Of Mass and Masquerade
The ban that probably wasn't . . . (from 'First Things')
The legal challenge by Declan Ganley to the purported ban on public worship trundles towards its denouement next month when the High Court will hear arguments as to whether or not the argument is now moot (pointless) on the grounds that any such ban has been explicitly lifted since May 10th. But the situation may be more complex even than it appears:
It is highly probable that there was in existence no explicit ban on pubic worship between June 2020 and April 2021, and that the Catholic bishops and An Garda Siochána were either unaware of this reality or sought to conceal it.
The article below was written for the American magazine First Things, and therefore seeks to translate these complex and somewhat mind-boggling phenomena for an international audience that deserves to be told exactly how crazy Ireland has actually become.