Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
The Daily PollROUGHLY 20,000 PEOPLE are expected to descend on Dublin tomorrow as the 50th International Eucharistic Congress begins in the RDS.
The numbers include around 7,000 pilgrims from 123 other countries around the world. It is the first time that the landmark Catholic event has been held in Ireland since the 1930s.
There will be 160 workshops during the week, including events led by thinkers and church figures from around the world. Some 80,000 tickets are expected to sell out for the climactic event in Croke Park next Sunday, which will be among the events televised live by RTÉ.
So will you be following the events of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Where’s the “don’t make me laugh” option?
What about the “Doesn’t Mary have a lovely bottom” option?
@irelands Owen. Yet here you are :)
Was thinking the same thing Ireland’s Owen. The journal appears to have garnered a select, very small part of Irish society. Great to look at on occasion. Wonder what the advertisers make of this demographic.
@Brendan Cooney “a select, very small part of Irish society. Great to look at on occasion.”
That could describe the couple of thousand people going to the congress. The vast majority of Irish people just aren’t interested. Making the opening and closing ceremonies ticket only ensures protesters against the church’s crimes will be kept well away from view.
And you can call people pea brained ‘Irelands Owen’? You can’t even spell poll and it’s in the title of the page!
Here’s what they’ll be discussing:
Uppity Women – Bad
Uppity Govt Ministers – Bad
Contraception – Bad
Abortion – Really Bad
Gays – Really Bad
Apologising and making reparations for decades of Child Abuse – That would be an Ecumenical Matter.
Not in a million years. I don’t support hypocrites. iv always wondered this? The Vatican is a state within a state on its own merit? So why havnt the Vatican state been charged with crimes against children? Never mind their breaches human rights. Shower of f***s………..Dermot Morgan and others had the read of them….they make me want to puke.
I certainly won’t be following it….however I certainly won’t be slagging off those who believe in it either…..each to their own beliefs !!
Yeah, each to their own beliefs is all well and good but this is an organisation that systematically covered up the horrendous abuse of children for decades. Moving child rapists from one parish to the next so they could continue to rape more children with impunity. And then the leader of this organisation on this island can wash his hands of any part in this conspiracy by simply saying he took notes on one instance of child rape and passed them on so it wasn’t his problem anymore. But, hey, he went away to reflect on the matter so we’re supposed to think everything is OK now. So if people want to support this organisation that’s their own choice but I for one will not stop pointing out how rotten and corrupt to the core this sham of an organisation is.
Each to their own is right Noel – the disgracefull faults of the catholic church shouldn’t be linked to those who follow the catholic faith.
Belief in a God and belief in a church are two very different things in my opinion. For me the first is a personal thing and each to their own as long as it doesn’t have a negative effect on any one else. The RCC is a whole different ball game and deserving of criticism and condemnation at every turn for the criminal acts it has knowingly covered up and abetted throughout its history both here and elsewhere. The day it becomes totally irrelevant in this country can’t come a day too soon.
At least someone isn’t a hateful bigot.
Or the “money was just resting in my account” option??
Or the “Hell no” option.
As with so many others of my generation, I was hit by christian brothers (I won’t even give them the dignity of using capital letters) in the bad days of corporal punishment when I was entrusted to them for my education. A close family member was sexually abused by a priest at the age of ten. Then there were the institutions, convents and magdalene laundries and the unimaginable horrors which have come out, for the which the church and it’s agents still refuse to accept responsibility, much less apologise for. And they have the neck to organise an eucharistic conference here???!!!
Because of my own personal experiences, I LOATHE the catholic church and will NEVER forgive them for what they allowed the brothers to do to me, and so many thousands of other boys. As far as I’m concerned, that despicable organisation stinks from top to bottom and should be shut down here and shipped back to the vatican.
Well said :)
Eddie – if you loathe the Church then you loathe everyone in it too. The church is not just the hierarchy but also the people who claim to be catholic.
Yea I just love watching paint dry. Wake me up when its over.
I agree with Ruaidhri and Robbyn Banks (great name).The catholic church has lost all respect except for the brainwashed.
I look forward to a day when all organised churches are gone.. entirely gone.. and people actually practice Christianity the way Jesus Christ wanted it! Religion is something you share with friends & family, not an organised international conglomerate hell bent on gathering power and wealth! Faith should be in God and Christ, not in “one holy roman catholic and apostolic church”
Todd the problem is faith. When people are gullible enough to believe these things their exploitation will be a foregone conclusion.
is “I’ll be there protesting” an option?
Thank god i am athiest.
Do you see the irony of your comment?
Wow Gis Bayertz… Just… Wow.
I will pray for you Giz bayertz.
As far as I am aware people are still entitled to practice their faith or has that been stopped too……..
Who said you weren’t entitled to practice their faith? Of course you are entitled to.
