James O’Connell, one of the country’s most prominent religious leaders, said the country was on the brink of “an existential crisis” that could lead to a “total breakdown” if a new generation of Irish Catholics does not take action.
“What we’re facing is a generation that has been raised in the church, who have not yet made up their minds about whether the church is for them or not,” Mr O’Conor said in an interview with the Irish Times.
“They have not made up your mind about whether you are going to become a Catholic or a Protestant or not, so if you don’t have a good answer to that, what’s going to happen is that there’s going be a total breakdown of the fabric of society.”
“It is going to come to a head when they come out and say, ‘Oh I’m a Christian, I believe in Jesus’,” Mr O`Conor added.
The Reverend Mr O�Connell is one of Ireland’s most influential religious leaders.
He has written many books on faith, including ‘Faith in the Eyes of the Son’, ‘Faith Alone’, ‘God is in Heaven’ and ‘Faith of Faith’.
In recent years he has spoken out against homophobia, abortion and the treatment of women.
In recent weeks he has been embroiled in a dispute with former US president Donald Trump, who called him a “bigot” and “moron” and suggested that the Rev Mr O”Conor is part of the “global paedophile network”.
In a series of tweets, Mr Trump called for Mr O to resign.
In the interview with The Irish Tribune, Mr O is also critical of the way he has received funding from the US government.
He said the funds were “stolen” from the Irish people, and he was “sadly aware” that “a lot of the money that I’ve got going to the Irish government is stolen from Irish people”.
“If I had been a more generous donor, I would have made a donation to charity,” he said.
“I don’t want to give it to the church or to the government.”
If you don`t give it back, I don`tm want it to come back.
“I don`m not the only one.
The other people who are involved with it are a lot of other people and a lot more are involved.”
The Reverend O’Connor said he was not “troubled” by the way that some in the Catholic Church were “taking the abuse” of children.
He also criticised the fact that he was receiving millions of dollars in government money to fight a drug addiction, saying it was “very difficult for a lot people”.
He said he has not yet spoken to the President about his comments, but said he had no intention of doing so.
“My only intention is to continue the fight against drug addiction,” he added.
“You’ve got to go to jail if you do that.”
