Broadcaster Olivia O'Leary has, very publicly, left the Catholic Church.
The Carlow-born journalist renounced Catholicism because of the church's refusal to ordain women, though the institutional cover-up of clerical child sex abuse was a "proximate factor".
This Christmas, Ms O'Leary, who was educated by Convent of Mercy nuns, will celebrate Christmas with carols and lessons at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.
The former Today Tonight anchor used her regular and popular essay on RTE radio's Drivetime programme to explain why she left the church some two years ago.
The central reason was the continued refusal of the church to accept the equality of women, "in other words, to ordain us".
Weary O'Leary leaves church over its refusal to ordain women
"No longer at my age can I accept a subordinate role; not for myself, not for my daughter, not for my sisters, my nieces or friends," the 61-year-old current affairs presenter declared.She added that other women had walked out of the church a long time ago."Maybe I just kept hoping," she added."At this stage I don't feel rage so much as weariness -- that 'difference' is still latched onto as a reason to discriminate; weariness and, for me, relief, that it's all over now. I've moved on out."She said it had taken her so long to leave because she knew, perhaps, how much she would miss the church, especially the Liturgy, which she described as "one of the the world's great art forms and "such a comfort at times of loss and pain".And she was also mindful of what she called the "family connections" -- "beloved aunts who are nuns, beloved uncles who are priests and good kind friends who are nuns and priests"."But it is their humanity that distinguishes them, not their role in an institution. And it is our humanity which distinguishes us, not the fact that we are women."So a church that does not recognise that. . . is in an ethical desert, like white-only churches in the American south or in apartheid South Africa."She said that among the reasons she would celebrate Christmas in St Patrick's Cathedral was that she could stand tall there."I can stand tall because the Church of Ireland, whether I join it or not, accepts my full humanity. It ordains women."Otherwise I'll celebrate by simply being outside in the wind and the rain, outside in the sunshine walking the world that the creator made for us all equally."Not because we are male or female but because we are human," she concluded.