Dear Editor, Fair play to the women of the Killaloe diocese who are standing up in opposition to the permanent diaconate. (Diaconate sparks discrimination row in Killaloe’, IC 4/9/2014). The International Theological Commission in Rome under the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger left the question of female deacons open, yet the Church in Ireland – having ignored…

Dear Editor, It’s good to see Bishop Martin Drennan starting to stand up for the Catholic faith. Maybe this will catch on among members of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland. A story was told a few years ago that a chill came in to a meeting of the bishops’ conference, but had to leave because…

Dear Editor, I cannot understand why advocates of abortion are recording the recent controversy as a defeat. The maternal mortality rate for abortions at 24 weeks of pregnancy is over 76 per 100,000, while that figure for a Caesarean is around 13. A Caesarean section is a far safer procedure for a mother than an…

Dear Editor, I cannot agree with Mary Kenny’s statement that some wars are not wrong (IC August 14). To accept Jesus’ teaching of non-violent love of friends and enemies without any buts, one needs to remember that, as Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Saviour who had been promised to the…

Dear Editor, The recent denial by Irish doctors of a suicidal woman’s request for abortion has been greeted in some quarters by indignation, as if the decision by doctors to deliver the baby alive was an affront to her mother’s rights. But I strongly suspect that it is the frustration of the woman’s request for…

Dear Editor, It seems that man’s thirst for gossip and a good story is insatiable. Often times a colourful character, of seemingly spectacular deeds, will overshadow the true hero of a story, the memory of whom is often lost on account of the ordinariness that usually constitutes such heroic virtue. Think of St Joseph and…

Dear Editor, The Irish way of doing things is not the universal way, and the Vatican is right to insist that the universal rules about the sign of peace be properly followed. When I attended Mass in Bangkok, the congregation greeted each other with a ‘wai’ – that is by raising their joined hands to…

Dear Editor, There seems to be a strong anti-Catholic bias in RTÉ, very subtle sometimes, and on other occasions quite aggressive in language and tone. The sad story of the young woman with an unwanted pregnancy was the opportunity for RTÉ to rehash the abortion controversy with the finger pointed at the cruelty of pro-life…

Dear Editor, In discussing the abortion issu. what really matters most is that top class unbiased authentic counselling and sympathetic advice are always readily available on the spot. This help was not forthcoming in a hurry with the current controversial case of the young asylum seeker 22 weeks pregnant. In the crazy circumstances, I believe…

Dear Editor, The death of the actor Robin Williams is a terrible tragedy – its impact made all the more severe by his popularity, talent and charismatic character. For people in the clutches of something like a mental illness as powerful as depression it is very hard to find or even fight their way out…