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CENSUS SHOWS THAT CATHOLICS OUTNUMBER PROTESTANTS.

THE Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/22/catholics-outnumber-protestants-northern-ireland-census

Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time, a demographic milestone for a state that was designed a century ago to have a permanent Protestant majority.

Results from the 2021 census released on Thursday showed that 45.7% of inhabitants are Catholic or from a Catholic background compared with 43.48% from Protestant or other Christian backgrounds. The 2011 census figures were 45% Catholic and 48% Protestant. Neither bloc is a majority.

The demographic tilt was expected but will still deliver a psychological hit to unionists, who for decades relied on a supposedly impregnable Protestant majority to safeguard Northern Ireland’s position in the UK.

Diarmaid Ferriter, a historian and author, said: “It’s been long coming. They have already witnessed the loss of their political supremacy. Seeing the loss of their numerical supremacy is another blow.”

PAT SAYS

REPUBLICANS need to realise that a majority Catholic population in N. Ireland does not necessarily lead to a United Ireland.

There are such creatures as Catholic Unionists in N. Ireland.

Many Catholics like myself do not want a United Ireland for economic reasons.

Why would I want a United Ireland where I have to pay my GP € 60 for each visit when such a visit is free to us here in N. Ireland?

Why would I want a United Ireland where I have to pay for all my medications when I get them free up here?

Why would I want to I’ve in a country where cars are more expensive and where car insurance is more expensive?

– Where groceries etc are more expensive?

– Where alcohol and restaurant meals are more expensive?

They always said that:

“Unionists are more loyal to the half crown than the crown”.

In these strapped economical times N. Ireland Catholics realise that Republican sentimentality does not pay the gas and electricity bills.

138 replies on “CENSUS SHOWS THAT CATHOLICS OUTNUMBER PROTESTANTS.”

There will a border poll in the NI in two years and it will lead to a United Ireland. And It is not because there are more nationalists than unionists. Many in the UK now realise that brexit was a terrible action and has and will continue to have severe economical consequences as it has already.

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Tom Deenihan is supposed to be a Vicar of Christ and yet his morally reprehensible treatment of Dom Benedict Andersen is most unchristian. How does Tom explain this to the good clergymen and parishioners of the diocese?

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Dear Seamus,
On behalf of those of us far South… meath can keep that wee man. Or else he can go where he is looking

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Ever consider an independent Republic of Northern Ireland?
In the EU and Commonwealth… standing on its own two feet? Avoiding the trade off of London-rule -v- Dublin-rule.

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The six counties of Northern Ireland, like Wales and Scotland, are heavily dependent on the English taxpayer, of whom a certain number would vote eagerly for at least the independence of Scotland as it needs the Barnett Formula to exist as it does, and it might means taxes would fall, which they should.

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@8.53 we in Scotland demand self government and independent control of our natural energy resources, England needs us, we don’t need them.

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Scottish oil and gas fuelled Maggie’s 80s heyday of a property and credit bubble. Now notably neither Labour nor the Tories are willing to concede anything to the SNP.

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That would be less than 100 voters! Catholic unionism does not exist, I’m non religious, but whoever coined the term is heavily medicated!!!! Yes some Catholics didthink they were better off being part of the UK, that was Before Brexit, and those people were wealthy. Call a border poll in January, 32 counties would be a landslide victory.

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Only 30% of people in the census gave their identity as “Irish” only. The rest were British, British Irish, or Northern Irish.

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To say that a term such as Catholic Unionism does not exist is, at risk of sounding arrogant, stupid. My family and friends are Catholic (loosely) and Unionist. We prefer a constitutional monarchy. Get over it. We want a Northern Ireland parliament in Belfast. We don’t want to join a Roman Catholic Church – GAA Junta Banana Republic of Brown Envelopes

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‘Catholic unionism’ doesn’t exist? Oh, it exists alright. And it’s clearly a bugbear for you.😅 (All those exclamation marks.😕)
I’m one of them, a Catholic unionist. So is my family. There are many more than 100 of us, and I know this frightens you.
Your united Ireland will have to wait a while. Maybe in another 100 years.😉

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I understand that Irish pensioners receive a medical card so do not pay for GP and pay about 2 euro for a prescription item but I agree my relatives in the South always appear very reluctant to take their older children to GP, I understand it’s only free until they are 6. Roads were dreadful down there until relatively recently & everything is price gouged and little value for money & high prices combined with poor customer service appear to be the norm.

