Choirs and local singers to participate in pre-Christmas celebrations
Courtney McGrail
The future of the Catholic Church in Ireland is not bleak
Dear Editor, How horrifying it was to read in The Irish Catholic (13/11/2014) Archbishop Neary’s contention that the Catholic Church has lost the battle with secularism and that Ireland is witnessing the death rattle of Christendom. What has happened to “…this is my rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”? So…
Not Church’s mission to battle secularism
Dear Editor, One would have to concur with Archbishop Neary that the Church has lost the battle with secularism (IC 13/11/2014). However, one would have to ask is it or was it the mission of the Church to do battle with secularism? I would suggest that the Church’s mission is to spread the Gospel and…
A lack of compassion or irresponsibility?
Dear Editor, How uplifting to read Philip Johnson’s story of his diagnosis of terminal brain cancer and his hope of ordination to the priesthood (IC 13/11/2014). What a comparison with that of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard who ended her life because of a similar diagnosis. All life is fragile and worth living but, unfortunately, not always…
Archbishop Neary should listen to Christina Gallagher
Dear Editor, The story on Archbishop Michael Neary in The Irish Catholic of November 13 makes for grim reading: “Church has ‘lost the battle’ with secularism”. Sadly, one would have to agree with his assessment. It’s such a pity that our Church leaders did not take heed of our Blessed Mother’s request to have the rosary…
Tribute to a clerical hurling legend
Dear Editor, The death has occurred of Venerable Archdeacon Michael O’Brien, known to a generation of Cork GAA supporters as ‘the Canon’. The people of Cork are saying goodbye to a priest who has served us well; walked with us in our joys, our sorrows and in our everyday lives. He baptised us, prayed with…
Letters of despair
Dear Amen, Can you please give me some advice, as to what I should do about my situation? I have been married to my wife for nearly 17 years. For the first 14 years we were very happy. We have two glorious children aged 11 and 8. About three years ago we went through a stressful…
Christmas seen from Calcutta
Anthony Redmond Mother Teresa was being interviewed on a particular occasion on TV and there was a break for advertisements for various inessential, unimportant things. “I see that Christ is needed in television studios,” she muttered. Malcolm Muggeridge said about her, “she sees in each sorrowing, suffering human being neither a body surplus to a population…
Strong views from Down Under
Sean Ryan Anthologies are a great way to be introduced to a writer, as the editor’s job is to highlight the best of the author/columnist/essayist within the pages of a single book. In this case, it is the sermons of Australian Cardinal George Pell, and he has been well served by his editor, Tess Livingstone, who…
Much more to the GPO than just Easter week
J. Anthony Gaughan The GPO is the nerve centre of our postal system. That system can be traced back to the political and military turmoil of the 16th and 17th centuries when communication became vital to the English policy of aggrandisement in Ireland. Then in the 1640s, Evan Vaughan, the postmaster in Dublin, established a staging system along the…