Tony Flannery

What a gift the Catholic hierarchy has been handed by the Irish with their overwhelming vote to legalize same sex marriages. Coming just months before the Synod on the Family set for next October in Rome, the vote by this Catholic nation is nothing less than a church plebiscite – a vote of the Catholic sensus filelium for all to see that official Catholic teaching on human sexuality is wrong, hurtful, and even, at times, immoral.

For my international readers:

Bill O’Herlihy, who died three days ago, was a very distinguished broadcaster and businessman here in Ireland.  He was a man that was deeply loved, as it obvious from all the tributes that are being paid to him since he died. He was also a devout Catholic, and a daily Mass-goer.

I had the privilege of having Bill launch my book, A Question of Conscience, about eighteen months ago.

Those of us who have longed for most of our adult life for a more open, reform minded Church have been encouraged by the coming of Pope Francis.  We have listened to what he says, read Evangelii Gaudium and other interviews he gave, and watched his actions closely.  Mostly we have been excited by the new mood he has created in the Church; it is now possible to talk more freely about the problems that we face, and there is hope that the second session of the Synod next October will bring real change, if not in doctrine at least in pastoral practice.