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And how is the Irish College these days, Colm ? You must be one of the very few Irish there ? I hear it’s like the United Nations these days. Well, anything to fill the rooms and bring in the money, I suppose.

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Are you kidding me? I was in Ballymena once not so long ago? Customer service? Once a whiff of a southern accent we were very intimidated and got out of there. That Was in a garage a. restaurant a pub and before accommodation we left.
Under 16s are free today. The budget will give free gp cards to another 430k people. Free hospital, Stays, there is a 1.50 prescription charge. Ita fair that wealthy do have to Pay. In belfast prices are no different to dublin.
Maybe you should take a trip down south, you would get a far better welcome from ALL than someone from the South travelling North and unfortunate enough to hit a unionist area.

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6.33 – heard the Scot’s may be moving in €€€€€€€ – and maybe more 🤪🤪

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In NI, nobody pays to go to the GP, or to stay in hospital, or to go to A&E, or to call the fire brigade out. In the RoI it is considered a great breakthrough that parents will no longer have to pay for their children’s schoolbooks, though they will still be charged for in post-primary schools. In NI we’ve never had such charges. The RoI is a curious mix of having high taxes and very few free public services. Where does all the money go? Even the air and sea defence is provided by the RAF and Royal Navy.

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Yes, high taxes (although the 20% rate now applies up to 40,000 Euro) for God only knows. The black hole which is the HSE is a partial explanation. Another is the long time love of spending enormous sums via quangos and charitable bodies, most of whom are very inefficient (altho overall that’s limited). Perhaps the high welfare payment rates, which are freely given to non Irish while anyone Irish is humiliated and jumps through hoops for payment and has to resort to St Vincent de Paul. Roads are much improved, but free education certainly isn’t that.

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1.27 Lave it dare, lave it dare, bhoy! It’s all finally coming home to roost after years of persecution for their own ends.

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Sorry just back from work.Jesus. Jesus if you want to follow this if it helps you… 👌Making lifelong decisions based on a stone. Maybe not . Go to my docs. Please..you know U will pay for them.

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Pat, the feeling is mutual, we in the South cant afford you, you cost the UK taxpayer around £10 Billion a year. They are welcome to you.

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Of course Dublin can afford the 6 counties. It has a massive GDP per capita. What dublin cannot afford is our social welfare system and the minority that abuse amounting to huge sums.

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Only has big GDP cos of a few large companies attracted by low corporation tax rates. The Eurocrats want those raised, after which the companies will move to a lower tax location. In a couple of years, most of the population in the 26 counties will have been born overseas. They won’t give two dry shites about the so-called national question.

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Whether you like it or not Pat, it’s coming. The English in particular don’t want us and have always viewed us as Irish. The annual subvention cost is £12bn and the province is and has not been a net contributor to the exchequer for ever.

The issue of an united Ireland will be handled very differently to the omnishambles that is Brexit. A number of influential economists have already stated it is economically viable but politically it will be difficult.The public debate is active and the fine detail will be provided in due course. It’s then up to us to make an informed decision.

I believe it won’t be anyway near as bad as you make it out.

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Reading fintan o tooles book
‘we don’t know ourselves’
More catholic hypocrisy on sin.
In it he says that the Catholic bishops said that it was a mortal sin ‘ to co_operate with or express approval of’ any group that “arrogates to itself the right to bear arms or to use them against its own or another state”. Then they gave massive funeral masses to the people they had condemned by mortal sin.
When will the bishops tell us the truth of the sexual sins that happened in maynooth.?

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9.03 Sorry to break this to ya, luv, but bishops & truth don’t work in practice in same sentence when it comes to protecting Roman interests. Has it started raining in Europe yet? I remember it rained a lot when I was travelling over there decades ago.

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Morally spineless church hierarchy pander to their wealthy benefactors & ably assisted by their self interested laity serving as foot soldiers on the ground.

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these “numbers” mean nothing, it’s all a paper exercise, we don’t attend local church since moving to a new area but still “counted”. Another fake smoke screen. Don’t trust anything they say or print in their propaganda.

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Like every other commentator and historian, Ferriter continues the endless Brit bashing and Unionist bashing down South. All I’d say to my unionist friends the Republic will be a very cold place for you if ye are ever forced to join us. Unless of course you join the woke , EU obsessed brigade

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9:16 Quite right, Seanie. We had a century to prepare a welcome for the people of the North. We failed and we are as unready as ever. Referenda north and south will fail.

