Showing posts with label Antifa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antifa. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the Simpsons and Our Insect Overlords

 


Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin



Archbishop Diarmuid AKA Kent Brockman welcoming our Insect Overlords


(A) Former Catholic Ireland and our New Secular (Insect) Overlords

Ladies and Gentlemen .....The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over, 'conquered' if you will, by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Earthmen or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

And from the other side - Adolf Hitler: "The final state must be: in St Peter's Chair, a senile officiant; facing him, a few sinister old women, as gaga and poor in spirit as anyone could wish. The young and healthy are on our side". 

I have a previous article on this Blog The Decadence of the Sisters of Mercy describing nuns whose current mental and moral status isn't far removed from that described by Hitler. I have an article on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin on my old website IrishSalem.com Unfortunately his antics cannot be explained or excused by Senility!

This current article is, in part, a response to one by the Religious Affairs correspondent of the Irish Times Patsy McGarry on the Archbishop's forthcoming retirement  - "Diarmuid Martin’s Successor Must be Cut From the Same Cloth" (subtitle "Fears Rome will impose an archbishop more interested in protecting its own interests") What our secular elite (or Insect Overlords) require is a prelate with minimal concern for the rights of falsely accused priests like Fr Kevin Reynolds or laity like John Waters BOTH libelled by State broadcaster RTE - as child abuser and homophobe respectively. Or indeed for the rights of a family - including four children - driven out of their home on 4 occasions by mobs. I write about the latter case in Section (E) below 
.

(B) Archbishop Diarmuid and I

I have had a few run ins with Archbishop Diarmuid over the years. More than a decade ago when I was still (relatively) young and innocent, I sent him two emails regarding false allegations of child abuse against Catholic clergy. I can't locate them just now but they would have been an early version of my article Eight Falsely Accused Bishops (and Archbishops) in Ireland No reply - not even an acknowledgement . A few weeks later I attended the Easter ceremonies in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin which was my usual annual habit at the time (I have since changed it) and ran into his secretary there. I mentioned it to him and he suggested that I put the emails in writing and send them by post. I did so and again - of course - there was no reply. Some time later I spoke about this episode during a public meeting and said I assumed it was because the Archbishop is a "Liberal" and doesn't communicate with Reactionaries like myself. A very liberal priest there assured me that he had the same problem getting a response and that our Archbishop only communicates with VIPs! (Note [1] and [2] )

I describe my most recent run-in with the Archbishop in my article "Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Cancellation of Seminar on Tuam Children’s Home" The health authorities had approved our History Seminar - to be held in Newman University Church, Dublin on 30 August 2020 with maximum attendance of 50 - as complying with Covid Regulations. However the Archbishop insisted that the event be cancelled. We had to relocate to Galway on 4 October. See "Seminar on Tuam Children's Home (Online) - Transferred to Galway" 

My article Irish "Antifa" Attacks Protesters - "Liberal" Irish Media Don't Mind includes a description of an indirect run in with the Archbishop - see section on "The Decadence of Archbishop Diarmuid". I have been at three demonstrations (in favour of Free Speech and opposing the Covid lockdown regulations) at which we were violently attacked by Antifa types - and I barely missed a fourth one which turned out to be the most violent. The Archbishop appears to have said nothing about the attackers but he condemns those of us who were targeted by the thugs. Weimar style decadence!

(C) The Archbishop and Miss Panti Bliss


In February 2014 Irish State broadcaster RTE agreed to pay libel damages to six members of the Iona Institute (for Religion and Society) after a TV broadcast on the Saturday Night Show in which drag queen Rory O'Neill - alias Miss Panti Bliss - described them as Homophobes. It was not a spontaneous act - he was invited by RTE presenter Brendan O'Connor to name names! Irish Times columnist Breda O’Brien told the Irish Times that she and other members of the Iona Institute only sought libel damages after RTÉ refused to apologise over the claim of homophobia.

Ms O’Brien said she was not “remotely interested in money”, but agreed to accept damages because “people don’t take you seriously unless there is some sort of settlement. The key issue here is that RTÉ walked itself into a defamation case and then offered a completely inadequate response which is a right of reply”. She maintained that Saturday Night Show presenter Brendan O’Connor should never have asked Mr O’Neill to name names. “All we wanted was an apology and was offered a completely inadequate response which was a right of reply. It is not up to you to defend yourself. It is up to the organisation that defamed you."

The six Iona members - including another Irish Times journalist John Waters - accepted a modest total amount of €85,000 but there were furious objections in the Irish Parliament and media to any payment. It was necessary for RTÉ’s head of television Glen Killane to explain that the €85,000 payout  saved the broadcaster “an absolute multiple” in the long term. Mr Killane said it would have been “absolutely reckless” of RTÉ not to settle the case. He told RTÉ Radio’s News at One programme the broadcaster was faced with six different defamation actions and was told by “very senior counsel” that it was unlikely it would be able to defend any defamation action in court.

