Bah! Humbert!

What's happening?

August 2010: Humbert Summer School has its annual gathering of hacks to discuss politics and culture and the Church. It was set up by John Cooney, a columnist with the Irish Independent newspaper. Cooney has been writing articles in his column about the Catholic Church hierarchy and his dream to erase the current group of bishops and replace them with his 'chosen few' and above all to oust Cardinal Seán Brady. His inside contacts in Rome inform him who should take the seat of Armagh and he writes about it. Groupies?

He belongs to a group of like minded individuals who oppose Church teaching on many issues especially women priests and the way bishops are appointed. They want democracy! This year he has invited from America 'bishop' Bridget Mary Meehan and the keynote speaker was Robert Blair Kaiser who has told Irish Catholics to " Tell bishops to 'get the hell out of our cathedrals."

To understand all of this nonsense you need to understand Irish History and General Humbert. The rebellion of 1798 failed. In a strange sort of way one wonders if the hand of God was in it. Had the French revolutionaries won - where would we be now? We would be a Republic of the French revolution type. We would be 'enlightened ones'. Instead Ireland had to wait more than a hundred and twenty years before freedom of a sort came. First in 1922 and finally in 1937 with the Irish Constitution. It was very pro-Catholic. Why? Because Catholics had suffered persecution by the British for almost 300 years, persecution that tried to wipe out the Catholic Faith in Ireland, persecution of the sort that had never been seen anywhere, not even in China or Japan. The Constitution was drawn up, not to establish a secular Enlightenment ideology that some of the 'rebels' of 1798 had wanted, but a true Republic based on freedom of religion and the protection of Catholic/Christian/religious believers to live in peace and harmony without interference from any tyrannical, imperialistic, foreign rule.

So, it appears that Cooney is fighting the secular 'enlightened' side of the battle and every year he celebrates Humbert's arrival in Killala Bay, Co. Mayo and enlists 'enlightened' generals from overseas to fight his battles. Will someone please tell him that they lost and that the battle is over.