Olivia O'Leary Leaves the Catholic Church
A prominent and respected Irish broadcaster has left the Catholic Church due to the Church’s stance on the ordaining of women.
Olivia O’Leary, who is known for her tribute to the Queen during a State visit, renounced Catholicism because of the church's refusal to ordain women, though the institutional cover-up of clerical child sex abuse was a "proximate factor," according to the Belfast Telegraph.
The former "Today Tonight" show anchor used her regular and popular timeslot on Ireland’s National Broadcasting radio program, Drivetime, to explain why she left the church nearly two years ago.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Despite having "beloved uncles" and "beloved aunts" who were priests and nuns, O’Leary said that she was marching out of the Catholic Church.
The central reason was the continued refusal of the church to accept the equality of women, "in other words, to ordain us.”
She said it had taken her so long to leave because she knew, perhaps, how much she would miss the church, especially the Liturgy, which she described as "one of the world's great art forms” and "such a comfort at times of loss and pain.”
O’Leary was also unhappy with the inaction of the Catholic Church over time, "no longer at my age can I accept a subordinate role; not for myself, not for my daughter, not for my sisters, my nieces or friends."
She was also mindful of what she called the "family connections" that were there over the years to support here. She regarded these individuals as "beloved aunts who are nuns, beloved uncles who are priests and good kind friends who are nuns and priests.”
O’Leary during her address on the radio program compared the stance of the Catholic Church to that of other more prominent church events that have occurred in recent decades.
"So a church that does not recognize that... is in an ethical desert, like white-only churches in the American south or in apartheid South Africa."
She stated that she would continue to frequent St Patrick's Cathedral because it is there that she could stand tall.
"I can stand tall because the Church of Ireland, whether I join it or not, accepts my full humanity. It ordains women.”
