Dear Editor, I grew up hearing the name Paddy Ruschitzko. I never knew then that he was the son of a Polish father and an Irish mother. I also remember hearing that he captained the Laois team that beat Kilkenny in the 1949 Leinster final, playing left half-back where he marked the legendary Jimmy Langton.…

Dear Editor, I was in Rome in 1960 when Archbishop Walsh of Tuam contacted Msgr Dominic Conway, Spiritual Director at the Irish College, to arrange for a new set of statues for the Shrine at Knock. It was an exciting challenge and I was delighted to join him on a trip to Carrara in the…

Dear Editor, The international abortion provider Planned Parenthood has been caught on camera, by investigative reporters, offering aborted baby body parts for sale. By any measure, this massive human rights scandal is a news story. Not in our Irish media it seems, who have studiously ignored and buried Planned Parenthood’s activity. The Irish Family Planning…

Dear Editor, In the article on Hiroshima in the August 13 edition of The Irish Catholic (World of Books), I was disappointed that the miracle which saved the group of priests who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped was not mentioned. The presbytery was demolished, but the priests were not affected and suffered no…

Dear Editor, I am going on 95 years and looking at the sad stories that are being discussed in our world today, I want to remind Catholics of our wonderful past over 2,000 years and the dictators that tried to undermine our Church. In my time Stalin got into power and immediately got rid of…

Dear Editor, Educate Together CEO Paul Rowe claims that giving preference to children who live in a school’s catchment area could be unfair to non-Catholic children from further away (IC 27/08/2015 ‘Divesting Catholic schools could result in segregation’). Does he not see the irony in this? ‘First come, first served’ admission policies, as favoured by…

Dear Editor, In my opinion I do not think seminaries are necessary at all. Surely any aspiring priest could go to an institute three nights a week to learn biblical studies and liturgical matters, while remaining in his employment. Furthermore, when Jesus sent out the Twelve Apostles to evangelise the world they did not go…

Dear Editor, The heading to David Quinn’s article (IC 06/08/2015 ‘Priests and people alike will have to ‘interfere’ in politics) tells us that “the current retreat from politics means that the bishops have no vision of the common good to offer”.  Yet, the much-lauded recent papal social encyclical says that individual fulfilment is at the…

Dear Editor, Colm Keaveney hit the nail on the head with regard to school patronage last week. His critique of the ongoing debate, which Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin described not so long ago as a ‘phoney’ war, is all the more interesting considering he is the former chairman of the Labour Party. Mr Keaveney’s…

Dear Editor, We all recognise that parents today are at their wits end trying to discover how to prepare their children for the runaway world of modern technology and its messages. To see, hear, speak, bully and act any old way that wins longed-for popularity whatever the cost to others, is termed ‘openness’. Of course…