Cardinal says Empey is not a 'high flyer'

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, has said that his Church of Ireland counterpart, Archbishop Walton Empey, "wouldn't have much theological competence" and was not one of his church's "high flyers". He also said: "Trinity College insulted me and through me the Catholic people of Dublin"

The Cardinal was speaking in an interview with the philosopher Dr Stephen Costello for The Irish Soul: In Dialogue, a book which is to be published by Liffey Press in Dublin on November 8th.

In his comments on Archbishop Empey, Cardinal Connell said: "Archbishop Empey [whose views on communion were put to the Cardinal earlier in the interview] wouldn't have much theological competence anyway. He wouldn't be regarded as one of their high flyers, but Protestants very often go in for a very positivistic theology. Since the Second Vatican Council, we have been tending in that direction, unfortunately."

His comments about Trinity College arose in the course of a discussion on his doctoral thesis, The Passivity of the Understanding in Malebranche, in the course of which "I had to go looking up what the angels had to say".

Then when he was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1988 "Fintan O'Toole identified me with this esoteric interest in angels and David Norris used it subsequently, when I made some statement about homosexuality, to say I knew more about angels than fairies. But the whole thing was based on solid research, which was recognised, except by Trinity," he said.

In 1985 "when Trinity celebrated the third centenary of Berkeley, and Berkeley was heavily influenced by Malebranche, I was informed that I was not invited to give a talk there, though I was invited to give a few quid . . ."

He continued: "Trinity insulted me and through me the Catholic people of Dublin [1988]because we were celebrating the millennium of the city of Dublin and they invited me to come along to watch Donald Caird [then Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin] receiving an honorary degree.

"That's their own business if they want to, but to celebrate the centenary of the city of Dublin by awarding the Protestant Archbishop with an honorary degree and leaving me sitting down watching it was a downright insult. They said they had made the arrangements before I was consecrated [Archbishop in 1988]. That was probably true, but there was nothing to stop them altering the arrangements; and when they celebrated the fourth centenary [OF TRINITY] in 1994, they invited Cardinal Daly."

He had also met the new Provost of Trinity, Dr John Hegarty, and had accepted his invitation to lunch but had heard nothing since "So I have a certain view of Trinity. I think you will understand why," he said.