As some of you know Ireland has been celebrating the 1916 Easter rebellion against English rule this holiday weekend. Most of these men were Catholics. Stories of their Catholicity abound. Priests giving the last rites to dying soldiers were as much a part of history as the fighting for Irish freedom from 800 years of British rule. In their proclamation the first words used were 'IN THE NAME OF GOD.' The freedom they won established a  Kingship of Christ that placed the Catholic Church in a very special place among the people of Ireland. Society revolved around its Catholicism. I know, I was born in the 1940s and experienced it.

MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Not once was the Catholic faith of any soldier of 1916 MENTIONED during the celebrations. Not one bishop was invited to front any of the celebrations. Ireland, the country that Christianised Europe, wants nothing to do with Catholicism anymore. Meanwhile the Vatican is packed as though everything Catholic is flourishing. Over here it went UNNOTICED that on Friday it was the anniversary of Christ's death on the Cross, and Sunday was the very same date Christ rose from the dead. Well that too never got a mention in the media nor from the any of the celebrations of the weekend.

It was a though the men and women of 1916 died for the paganism that is Ireland today. When 36% of Catholic Ireland voted for same-sex 'marriage' in 2015 they boasted about it, totally ignoring the fact that 700,000 voted against it.

FINALLY, AN ILLUSTRATION OF IRELAND TODAY. In THE IRISH TIMES, a leading newspaper here in Ireland, whose add 'YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ' comes over the radio every half hour, there is a magazine that contains a WEDDING column. This Easter weekend it features a ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ 'WEDDING.' But this particular one probably tells a story that EXPLAINS the real IRELAND of today, while Pope Francis enjoys the splendour of St Peter's Square with not a worry in his head, if the crowds of 'pilgrims' is anything to go by. Here I quote from the Irish Times.

THE MARRIAGE OF JOE KIRBY AND BRENDAN TREACY.
Joe joined the Christian Brothers in 1981 and lived in St Helens in Dublin - then a monastery, until he left the congregation in 1987.. [St Helens is an estate in St Dublin that I as a boy from 1950 played in. I witnessed hundreds of Christian brothers there then. After Vatican II the vocations dried up and the estate was sold to the Raddison hotel group]
Joe comments: "I was very happy living in St Helens and throughout all my time in the brothers, but I wasn't free to be fully myself. I didn't COME OUT until after I left and had moved to Abu Dhabi to teach. Fourteen years ago I met Brendan at the ALTRENATIVE MISS IRELAND. [Yes, bet you do not have one of these in America, or anywhere else] Within a month the couple had moved in together. Joe and Brendan were married on February 20th last at the Radisson Blu St Helen's Hotel,
"Going back there was like completing a circle," says Joe, "I was able to be fully myself in front of ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS."
THE HUMANIST CEREMONY WAS CELEBRATED BY JOE ARMSTRONG, A FORMER MARIST PRIEST.'

It seems the Irish Times kept this 20th Feb. 'wedding. for Easter weekend reading. Now there is the history of Ireland's journey into Paganism if there ever was one.