So how did the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin react to the libelling by our national broadcaster of what  Wikipedia describes as "a socially conservative Roman Catholic advocacy group"? Well naturally he had no objection! According to a report in The National Post (Canada) 
The Catholic Church’s senior official in Dublin, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, conceded that the church did harbour people with hostile and un-Christian attitudes toward gays. “Anybody who doesn’t show love towards gay and lesbian people is insulting God,” Martin said. “They are not just homophobic if they do that. They are actually God-ophobic, because God loves every one of those people.”
O’Neill, as is his style, had a quip to capture the absurdity of his situation. “I love the fact that the archbishop has essentially come out for Team Panti,” he told the AP.

 

(D) The Archbishop and the Sisters of Mercy

"..a senile officiant; facing him, a few sinister old women, as gaga and poor in spirit as anyone could wish..."  Adolf Hitler predicts future of Catholic Church

A few years ago I was told an extra-ordinary story about the Sisters of Mercy and Archbishop Diarmuid. Apparently the Sisters were deeply shocked when the Archbishop threw them to the wolves in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report on industrial schools in May 2009. So the nuns who cheerfully betrayed their own innocent colleagues in a desperate attempt  to make themselves popular with "victims", were surprised when the Archbishop did the same to them. Obviously there's no honour among thieves!

I have an article on the Sisters of Mercy in my old website (not Blog) IrishSalem.com This story may be related to the following extract from that article:

Finally and In Conclusion
Bishop Willie Walsh was quoted by Patsy McGarry in the Irish Times on 14 November 2009:

He had been speaking recently to the leadership team of the Mercy congregation’s southern province, “women who have given their lives in the service of the church”, and who were “very broken, very sad”. They felt “let down by us, the bishops”.

So that explains nearly a decade and a half of self-degradation by the Sisters of Mercy - and other female religious. It was the Bishops that made them do it! 

 

(E) Is Archbishop Diarmuid Martin a Saviour of the Irish Church? (Politics.ie discussion)

The following is an extract from a discussion on Politics.ie mainly in 2011-12 on the topic "Archbishop Martin - a Saviour of the Church"

Corelli Dec 18 2011: He is liked and disliked in equal measure in Rome, one hears. Liked because he is the only bishop who has handled the clerical abuse issue properly. Disliked because, for the Roman church, he is an extreme liberal, which to most mortals, would make him a mild conservative.

Kilbarry [Myself] Dec 19 2011:  I have a long article on the Archbishop on my website and part of it refers to a discussion on Politics.ie over a year ago [i.e. in 2010].

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

The Archbishop and Mob Hysteria
In June/  July 2010 in Co. Wicklow, a family comprising parents and four children were driven out of their homes on four occasions by mobs. On the last occasion the mob burned down their home in Ashford. The reason for the hyteria was that 18 years previously (in 1992) the husband had been convicted of a sex offence against a minor and got a suspended sentence of six months. There was a discussion on the Politics.ie website entitled "Labour Councillors Join Mob Harassment of Innocent Family" and I wrote (among other things}:Labour Councillors Join Mob Harrassment of Innocent Family - Page 18 

The family have been hounded out of Kilcoole, Redcross, Rathnew and Ashford. I think they are all in the Archdiocese of Dublin which covers most of Co. Wicklow as well. Ashford certainlly is and that is where their house was burned down. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has become a great hero of the liberal media because of the way he has dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse. He cannot make a speech without denouncing the evils of abuse and apologising for the way the Church dealt with them in the past. He even put pressure on Bishop Martin Drennan to resign even though NO criticism had been made of him in the Murphy Report. (Like the Wicklow mob, the Archbishop seems to believe in guilt by association.) ......Would it be too much to ask the Archbishop to condemn the behaviour of the people who hound an innocent mother and her four children? The mob are abusing these innocents. Moreover the hysteria and fanaticism generated by the mob will rebound on real victims of child sexual abuse in the future. Cynicism is what normally follows after Hysteria.

MY CURRENT COMMENT [Dec 2011]: Archbishop Martin likes to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. He has no intention of raising issues that might bother Irish "liberals" - for example why did Labour Councillors on Co Wicklow back up the actions of those mobs?

NotAnotherPolitician said: How come he could spend €94,000 on a kitchen for his palace if he is all you make him out to be?

Kilbarry [Myself] - reply to NotAnotherPolitician Dec 19 2011 The fact that he kept his mouth shut when mobs in his diocese drove a family (including 4 children) out of their home on four occasions and burnt the house the last time, is rather more important that what he spends on his kitchen.  So is the following from my article Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

The Archbishop and Auxiliary Bishops of Dublin The most egregious example is the Archbishop's treatment of retired auxiliary Bishop Dermot O'Mahony. The Archbishop removed Bishop O'Mahony from his position as director of the archdiocese's pilgrimage to Lourdes on the basis that “I regret that you did not express any public clarification or remorse or apology” (letter dated 2 December 2009). However Bishop O’Mahony had sent a statement to the Archbishop’s Director of Communications Annette O’Donnell on 27 October 2009 which concluded : “I profoundly regret that any action or inaction of mine should have contributed to the suffering of even a single child. I want to apologise for my failures from the bottom of my heart”. The statement was not published by the Communications Office but Annette O'Donnell confirmed that the Archbishop had seen it. He made no apology to Dermot O'Mahony and indeed continued to criticise him. ....

