Dear Editor, In the November 19 issue there was an article stating that 19 priests a month are dying in Ireland. There is an evident decline in students for the priesthood which will have huge consequences on parish life. Many solutions are being proposed to respond to the pastoral needs of the people such as…

Dear Editor, Re Cathal Barry’s article ‘Taking Pope Francis to the classroom’ (IC 19/11/2015), the lesson itself as described was significantly successful in most aspects. A lesson on the environment and contemporary issues was conducted in the context of Catholic values. Under this approach the issue/subject at hand is explored without violence to its innate…

Dear Editor, In the course of the interview with Mary McAleese ‘There’s something about Mary’ (IC 12/11/2015) she stated “My views are founded emphatically in the Gospel”, before going on to explain in beautiful language that her faith in Christ is “the essence of my being”, “the love of Christ, his offer of mercy to…

Dear Editor, I read with interest Martin O’Brien’s interview with Mary McAleese in your November 12 edition. He was high in his praise and admiration of her. We all admired her many good qualities, her courage and determination, her intelligence, her eloquence and not least her commitment to build peace between the two communities she had such…

Dear Editor, How many priests in Ireland have preached about the Pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si’? How many bishops have urged the priests in their dioceses to speak about the encyclical? How many parishes have devoted time to reflecting on and acting on Laudato Si’? Just curious. Yours etc., Fr Joe McVeigh, Lisbellaw, Co. Fermanagh.

Dear Editor, I have some concerns upon reading Phil Lawler’s review of the film Spotlight in his report ‘A feisty reporter’s book corrects for the Hollywood bias of Spotlight’ (IC 19/11/2015). Whatever about the agenda and hypocrisy of The Boston Globe there can be no lessening of the reality that the leadership of the Catholic…

Dear Editor, I do not understand why major western powers sell military equipment and arms to Saudi Arabia. These very weapons conveniently end up in the hands of ISIS who use them to kill and butcher Christians and fellow Muslims. From a Christian perspective putting arms sales to Saudi Arabia before the lives of innocent Christians and Muslims is just morally wrong and can never be justified. It is sickening and must stop…

Dear Editor, Regarding Catholics in second marriages etc. not receiving the Eucharist but identifying themselves as public sinners (sexual sinners) by crossing their arms before the priest, let us introduce a new practise alongside this. Let all celebrants at Mass who are in a current sexual relationship, heterosexual or otherwise, refuse, in public, to take…

Dear Editor, Ray D’Arcy’s blood was boiling as he listened to David Quinn on the Clare Byrne Show. Maybe now he understands how many of us felt, when he allowed the views of Richard Dawkins and Ruaírí Quinn to go unchallenged on his own recent programmes. Yours etc., Brendan Daly, Longford, Co. Longford.

Dear Editor, I found Martin O’Brien’s article, ‘There something about Mary’ (IC 12/11/2015) most intriguing. Mary McAleese describes herself as being “more comfortable with the chaos of debate than in the festering suffocation of silence”. These are two extremes. Pope Benedict XVI described reason as one of the two wings – the other being faith…