I don't give a fig or a prune for Maccas but I love the fact that Fr Donnelly admitted to liking a Big Mac after Mass on Sundays.

And that he told the fat obsessives where to get off.

The story grabbed my attention because it took up most of page three in the Daily Telegraph like, oh my god, a "fat factory'' next to a school, parents preparing for war.

Unlike the mad parents, Fr Donnelly sounded normal.

Like most of us normal people he probably enjoys life's good things in moderation - such as an occasional breakfast fry up, slabs of cream cake for afternoon tea, fat laden chops and chips, and perhaps a pizza or Kentucky fried in front of the tele on a Saturday night. He is undoubtedly a happy, well adjusted man - unlike the fat obsessives.

Why are they so afraid of a bit of ground beef between buns? Aren't there bigger bogey things out there? Isn't a big comet heading towards planet Earth?

If kids are brought up fearing a hamburger what hope have they got if something really dire comes along, like the school bully or a spelling test.

Fr Donnelly said that children's diets were the responsibility of parents, that obesity started at the kitchen table in the home, and if parents were worried about their kids eating at McDonalds they shouldn't give them money. How sensible is that?

Rather than frothing at the mouth about fat, shouldn't parents be asking themselves who is bringing up their children? The parents or the fast food shops?

If they decide in favour of themselves, they need to look at what is happening at the kitchen table. Are they providing freshly cooked meat, grains and vegetables

on most days of the week with an occasional treat thrown in, such as a Maccas' Happy Meal on a Friday night?

Life is about balance. And about discipline. No food is entirely bad. But an overdose of anything is bad.

Rather than blaming the food, why not look at modifying behaviour?