Dear Editor, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is totally baffled and shocked at the news that the Mater Hospital has agreed to carry out abortions in keeping with the Government’s legislation, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. Recently, Fr Kevin Doran said that the Mater Hospital could not carry out…
Category: Letters
Pope Francis and the common good
Dear Editor, Suppose that Pope Francis had said in his now-famous interview that Catholics should stop obsessing about social justice issues, such as combating poverty and discrimination and war, and instead preach the Gospel of mercy. There would have been a fierce outcry. And rightly so. Does the Pope not realise, people would have said,…
Benedict XVI was a great Church leader
Dear Editor, Since the election of Pope Francis I have noticed a tendency on the part of some to downplay the important contribution made to the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. It's as if they believe that during his eight years he was out of touch with the 'common man and woman in the street';…
Focus should be on future of diocese
Dear Editor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin seems to have the Catholic press firmly in his sight given his recent criticism. It is odd that he didn’t reserve some of his criticism for The Irish Times – a newspaper which published a report on an ‘abortion’ that it was later grudgingly forced into accepting never actually happened.…
Abortion restrictions will be watered down
Dear Editor, In its enthusiasm to get The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013 off the ground, The Irish Times front page headline (First abortion carried out under new legislation, The Irish Times, August 23) proved to be previous resulting in an inner page apology. Despite the restrictive nature of the Act, over…
Hardback books too pricey
Dear Editor, I read rave reports about this Poor Clares religious book Calm the Soul. It is available at Easons. I found it, in expensively printed paper at €21.95. Being an octogenarian religious, I couldn’t afford it. I wondered why it wasn’t printed on paper-back and made available at an affordable price to suit the…
Dancing sun a meteorological phenomena
Dear Editor, Fr McGillicuddy’s letter in last week’s Irish Catholic (IC 19/09/13) should provide useful food for thought for those who may have doubts about the existence of God. Similarly, an open-minded study of the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima on October 13, 1917 can help non-believers. In recent years Gunther Stolz, a German scientist who…
Renewal buried under red tape
Dear Editor, The letter from Seamus Flanagan (‘We need renewal, not reform’ IC 05/09/13), is tremendous, yet written in clear, simple language. I agree completely with him. That is the very heart of the matter. Over the centuries the Church has been gradually choked. Whatever good reform brought, through councils, canon law, etc., has been…
Pope Francis is a Pope for our times
Dear Editor, As the pontificate of Pope Francis continues through its first year, it is becoming ever more certain that the right man for the Church of our times was chosen by the conclave in March. The personal style Francis has brought to the papacy has appealed to all who believe in the caring and…
Lessons on military interventions not learnt
Dear Editor, Despite his political manoeuvring, one suspects that President Barak Obama intends to bomb Syria. It is amazing that the West does not learn from the results of its military intervention in Iraq, Afganistan and Libya. In the case of Iraq these results have been catastrophic. The proposal that it should intervene in the fratricidal…