I wonder.

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    Mute Carl Johnson
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:09 PM

    Fair play to them. I’m far from religious, but to have so much faith so as to commit to your religion is commendable.

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:23 PM

    I’m not religious either and i dont agree with all the positions of the CC but agree with you – it must take some strength of conviction – especially in the face of all the unwarranted anti-religion vitriol you can see.

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Ok Pontius – agree that Parents should decide what their kids are taught on social and moral issues rather than any religious organisation or other third parties. Let me ask – what are the CC teaching kids in schools *today* that you dont agree with? ( i know we were all taught some BS from them in the past, just dont see kids today getting the same dose of it)

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    Mute Carl Johnson
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:53 PM

    In fairness Pontius, the Catholic Church is almost irrelevant in modern Irish society. They don’t have the means nor the influence to teach kids much, if anything at all.

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:04 PM

    Disagree there with you Vincent, they are getting taught the very same thing today.

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:46 PM

    Fair play to them?

    Why?

    They join an organization that comments on everyone else’s sex life but they deny themselves sexual pleasure…they then have the cheek to call gay people unnatural?

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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:33 PM

    You mean the Roman Catholic church , dont you?

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    Mute joanie
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    Jan 30th 2015, 9:59 PM

    Well said .

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    Mute tom
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:19 PM

    We need to stop all the church bashing. Sure there was much wrong done but there are many very good people who have given their lives to their faith and helping others. Give them a break.

    There seems to be a frenzied hatred of the church which is very prevalent especially on this forum.

    I wish these people well. They are dedicating their lives to God and helping others.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Jan 30th 2015, 6:29 PM

    that’s the problem, tom – we need to be able to live our lives without having this or any other religion making survivors of their teachings hate them. The vitriol you see is because they have interfered in every element of our childhood, and as we become more educated in an equal, secular world, we realise that not only was the whole thing a lie, we realise that we were used. This is notwithstanding the men and women who misused their position for physical or sexual gratification, this is a more general statement.

    The sooner that churches are not forced on every school and hospital in the state, the sooner we will leave these poor souls to their own devices, to become or believe in whatever they want, without any hate.

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    Mute Tony Le Blanc
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    Jan 30th 2015, 8:36 PM

    Who is ‘we all’ Tom’? If you’re at it then stop it if you like. Me, I’m more than happy to continue to find the RCC oh so very silly, sometimes vaguely amusing but yet, like most apocalyptic cults, dangerous.

    But then you’ll find one of the main problems with the RCC, in this country at least, was the ‘we all’ attitude. In reality it was ‘you all’, as in ‘you do as we say, not as we do. So, thanks all the same but I refuse to follow your order.

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    Mute Proinsias Ó Foghlú
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    Jan 30th 2015, 11:59 AM

    I expect I’d feel very sad if one of my offspring announced they wished to join any religious type of life. I’d be wondering where I went wrong!

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:26 PM

    If one of mine told me that I would respect it and be happy for them. Same if they told me they were gay. Or a lefty.

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    Mute Fearghal
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:32 PM

    You sure about the lefty thing? Eek!!

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:34 PM

    No, good point. I might have a re- think about the lefty thing.

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:37 PM

    I’m left handed and take offence to this statement.

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:48 PM

    Vincent,
    Being gay is who you are, if your gay you are gay. If you are not then you are not. You are born the way you are.

    Choosing to join a religion (any religion) is a choice…or you’ve been indoctrinated into the religion from a young age

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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 30th 2015, 7:06 PM

    You’re right. Commiserations on your not being able to choose your own name

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    Mute David James Field
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    Jan 30th 2015, 11:58 AM

    Once a nun wears reebok classics, there is no going back.

    146
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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 30th 2015, 7:14 PM

    Why don’t they devote themselves to something else along the same lines. An old Addidas trainer or a stick or a piece of driftwood or an old coke can. I could well imagine myself respecting somebody like this who showed full on devotion to the absurd

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    Mute Joe O'Brien
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    Jan 30th 2015, 11:56 AM

    I feel sorry for them really…. Such a waste of life!!

