Dear Editor, David Quinn’s informative article (IC 25/09/2014) tells how the pro-abortion movement is pressing for a “new abortion referendum”. The purpose is to remove the constitutional protection of the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn child. There is a natural hierarchy of human rights. The right to life remains by…

Dear Editor, How right the doctors for life were in their recent letter published in your paper (IC 18/09/2014) where they stated that having an abortion does not reverse the pregnancy. In fact one can also add that from the moment fertilisation takes place the woman becomes a mother. She will depart this life as…

Dear Editor, David Quinn succinctly outlines the likely outcome of any change to the pro-life clause in our Constitution (IC 25/09/2014). I cannot but be moved by the stories of women in traumatic circumstances, such as a mother with an unborn child with foetal abnormalities or a victim of rape or incest, and many Catholics…

Dear Editor, Countries express horror at how the Nazis killed millions of innocent people in the gas chambers of concentration camps, yet these very same countries sanction the killing of millions of unborn human beings by abortion today. Why? The evil of slavery was tolerated in the 19th Century and, until recent years, the cruelty…

Dear Editor, When Sr Mary McGlynn talks about women deacons and the Orthodox Church (Letters, IC 25/09/2014), she is talking through her wimple (if she wears one). She says: “The Orthodox Church restored the office of deacon for women in 2005.” The Orthodox Churches, not having a Pope like the Latin-rite Church, make up their…

Dear Editor, It seems from both the pronouncements of Pope Francis and the submissions made to him and the bishops’ synod on defending traditional marriage and family, that there is a real sense that a new dispensation of mercy is on the agenda of this pontificate. Clerical celibacy might be described as the low-hanging fruit…

Dear Editor, The Irish Catholic of Sept 18 carried an interesting feature titled “Faith formation is key”, about Archbishop William Slattery in regard to the South African Church’s approach to evangelisation. The quote that interested me was: “We can lose people to the other (‘6,000 independent Churches in South Africa’) unless we put a tremendous effort into the…

Dear Editor, Is it believable that the St Vincent de Paul donor funds to support a gay centre is directing scarce resources to the most needy and deserving cases? For a Catholic charity to support an organisation that is promoting gay marriage, which the Church is opposing, is unacceptable. The only answers to restore the…

Dear Editor, I refer to an article in The Irish Catholic of September 11, regarding the Mrs Jackie Kennedy letters (Mary Kenny, ‘Jackie Kennedy’s letters: they also belong to future history’). The article refers to the Vincentian Fathers as “planning to sell Jackie Kennedy letters”.  I wish to state that the Vincentians Fathers were never…

Dear Editor, A lot of the reaction to the resignation of Bishop Kieran Conry in Britain has tended towards the conclusion that he ought to be looked at sympathetically because of the burdensome vow of celibacy. Bishop Conry has admitted that he was unfaithful to his vow of celibacy. It’s hard not to be sympathetic…