Plain Speaking Priests

What's wrong with our churchmen, asks Magnus Linklater in the Times.

"...they seem to have lost the art of direct and clear communication. That may be because they have been diverted by their own schisms, over women priests, homosexuality or sexual scandals. But is also because they have lost the art of plain speaking."

He obviously hasn't been to Clonard Monastery, home of Father Alec Reid.

Father Alec Reid, a member of the Redemptorist Order and a close friend of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, was involved in angry exchanges with members of the audience at a public meeting in Belfast.

The Catholic priest said: “The reality is that the nationalist community in Northern Ireland were treated almost like animals by the Unionist community. They were not treated like human beings. They were treated like the Nazis treated the Jews.”