A friend who is much more clued into the religious calendar than I am noted that yesterday was the Catholic feast of the baptism of the Lord (Jesus by John the Baptist at the commencement of his public ministry). And thus, he reckoned, the perfect day for former President Mary McAleese to publish, in the Irish Times, her article denouncing infant baptism as an infringement of children’s human rights.
I’m not entirely sure that’s fair: The article is billed as an extract from a talk she recently gave in UCC. Thus, if somebody decided to tweak the noses of practicing Catholics on the feast celebrating baptism, it was likely somebody high enough up in the Irish Times editorial foodchain.
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