Harris’s intolerance and ugly deception
THERE is something radically wrong in this country when a Catholic bishop is rounded on for articulating Catholic doctrine. There is something inherently dysfunctional and internally incoherent about a self-professed liberalism that’s so demonstrably hostile to the notion of accommodating alternative views.
Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran is a bit of an outlier as far as the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland is concerned at the moment. He, unlike others, still rather refreshingly retains the confidence to say what he actually believes.
Two years ago he compared abortion to the Nazi euthanasia programmes executed before and during World War II.
Then after the overwhelming two-to-one decision by the Irish people in May’s referendum to allow for the introduction of abortion, Bishop Doran said Catholics who voted in favour of that should consider going to confession.
Seeing as how over 78% of the population are Catholics, he was inviting a whole lot of grief upon himself and his ever-diminishing band of fellow priests. Over 1.4million people voted for abortion and one would expect that 78% of those were ‘of the one true faith’ – that’s just short of 1.12million sinners.
Even if Bishop Doran succeeded in getting all those in and out of the confessional in two minutes flat – (Sinner: ‘Sorry father, but I have sinned, I voted for abortion and I resolve not to do it again.’ Bishop Doran: ‘Grand so. Down with that sorta thing. You’re forgiven. Our Father, two Hail Marys. Off with you.’) – it would take an extraordinary 37,323 man hours.
That’s 933 weeks, assuming 40hours flat to the mat, perfect timing and orderly Just-in-Time Japanese-manufacturing-style queueing system. That’s a day or two shy of 18 years, non-stop.
As far as I’m concerned, anybody who invites that kind of grief has only themselves to blame. Good luck to him. And this week Bishop Doran continued to promote Catholic doctrine, this time flogging a dead horse called Humanae Vitae – a 50-year-old Papal encyclical which, by advocating against artificial contraception, could have done more damage to the relationship between the Catholic Church and its lay membership than even the clerical abuse disaster of latter years.
At any rate, all that represents some of the views of Bishop Doran. He’s welcome to them.
But rather than allowing those opinions – clearly directed at Catholics in Ireland – to stand or fall on their own merits with that community of believers, liberal Ireland has felt compelled to respond. And sure, there’s nobody more liberal than Health Minister Simon Harris. Straight way, he rushes to the defence of something that was never under attack in the first place.
Bishop Doran didn’t call for the overhaul or scrapping of public policy as regards artificial contraception – he was merely appealing to his own crowd to give Humanae Vitae a hearing, in the context of Christian marriage. But Harris tweeted: ‘Please just make it stop…religion… will not determine health and social policy in our country any more. Please get that.’
In that single twit tweet Harris betrayed the liberalism he so enthusiastically claims to embrace. By attacking the bishop he demonstrates a distasteful intolerance towards views contrary to his own – even when those views have nothing at all to do with the political sphere.
Like all things created by the human heart, liberalism carries within it an imperfection that can, and may be, its undoing. That imperfection is a fractious impatience with contrary and conflicting views.
Simon Harris demonstrates such impatience, otherwise known as intolerance. Shouting down a Catholic bishop for promoting Catholic propositions is a wilful and ugly deception in what should be an open and permissive society.
We all know how the absurdities of religions – including Christianity – have contaminated and corrupted societies down the ages. We know the miseries that flowed from such awfulness.
Since the middle of the 19th century Catholic leaders in Ireland have behaved as if they had complete charge of the place. Because they had.
During the interim they dished out abuse by the truck-load.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. The ‘abused’ risks becoming the abuser.
Today it’s the voice of the Catholic Church they wish to silence. Whose voice is next? And so the cycle of injustice continues. Liberalism pulls apart from the centre.