If I locked a three year old in a frigid damp room to the point of hypothermia, or took a 3m old baby into a blast freezer, most people would suggest that at least I needed counselling in parenting, if not active intervention by child services and police. Saying “its for the glory of god” would really not cut it. So why would we give a pass in another circumstance?
So yesterday was “reek sunday”, when traditionally thousands of pilgrims would climb, some barefoot, Croagh Patrick. Traditionally, the Irish summer is a treacherous beast, and yesterday the weather was so foul that the local mountain rescue and paramedics advised against ANYONE climbing. Hundreds did, including some kids, and many had to be treated for hypothermia. Yes, the weather was that bad that a 760m mountain could induce hypothermia.
Reports suggest a 12week old child ! was on the mountain, a 14y old and a 3y old were treated for hypothermia. This is not new – some years ago 6 kids were treated thusly.
It takes some cabbage brained idiocy to do this to kids. Religious fervor should never result in kids being endangered. It is , one presumes, too much to hope that there will be some investigations into this. But given how cavalier we as a state and the Catholic church as an institution have treated childrens welfare over the years, I wont be holding my breath.
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