Dear Editor, With reference to Roisín Coll’s article: ‘A cup of tea and an open door’, September 24. We have for years attended Mass one Sunday each year in a parish in Saumur, France. Last Sunday more than 50% of the congregation was “youngish.” The place teemed with young parents and children. Since COVID the…
A return to the Church and a thank you to Irish clergy and friends Dear Editor, I converted to Catholicism at 21 years of age and for 39 years the Church was my rock and my shield. I’m indebted to the Church for the education it gave me which enabled me to have a mature…
Dear Editor, Commenting on the vocations downturn, a wise priest once told us eager students: “Gentlemen, we have enough priests to minister comfortably to practising Catholics. What we don’t have is enough priests to minister to cultural Catholics.” Increasingly, I think he was correct. Much of the present discussion about priest shortages begins with the…
Catholic schools need an AI conscience check, not just a usage policy Dear Editor, The Irish Catholic has repeatedly framed AI as a question about the human person, not just a new classroom tool. Its coverage of Magnifica Humanitas has stressed when educators should say no to AI, while another essay asked who remains responsible…
It is up to the Ukrainians to decide their course of action, and us to support them Dear Editor In a thoughtful piece on Catholic ‘just war’ principles, Breda O’Brien wrote that an entirely just war might never have been fought. And she finds fault even with some aspects of Ukraine’s valiant defence against Russia’s…
Challenging secular anthropology on human dignity Dear Editor, The Irish Catholic (July 9) presents statements, possibly coincidental, by Bishop Doran and Archbishop Farrell, to wit “Human dignity is not given to us by the State, or by our parents. Neither the State, nor our parents, nor anybody else can take it away.” These statements challenge…
The loneliness of the long-distance believer Dear Editor, Like so many of my friends, I find myself alone at weekly Mass in our small local church. Lately my granddaughter, who has recently made her First Holy Communion joins me; ‘girl Friday’ to my ‘Robinson Crusoe’, both cast adrift on our island of obligation, striving to…
‘Better to light a candle than curse the darkness’ Dear Editor, Fr Donal Dorr’s encouraging letter of June 18 urging the forthcoming synodal gathering to look outwards as well as inwards prompts the thought: what a wonderful life-enhancing place the Irish Church could be if we were all to fully embrace synodality in the manner…
Should the synod be looking outwards as well as inwards? Dear Editor, Like the editor of The Irish Catholic, I feel concerned about the list of topics chosen for discussion at the forthcoming synodal gathering. But my concern is that practically all of the topics proposed, and also the list of topics which the editor…
Synod asks for lived experiences without listening to the answers Dear Editor, After twenty years within the Irish Catholic Church — and the equivalent time within the German Catholic Church — I have lost hope in many ways. The further I can move away from institutional Church life, the happier I think I am. After…