Paul KeenanDear Editor, Reading across the numerous media reports available following the May 3 Vigil for Life in Dublin, I was astonished to see the great variance in estimated numbers, from as low as 2,000 according to The Irish Times and has high as 15,000 form the Pro-Life Campaign. For the record, and having attended a…
Category: Letters
I do not want to read about the ACP
Dear Editor, I very much enjoy The Irish Catholic newspaper and have been a subscriber for many years. However, I must take issue with certain articles appearing recently. I do not particularly wish to read about the likes of members of the Association of Catholic Priests and do not regard them as Catholic priests –…
An insult to the heroes of the Rising
Dear Editor, I write to commend The Irish Catholic on its recent front page story regarding this year’s Mass to commemorate the sacrifice of those who fought during the 1916 Easter Rising (1916 families appeal for Mass ban to be lifted, IC 1/5/14). I was shocked to hear that the families of those who fought…
Exemplary Christian lives
Dear Editor, I write in response to Syl Doyne’s letter (IC 8/5/14 edition) where questions were posed concerning sainthood. Firstly, there have actually been a large number of lay people canonised or currently en route to being canonised e.g. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St Gianna Molla (wife, mother and medical doctor), and Blessed Chiara Badano,…
The end does not justify the means
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny suggests that “the world-wide success…of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) makes this method of assisted conception awkward to criticise” (IC 8/5/14). How does the untold holocaust of human embryonic life sacrificed on the altar of this unethical interference with nature qualify IVF as a 'success'? Does the end now justify the means?…
Canonisations raise questions
Dear Editor, It was a great weekend for the Catholic Church as two of our Popes were elevated to the position of sainthood, but I have two questions. One: why is it mostly religious who are honoured in this way, and also why is it necessary at all? If I manage to get to Heaven…
Confidentiality and Children First
Dear Editor, Frances Fitzgerald introduced the Children First Bill in the Dáil on Wednesday, April 30. This highlights again the fact that it envisages that there has to be no exceptions to it and that it will be a ‘catch-all’ operation imposed on all organisations in the field of ‘helping’ organisations. A close reading of…
Remembering wartime chaplains
Dear Editor, As historical events to commemorate the slaughter of World War I receive increasing coverage this centenary year, I am prompted to recall Mary Kenny’s article in these pages in February recounting the ministry of Fr Francis Gleeson to men of the Munster Rifles. In that article, she relates the courageous priest’s setting aside…
The electorate must not be fooled by hypocrisy
Dear Editor, I am sure many people are taken aback at the hypocrisy of Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in inviting Pope Francis to Ireland, after this Government’s disgraceful treatment of relations with the Vatican. Firstly, we had his tirade based on misquoting Pope Benedict, the reference to a law not even in place and, as pointed out…
Canonical sanctions and the laity
Dear Editor, If a Catholic priest/religious stated that they were in favour of redefining marriage between a man or woman, or that, equally preposterous, abortion or women’s ordination were likewise correct they would face canonical sanctions. On April 29 the Stormont Assembly defeated a proposal to redefine marriage, where not one Nationalist (Catholic) politician voted against,…