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10.25 it is far more appropriate that we continue to welcome the victims of Putins atrocities.

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Really not being funny but I don’t know why Ireland has its reputation for being welcoming and friendly at all. Cold and argumentative has been my consistent experience of the country and its people, including in the diaspora.

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If you can’t even call it by its proper name – Northern Ireland – how are the unionist/Protestant/loyalist people of Northern Ireland meant to feel understood, never mind welcome. They hate that expression “The North”.

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100% correct, 5:20pm. Newcomers to Ireland report how unfriendly people are and how difficult it is to be accepted. Irish friendliness is a Tourist Board myth.

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9:05 exactly more Fenian lies and bullshit. Savages friendly for 5 minutes to get information & permanently unfriendly backstabbers thereafter.

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Were the Irish Catholic Church forced by pay out a fortune to his victims? Surely his death was irrelevant to the ongoing suffering of his victims in the eyes of the law?

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“Irish Catholicism is now less a religion and more an over-bearing, over-privileged arm of the Irish State”.

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Referendum in NI for united Ireland and Irish independence would be a landslide win for the Yes vote – No Surrender is an anachronism and an anathema to modern liberal Catholics in NI.
John Hume prophesied that demographics would bring an end to The Troubles and a United Ireland and he is right.
Just a matter of time.

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There are some very good points here. Being Catholic does not mean republicanism. Being protestant does not mean unionism. The solution is as follows:
1) Eire to join the commonwealth.
2) A United Ireland within the UK.
3) Aboltion of stormont and a devolved government in Dublin.
4) Better and greatertogether.
We have so much in common. There are plenty of us Irish living in mainland UK anyway. Remember the past atrocities from ALL sides, forgive and move on.
Pax
Garbage Lad

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There’s one very good reason for NI people to want to belong to a united Ireland – they would then become EU citizens as well, rather than being isolated, off the continental fringe shelf, sad Brexit types. GB is going down the tubes, as exhibited by the arrogant zealotry of Kwarteng (WTF is he from ? From a rich Ghanian family educated at Eton on the kleptocratic proceeds of his family), and the weirdly wooden Truss. Better be Irish, part of the Republic, connected to Europe with a wide, civilised and outward looking mentality rather than Little Wannabe Englanders.

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Apparently Kwasi is superficially black ! And with such a posh accent on the radio that you wouldn’t know he was black. His economics and politics are those of his adopted country, upper class, exclusive and favouring his own class. The man’s parents were kleptocrats from Ghana. That’s why he ended up poshly educated. Like that Iraqi Stratford upon Avon MP Zahawi, whose parents fled Iraq with loads of filched money and send him to posh schools as well. Poor refugee immigrants these Conservative people are not. Why should I have respect for them ? They are not even good at their jobs, Kwarteng especially, the arrogant, zealot See You Next Sunday. Zahawi barely able to complete a coherent sentence.

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10.58
Off you go, then. Over the border and into that republican Shangri-la you’ve been extolling.
Unless you’re already there, of course. In which case, zip it, and butt out.

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We are getting an early winter, very wet and cold already and it’s not even October yet. Where did Bill Mulvihill slept last night, Bishop Pat? Also has Archbishop Martin offered him any assistance to your knowledge? Please put a shout out on this blog if there is anything you consider we can do.

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I do not want today’s blog to become a Mulvihill blog.
The true answer is that I do not know where Bill slept last night.
He had been talking about taking buses to stay with a family he is friendly with in Germany?
Eamon Martin has been financially geneous to Bill but no longer has responsibility for him.
Bill is not short of money. In recent weeks he has received the gift of € 16,000 and £ 1500 and gets 600 a month from the Irish government.
Bill needs urgent medical assistance.
Let us pray he will accept that.

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@3.37 pm Bishop Pat
I know you don’t want today to be a Mulvihill blog but seeing as you mentioned him Pat, could you please clear up a confusion I have had since yesterday’s blog. You mention the monetary gifts of 16,000 euros and £1,500, could you please explain why on earth he didn’t use the money to put down a deposit on a flat and pay some rent up front. I cannot understand (and probably others can’t either) why bearing in mind the monetary gifts he was given Bill is living in a tent!

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3:43 Some people who are mentally ill do things for reasons that are not at all clear to anyone else, although it will usually make perfect sense in their own mind. Living in a tent with 16k to hand is a classic, other examples are the way people with anorexia starve themselves but don’t want to die or for example ideas like thinking your food is poisoned. It’s because they don’t make sense to most people that society considers these beliefs disordered and it’s wholly because they don’t make sense.