Martin told lies about one of his own auxiliary bishops. Presumably he thought he could get away with it because after all, what could Bishop O'Mahony do about it? Well Bishop O'Mahony passed on the correspondence to the Irish Catholic and from there it got to the rest of the media. This was unprecedented in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Martin's treatment of Bishop O'Mahony is one of the major reasons why the Archbishop is disliked and indeed despised by his own priests and by the rest of the hierarchy. The fact that anti-clerics love him goes without saying!

borntorum: The fact that you dislike him only raises my opinion of the man

Kilbarry-reply to borntorum Dec 20 2011: In general do you approve of telling lies - or is it only when a "liberal" slanders a "reactionary"? 

On a related issue do you think the Archbishop - as a self-proclaimed defender of abused children - should have condemned the Wicklow mobs last year especially the mob that burned children out of their home? 

The Herren said: There is no doubting this man's ability or compassion. Pity he wasting so much of these qualities preaching and practicing mumbo jumbo.

Kilbarry -reply to The Herren Dec 20 2011: I will repeat the second part of a previous post:..."On a related issue do you think the Archbishop - as a self-proclaimed defender of abused children - should have condemned the Wicklow mobs last year especially the mob that burned children out of their home?

The mobs were attacking the home and family of a man who had got a suspended sentence in 1992 for the indecent assault of a minor. The man had four children who were driven out of 4 successive houses by thugs who claimed (like the Archbishop) to be acting in defence of children. These were not the kind of children that our beloved Archbishop wanted to be seen defending. He is interested only in Politically Correct causes and these were NOT PC children!

Kilbarry Feb 27 2012:  The following letter appeared in the Irish Times today. In fact there IS a connection between the Archbishop's unwillingness to support falsely accused priests AND his unwillingness to condemn mobs in his Archdiocese who drove a family out of their homes on four successive occasions and burned down the home the fourth time. The protection of children is not the issue here - or at any rate it's not what motives our beloved Archbishop!

The Irish Times - Readers Letters and Feedback

A fear among priests

Sir, Breda O'Brien (Opinion, February 11th), in writing about the possibility of complacency regarding child abuse, says: "There is also the very real fear among priests that things have moved so far in the opposite direction that any priest is presumed "guilty as charged". There are some bishops . . . who believe it is impossible for a priest to return to ministry even when it is clear that a priest was falsely accused."

The implications of these attitudes for the working relationship between bishop and priest are far-reaching. The promise of respect on behalf of the priest was to be honoured by the bishop with a duty of care. In the past the exaggeration of respect and honour led to a culture of clericalism but their absence now as a result of the abuse crisis has created a vacuum in which trust has been replaced by suspicion on both sides.

Gathering around the bishop as a sign of unity has lost its meaning since I, and many priests like me, on being summoned to Archbishop's House on any issue would not attend unless accompanied by a witness, if not a solicitor. Yours, etc,

Fr GREGORY O'BRIEN PP,
St Jude the Apostle,
W
illington,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.

Warrior of Destiny Feb 27 2012: If Diarmuid Martin became Pope tomorrow he'd be the FDR of the Vatican.

Kilbarry Feb 27 2012: Does that mean you approve of his silence when a Wicklow mob burned a family - including four children - out of their home because the father had got a suspended sentence 20 years before? And what about the Labour Councillors in Wicklow who endorsed the action of the mob and voted that anyone who "associated with" a sex offender should be denied housing by the Council. They were referring to the wife and children of this man. Diarmuid Martin had no words of criticism for the mob-endorsing politicians either. That's the way FDR behaved is it?

Des Quirell : I was silent on that issue too. What does that say about me? If he is to comment on every arising issue he'll be damned as in interfering fool.

Kilbarry-Reply to Des Quirell Feb 27 2012Martin specialises in denouncing child abuse. The four homes attacked by the mob were in his Archdiocese. There was political support for the mobsters from the Labour Party. The mobs claimed to be acting to protect children from the father of the family. This is the issue that has defined Martin's role as Archbishop - but the problem is that the victims were the wife and children of a man who had been convicted of a sex offense 20 years previously. THAT is why Martin kept his mouth shut.

LamportsEdge That's a dangerous title to have in the catholic pantheon of the magisterium ('saviour') ... Martin would want to stay away from Calvary-like hills and run like hell should he spot Shatter looking at him quare like...

