Dear Editor, The unimaginable has happened – same-sex marriage is now legal in Ireland, voted in by the Catholic population. This is surreal. This is despite the best herculean efforts on the ground by dedicated groups of lay people. However the timid instruction from the shepherds was very weak, with no mention of Jesus Christ and that…

Dear Editor, I am thankful to Archbishop Martin and the clergy who endeavoured to guide and instruct us in the run up to the referenda. Unfortunately the result in the marriage referendum wasn’t what many of us would have liked. We must now go forward in hope and trust and pray for our beloved country,…

Dear Editor, After the referendum result was announced the Archbishop of Dublin is quoted as saying that the Church needs “a reality check” and needs to ask if it has drifted away from young people. For decades in this country, the young people have not been fed the truth of our Faith but rather an…

Dear Editor, We in the Irish Catholic Church would do well to wake up, open our eyes, get a realistic view of each of the 26 dioceses, and begin by discussing the various ills and weaknesses that afflict them. And if we could take a leaf out of the late William Glasser’s ‘Reality Therapy’, it…

Dear Editor, Congratulations on your special issue of the paper (IC 21/05/2015) celebrating the life and legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero. The monsignor was an incredible inspiration and his beatification is a well-deserved, and long-time coming, recognition of his bravery and compassion in speaking out against violence and injustice, and spreading the Gospel message of…

Dear Editor, Along with many of your readers I am disappointed by the result of the marriage referendum. We face a period of uncertainty as this vote has its knock-on effects in our country’s laws. However, it was heartening to see the brave efforts of the ‘No Campaign’ to defend the meaning of marriage in…

Dear Editor, Writing as a priest, “may I express my astonishment and disappointment” with Dr John Murray in your ‘letter of the week’ of May 21. My first problem is one with his logic. He refers to Jesus teaching on marriage (Mark 10:1-12). The issue in Jesus’ time was with the interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1…

Dear Editor, For most of the 20th Century the Catholic Church ran, and its priests and nuns worked in, most of our schools and hospitals. The Church ran most of our charities and campaigned on behalf of the poor. Many priests were social workers as well as self-help providers of jobs. Fr McDyer helped found…

Dear Editor, May I through the medium of your newspaper congratulate all involved in the restoration and rededication of the iconic St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford. We all remember when the news went viral on Christmas morning 2009, when the devastating fire destroyed St Mel’s, but like the phoenix it has risen from the ashes…

Dear Editor, The judgment that Ashers Bakery acted in a discriminatory fashion by refusing to decorate a cake with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage” raises a terrifying spectre of a future where the facile slogan “Don’t like gay marriage? Don’t get one” seems but a fond memory. I do not understand how Judge Isobel Brownlie…