Diarmuid Martin shaking his crozier at devout parishioner Josepha Madigan’s sincerely expressed views was a massive episcopal own goal

You may have missed the headline during the week: “Government minister takes to national media to talk up Catholicism”.

Were a Martian reporting on the Madigan-Martin affair - or even someone from a more secular country than Ireland (which is most countries in western Europe) - that’s how they would likely have reported the comments by culture minister Josepha Madigan to Seán O’Rourke on Radio One on Monday.

In an era when secularism ...