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    Mute Joey Teehan
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:12 PM

    Did they come across as miserable to you? It’s called freedom of expression. An important right that everyone should respect.

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    Mute Frank
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:15 PM

    Perhaps If they read the Bible they could.

    “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach” 1 Timothy 3:2

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    Mute Caillte
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:31 PM

    Frank,

    Timothy was obviously on the piss with the lads when he apparently wrote that.

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    Mute UM
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:49 PM

    They might not be miserable but they’re definitely delusional. The bread turns to the body of Christ!! Do people really still believe that bs

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    Mute Joe O'Brien
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    Jan 30th 2015, 2:06 PM

    @Joey You’re right they don’t seem miserable, gullible perhaps! Normally I’d say each to their own but in this case they’ll be spreading hateful ancient nonsense…

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    Mute up down
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:05 PM

    I don’t think that’s fair. If you don’t look at the overall picture and try focus on individuals, I reckon the vast majority of these people will spend their lives teaching forgiveness and love etc… The system can be anywhere between good and bad, and some individuals might be bad, but like most ordinary people, the vast majority are good, decent people.

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    Mute shay
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    Jan 30th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Waste of a life??, a life of free education, a life shared with colleagues who can offer companionship, that’s no waste of life, not everyone wants or needs to have children, and many who have them probable shouldn’t

    51
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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 30th 2015, 7:08 PM

    And, even if Heaven turns out to be a myth, at least they will never have had to end up going on social welfare

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    Mute Condorcanqui
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    Jan 31st 2015, 1:37 AM

    Yep!

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    Mute Dave
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    Jan 31st 2015, 1:33 PM

    Well Joe, you are entitled to your opinion, but who are you to judge if this is a waist of life. Everyone has to make their own decisions in life.

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:19 PM

    Always felt that people who went off to become a priest or a nun must have an awful feeling of inadequacy.

    They enter an order where they never have to get a mortgage, never have to pay a utility bill and never have to worry where their next meal will come from.They never have to worry about relationships or get up in the middle of the night to feed or look after a sick baby.

    It is why in my opinion. all the bad things happened in later life for many of them. Child abuse, sexual and physical, and a complete lack of empathy for a class full of small kids that they might be in charge of.

    I feel as they are way down on recruits they have to start promoting to boost up their numbers and a couple of mad looking nuns in weird red habits doesn’t cut the mustard for me!

    It goes without saying that of course there are the good ones out there as well>

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    Mute Vincent O Mahony
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:23 PM

    I think they should drop the celibacy thing that would do a lot of good there.

    51
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    Mute UM
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    Jan 30th 2015, 1:41 PM

    Mary agree with you totally. They have copped out of life and the sad thing about it is that many of them have alot to offer and would make great parents if only they would give themselves a chance at normal life. Devoting yourself to a fairytale is nuts.

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    Mute John Campbell
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:14 PM

    Mary Lyons, just a point of clarification, 3% of child sex abuse was done by priests, the 97% was done mainly in the children’s own home and mostly by a father, near relative or family friend.
    Celibacy is not the root of paedophilia. Not excusing abuse but let’s not throw out patently false details. Life choices can be taken for a variety of reasons. It’s nice to think that some people take selfless ones.

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:56 PM

    John, yes you are of course correct Celibacy is not the root of paedophilia.

    What makes the catholic church such a sickening organization is they know about the paedophilia in the parish’s up and down Ireland and numerous countrys. Instead of weeding it out and getting rid of the priests they swore victims to silence and simply moved around the abusers.

    So while yes you can have a father or mother that abuses their child, they don’t tend to get moved around to other towns so they can abuse 30, 40 or 50 other children during their lifetimes.

    The Vatican knew of the abuse and rather then deal with it, they came up with rules to keep everything under the carpet so the truth would be hidden. By moving priests around they simply allowed them to abuse more and more children.

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    Mute Stiofain Murray
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:01 PM

    A life of celibacy?
    What kind of f***ery is that?

    58
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    Mute Al Beebak
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:03 PM

    Ain’t no f”"”ery, I think that’s the whole point.

