John Paul II Society - Roscommon conference mis-reported

Michael Kelly attended a conference in Co Roscommon at start of February in his news article reporting on the event he failed to say by whom it was organised -The John Paul II Society and who else apart from Ronan Mullen spoke at it. For instance, Michael Kelly failed to say that the other headline speakers who spoke on the same panel as Mullen all said they would vote No to Lisbon.
Both Susan Philips and Declan Ganley said that the suggested political promises (declarations, not legally-binding protocols) would 'not be worth the paper they are written on.' No reporting of these comments or speakers are recorded in the article below:

Senator's 'Yes' to Lisbon if conditions right
Michael Kelly

Senator Rónán Mullen has said he will campaign in favour of the Lisbon Treaty if Ireland's right to decide on ethical issues is guaranteed.

''I will vote 'yes' if the guarantees we have been promised ensure Ireland's freedom to decide its laws on sensitive social and ethical issues,'' he said.

Senator Mullen was speaking at a conference in Co Roscommon at the weekend which discussed the interface between faith and politics. His comments provoked an angry reaction from a minority of the audience.

Mr Mullen also warned against a tendency, ''detrimental in my view, among lay Catholics to too easily dismiss the secular.

''There were also signs of this simplistic dichotomy between the secular and sacred in the recent Lisbon Treaty Referendum. I voted 'no', but I hope I did so for more nuanced reasons than simply thinking Europe is evil and Catholic Ireland is good,'' he said.

Meanwhile, a senior expert on Vatican affairs has underscored the fact that the Holy See remains extremely positive.

Speaking to the '2009 Irish Catholic Lecture', John Allen said ''both Benedict XVI personally and the Vatican corporately support the project of European integration, which is nothing more than a concrete application of the universality and consequent relativisation of national identity that is of the essence of Catholicism.

Mr Allen was speaking to more than 300 attendees at the inaugural event organised by The Irish Catholic.

The Government negotiated a series of guarantees at the European Council meeting in December aimed at ensuring Ireland's independence on ethical issues. The guarantees will be published in advance of a second referendum due later this year.

''If we want to debate the EU we must engage our reasoning capacities and must make an effort to understand what the EU is and what it is not.

''Unless we inform ourselves of the functions of the Parliament, the European Council, the Commission and the Court of Justice we risk discrediting our deeply held political views.

''This is true for every issue; dismissing the secular is sometimes an alibi for us to disengage our critical faculties,'' Senator Mullen said.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, Senator Mullen insisted that he will campaign in favour of the Treaty if the guarantees are forthcoming.