Kilbarry Feb 27 2012: Martin is regarded as a liberal hero for much the same reason that the [Anglican] "Red Dean" of Canterbury the Rev Hewlett Johnson was similarly regarded half a century ago. The Rev. Johnson denounced the evils of capitalism while proclaiming the "authentic" Christian virtues of Comrade Stalin. He was secretly despised by his progressive friends who regarded him as the greatest "Useful Idiot" of them all.

After Prime Time's case against Fr Kevin Reynolds collapsed, Martin denied that the Irish media in general have any special animus against the Catholic Church. ("Mission to Prey" was just an unfortunate exception it seems.) While I cannot swear that Patsy McGarry and John Cooney see our Archbishop as the CURRENT Most Useful Idiot, I strongly suspect it.

LamportsEdge: Seeing as he has now twice been passed over for a red hat despite being hotly tipped for one I'd say that there is as much evidence for the current Opus vatican to see him as the Useful Idiot in the welter of degeneracy of the Irish church. He was a financial expert seconded to the UN in Geneva and his career was mostly around high finance rather than ideology or ministry- it is possible he was regarded as 'unsoundly liberal' some time ago by the Opus contingent and given the poisoned chalice of an Archbishopric in Ireland to keep him out of the college of cardinals.

Kilbarry - reply to LamportsEdge Feb 27 2012: I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here. My impression is that Martin is widely distrusted and despised by his own priests as a hack who will say anything to make himself popular with the media. The Vatican are certainly aware of this opinion and one solution might be to kick Martin upstairs by making him a Cardinal and giving him a role in "high finance" or whatever. The trouble is that this will be represented by the media as the Vatican going soft on child abuse by removing our journalists own fake hero (and real clown). There is no easy way out of this dilemma but I favour the "kick him upstairs" approach myself.

Corelli: There is to be about 13 more vacancies in the College of Cardinals in the next 12 months with most of the vacant Cardinatial See's having being filled at the last one. Therefore, if Martin is to get the Red Hat within the life time of this present Pope, there is about another 12 months to do it.

There are a number of factors in play. The rumor amongst the Catholic bloggers and papers, is that Martin, actually, has a very good personal relationship with the Pope, and within the Vatican, has still very good relationships within the Curia, having worked there for so long. There is a suggestion that if the Eucharistic Congress is not a disaster he might get one as reward next time[Emphasis mine, RC] 

However, there is ONE HUGE fly in the ointment. Geography. There presently is a living and serving Irish Cardinal, namely that twit Brady, who, with the best will in the world, has not sufficient intellect, charm or influence to be still in the job. The only way Martin could get one in that situation is to get one of the Vatican which automatically gets the Red Hat. Now Martin would, I am sure, like to be back in the Vatican, but there are limited jobs going and he would not like a token appointment in the Curia which would give him title but no power and totally scupper his chances of the "big" job.

Kilbarry - reply to Corelli Feb 27 2012: I am definitely not an insider where these issues are concerned. However, between talking to my few contacts and what was published in the media, I did ascertain one important fact. The two auxiliary bishops of Dublin Eamonn Walsh and Ray Field understood that they had the support of Archbishop Martin for their initial refusal to resign after the publication of the Murphy Report in November 2009. Then suddenly to their amazement and without warning, Martin indicated in a Prime Time programme in December 09,that he did NOT support them.

So they felt that they had no alternative but to tender their resignations to Pope Benedict. However they both wrote personal letters to the Pope saying the SOLE reason for tendering their resignations was Martin's public repudiation of them! Thus Pope Benedict refused to accept their resignations.

If that is the case - and I have good reason to believe that it is - I cannot see how Martin can possibly have a good working relationship with the Pope. I suspect that the door is being left open for him to return to a high-sounding post in the Curia where he can do a lot less harm than as Archbishop of Dublin. That may account for the impression that he is in good odour with the Vatican. In other words it IS a question of kicking him upstairs as soon as it is possible to do so!

Kilbarry -continued: And the following extract from an Irish Times article dated 21 December 2009 tends to support my view. It quotes Eddie Shaw who worked in the Dublin Archdiocese Communications Office in 2002-03:

Archbishop's Response Criticised Irish Times, Dec 21, 2009 by Patsy McGarry

Eddie Shaw, .... said communications strategy by the archdiocese following publication of the Murphy report had been "catastrophic . . . absolutely catastrophic"

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Marian Finucane programme yesterday, he said: "I think, Marian, it's wrong, the way it was done is wrong. Communicating with people who are your auxiliaries through the Prime Time programme in the way it was done - that was wrong.

"What's going on now this weekend in the papers, with the Archbishop in Rome saying close this matter down until I return to it again in the New Year" , he said. "I will talk specifically for the two men I worked with, Bishop Éamonn Walsh, Bishop Ray Field in particular", he continued. .......

He asked: "How much preparation do you need to prepare for something like this when you know what's coming down the track? How much preparation do you need to be informed, to be advised to have a communications strategy? Can somebody show me where the evidence is of a communications strategy that is based on a church that has a mission to its people?" .......

