Dear Editor, Sarah Carey's View (IC, 3/4/14) should be compulsory reading for the nations' priests and her treatise on the issue of sacred versus secular music at funerals was heartening. Clearly torn between the ‘official advice’ of expecting only sacred music whilst appreciating the role that secular music can play at heart-breaking times, she presented…

Dear Editor, This week’s assessment by the United Nations that the impacts of global warming are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible” is a major worry for all people who are concerned with the future of our world. Some impacts of climate change include a higher risk of flooding and changes to crop yields…

Dear Editor, Responding to Geraldine Keane’s letter, Church’s position on same-sex marriage (IC Letters 27/3/14), I share her “trepidation” for the forthcoming campaign towards the same-sex marriage referendum. If recent events have demonstrated anything, it is that for some agenda-driven groups and individuals, no act is too extreme in silencing opposing voices in the drive…

Dear Editor, RTÉ is calling for the defamation laws to be relaxed. It believes they are too restrictive. They want to be freer to say and show things without fear of defamation laws, it seems. We all remember the monstrous injustice to Fr Kevin Reynolds in the Mission to Prey programme on Prime Time on…

Dear Editor, The Big Bang theory of evolution is not the first step in creation; it is the second. The first step was when God created infinity out of nothing. During the lifetimne of the universe, any big or small bang ended in disorder. Why did the Big Bang theory end in order? The hand…

Dear Editor, Bishop Leo O’Reilly who has given his imprimatur to ‘Anne’ the lay apostle should be given a copy of her book The Breakable Vow written under her own name Kathryn Ann Clarke… Very crude, vulgar language in it. Kathryn also advises one to get out of an abusive relationship. This is in direct…

Dear Editor, We all know that Local Government and EU elections will be taking place next May. So politicians who campaigned to introduce abortion into Irish legislation will be seeking the votes of Catholic and other pro-life Christians. Recent news from Britain was that the bodies of aborted babies were being burnt in some hospital…

Dear Editor, At their annual Ard Fheis at the weekend Fianna Fáil delegates passed a motion calling on the Government to invite Pope Francis to Ireland. Let’s hope that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will have the graciousness to do so. Where there was talk of Pope Benedict XVI visiting – a great…

Dear Editor, There has been much talk in Catholic Church circles about next year’s planned referendum to permit same-sex marriage. Can I be alone in looking towards the referendum campaign with trepidation? Recent months have shown that there is very little temperance in Ireland when it comes to public debates about sensitive moral issues. Undoubtedly,…

Dear Editor, Mags Gargan ( IC 27/2/14) is to be congratulated upon her timely and useful guide for couples getting married; it contains much which will aid, I feel, to the importance of the occasion.  One of those useful guides was the month, weekly and finally daily, check list of what to do; however, with one…