Dear Editor, I was interested to see how in calling for a secular state, Cardinal Marx drew a careful distinction between state and society (‘Facing the challenges for the Church’, IC 30/06/2016). Although state and society are not the same thing, too often we forget that the Irish State, like the Irish Church, is in…
Category: Opinion
Bethlehem Christians need pilgrim support
Dear Editor, I am very disappointed to see advertisements for pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 2017 staying in Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. The Christian community desperately need support at this time, much more than the tourist industry in Jerusalem. Surely tour operators should be made aware of this and ensure that pilgrims have time…
Lessons from history and geography
Dear Editor, To judge by Gabriel Kelly’s letter about the effects of Brexit (IC 30/06/2016), one might think the (primarily) English vote to leave the EU must have been done following a calculation that the peace in Northern Ireland that was so hard fought for is worth gambling with. Is it perhaps not more likely,…
Priority should be hospices, not forum charade
Dear Editor, The letter you published from Henry Quirke (IC 16/06/2016)) is very unfair to Mary Stewart. She did not “demonise” Ken Curtin, or accuse him of “condoning murder”. She simply pointed out that Mr Curtin should not have been surprised at the Church’s reaction (removing him from the rota of readers at Mass) to…
Meaningful parish faith development needed
Dear Editor, Greg Daly’s report on the findings of the survey The Future of Ireland II:Belonging and Community (‘One-third of Irish adults active in local church’ IC 16/06/2016) is a surprisingly good news story for our Church, even if the survey highlights that there is a significant variation in the responses of younger and older…
Musicians can deserve applause
Dear Editor, Shane Lehane goes too far in ‘Mass is not a performance that requires applause’ (IC 23/06/2016) when he says applause in Mass is both unacceptable and undignified. Clapping can get out of hand, but a po-faced determination to quash expressions of gratitude for our choirs and folk groups is hardly the way to…
The danger of retreating into being ‘beige Catholics’
The saints did not fall into the modern trap of letting particular worldly experiences ‘measure doctrine’, writes Editor Michael Kelly
Ireland should be broker between the UK and EU
“This is the time for Ireland to step up to the plate, show leadership and assume a greater role within the councils of Europe”, writes Mary Kenny
Time for a mature Church-State relationship
Proposals for religious orders to help tackle the housing shortage may hint at improved relations between Church and State, writes Greg Daly
Brexit and the future of the European project
We must not allow the decision of English voters to destroy what Europeans have built over 70 years of patient statesmanship, writes John Bruton