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3.37 If it is my Libido you speak od….call a think thank into same ???? !!!!

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According to the posts below it has become the WM blog. The comments are deplorable. I do not like censorship, but he is ill, does not make sense and is abusive. He needs help but he must make the first move.
Pax
Garngad Lad

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It’s not possible to help Billeen. He pushes everyone away as soon as he’s confronted by the truth about his behaviour and he can be volcanic betimes.

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Billeen was drinking champagne on Exchequer street in Dublin last week. I wonder what he was celebrating? He was so high he didn’t see us on the other side of the street.

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Good news for all the dole ‘scammers’! An increase in weekly dole plus €500 bonus for Carers. Eat my dust 😜

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Thanks to contraception and abortion, this is the high point of Catholic numbers in NI. They have peaked without reaching the magic 51%. If only they’d listened to Humanae Vitae.

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You mean the way any member of the cult follows its teachings? The clergy aren’t celibate, the financial criminality runs deep and the laity have voted with their feet or their reproductive rights.
Cults hate when they give control away and their plans to take over the world fail

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Either way, Catholic contraception and abortion will keep Ulster in the UK. The moment’s passed. It could have been all so different.

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@7:13 First of all Ulster is not un the UK! Catholic contraception? Abortion? Are you currently having a seizure? Or drinking heavily?

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@8:43 uUlster is a province of Ireland consisting of 9 counties, 6 were negociated to the UK. Ulster has Nothing to do with UK.

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Ever loose your job because you were a Catholic, I did. Replaced by an unqualified lodge member who came first, Year 1987. I could go on, but be balanced,

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Catholics were just as discriminatory. I recall the time a new curate arrived in my neck of our country parish. ‘Who’s my milkman?’, he asked. When told who he was, and that he was a ‘Prod’, he promptly cancelled his deliveries, and sought out a Catholic milkman instead.
Even today Catholic bigotry remains. I told a dear friend that my mother’s funeral arrangements had been handled by a Protestant undertaker, she was highly critical. I was on the point of telling her to mind her own f*****g business, but I held my tongue.
I remember Cardinal Tomás O’Fíach saying that ‘90%’ of bigotry in Northern Ireland existed on the Protestant side. I still chuckle at that one.

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The late Cardinal did not make that claim, he drew a contrast between how prejudice manifested itself. He claimed Protestant prejudice was expressed through political bigotry and Catholic prejudice through religious bigotry.
Still chuckling ?

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Maybe thinking of his very biased suggestion that Unionist bigotry was religious and Nationalist bigotry political?

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Hopefully Bill will build a new life for himself in Germany, if you cannot get along with the Irish Church it’s best to emigrate. We’ve been doing it for centuries. It works a treat for all parties. Pop back & spend lots of money here on the holidays if one wishes but don’t forget to leave again. No one upsets the Apple cart.

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Bill has never done an honest day’s work in his life and thinks the duty of the laity us to fund his lavish lifestyle. He burned his bridges in Armagh but continues to think he should be supported while not bothering to earn an honest living.

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Rejoice, my son, for your brother was dead and has come back to life, was lost and is found.
Prodigal Billy has returned to Bishop Pat, his providential father, his shepherd who looked out for him.
Congratulations bishop Pat, you’ve coaxed him out of his hole and he’s seen the light and come back to you.

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Billeen is back on the blog. He couldn’t stay away.
He needs you Pat even after the difficult weekend in Larne. You give him the oxygen he craves.

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7.24 and 8.00pm: Bill, you are insane to return to this forum which crushed you. I cannot comprehend you at all. It is quite incredulous that you won’t take sensible advice. I hope you are seriously minding yourself. Please do not repeat recent events – for your own well being.

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Bill is both an obsession for Pat Buckley and many others here. Happily , I have a bigger life !!!!

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7.40 but your native Irish levellers working for English landlords did knock poor peoples houses leaving them with nowhere to live. Those are the two faced hypocritical types whose descendants with selective amnesia now label others as soupers and the like 😏

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The use of the term ‘catholic’ is highly disingenuous Pat.
It suits the agenda of some, as if to say it equals those who want a united Ireland .
The truth is of course that the vast majority of those who declare themselves catholic are no such thing.
By their use of contraception, divorce,homosexuality and abortion they have put themselves outside of the Roman church. This is fact.
Far better if organised religion is left out of it completely.
The truth is it doesn’t matter if you believe in the tooth fairy. This is private business and nothing to do with anyone else.
The real question is can a 32 county unitary country thrive in business and good inter county relationships which benefit everyone – whether you claim any religion or none.

