A positive vision of the European project

Dear Editor, John Bruton’s article (‘Brexit and the future of the European project’ IC 30/06/2016) made an impressive case of explaining popular disenchantment with the European project, and effectively refuted the common line that, for instance, the EU is torturing and impoverishing Greece, persuasively arguing that if anything the EU is helping that struggling country.…

The unborn today, someone else tomorrow

Dear Editor, The measure of how just, how equal, we are as a society is surely how we care for the most vulnerable among us. How should we apply this measure to the proposal being pushed by most media since the election, the repeal of the Eighth Amendment? It’s pretty odd that people want a…

Media bias is not just a religious issue

Dear Editor, With reference to Anne McGrath’s letter re media bias (IC 23/06/2016), this bias is evident not only in relation to issues with a religious dimension such as abortion but in relation to a range of social issues. While I still buy newspapers on weekends, I’ve almost given up buying them on weekdays because…

Irish Catholics are Irish citizens too

Dear Editor, I was interested to see how in calling for a secular state, Cardinal Marx drew a careful distinction between state and society (‘Facing the challenges for the Church’, IC 30/06/2016). Although state and society are not the same thing, too often we forget that the Irish State, like the Irish Church, is in…

Bethlehem Christians need pilgrim support

Dear Editor,  I am very disappointed to see advertisements for pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 2017 staying in Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. The Christian community desperately need support at this time, much more than the tourist industry in Jerusalem. Surely tour operators should be made aware of this and ensure that pilgrims have time…

Lessons from history and geography

Dear Editor, To judge by Gabriel Kelly’s letter about the effects of Brexit (IC 30/06/2016), one might think the (primarily) English vote to leave the EU must have been done following a calculation that the peace in Northern Ireland that was so hard fought for is worth gambling with. Is it perhaps not more likely,…