Yesterday’s BBC Radio 4 PM programme included a feature on Ireland between the visits of Popes John Paul II and Francis. Available at the 41.15 mark below, it is a six-minute segment which takes listeners from Dana’s Number One hit about John Paul’s visit, through to Ireland’s World Cup heroics, Father Ted, the Celtic Tiger and former Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s scathing criticisms of the Church in the aftermath of the Cloyne Report.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bfx5mm
I provided commentary throughout, reflecting on some of the reasons for the decline of the Catholic Church – as well as its future. I concluded, ‘The Church has to change, and it has what may be a very short window of opportunity to make that change. There has to be some way the laity’s voices can be heard. They may be lost to the Catholic Church if there are not reforms that allow them to have a real and meaningful say.’