Jim, take a look at your 1925 statement on dancing. Look at the signatures on the document:

• Patrick O'Donnell, Archbishop of Armagh, Chairman.
• Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne
• Thomas O'Doherty, Bishop of Galway
  6th October, 1925.

Now, tell me the nationality of all those who signed. Irish, right?

I don't defend my church, Jim. It is what it is. When it does wrong, I fight the wrong. You, on the other hand, live in Ireland and you defend Ireland to the hilt. And you are a prime practitioner of a primary fault of the Irish - transference of blame. In Ireland, "The Church" is not some external authority. It is Irish, through and through. All the bishops, all the priests, are sons of Irish mothers and have Irish sisters and brothers. Yes, Irish Catholicism has been and in many ways still is a very sick form of Catholicism - but it is Irish, through and through.

If you claim to love Ireland, then you also ought to share the blame for the sickness of the Irish Catholic Church.

And yes, the Irish exported their sick brand of Catholicism all over the world. Look at the lists of names of priests who were sex offenders. Many of them were Irish - all over the world. Wherever you go in the English-speaking world, the Catholic church is far more Irish, than it is Catholic.

The entire nation of Ireland needs to take responsibility for its Irish Catholic Church. It was and still is very much a tool of the sicknesses of Irish culture - and also of many of the good aspects of Irish culture. I got my Catholic faith from my Irish grandmother, who was a good, loving, joyful woman - and I'm proud of that.

-Joe-