Dear Editor, As someone who takes an interest in American politics I was surprised at the cynical and dismissive tone adopted by Michael W Higgins towards any candidate who expresses faith in God in his latest article (IC 18/02/2016). The USA, like Ireland, has become a cold place for people of faith, in particular Catholics,…
Dear Editor, The first Holy Communion season is upon us again, signalled for many people by the hordes of excited little girls in white dresses in shopping centres and restaurants; the equivalent little boys in new clothes and special haircuts. As an elderly person I was told by a younger ‘granny’ that her grand-daughter greeted…
Dear Editor, Election 2016 is probably the most important the country has faced since the foundation of the State. In all previous elections we voted for the party or candidate who we believed would do the best for the country. This time the choice will be to vote for who will do the least damage…
Dear Editor, I am so fed up of hearing people say the Catholic Church needs to get their hands off ‘our schools’, as if the Church has stolen the schools in some sinister way. The Church owns the schools because it built them, or to be more precise the Catholics of the parish built them…
Dear Editor, I write in response to your article in last week’s paper (IC 21//01/2016) which suggests that the Archdiocese of Dublin could face a 70% drop in the number of its priests by the year 2030. The research paper concludes that the optimal solution to the priest shortage in the diocese “is probably a…
Dear Editor, The statistics in the report in last week’s paper (IC 14/01/2016) about the rise in persecution of Christians made for some scary reading. Sometimes Catholics here in Ireland talk about being under attack or being persecuted by the secular culture around us. While it is fair to say our media, our Government and…
Dear Editor, I must point out to your readers that in my article about 1916 (IC 17/12/2015) I did not set out to justify the Rising from the point of view of the just war theory. You do not use the just war theory to justify a rebellion. It’s almost like asking the government for…
Dear Editor, In The Irish Catholic (31/12/2015) George Hook was like a firework going off for New Year’s Eve. Few people expected his happy call back to faith. Welcome to the fold, George. George is the type who would take up with gusto the challenge of moderns who claim, as he suggests, that “it is…
Dear Editor, My congratulations on a magnificent 1916 supplement in the December 17 edition. While it is slightly invidious to suggest any one aspect of the uniformly excellent coverage for particular commendation, I think you are especially to be praised for acknowledging the diversity of opinions that existed, and still do, within the Church regarding…
Dear Editor, The so-called ‘silent majority’ will sleepwalk into a “post Catholic” (Ruairi Quinn quote) ‘liberalised’ Ireland unless they wake up and realise that they ARE a majority, and a majority that can make a huge difference to the direction Ireland is heading by letting their voices be heard. There is an election coming up…
Courtney McGrail