Dear Editor, I wish to congratulate Bishop Kevin Doran and Bishop Phoncie Cullinan on their recent statements on political church gate collections. I spent 50 years of my life in Australia and such collections would not be tolerated. The political parties were very fast to close the Vatican embassy and have no shame in holding…

Dear Editor, I was surprised to read in The Irish Catholic of 16/07/15 that church gate collections are still taking place in certain parts of the country. The blame for the fact that they are taking place must be shared between the political parties and churchgoers. They would not take place if churchgoers confronted the…

Dear Editor, I’ve read with interest David Quinn’s article on concerns expressed about the national seminary needing to be aired (IC 09/07/2015). On reflection, I welcome what appears to be a relatively balanced article. However, I was not entirely satisfied. I myself am a former seminarian and I’ve seen articles from another source that were…

Dear Editor, How sad to see one whole page of your usually balanced paper (and interesting book reviews), given over to taking back what little we had conceded in terms of confession and repentance for some of the negatives of our Church history – in the Crusades, Inquisition and Holocaust (IC 09/07/2015 ‘Pernicious lies exposed…