Asked about Archbishop Martin saying on the same Prime Time programme that since publication of the Murphy report the previous week only two bishops had called him offering support, Mr Shaw said: "I actually don't understand that comment . . . Is that a reflection on the gap that has opened up between one bishop and his brother bishops? Is that a reflection on the way some bishops thought about the way he communicated? I don't know. I can't answer that." ......

"Why not have the people in, talk to them one to one, tell them this is going to happen. Why would you communicate that for the first time, as apparently it was done, across the airwaves on Prime Time?"

Good question and the answer may be that Martin likes the sound of his own voice on TV and just decided - on the spur of the moment - to badmouth his colleagues and his auxiliary Bishops. Nothing would surprise me about that clown!

Toland Feb 28 2012: He seems to me at least a normal, decent human being. In the company he keeps that makes him look like a saint.

Kilbarry - reply to Toland Feb 28 2012: Martin told lies about his auxiliary Bishop Dermot O'Mahony and he tried to get Bishop Drennan of Galway (former auxiliary in Dublin) to resign even though NO criticism of him was made in the Murphy Report. The man is a liar and a vicious clown. (In comparison to him the "Red Dean" of Canterbury was at least innocent, although a complete fool!) See in Archbishop Diarmuid Martin 

The Archbishop and Auxiliary Bishops of Dublin
The most egregious example is the Archbishop's treatment of retired auxiliary Bishop Dermot O'Mahony. The Archbishop removed Bishop O'Mahony from his position as director of the archdiocese's pilgrimage to Lourdes on the basis that "I regret that you did not express any public clarification or remorse or apology" (letter dated 2 December 2009). However Bishop O'Mahony had sent a statement to the Archbishop's Director of Communications Annette O’Donnell on 27 October 2009 which concluded : "I profoundly regret that any action or inaction of mine should have contributed to the suffering of even a single child. I want to apologise for my failures from the bottom of my heart". The statement was not published by the Communications Office but Annette O'Donnell confirmed that the Archbishop had seen it. He made no apology to Dermot O'Mahony and indeed continued to criticise him.

In November 2009 the Archbishop invited the Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan who had previously been an auxiliary Bishop of Dublin to "consider his position" after the publication of the Murphy Report. While the Report mentions Bishop Drennan, it makes no criticism whatsoever of his conduct! In order to consolidate his status as a media hero, does the Archbishop want to hand the media as many heads as possible on a platter?

 

I did a brief reprise of the subject in January 2016 when I published an article on this Blog: 

Kilbarry - Jan 16 2016

Archbishop Diarmuid - Sins of Omission re Child Sex Abuse

There is an article on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin here - based on a Politics.ie discussion in 2010. A family with 4 children had been driven out of their homes on four occasions by mobs in Co. Wicklow when the mobs discoverer that the father had a conviction for sexual contact with a minor nearly 20 years previously. (He got a 6 months suspended sentence which gives some indication of how grave the offence was.) On the FOURTH occasions the woman promised to separate from her husband so naturally the mob reacted differently this time around; they burned the house down with all the family's possessions inside! Wicklow County Council then passed a motion saying that anyone who "consorted with" a sex offender should not be housed by the Council!

So what did Archbishop Diarmuid do - this "Saviour of the Church", this champion of abused children? Why nothing at all. The 4 children of a man convicted of a sex offence almost 20 years before, merited no word of sympathy from the Archbishop.

Anyway here here is the article Labour Councillors Join Mob Harrasment of Innocent Family - CONTINUED

Karloff : Shocking story. Only thirty years ago these kinds of communities were following moving statues.

I believe (aside from issues relating to the ongoing safety of children) that once any offender serves their sentence then they have served their sentence. In times like this people rely on authority to protect them from the mob as a last line of defence, those political whores in that council are the mob themselves.

Kilbarry Jan 16 2016: Two Labour Party Councillors were responsible for the motions that denied housing to people who "consorted with" sex offenders and thereby supported the actions of the mob. However the motions were passed unanimously by Wicklow County Council in June 2010. Presumably the councilors from other parties were afraid to vote against, because public opinion was on the side of the lynch mob! However an article in the Sunday Independent on 4 July 2010 pointed out that one man DID protest:

One lonely figure stands out as the voice of reason and fairness: Michael Nicholson, the director of services with Wicklow County Council, who called what happened an example of mob mentality, and stands over that remark.

Now all praise to Michael Nicholson, but note that he was a civil servant and NOT a politician and so his job didn't depend on the mob.

However there was one other person who could have intervened with complete safety. This was Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the cleric who is a hero to nearly all ANTI-clerics in Ireland! The Archbishop can hardly give a speech without apologising for the (real or imagined) sins of the Church against children. [And when I say "imagined" I refer to his attempt to get Bishop Drennan to resign even though NO criticism had been made of him in the Murphy report.] If any OTHER cleric had denounced the Wicklow mobs, he would have been shouted down as a defender of paedophiles but our caring and compassionate Archbishop could have done so - or, at the very least, he could have expressed sympathy for the four children of the family. Archbishop Diarmuid said nothing because he is a fraud whose only concern is to present himself as a hero in the eyes of our "liberal" journalists.

