Ireland: Church is at a tipping point, says former Irish president

DUBLIN - Just a few days before Pope Francis’s visit to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, a former Irish president promised to challenge the Catholic Church’s “skewed ideology” on human sexuality and same-sex couples.

“The Church must accept and exercise responsibility for the damage it causes to our young LGBTI people and to our children, our vulnerable children,” said Mary McAleese, who led Ireland between 1997 and 2011 and has been a vocal critic of the Church on issues such as women’s participation and the LGBT community.

Her comments were made during the launch of a new academic research report on “LGBT Catholics & Gender Theologies” by the Wijngaards Catholic Research Institute during a press conference at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland Aug. 20. The aim of the report is to challenge the Church’s teaching on homosexuality by addressing the main doctrinal arguments and bringing to the fore the latest scientific, biologic and psychologic developments.

“We are at a tipping point and it’s been a long time coming,” McAleese said. “How this particular ‘kairos’ moment is handled by those who are responsible for the Church’s government will impact the future of the Church and whether it has a future or whether it collapses onto itself.” Read more via Crux