My old RC priest pal said to me once: 'God is a metaphor for the unsayable - only as science progresses, the unsayable recedes. The only unsayable things left are the atrocities of humanity - so maybe God is a metaphor for that? I simply don't know.'

To which I replied : 'So why bother?'

And he said : 'Because the people in congregation need me to. So maybe God is a metaphor for them too? Because they don't know about science the way I do. Neither do they want to.'

'So God is a metaphor for human ignorance?'

'Not quite. God is a metaphor born from human ignorance. You see it's those people who need him most, and the need is pretty real. If they get that from this weekly theatre I put on during mass, then I've done my job. One thing's for sure though - as slow as I watch them come in, I never see a building empty so fast once it's over. Because that's all they want.'

That was the gist of it anyway. I guess he was progressive. He once asked me if I believed in Jesus, and half through my rambling response dealing with theology, Gnosticism and scriptural inconsistency, he stopped me and said : 'Every homeless person I see is Jesus - which I why I give them space in my home, and then they rip me off. And that's Jesus too in a way, reminding me to set my treasures in heaven.'

*

Charismatic Catholics are a group unto themselves. I wouldn't call them "progressive"

Too right. I've known Charismatic Catholics praying for a lottery win, praising God for their wealth, then speaking in tongues before the laying on of hands. All a world away from old Father O'Ryan.