I have a gut feeling that they despise him!

Kilbarry Feb 29 2020: I believe Archbishop Martin is due to retire shortly and there may not be the usual year long extension either. For some reason his period in office and his crawling before the secular power remind me of a classic episode in The Simpsons "Deep Space Homer" [see video at beginning of article]

One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

And a great job Diarmuid made of it. However I get the impression that even his anti-clerical admirers are getting just a little bit tired of the guy - one might even say they are bored with his endless speaking pious platitudes to power!


Rory Connor

30 November 2020, amended 2 December 2020 

NOTES:
[1]  "A very liberal priest there assured me that he had the same problem getting a response and that our Archbishop only communicates with VIPs!"

So why didn't I think of that? Perhaps because I had heard of Archbishop McQuaid's effort to reply personally to every letter he received.  See for example Colum Kenny's article "My Hour Alone with John Charles McQuaid" (when he was a schoolboy)
 I remember the archbishop later sighing about the amount of correspondence he received from people. He waved a hand across the papers on his desk and muttered: ``They write to me about the system. What system? There are only people''; or words to that effect.

John Charles current successor, Archbishop Diarmuid gets over THAT problem by ignoring correspondence from non-VIPs!

[2] Extract from Phoenix Magazine article on "Patricia Casey" 25 January 2013. 
She has a particular disdain for that experienced media operator and career Church diplomat, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin. Following Martin's description of the latest crop of young priests as "traditional" (conservative) and "fragile", she dissed the Archbishop in vociferous terms in the the Irish Examiner last July [2012]. Querying with ill-disguised sarcasm whether Martin had access to 'fragile' priests psychological assessments, Casey accused Martin of being unwilling to put forward positive solutions to the crisis in the Church. This she argued is because Martin is afraid of what "critics of the church and of religion might say at any given moment", a fear she describes as "crippling". By critics Casey meant the IT [Irish Times] and other liberal pundits whom she believes - not without foundation - Martin is in thrall to.

The astute Casey also believes - again with justification - that amongst among its priests, Martin is the most unpopular prelate to head the Dublin archdiocese for many years. This is partly because of his willingness to suspend any priest against whom an abuse allegation is made pending inquiries but also because of an apparent distain both for lowly clerics and for traditional Catholic mores. In short he is a liberal sheep in Bishop's vestments. Casey's broadside on young priests stung Martin as evidenced by his riposte defending his choice of language about newly ordained priests. When it comes to the crisis engendered by sex abuse in the Church, Casey has been stern and censorious in her description of clerics' deviant behaviour and what must be done. However, she is also critical of those in the Church, like Martin, whom she believes are on the run from aggressive secularists."
Nice to see my own views confirmed!


Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Irish "Antifa" Attacks Protesters - "Liberal" Irish Media Don't Mind

 

So far I have been at three demonstrations in Dublin that have been attacked by Antifa types. The first two were outside Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament) protesting the Irish Government's proposed new Hate Speech Law and I have an article about the initial demonstration and attack by Antifa HERE - Free Speech Vs Anti-Racism Rallies and My Response to Department of Justice The third was a protest outside the Custom House against the Government's Covid restrictions. (As it was a different topic I wondered on Twitter if Antifa would attack but they did!) 

Brenda Power had an excellent article in the Sunday Times recently concerning a different demonstration outside Dail Eireann on 10 October where the Antifa attackers seem to have been even more aggressive than anything I had experienced. (I learned about it very late and decided not to go - if I had known what was going to transpire, I would certainly have gone along to show my support). It seems that political violence is becoming a feature of Irish life, it is getting worse with time, is coming almost exclusively from the Left but THAT fact is being played down by the Irish media  that prefers to talk about clashes between groups - as if both are equally to blame!

Most of Brenda Power's article is behind a paywall. I have used my two free articles a month privilege to reproduce her article dated 18 October 2020. 



Antifa counter-demonstrators (left) attack demonstrators outside Dail Eireann


Brenda Power: Left-Wing Activism Flies Under the Extremism Radar

The Sunday Times October 18 2020 by Brenda Power

A group of people opposed to lockdown, in the belief that the Covid-19 threat is exaggerated, organised a protest last weekend to air their views outside Leinster House. As they stood peaceably at the gates, they were set upon by a violent group of masked hooligans. Footage from the event shows this mob aggressively confronting gardai as officers attempt to protect the 150 or so people behind the riot barriers.

The original crowd of protesters was not belligerent, was not physically threatening anyone and, because they don’t believe in the things, for the most part the campaigners’ identities were not conveniently concealed behind face masks. And with a gathering smaller than you’d find around a decent Hozier tribute act on Grafton Street, they didn’t pose any immediate threat to the stability or security of the state. They were just a bunch of people, in a country that constitutionally guarantees free speech, trying to express an unpopular opinion. The other crowd was a gang of sinister thugs trying to beat them up.

