Dear Editor, Halloween which stems from the Celtic festival of Samhain marking the end of harvest and the start of the Celtic New Year is almost upon us. During the night of October 31 into November 1 the barrier between the realm of the spirits and the real world grew weak. This allowed the deceased return to…
Dear Editor, The ongoing three-year review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act, is most lamentable. There is a complete absence of media scrutiny. Similarly, there is no avenue to include consideration of the views of those horrified by the desperation, cruelty and ultimately the unsustainability of our country, due to our birth-rate having…
Dear Editor, I must say I was grieved to see Peter Costello’s unfavourable review of The Saint Mary’s Book of Christian Verse, which I chose and introduced. Having enjoyed Mr Costello’s amusing biography of James Joyce’s father and knowing that he writes well of poetry himself, I would have liked to have had my book…
Dear Editor, Every week The Irish Catholic supplies us with words of wisdom, but your September 15 issue surpassed itself when I found two paragraphs on Pages 34 and 35, which were worth the €2.50 price of the paper on their own. The first was written by Fr Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap, and read: “Forget…
Dear Editor, With all the hullabaloo surrounding Queen Elizabeth’s death, the energy crisis, war in Ukraine etc… the fact that we are living through a housing crisis seems to have slipped from the agenda. This is the issue that seems unsolvable, at least it seems that way due to a host of inept politicians and…
Dear Editor, Mikhael Gorbachev would seem to have played, unintentionally, an important role in the unfolding of the Message of Fatima. On March 25, 1984 Pope St John Paul II, in accordance with the request of Our Lady, consecrated the world including Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The following year Gorbachev was elected General…
Dear Editor, I am delighted with the news that the cause of seven Columban priests who served in Korea has been sent to the Vatican for approval opening the way for their eventual sainthood [The Irish Catholic – July 28, 2022]. I wish to point out that there are 17 other Columban martyrs including one…
Dear Editor, I was touched by the story of Tommy in the column by Fr Martin Delaney [The Irish Catholic – August 11, 2022]. It reminded me of a poem which I shall share at the end and of the Prodigal Son experiencing the love of his father through his father’s tears and warm embrace…
Dear Editor, As many of your readers will be aware, it is proposed to make radical changes to the Junior Cycle curriculum for SPHE. The new curriculum proposes to focus the attention of our 12-15-year-olds on such topics as: sexual identity, contraception, pornography and the interrogation and questioning of social norms of behaviour. We have…
Dear Editor, While it is encouraging to read the front-page article [The Irish Catholic – August 4, 2022] and applause is certainly well deserved, it was truly heartening to see an effort to voice support for our bishops and priests who really are “bombarded with the notion that everything needs to change”. But, can it be…