Dear Editor, “Church urged to include divorced and remarried Catholics in Eucharist” (IC 01/10/2015). This is a rubbish headline and it wouldn’t be a first in The Irish Catholic as it panders to the ‘have your cake and eat it’ brigade. No one better than Pope Benedict XVI to cut through such baloney with crystal…
Category: Letters
Papal trip to Ireland should include Matt Talbot shrine
Dear Editor, Your front page story in last week’s The Irish Catholic (08/10/2015) focused on a possible papal visit to Ireland in 2018 and the places that may be included in his itinerary. If he were to come he should also visit the Shrine of Matt Talbot. This was actually included in John Paul II’s…
Christmas always comes early
Dear Editor, The other day I saw one of the first Christmas ads on television, and I thought, “Christmas is here already!” Well, actually this may be closer to the truth than we may think. Celebrating Christmas on December 25 and citing the true date of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) birth in the Jewish /Hebrew calendar are…
Right to life of unborn
Dear Editor, Are the people who marched for abortion in Dublin recently saying that they had no right to life when they were in their mother’s wombs? Yours etc., Noel Mc Keown OP, Newry, Co. Down.
Popularity of Francis should not reflect badly on other Popes
Dear Editor, An article in The Irish Catholic (01/10/2015) titled “The optimistic conservatism of Pope Francis,” outlined the positive effect Pope Francis is having on the world. We have been through a period of such shame in the Church that we all rejoice in his present popularity. However, it is distressing when praise of Pope…
What is the point of the synod?
Dear Editor, Am I alone in wondering what is the point of the Synod on the Family? The media sells it as a guise of finding pastoral solutions to the question of Holy Communion and divorced and remarried persons. The ability to receive Holy Communion is determined by being in a state of grace. One…
Discernment and vocation
Dear Editor, I particularly liked the piece by Gavan Kerrr on discernment and vocation in The Irish Catholic on September 24. It reminded me of the book Priestly Vocation by John Blowick, co-founder with Bishop Galvin, of the Society of St Columbanus (now based at Dalgan Park Navan.) Fr Blowick’s book was essentially based on…
Parishes should offer to house homeless
Dear Editor, As the homelessness crisis intensifies with another unnecessary death on the streets of Dublin I suggest, following Pope Francis’ suggestion regarding the current refugee crisis, that every Christian parish in Ireland would either house a homeless person or adopt such a person by providing decent accommodation for them. The professionals in all the…
Sportsmen of faith are great role models
Dear Editor, Robbie Henshaw’s admission that he says a “quick prayer” before a match may warrant a comment in your paper (IC 24/09/2015), but while anybody can say a prayer, it would have been more impressive if he expressed a faith commitment similar to that of Ulster/Ireland player, Andrew Trimble or Dublin’s Ger Brennan. To…
Sneers against the synod will not help reform
Dear Editor, Mary McAleese has received plenty of coverage for her most recent attacks on the Synod of Bishops, just as last year when she claimed the idea of the Church’s bishops advising the Pope on family life was “completely bonkers”. Her sneers at the idea of the Pope seeking the advice of celibate males…

Courtney McGrail