And others are entitled to point out the countless crimes and sins the catholic church tried to cover up all the way to the Vatican. Including child rape and illegal imprisonment of young women for giving birth. Some people forget these things very easily so thankfully there are a few out there to remind them.
Has anyone said people are not entitled to practice their faith?
I’m all for freedom of religion. It’s one of the great enlightenment ideas which is one of the hallmarks of a civilized society. However freedom of religion does not mean religion is immune to criticism, or indeed, mockery.
I will be outside the gate protesting as all good peoples should. This is the first proper chance to let this perverse organization know that we do not agreee with them running our schools. They are a foreign organization. I do not understand why they are running our schools. I am a patriot. I want our schools to be run by our own people or at least by parents. What is wrong with irish men that they are happy to hand their children over to the care of those creatures on a daily basis. I certainly would not allow my son into a catholic school. I drove past 3 catholic schools to get a good education for my son .
I went to a Jesuit school and believe I received an excellent education. I am an aethiest and never felt that my right not to believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church was challenged. I had religion classes every week during which we discussed ethical issues etc., and we were free to express our own opinions. Some of my Religion teachers were priests, others were laypeople who did not even believe in God or in anything the Church teaches. I don’t know what sort of experiences you may have had with the Catholic Church, but please don’t criminalise my teachers (who are just as Irish and patriotic as you or I). In my opinion, generalisations -such as labelling all priests “those creatures” -are dangerous and lead to discrimination.
Fiona, 1 in 14 Dublin priests has been charged with abuse. That means that there were also numbers of those who abused but were not charged, and even larger numbers of those who were complicit by knowledge and cover ups. By logic, at least some of your lovely teachers were in the know and complicit as there was simply no one who could say truthfully that they were innocent in this quagmire.
It was not only about the actual rapes and abuse, it was also about coverups, common knowledge and corporation culture. You were lucky not to be personally affected but it’s not a good enough reason to defend them.
Thousands of people going to worship a 2000 year old dead guy. Why not have a more recent dead guy such as Kim Jong il instead? They could have his ashes on stage. Oh wait Sacha Baron Cohen has already done that. Well whatever floats their boat I suppose.
Cyril, theres no proof he ever existed
age of consent is 12 years in vatican, does that not say it all, not to mention that they took them a lot younger, who cares anymore, certainaly not the church.
Paddy, it’s actually 14, the same as Italy.
Why does TheJournal bother asking these questions when they already know what the answer will be?
They know people like you will be engage with them if they ask such questions.
It’s just nice to see evidence that the ultra-Catholic ideology which ruined this country is dying out is all.
I’d imagine it’s because they need to identify the deluded plonkers who go to things like this.
This country was not ruined by catholic ideals. It was ruined by shitty and corrupt yes-men politicians.
As for the church dying out…not gonna happen. We may even have world youth day here within ten years.
The whole business makes me wanna throw up! The only religious worth watching are in the Father Ted series, which was well ahead of its time, and still is even now!
Nuns, nuns! Reverse!!!
“Two hands working do more than a thousand clasped in prayer”
Now who thumbed this down, ’tis a fact isn’t it?
Then again, people would’ve thumbed it down if he stated that a2 + b2 = c2.
@reeveshouse, you say: Each to their own is right Noel – the disgracefull faults of the catholic church shouldn’t be linked to those who follow the catholic faith.
I don’t believe followers of the catholic church shouldn’t be linked to the disgraceful faults. Then again it depends on your definition of followers. There are many who pray to God, Jesus etc yet don’t go to mass or support the organisation. But imo if you subscribe to the church, go to mass, give money to them etc then you are part of the system and that is a tangible link.
Noel, I see where you are coming from but I disagree with the idea of a subscription to the church and being part of the system simply by going to mass and putting money in the collection. A lot of the money, not all, goes to missions and good causes. A whole generation who grew up with the church who still go to mass and put a few coins towards the collection can hardly be linked to the crimes of the church.
So the 85% of people who declared themselves Catholic in the last census should be held responsible?
A few coins towards the collection may not contribute directly to the churches crimes, but they contribute directly to the continued indoctrination of childrens’ undeveloped minds (which is the real purpose of the missions). And such indoctrination is the root cause of all subsequent crimes.
Sean I fully believe that most of that 85% arent Catholic, they dont believe a lot of the teachings of the Church but fill it as a cultural perspective or their Mammy put them down as one. Look at how many go to Church to see the true figures because I dont know how someone can claim to be a Catholic but not go to something as fundamental and as pivotal to the Catholic faith as Mass?
I’m sorry but a corrupt institution is a corrupt institution no matter how much good it tries to do to counter-act the bad and no matter how many decent people are part of it.
