A long overdue update!

Tomorrow sees thousands of children across Ireland make their first holy communion. My nephew will be among those and although my family are acutely aware of my experiences at the hands of a priest they will still go through with this ritual. Part of the preparation for this indoctrination of 8 year old kids into the church is the requirement for them to apologise for their sins to god! Ever since the first murmurings of clerical sexual abuse, right through the deluge of victims testimonies to the current day where we see cardinal Brady, who had interviewed a victim and decided on taking no action allowing the perpetrator, in this case the horrendously evil father Brendan Smyth to continue his paedophile activity unchecked, I have been amazed at how the church has dealt with the continuing revelations of its own blundered cover up. What heinous sins or crimes has an 8 year old child committed that they need to apologise to god??? It beggars belief that despite everything that's happened the church seems to simply carry on in its old ways oblivious to the need for change or reform. The one crumb of comfort I take from this is that according to an article in last Saturday's edition of the Irish Times is that more parents are opting out, not a huge amount, but enough to perhaps make others open their eyes and wake up to the hypocrisy and irrelevance of the church's role in Ireland. Clearly the church realises that if it's forced to relinquish control of its schools then there is the very real possibility that the church's influence within Irish society could dwindle to almost nothing within a single generation's lifetime. Isn't that a lovely thought that warms the cockles of your heart?!