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‘By their use of contraception, divorce,homosexuality and abortion they have put themselves outside of the Roman church.’
Kiddy fiddling never put anyone outside it though, just got its full support.

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Are you a paedo? The term “Kiddy fiddling” suggests that you enjoy using the term. It is inappropriate and disrespectful to children.

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Abortion no longer merits excommunication. The other matters never did. Church pastoral accommodation is ignored by those who see only black and white.

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7:35 Oh you are the funny one. Since when did holy mother church pay any attention to its statute book at all?

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7:12 There’s some cathbot logic right there, where using the phrase kiddy fiddler makes you a paedophile!
If you wonder why the remaining adherents of the cult continue to do so, it’s because they are stupid. 😂

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When the bishops in all honesty can talk about their sexuality and how they cope with a celibate life can we begin to understand what happened in maynooth .
What we get is pius platitudes and false modesty about the scrrifice they give in a religious life.

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It seems you are? Everyone gets crushed, some an awful lot more so than others so stop whining. Stand up, take a look in a mirror, and think about everyone that has it worse (it’s not a difficult thing to do), take a walk on any street in Ireland. Everyone has problems, rich or poor. Get back up out there, that defines any person.

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When you learn of the stunts against vulnerable done over the years & still being pulled to build wealth, it answers so many previously unanswered questions.

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Since when were any of his comments intelligible? So it’s not a surprise that you couldn’t understand it.

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Bill: you may take issue with my feelings on abuse of young men in Armagh Archdiocese by certain priests whom you claim were themselves abused, but whether I agree with what u say, I’d die for your right to say it

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Dear bishop Pat,
I am sending my comment in to you again as I just realised I posted it on an old thread and it might not be seen. I was wondering if you could post it again on this thread or your most recent one. I am keen to find out if anyone has any information or personal experience with holy family mission as some of the people that have been hurt are friends of mine. They are still hurting so much due to the abuse they suffered living there.

Thank you for facilitating all these conversations, it is so important. I only came across your blog today and have been shocked but not surprised reading all the information and opinions on Phonsie, as I have my own experience with him as I am in the Waterford lismore diocese. He is greatly involved in holy family mission and it is troubling to say the least.

‘Bishop Pat has anyone any information on holy family mission in glencomeragh house county Waterford? It is a catholic residential house for young people training to be ‘’missionaries”. I know of the testimonies of countless young people who have been emotionally and spiritually abused there but they are too afraid to come forward. Also countless young people have been suicidal there with no medical intervention, all kept under wraps by Phonsie and supported by him. Also benefactors money was used for trips to medjugorje for these young people’

Thank you
Mary

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8.49: Bill, the truth is you need to offer your regret, sorrow and forgiveness to Pat and all of us for your gross ugly misconduct and offensive, hurtful behaviour. You should be learning lessons from this blog….Cease being an idiot.

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A few months ago, I came across this tweet about the idealistic prospect of a united Ireland:
‘Roses are red
Violets are blue
If you cannot afford 26 (counties)
How can you afford 32?’

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Silly and stupid. The Republic can well afford a 32. Its called being part of The EU. Its MACRO ECONOMICS, not micro.

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Bishop Fintan Monahan retweets the Trócaire CEO’s tweet applauding increase of €177m funding by Irish Government to Overseas Development Assistance & additional €30m in aid to Horn of Africa. Meanwhile inflation & homelessness on home soil continue to escalate as well as the collective moaning by about a €12 euro a week increase for social welfare recipients. Bollocks.
https://twitter.com/cdebarra/status/1574778797269946371?s=46&t=CGzCCjyRRbhEVpFB6KG8-Q

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You do know Pat that BM sent a really nasty email about you to +Eamon. It listed info including your associates, Rory included and others. Careless talk and all that…

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And you got that one right. How about good deeds numerous times? And cast aside like a piece of garbage?

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Sometimes I compare prices online in the UK with ROI.

Currently in Tesco a 70cl bottle of Grants Scotch Whisky costs €28.00 (£25.14) in ROI compared to £14.00 in the UK.

Even with minimum unit price (MUP) on alcohol in Scotland you can still buy it for £14.00.

£11.14 is a sizeable difference. No wonder people from the south shop in the north.

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