You have to have the bigger picture in mind. If you’re a part of the Catholic church for example, you can’t just ignore all the absolutely horrible things it did and is still doing today – all its backwards teaching and hate speech. Even if in your own church it’s very progressive and positive, you’re still a part of the whole organisation.
And it sends out a clear message too, that you’re not ready – and we’re not ready as a country – to really stand up to the church at all. As a queer atheist, I’m actually terrified of how everyone’s just goes along with it and turn a blind eye to all the corruption. I’m young, I went to school in the 90s and I was routinely bullied by the local priest (to the point of tears sometimes) in front of all my classmates AND the teacher – and they never said a word. I was only 7 years old.
People need to put a stop to this asap. I’m all for everyone believing whatever they want, but supporting this institution (in no matter how small a way) will keep the bullies in power.
I’m sorry but I refuse to belive the notion of people who go to mass being supporters of the crimes of the Catholic Church.I belive they go there to pray. It’s their right to go to mass. The church has lost it’s power here. Mass numbers are falling. Priest numbers are falling. Once catholic schools fall under state ownership then communion and confirmation numbers will fall. The behaviour of the Catholic Church in this country is totally unacceptable. The Church is to blame… not the mass goers.
I’m not blaming ordinary mass goers for the crimes of the catholic church. I’m critical of their supporting the catholic church by going to mass, putting money into the collection and not thinking about the bigger organisation they’re ascribing to.
I just don’t believe that you can wash away all the crap they’ve done by saying “they’ve done good stuff too” and “our local priest is actually very progressive” and so on. It’s a double standard.
What I dont get is that although people say that the Catholic Church is a corrupt and criminal organisation (I agree) they still follow its teachings. The Bible is a book chosen by the early Church, there were many more Gospels that werent included due to the more human-like portrayal of Jesus (But still a good and holy man) and the heightened power of women. So I have to ask, why believe something the early Church concocted itself? I fully believe in the people’s right to have a faith but I do think we all need to at least question what we believe.
Questioning ones beliefs is what all adults do on a daily basis. The consensus of most historians would suggest those sources are far less credible as historical source than those present in the bible. The church is corruption like all organisations ultimately become but not as criminal as many corner boys would make it out to be.
Yes Robert, but the stories the bible is based upon were written in stone, a long time before the bible was edited by the council of Nicea in 400AD.. It’s just the earlier works weren’t about Jesus, they were about Horus, Mithra, Krishna or the other 2000 dudes who had Jesus’ life story..
And as for the old testament, the Ancient Sumerians wrote that.. Except they had Yahweh and Adonai as two different people – neither of whom were gods, there was a race of Adams, and they were created in POTS of clay.. Noah was asked to collect the seed of every animal for the Ark rather than 2 of every animal that would have eaten each other.. Really – the Ancient Sumerian fertility cults story of creation makes a lot more sense, and predates the bible by a substantial amount of time (oldest form of writing found YET), oh, and it’s written in stone..
John Marco Allegro, the one non Vatican scholar permitted access to the Dead Sea Scrolls came away firmly convinced that the entire Christian faith was a hybrid of the Ancient Sumerian Fertility cult and worship of the Amanita Muscaria. Evidence of which is all over the Vatican (of course his career was destroyed by the vengeful church, and his book detailing the mechanics of his conclusions was banned.. Jan Irvin of Gnostic Media has reprinted it though, and made a documentary based upon it – the Pharmacratic Inquisition, available on YouTube)
So, the bible being considered credible by historians show that those historians aren’t really observing history very well..
The 1932 Eucharistic Congress helped to entrench the institution of the Catholic Church in the Twenty-Six counties. It probably helped usher in further complicity in the depraved acts of paedophiles and strengthened further the influence the Church had with the state. Not only that, but it confirmed northern Protestant mentality that ‘Home Rule was Rome Rule’ thus deferring a United Ireland. The quicker attendance numbers at these things shrink to insignificance the better.
No Catholicism was already long entrenched in the country. As early as the 1860s when people who couldn’t read or write depended on the parish priest for even writing letters. The Irish language was in decline and so was most traditions therefore catholicism became a tenet of national identity to seperate ourselves from Protestant Britain. The congress of 1932 was just an expression of what was already there. If you look across Europe in the 1930s racism
*fascism and nationalism was on the rise. Religion was Ireland’s version of fascism. The decline of Catholicism is as much to do with the resurgence of Irish language and traditions as it is to do with the horrific crimes committed against the vulnerable.
Can’t understand how you know what’s right surely people are entitled to their own opinion why keep throwing stones
The whole thing is an irrelevance today, at least outside the domain of the fanatically dyed-in-the-wool faithful. Secularism is on the rise in Ireland today, as it is has been elsewhere for a long time. The Catholic church has done itself no favours by covering up the abuses perpetrated by its deviant priests. Let the deluded remnants enjoy their little knees-up, it might be the last one yet.
Transubstantiation is a bit mad isn’t it?
