Dear Editor, "The Church’s teaching on marriage and family is tough…….the message being transmitted by our culture today often damages the chance of a happy marriage" (Breda O'Brien, IC 27/3/2014). I would like to ask where does a chaste man/woman nowadays meet a like-minded person to date especially if they are living in a community were…

Dear Editor, While President Michael D. Higgins delivered a splendid address to both Houses of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster, it should be remembered that it was Gerry Adams, John Hume, John Major, George Mitchel, Albert Reynolds and David Trimble who facilitated the historic Good Friday Agreement. Yours etc., J. Anthony Gaughan, Blackrock Co.…

Dear Editor, With reference to the letter concerning the Apostle Anne (IC 3/4/14), I wish to make a few points. Anne never made a secret of the fact that she left a difficult relationship and her marriage was annulled by the Church. The writer seems to suggest that people are expected to remain in abusive…

Dear Editor, How correct actor Brendan Gleeson is in his assessment that priests “are now derided to a ludicrous degree” (IC, 10/4/14). Ireland, as a people, seems to find it impossible to find the correct equilibrium in our society. In many ways, we are still struggling to emerge as a nation. In this emerging, a…

Dear Editor, In response to the letter by Mary Leahy (IC 3/4/14). This letter to the editor is concerning in its distortions. The Breakable Vow is an accurate portrayal of the realities of life for a family struggling with domestic violence. The suggestion seems to be that if a woman or man were holy enough…

Dear Editor, The absence of a response to the call by Pope Benedict for a National Mission in the Irish Church (IC 3/5/14) may be indicative of an unwillingness to confront the spiritual malaise which afflicts us. A young German theologian who studied at the Milltown Institute a number of years ago described the Irish…

Dear Editor, Fine Gael candidates will undoubtedly suffer a backlash in the upcoming Local and European Elections due to the outrageous and contemptible behaviour by Enda Kenny and the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party in forcing through and allowing for abortion in cases of suicidal ideation especially as it was proven beyond all reasonable doubt that…

Dear Editor, What an interesting week for those turning their eyes to Rome. In quick order Pope Francis received America’s President Barack Obama and then Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. The former, via his backing for abortion in America as evidenced in his ‘Obamacare’ reforms, is surely no friend of the Church. On more friendly terms,…

Dear Editor, I read with dismay the article in the Irish Catholic of April 3 that there are, as yet, no concrete plans to establish a nationwide mission to renew the Irish Church. For nothing to have happened, or even to have been planned, four years after Pope Benedict's call is bewildering. Are we to…

Dear Editor, On the subject of funerals, Sarah Carey, (whose articles I enjoy), recently expressed shock at not being able to assume that her recently deceased friend, "a great lady who reared a large family", wasn't already in Heaven. She wrote: "I think the majority of the congregation would be severely taken aback to learn…