Dear Editor,  For a long time, prior to the referendum on same-sex marriage, the media, for the greater part, engaged in a thoroughly biased promotional exercise. Time and again it was stated that some 80% of the Irish people would vote in favour. Not once did I hear these statistics questioned, but they should have…

Dear Editor, I note Msgr Denis O’Callaghan laments the lack of hotel accommodation near Knock. He is probably unaware of the excellent Park Hotel, Kiltimagh, and the McWilliams Hotel in Claremorris, both less than 10 minutes drive from the Shrine. There are also many good bed and breakfast houses there. Hopefully, people will not be…

Dear Editor, Michael Healy (Letters, September 17, 2015) isn’t the only person who thinks that the priest greeting everyone twice at Mass is superfluous. In the sacristy of Clonskeagh church in Dublin, I once greeted the late curate, Fr Arthur Larkin, with “Good evening Father” and then, after a short pause, “Good evening Father” again. …

Dear Editor, As we approach next month’s Synod of Bishops on the family, one needs to be careful which side one chooses to take in all this. In relation to the Kasper proposal, Cardinal Kasper and others are putting forward a proposal for changes to allow divorced and ‘remarried’ Catholics to receive Holy Communion and…

Dear Editor, The news that there is an increase in the sale of abortion pills in Ireland was followed immediately by yet another demand for widening the provisions for legalised abortion here.  Unfortunately, however, just as with the GAA and the amateur status, we cannot have ‘a little’ payment of players; and no country has…

Dear Editor, Mary Kenny seems at sea with the details of the displacement of Germans from eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War and its aftermath (IC 17/9/15). Whereas many Germans and people of other nationalities fled red army advances towards the war’s end and immediately afterwards, the Allies decided to resettle…

Dear Editor, Thank you for your report on visitors to Longford Cathedral by Mags Gargan (IC 10/09/15), but I was disappointed that there was no mention of the ‘miraculous’ picture of the Holy Family which survived the devastating fire. At this time of satanic attacks on Catholic families, how heartening to know that The Holy…

Dear Editor, May I, through the medium of your paper, appeal to all priests to stop saying “Good morning” (or “Good evening”) immediately after saying “The Lord be with you”. “The Lord be with you” is a most sublime and wonderful greeting, calling on “The Holy One of Israel” to be present with every person…

Dear Editor, Fr Andrew McMahon’s September 10 article on confusion and Church communications during the marriage referendum helped shed valuable light on why the referendum was lost. It seems unfair, however, to blame the Archbishop of Dublin for claiming that he wanted to express his intention to vote ‘no’ through “the reasoned language of social…

Dear Editor, The National Eucharistic Congress begins at 10am on a Saturday and ends about 5pm Sunday. That leaves a lot of things for visitors to do. But is Knock the wrong location? Knock is basically a place for day visits only, since it has only one hotel, and that of 21 bedrooms, i.e. catering…