Dear Editor, In recent years Ireland has gone through a lot of changes, sadly we seem to be losing our Christian faith to some degree and this may well continue. Pope Francis has called a special holy year dedicated to the Divine Mercy from the end of 2015 to the end of 2016 and there…

Dear Editor, Like many Catholics I’m sure, I was shocked to read that the Government has withdrawn funding to Accord marriage preparation courses (IC 14/05/2015). Whether or not it was connected to the marriage referendum, it was an incredible move from a Government that has been preaching about the importance of marriage over the last…

Dear Editor, A certain amount of sympathy must be extended to some priests of the Irish Catholic Church. Many may have felt that, through deeper and long-term thought, they have lost their vocation, and that the Catholic Church is not for them. A few of these may feel that they are no longer fitted for…

Dear Editor, Writing as a Catholic theologian, may I express my astonishment and disappointment at those theologians and prominent Catholics who support a ‘yes’ vote. In every case that I have read or heard, none of these people has referred to the actual teaching of Jesus on marriage (see Mark 10:1-12). Jesus’ teaching is surely…

Dear Editor, Dr Martin Mansergh’s excellent article (IC 30/04/2015) highlighted the importance of the people’s right to be consulted on all matters requiring constitutional change. Irish citizens are indeed fortunate to have a Constitution that requires such consultation. This point is reinforced if we reflect on the recent French experience. In France, a substantial grassroots…

Dear Editor, So far in this marriage referendum we have been told that it is about equality and redefining marriage. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that it is about abolishing marriage as we know it and leaving civil partnership as the only available option. Currently, in Irish law a marriage does not…

Dear Editor, On March 24 all UCD students (over 20,000) opened their accounts to an email sent from the UCD Students Union with an invite to attend a celebratory pro-same-sex marriage wedding party. On top of this, there is nowhere on campus you can go without being confronted by ‘vote yes’ propaganda, which the Students…

Dear Editor, I find it very difficult to understand how Cathal O’Sullivan (Letters IC 30/04/2015) believes the complementarity argument is overstated. Gender quotas in almost every walk of life – politics, business, State boards – are universally now regarded as a laudable good. Is parenting the only area where the role of a man and a…

Dear Editor, I cannot find anything in the Bible in its statements on marriage which would support or give religious freedom to vote for same-sex marriage. Right through it all, it is taken for granted or as evident that marriage is between a man and a woman. In the light of this, it will surprise…

Dear Editor, When the Government says this referendum is about civil marriage and has nothing to do with religious marriage, what is really being said is: We don’t care about centuries of tradition or philosophical or theological wisdom, and we don’t care about what God has to say about human affairs, as made known through his…