    86
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    Mute Grace Jeaney
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:13 PM

    Good luck to them with their vocation, it’s a big sacrifice and a very lonely life.

    57
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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 30th 2015, 7:07 PM

    Still. You could make good headway at table tennis

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    Mute Hal Pacino
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    Jan 30th 2015, 11:46 AM

    Imagine if you were standing outside the door when the nuns were playin table tennis, you’d he wonderin like!

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    Mute Bigus Diccus
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    Jan 30th 2015, 11:56 AM

    I’d be wondering furiously.

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    Mute Sir Allister
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:02 PM

    That would be quite common you know Dougal. The favourite son would become a doctor and then the idiot brother would be sent off to the priesthood….Your brother is a doctor isn’t he Ted?

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    Mute O Swetenham
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:14 PM

    I’d say it’s a lot easier to become a priest than it used to be. Probably just have to complete a bible word search and you’re in.

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    Mute Pharmyco
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:56 PM

    Not calling them liars but the drop in religious callings correlates interestingly with increasing acceptance of homosexuality in society.

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    Mute William Grogan
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:38 PM

    Stonewall, a UK based gay rights outfit estimated a decade or so ago that 25% of all vicars in London were gay. Now that I think of it, the only vicar I know is gay :)

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    Mute Martin Bishop
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:58 PM

    I think you’ll find that drop in religious callings correspondences exactly to the massive drop in people who actually practice religion….which in Ireland is around 20% of people who regularly go to catholic mass.

    The sexual abuse in religious organizations has also done nothing to attract new members. After all, would you like to work for a organization that knew about sex abuse, child deaths, abuse of women etc? I know i wouldn’t, most right minded sane people wouldn’t

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    Mute simon shewster
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:44 PM

    Nutcases

    35
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    Mute David C
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:39 PM

    Tragic :-( devoting your life to the biggest lie ever told

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    Mute Exit Stage Left
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:47 PM

    Santa Claus?

    13
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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:37 PM

    Maybe a video from George Carlin might help them? lol

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPOfurmrjxo

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    Mute Martin Hayes
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:04 PM

    Where are the varying denominations? Propaganda piece for the RCC.

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    Mute Kanye East
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:35 PM

    Can’t even fathom what type of mental state they’re in to commit their whole lives to that. Strang, strange people.

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    Mute Seán L
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:38 PM

    How sad. Brainwashing 2015.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 30th 2015, 5:21 PM

    Because life is more than the image it portrays and things are deeper than what is on the surface?
    That each of us have questions and some find that a spiritual side can answer them for us, that life and reality has a meaning and a purpose through the spirit. That a spiritual life can be more fulfilling because it helps us to understand who we are and gives us a lifes purpose?

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    Mute William Grogan
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    Jan 30th 2015, 3:39 PM

    In this day and age, they have to have mental health issues.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Jan 30th 2015, 6:17 PM

    While they might think in their heads it is “a calling”, I would be taken aback if their parents were not the sort to go to church at least once a week, with the notion of a “calling” was instilled as normal during their childhood.

    Their god never seems to “call” atheists, protestants, hindus, bhuddists, muslims, jews or any other belief (or lack) systems, even if some of those people would be the kindest, altruistic, thoughtful and articulate people that would be of benefit to that god – it only ever afflicts the kids of catholics – strange that.

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    Mute CitizenSmith©
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    Jan 30th 2015, 12:17 PM

    I don’t tell you how to play wiff-waff you don’t tell me who to sleep with, deal?

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    Mute simon shewster
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:43 PM

    It would make you wonder if its just a phase…Religious debates really bring out anger in us bloggers.

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    Mute Atticus the Accuser
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:46 PM

    Persisting in delusion so sad.

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    Mute Pasceasy
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:30 PM

    Are they allowed to hav sex toys in there.?

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    Mute Mysterion
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    Jan 30th 2015, 4:34 PM

    This is the funniest thing I gave EVER seen.

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    Mute Tom
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    Jan 31st 2015, 7:27 AM

    Must admit that I like most priests and nuns. Their selflessness amazes me.

    But at the end of the day human intelligence and logical reasoning proves that God does not exist.

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