At least, so it might appear to a disinterested observer, perhaps a news reporter: peaceable group versus violent thugs. No problem figuring out the bad guys in that equation, right? Well, wrong, actually — at least not from the perspective favoured by the majority of the liberal Irish media. Because the peaceable protesters, led by the National Party, have been filed under the all-purpose heading “far right” and so, as far as the prevailing narrative has it, they are always, always going to be the ones in the wrong.

Even when they’re being physically attacked for expressing their views. Even when a Dublin hotel is forced, as in 2016, to cancel the National Party launch because of “public safety fears”. Even when it is clear that the only danger to public safety, then and last Saturday week, came from the people assailing them. But because this shower style themselves “left wing”, then they are always, always going to be the good guys.

The centre of Ireland’s political gravity has moved steadily to the left over the past 20 years. We have a “socialist” president who, up to recently, was also a landlord. President Michael D Higgins once lauded the murderous tyrant Fidel Castro as “a giant among global leaders”. The media is dominated by socialists with typewriters who are acutely attuned to the dog whistles of the right but entirely deaf to the growing rumble of left-leaning menace.

The violence at that Dail fracas came almost entirely from the self-styled protectors of liberty, equality and harmony on the militant far left, but most such clashes illustrate an obvious flaw in the left-versus-right model. It is not a straight line from the good guys on the far left to the bad guys on the far right, but rather a tight horseshoe, with the two extremes separated only by the width of a riot shield.

When The Irish Times dared to publish a glossary of far-right terms a few years ago, the most vocal liberals lost their reason. The very people who had paraded under the Je Suis Charlie banner after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, defending the French newspaper’s right to insult Muslims in vile terms as an exercise in free speech, were having none of that free speech lark when it came to their own cherished views. Their pious excuse was that they were fighting against “fascism” — mostly just people with different opinions — and that’s the same justification employed by those thugs outside the Dail, who will defend to the death, literally if necessary, your right to agree with them. Better dead than, er, not red.

You’ll find lots of definitions of fascism online but, as Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty observed, words can mean what you want them to mean. Yet most agree that, in essence, fascism is characterised by dictatorial power, the strong regimentation of society, and the forcible suppression of opposition: you know, being compelled to hold exactly the same views, which some unelected cabal has decreed are the correct ones, with dissenting opinion being punished by threats to your job, your reputation, your personal freedom, even your physical safety.

If you’re of the liberal left, that’s a hypothetical scenario which must be averted at all costs. If you’re right wing, it’s basically Twitter.


NPHET’s Death Toll in Doubt, But Debate is Off Limits

On June 16, NPHET [National Public Health Emergency Team]  announced that the national death toll from Covid-19 over the previous three months had reached 1,709. Yet on July 3, HIQA [Health Information and Quality Authority] released a statement questioning this figure. In the previous three months, HIQA calculated, there were about 1,200 deaths more than usual, and therefore 500 supposed Covid fatalities were not directly due to the virus.

The explanation was that the reported number of Covid deaths “may have included people who were infected with coronavirus but whose deaths may have been predominantly due to other causes”. NPHET has not revised its figures; the current death toll is predicated on that June figure being correct, despite HIQA saying it was not.

Last week a full-page advertisement addressed “to our leaders” appeared in The Irish Times. Citing “facts from Irish government websites”, it questioned the lockdown model, and linked to the recent Great Barrington declaration by leading epidemiologists which denounced the approach.

The ad also claimed that younger folk had a greater chance of being killed by a car than by Covid-19, and yet we may still drive. It said the median age of death from the virus was still 18 months greater than our average life expectancy, and pointed out that the Covid statistics included those who died with, rather than of, the virus. That was exactly as HIQA said in July. Yet the mere publication of these claims was then decried as irresponsible.

We cannot, it seems, even debate this subject.

brenda.power@sunday-times.ie

We Have a Decadent Ruling Class That Won't Stand against Terrorism (or Sinn Fein)

The author of our new proposed Hate Speech Law is former Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan - the guy who used Parliamentary Privilege to libel Sister of Mercy Nora Wall - see my article Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, George Hook and Nora Wall [1] During his Dail speech, Charlie also denounced Kevin Myers - the only journalist who defended Nora when she was convicted of rape - and he did so because Myers had defended Nora. Our journalists barely reported Charlie's libel at the time. They were aware that it was false and that Nora had successfully sued the Sunday World for libel in 2002!

Kevin Myers -  a strong supporter of Israel - was subsequently libelled as an anti-Semite (!) by our Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, his then Deputy Frances Fitzgerald and a former Deputy PM Joan Burton. See my article Kevin Myers and the Age of de Valera and McQuaid. It's pleasant to note that Frances Fitzgerald - who was also a former Minister for Justice - was forced to resign as Deputy PM in an "unrelated"  bogus scandal (but it was related to the athmosphere of hysteria she had helped to foster). However Leo survived unscathed. Even when the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland said the allegation against Myers was false, no journalist asked our Prime Minister if he would apologise.

