What is it about former President Mary McAleese, her views on religion, and the ginormous media platform she is given to air them? The media obsession with that woman’s views about the Catholic religion is like something I have never seen before in my life.
There is no UK equivalent. Truly: Not even the King himself gets as much airtime as Mary and he is the actual head of this own Church. But for Irish media – Mary McAleese is the de facto head of the Catholic Church in Ireland whether the Pope or anyone else likes it or not.
As many of you know I had my own outing on the telly box talking about Pope Francis last week and that was a humdinger. And as surely as night follows day, there was our former President in the Irish Times on Friday telling us that in fact the late Pope Francis – who was yet to be buried – was the bad guy. “Pope Francis was a man of love who ultimately took the timid path. The myth machine applauded the synodal pontiff, the one who gave jobs to women, who did not judge homosexuals, who protected victims of clerical abuse. But these are illusions.”
According to Mary, “the sad reality is that Francis talked a good story for the journalists down the back of the plane, but when it came to putting pen to paper to change magisterial teaching he took the timid path and left a flip-flopping, perplexing legacy which could yet transform into a leaven – possibly or possibly not.”
Personally, I think you should wait until the body is cold before you do this sort of thing but I also understand the news cycle is a hungry beast that needs to be fed. And if you want someone to trash the Catholic church and the dead yet to be buried Pope, who are you gonna’ call? Mary McAleese is who.
Never to be outdone I woke up to this in the Irish version of the Times of London. “Mary McAleese criticises ‘fake theology’ that bans women priests. Former president also spoke out against the ‘extravagant’ appearance of Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born cardinal serving as interim head of the church.”
The one woman campaign for women priest continues, Mary at the head. Most other Catholic women are too worried about their mortgage payments, childcare bills and their children being in class sizes of over 30 but to listen to the Irish media you would think their main worry is their inability to say mass on Sunday.
Most of us struggle to get to mass on Sunday – so no I don’t have any interest in actually saying it. And neither, I believe, did the Good Lord himself want women priests for He took the time and trouble of handing over the keys of the church to Saint Peter and 11 other men. “On this rock I build my church and the gates of hell will never hold out against it” or indeed the Irish media. This is good enough for me.
Undaunted by whether anyone wants it or not, Mary continued her shock and awe campaign against the church in the Sunday Times. “In an interview with The Sunday Times, McAleese described “false barriers” prohibiting women from being ordained as priests as “bonkers” and said that the next pope should revise Catholic doctrine that excludes women from the clergy.”
“The church has 1.4 billion people and half of them are women. Half of the world is female, they are all god’s creation, so no one has the right to put fences around where their talents will go, no one. The church has done that,” she said.
Let’s say it one more time for those on the pews at the back of the church. The Catholic church is there to save souls. The church must serve the faithful and get as many souls as possible to heaven. That’s the job: the salvation of souls.
The church is not there to serve the individual ambitions of women. That’s what schools and sports clubs are for. If you are saying I want to be a priest because I feel the priesthood is the best place for me to showcase my talents I feel perhaps you are on the wrong train. But what’s the point? All the Irish media are interested in showcasing the many, many gripes, complaints, grumbles and groans of our former President and media appointed head of the Irish Catholic church Mary McAleese.
Mary wasn’t finished though. She, like a good Irish grandmother, had a thing or two to say about what someone was wearing to the funeral mass. “You are not leaving the house wearing that” she effectively lectured Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born cardinal serving as the interim head of the Catholic church called the camerlengo.
Mary was not happy with Kevin’s outfit at the funeral. She felt it was a bit fancy. She called the robe he wore during the escort of Pope Francis’s coffin to St Peter’s Basilic, “ridiculous.” “It was very, very disappointing yesterday, after his call for simplicity, that some people didn’t get the memo. In particular, the camerlengo didn’t get the memo when he turned up to escort the simple coffin to its very simple place in St Peter’s Basilica in that ridiculous cope from I don’t know what century,” she said.
I’d say Mary didn’t get the memo on kindness being a Christian virtue. And she most definitely did not get the one on humility. But then she wouldn’t be the only one guilty of getting hot and bothered over men’s clothing. Please tell me someone bought Kieran Cuddihy a tie.
This is the thing about “women priests”.
As I said on Wednesday the problem with women priests is if we had them we would end up with those who wanted to use the altar to ‘showcase their talents.’ We would end up with Mary.
And every Sunday, there is Mary up on the altar haranguing you for not being simple enough in what you were wearing or pushy enough in your politics. Goodness, you’ve just gone there for 45 minutes of peace and quiet, to sit and hear the gospel – maybe the one about the prodigal son – and instead get this. Woke feminism on steroids. If you think mass attendance is low now, I predict total collapse once the Marys get their hand on the priesthood. It would be an absolute nightmare.
What always irritates me about the Irish media obsession with Mary McAleese and her obsession with reforming the church is that the Catholic church is a club. If you are a member of a club it generally helps if you actually like that club. Even a little bit. But Mary doesn’t seem to like anything about the club marked Catholic. I only ever read or hear her criticise it. Trash it in fact. Can you seek reform from within a club? Sure.
Should you get your wrecking ball out and just trash that club from one end the week to the next? I don’t think so. If you have the wrecking ball out, which Mary always does, then I suggest that perhaps you find yourself a different club. A club more to your liking. It will have similar characteristics of the current club you are a member of but absolutely despise but more of the stuff you like.
So for Mary, she should really consider the Church of Ireland. This is very similar to the Catholic church. It also believes that kindness and humility are Christian virtues which I gently suggest Mary should refamiliarize herself with. But they have the added bonus – for Mary – that they have the female vicar. Perhaps check out the membership application of the Church of Ireland.
Or indeed one of my preferred clubs – liberal Judaism which my research tells me is even more liberal than reform Judaism. The dietary rules are optional so you can have all the bacon sandwiches you like and women can become Rabbis. I really think Mary would enjoy being a Rabbi and she could brush up on her Hebrew in order to read the Torah. That would use up a lot of her time and I feel Mary has a bit too much time on her hands which is why she is on my flipping TV, radio and newspapers all the livelong day.
So that is Mary. So beloved of the Irish media you are sure to hear a lot more from her in the coming weeks. She wouldn’t have much good to say about the church – but she sure will tell you everything that is wrong with it. Which is the only reason the Irish media give her the airtime and platform in the first place. Because it’s not really about Mary. It is about the media agenda – and Mary just serves their ultra-liberal agenda perfectly.
You can read more from Laura on her substack.