Church leaders may be seeing the light

Dermot Martin gave a 4,000 word speech to the Knights of Columbanus in Dublin on Monday. It was a far reaching talk. A pity he was not more specific. But he did speak about 'dark forces'. He also referred to 'clericalism'

Is it possible that the penny has dropped with high officials within the Catholic Church? The Archbishop of Vienna too has spoken out in recent days.

But words are not enough. The climate, instead of improving, seems to be deteriorating.

When 'clerics' can travel the world to attend a Cher concert surely there is something very wrong in the State of Denmark. Cher is the world's great gay iconic figure.

Again, it is the juxtaposition of the high life with monastic utterances, an impression of being conservatively orthodox with extensive air miles in the back pocket.

Sinn Féin or the IRA were accused of having the ballot paper in one hand and the rifle in the other. The analogy applies appropriately to modern day clericalism.