If you don’t believe that the wafer you eat in mass is actually the flesh of Jesus then you’re not Catholic.
So can vegetarians eat that meat?
Not if you know what the gods flesh was in the beginning..
I wouldn’t cross the road to see it but could not condemn people for going to it. The crimes of the hierarchy of catholic church are not the crimes of the ordinary members of the church. If it is then we are all guilty as our governments have been complicit in those crimes too. Religious freedom like any freedom is a right we have in this country, let’s respect it.
Ah the Pederastic Circus is in town, no thanks.
Should we all be racist now, father?
@reeveyhouse, I accept you give money in good faith and of course a lot of it goes to good causes. But on a fundamental level, by giving them money you subscribe to the organisation as a whole and that organisation has a shady past to say the least, I don’t need to keep spelling out the horrendous acts they covered up.
There are some great people in the organisation who carry out fantastic selfless act of humanity. But the long and short of it is (like any powerful organisation) there are a few at the top who live the life of luxury and the rest of the organisation pays for this. Can you not see something seriously wrong with the head of this organisation trying to preach about giving to charity as they live in one of the richest states in the world, with servants, palaces dripping with gold jewelry etc. Who do you think pays for this?
Many points have been made here on this thread. I don’t go to mass for many reasons including a general lack of faith and the crimes committed by the Church. I suppose I’m slow to accept that in going to mass and giving money to the collection you have a share in the blame whereby you are helping to cover up crimes and allow them to be committted.On reflection I understand this. I’ve always viewed mass and the church at a parish level rather than a national and international level and mass goers don’t believe that there money goes to the top and to cover-ups. Is the solution then to remove the Catholic Church from Ireland by bycott?
@Paddy, the age of consent for marraige is 16 for boys and 14 for girls according to cannon law.
@Noel, in 2008 the vatican said it would no longer automatically change laws in line with Italy due to the fact most of them didn’t libe with doctrine.
The age of 12 was changed if I remember correctly in 1929.
Stephen Fry helped perpetuate this ‘myth’ on QI btw lol
Lorraine, have you a link to this? I would be interested to read it. I was searching this topic before and was led to believe my statement was true. In the context of this discussion it’s rather trivial but it would be interesting to read the link all the same.
bored
Transubstantiation is a bit mad though right?
So are ‘black holes’. We just don’t know.
We know about transubstantiation. Even my spelling checker knows.
I think black holes are more credible than transubstantiation, Sean At least there’s more evidence.
I have a life and believe in myself!
it’s a waste of money and it also proves the church does not care about the children who were abused by priests and explioted by nuns running those awful laundries
Your correct Joe How many priests died in the famine They stood by an seen the English landlords throw people of their lands for the royals rent.Look at Slane estate taken of the Irish poor and the cheek of yer man to charge people to visit now.
@Richard Lennon,
Rewriting history, nice. You have never heard of Glenveagh I gather.
I totally agree.Poor women Magdalenes that suffered SO much.People forget too fast.
The Golden Cleric Awards….
Nope. I think the Catholic Church is dead in this country, apart maybe from old people and the immigrant communities for whom the scandals are not as familiar.
You have to admit, they have one hell of an art collection.
Art collection, property, wealth . . . .
Obviously following the example of Jesus to the letter. Bless!
Not a hope of me following that rubbish!
Putrid cult. Should be banned.
There’s no ‘that would be an ecumenical matter’ so I couldn’t answer. Disgrace.
24 hour adoration of the Eucharist in mount merrion church. JESUS WEPT. Sure whatever ur into. But JESUS FUPPIN WEPT. WAKE UP.
I was planning to go – but changed my mind because Sean Brady is still Cardinal- it just makes it a sham. He needs to find a way of stepping down and spending some time in that monastery he keeps sending his good priests to. There can’t be renewal without genuine reform.
If I don’t go, how many years in purgatory will I have to do?
I think father Pat Murphy from Sligo will be receiving a Golden Cleric award at this. ‘Chalice up down and look!’
Is this a piss take? April was months ago.
I’d go ff the Bee Gees were playing.
The Catholic church still has a lot of power and control over people in less developed countries such as the Philipines, african countries and south America.
If you google you will find plenty of reports of child abuse committed by the church recently in developing countries
The wha?
We are making Turkish internet marketing products such us promosyon and toptan flash bellek. Your publications are realy good. I am following your new researches with my group.
I’m a catholic and I would be the first to say that some atrocious things have been done by the clergy.
But to talk about crimes of the church implies that I have been complicit in those crimes. The church is all Catholics. I feel for those who have been abused but I abused no one. I, as part of the community that is the Church must help to heal both the victims if possible and the church. Talk of priests and clergy as filth and such is vile and dangerous. I am Irish and proud to be Irish – I’m also proud to be catholic…
have your say