Dear Editor, Your recent front page on the Mercy on the Mall initiative in Shannon parish (IC 26/11/2015) should be an inspiration to other priests during this Year of Mercy. Having Confessions heard by priests in a shopping centre reminds me of a recent trip to New York when clergy were posted at subway stations…

Dear Editor, In relation to Fr Oliver Rafferty’s concerns about the content of the theology courses in St Patrick’s College (‘Maynooth rejects claim it pays ‘lip service’ to theology’ IC 03/12/2015). Msgr Hugh Connolly should not be placed in the position where he feels compelled to defend the college of which he is president.  My…

Dear Editor, For the first time in a long time I feel there is a bit of a positive buzz around the Church in Ireland, thanks to Pope Francis nominating the Year of Mercy. I was very heartened to read in The Irish Catholic (IC 26/11/2015) that most dioceses across the country have embraced the…

Dear Editor, I was fascinated to read ‘Mother Teresa’s dark night of the soul’ (IC 26/11/15). Of course, there is a close link with Ireland in that Blessed Mother Teresa came to the Loreto convent (now an Irish school) in Grange Road, Rathfarnham, as a novice in the late 1920s. As religious affairs correspondent of…

Dear Editor, The Catholic sacrament of matrimony comes to us from the non-Christian Latin word ‘matrimonium’, meaning the state or position of being a mother. The problem is that the word ‘marriage’ also comes from the Latin and, in my view, means much the same. I am not a lawyer and for all I know…

Dear Editor, Fr Rolheiser (IC 19/11/2015) praises certain saints for their “stunning self-confidence” and “very robust self-image” in comparison to the rest of us, “simply lack[ing] sufficient self-image and self-confidence to do what they did”. In doing so he, to my mind, creates too sharp a contrast between the “spiritual giants” and us non-giants. He…

Dear Editor, In your November 26 edition the question is asked, is there evidence that Irish people “punch above their weight” in paedophilia? There is no such evidence.  But the impression has been successfully given that paedophilia is a specially Irish or Catholic or clerical problem. It is not.  Catholics are partly to blame that such an impression…

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…