Before  Francis Fitzgerald was Minister for Justice and Equality, the role was held by Alan Shatter. - a man who plays a prominent role in my article Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews In 2009 Shatter demanded - and got - a year long Garda (police) inquiry into claims that the Catholic Church had been involved in the unsolved murder of a young girl Bernadette Connolly in 1970 - nearly 40 years before. A few months after the Gardai reported there was no evidence of any Catholic collusion. the Government fell and Shatter was promoted to the ;post of Minister for Justice and Equality. No journalist questioned his fitness for the role - just as they raised no objection to Charlie Flanagan's promotion to the same role in 2017.

As per Wikipedia "On 7 May 2014, Shatter resigned as Minister for Justice and Equality and as Minister for Defence following receipt by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, of the report of Seán Guerin into allegations made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe." It was a bogus scandal and a subsequent inquiry established that Shatter had done nothing wrong - nor had Fitzgerald Fitzgerald also forced to resign in 2017 - but both were victims of the athmosphere of public hysteria they had conspired to create!

I have an article dated January 2018 The Maurice McCabe Affair - Six Top Level Resignations To Date (and More to Come?)  that relates inter alia, to Alan Shatter, Frances Fitzgerald and Charlie Flanagan. There were media calls for the latter to resign also in relation to the Maurice McCabe Affair. He was likely saved by the fact that both his predecessors had been forced out of office and the appetites of our brave investigative journalists were sated! However my prediction of "More to Come" has been fulfilled by the recent forced resignation of Ireland's EU Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan - a man who also used Parliamentary Privilege to libel Nora Wall! Phil Hogan was forced out in the preposterous Golfgate Scandal - another legacy of the public hysteria he and has fellow politicians had thought useful as long as it could be directed against the Catholic Church!

The Decadence of Archbishop Diarmuid

Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin had something to say on this topic and naturally he condemned the victims of the assault! There was an article in the Irish Examiner on Friday 16 October (by Cormac O'Keefe) that should be compared to the above-mentioned article by Brenda Power on the following Sunday Diarmuid Martin Warns Anti-Mask Protestors are 'Dangerous Influence' on Young People and I quote:
Catholic archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has warned that organisers of ‘anti-mask’ protests could be a dangerous influence on young people by denying the Covid-19 pandemic. He said some of the people who have taken part in anti-mask rallies are the same groups that attempted to “overturn” his car when he attended an Islamic gathering in Croke Park. This is thought to refer to an historic prayer service on the pitch to mark the holy festival of Eid al-Adha, which he attended last July.

Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show, Dr Martin said the people who set up anti-mask rallies are very organised and he is worried they might have an influence on young people. He noted that elsewhere in Europe young people are being influenced by neo-Nazis. 

A number of 'anti-mask' protests have taken place in Dublin the most recent on October 3 seeing several hundred demonstrators packed onto Grafton Street and staging a sit down. This was followed a week later by a so-called "End the Lockdown" rally outside the Dáil, which was organised by the far-right National Party and saw clashes with counter-protestors. [My emphasis]
Compare this to Brenda Power's  "As they stood peaceably at the gates, they were set upon by a violent group of masked hooligans..... They were just a bunch of people, in a country that constitutionally guarantees free speech, trying to express an unpopular opinion. The other crowd was a gang of sinister thugs trying to beat them up." 

But the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin will only condemn those attacked by the gang of sinister thugs!

Sinn Fein and Antifa

Since Ireland's three main political parties are in coalition now, Sinn Fein are the main opposition and are likely to come to power in Ireland's next general election. I referred above to the Free Speech Vs Anti-Racism Rallies last December where those of us who opposed Charlie Flanagan's Hate Speech proposals were attacked by Antifa. The attackers were held back by the Gardai (police) and by their own stewards. I have little interest in politics myself but I was told the stewards were from Sinn Fein. But what will happen when Sinn Fein are in power? Will they appoint a new Garda Commissioner and instruct him not to intervene in those circumstances? Will they continue to restrain the street fighting thugs - OR use them as their own enforcers of political orthodoxy? 

One thing is clear. Politicians like Charlie Flanagan and Leo Varadkar have gutted their integrity - much more so than democratic politicians in the Weimar Republic whom historians see as mediocrities rather than morally corrupt. Weimar "decadence" was more in evidence among the intelligentsia than the political class. It's certainly evident among Irish intellectuals who express no objection to bogus allegations of child rape and murder being directed at Catholic clergy. However our political class are similarly decadent and equally incapable of standing up to the barbarians at the gates! 

[See also article Justice Ministers Kevin O'Higgins to Charlie Flanagan: from Decency to Decadence"    Not all my predictions came true but I think the essence still applies - including politicians who are prepared to betray senior civil servants in order to save their own skins.]