A lot of people have expressed shock and outrage at the fact that the bishops and the clergy have been giving Bertie Ahern and his partner, Celia Larkin, a hard time of it recently. The same people – or some of them at least – have expressed surprise that certain Church of Ireland honchos have been even more vocal in this department than their Catholic counterparts. Well, frankly, I don’t think we should be surprised at all. Nor do I think that there is anything to be shocked or outraged about.

The spat began when the Taoiseach decided to hold a reception to celebrate the elevation of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Desmond Connell, to the rank of Cardinal. As the fella said, it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. The invitation to attend the reception was issued, to some 1,400 prospective guests, in the names of Bertie Ahern and his long-time partner, Celia Larkin. Interestingly, the invitation which was sent to the Cardinal himself came from the Taoiseach and the Government, suggesting that someone was aware of the potential for embarrassment in the Celia connection.

Of course it would have been possible for everyone to be discreet about the situation. We’re all adults, and we know that it’s an imperfect world, and that people are even more imperfect. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Ah sure, say nothing. You’d think it might be the Irish way. Except not everyone was minded to play ball.

Well, when you think about it, there is an issue. The Church has strong views on the subject of marriage. In fact its views are so strong that it mounted a virulent campaign (which thankfully failed miserably) to prevent the introduction of divorce in Ireland. So how does it feel, Cardinal, that guests are being invited to a reception in your honour by a couple of whose domestic arrangements you so clearly and unequivocally disapprove? It’s a fair question. It would have been strange if nobody had asked.

And if the Cardinal wasn’t prepared to comment, then there would undoubtedly be other folk of a similar religious disposition who would not feel so, let’s say, delicate about the matter. And so it proved. The Cardinal would not be drawn. In what seemed like a rank piece of opportunism, however, the Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Robert McCarthy, a Church of Ireland clergyman, came out with all guns blazing. He had turned down the invitation to the reception, he said, on principle. “Accepting such invitations,” he claimed, “encourages an idea that lesser relationships are on a par with marriage.” Now try and catch me to the high moral ground, Cardinal Connell!!!

A bunch of other Church of Ireland fellows made similar noises and these were echoed by a few Catholic priests who had the neck to say what all of the rest of the RC clergy were undoubtedly thinking. What could Bertie be at, placing the Cardinal in such an embarrassing position? Does he not know that this can be seen as provocative? The Church disapproves of people fornicating outside marriage. What could be plainer?

What indeed?

What happened on the night of the reception was disgraceful. Despite the fact that she had been identified as one of the hosts, Celia Larkin was effectively dismissed from the welcoming party. She was airbrushed out of the picture. In effect, she was treated like a scarlet woman, not fit to have around in the rarified atmosphere occupied by great men like the Cardinal. Had this been engineered by the office of the Cardinal? In reality it doesn’t much matter who made the decision or why, because either way it was an insult to her, and anyone who suggests otherwise is guilty of deliberately missing the point.

In any event, the Cardinal decided that he’d have his say. During the course of the reception, he sermonised pointedly about the sanctity of marriage. It was unnecessary in the circumstances, and therefore gratuitous. It added injury to insult. In the context, Celia Larkin would have a right to feel besmirched by the whole sorry saga.

There were some robust exchanges in the aftermath. Liz O’Donnell of the P.D.s, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, said that the attitude of the Church was a bit rich, given its failure to deal with paedophile priests and institutional abuse. Bullseye. David Andrews commented that Celia Larkin had been treated with cruelty during the controversy. Fair enough. And the leader of the Labour Party, Ruairi Quinn, wondered what the position of our religious leaders would be if ever we had a gay Taoiseach. If only.

All good stuff, as far as it goes. But really, the bottom line on all of this is that the Churches ARE judgemental about people whose marriages have failed. They are judgemental about people who choose to live together outside marriage. They don’t approve. And the Catholic Church does not approve to the extent that it does not believe that married people who are engaged in a second relationship are fit to receive holy communion.

It would be hypocritical of the Bishops and the Cardinals to pretend otherwise. The entire meaning of their institution is based around the assumption that they have the authority to make judgements of this kind and that they are right. If you are engaged in a second relationship – or indeed if you are living with and having sex with someone outside marriage – then you should not receive holy communion in a Catholic church. To do so is to pile one sin on top of another. In the eyes of the Church it is wrong, wrong and wrong again. And now that the matter has been thoroughly aired in public, there is no excuse whatsoever for anyone to imagine that they can think otherwise.

The idea of à la carte Catholicism is a nonsense. What I find surprising is the extent to which people can delude themselves about this. If you do not accept the authority of the Church, then you are a Protestant. Depending on the extent to which you refuse to accept the authority of the Church, you may even be a heretic. This is true now of about 50% of the people in Ireland who call themselves Catholics. They may be Christians (though there are a lot of folk who think of themselves as such who do not genuinely believe in many of the fundamental tenets of Christianity. But that’s another story!) But they are certainly not Roman Catholics, and it is about time that they admitted it to themselves.

We live with a national delusion, and for its own ends, the Catholic Church goes along with it. The fact is that there are very few real Catholics left. It may have been unnecessarily hurtful to Celia Larkin, but if the controversy about the Cardinal’s reception forces people into a realisation that they are not Catholics after all, then it will have been a good thing.

We live in hope.