Dear Editor, Your article on bullying in the Church is welcome for its honesty about this disturbing problem (IC 11/06/2015). I am a recent convert to the Church from Anglicanism and I have had experience of bullying at the hands of two clergymen in my former denomination first in England and, later, in Northern Ireland.…

Dear Editor, Many people in Ireland, for various reasons, no longer practice the Catholic faith. Others are lukewarm or gone private. They are ashamed to speak out or defend their religion except with people of like-mind. ‘Normality’ today is anything but – it is a new culture driven by powerful advertising, maybe, better recognised as…

Dear Editor, Dr Janina Lyons (Letters 11/06/2015) mourns the result of the same-sex marriage referendum and observes that of those who voted yes surely a number were older Mass-going Catholics. She believes that many did so because they thought it was a kind and loving thing to do for their gay family members and friends,…

Dear Editor, I echo the demand for the truth made by the priests calling for the British government to release documents and order an independent investigation in to state collusion in killings in the North (IC 18/06/2015). It is now generally accepted that collusion did happen, but was it actually a government strategy and just…

Dear Editor, Thank you for the consistent, clear and courageous leadership that was given to your readers during the referendum campaign. This was certainly not granted by everyone. Yours etc., Mrs Judith Leonard, Raheny, Dublin 5.  

Dear Editor, The Amnesty International report, which calls for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution (which recognises the equal right to life of mother and baby) and for the decriminalisation of abortion, is further proof that the organisation is no longer a human rights defender. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration…

Dear Editor, The catastrophic result of the recent referendum is paradoxically a wonderful opportunity to enlighten Irish Catholic life. I would like to make a specific suggestion that the teachings of John Paul II on the Theology of the Body be an excellent source material. By extension this would lead to discussing the whole meaning…

Dear Editor, The result of the recent referendum in Ireland has devastated me and everyone I have spoken to about it. I am Irish born and for the first time in my life I am ashamed of my country. On the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the college where I teach had a…

Dear Editor, Some secularists seem keen to curb conscience in public life. They would like to silence the vital voice of God within us. What did great thinkers have to say? According to Albert Einstein “conscience supersedes the authority of the law of the state”. Mahatma Gandhi insisted “in matters of conscience the law of…

Dear Editor, Ireland woke up the world on May 22. Two-thirds of voters gave a resounding “yes” to legalise marriage equality. Health minister, Leo Varadker, called it a vote for “liberty, equality and love”. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin named it part of the ongoing “social revolution,” demanding “a reality check” for the Church. It suggested wider…