‘Ah, seriously Bishop Phonsie?’ Former President hits out at prelate’s attack on yoga
Former president Mary McAleese has rubbished recent comments by the Bishop in our neighbouring diocese of Waterford and Lismore in which he denounced yoga.
Referring to Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan’s widely publicised criticism of yoga and meditation, the former president said: “I speak as somebody who knows him and I think he’s a fabulous singer.
“He is also a fine person, but merciful hour, sometimes he comes out with stuff that just stops you in your tracks and you think, ‘Ah, seriously Bishop Phonsie?’ Yoga? A bunch of old ladies in lycra with rolled-up mats trying to get their muscles working again? I mean, just give them a break for God’s sake!”
Ms McAleese was speaking at a conference in Trinity College Dublin over the weekend alongside US theologian and Benedictine nun Sr Joan Chittister, titled: ‘The Women The Vatican Couldn’t Silence.’
Ms McAleese said women were “deliberately made invisible” by the Vatican, adding: “Structurally the architecture of the church is designed to create and maintain the invisibility and powerlessness of women.”
