Dear Editor, Am I alone in feeling irritated by the habit of some within the Church to use terms like ‘special Mass’ to try and add emphasis to a particular celebration of the Eucharist? One can, perhaps, forgive the error if it is used by journalists in secular newspapers, but it’s very disappointing to see…

Dear Editor, I was more than surprised to find a full page given over to Lucinda Creighton in your edition dated January 15. While Ms Creighton’s claim to fame, for pro-life people, is undoubtedly her principled stand in July 2014 when she did what few politicians will do, viz. keep their word, I cannot see how…

Dear Editor, What an inspiring letter on devotion to St Joseph from John Cleary (IC 15/01/2015). I’m afraid St Joseph has been somewhat neglected in our devotions. I actually took his name, Josephine, at Confirmation but have to admit that it is only in recent years that I have come to acknowledge him and to…

Dear Editor, Cathal Barry (IC 08/01/2015) reports the proposal of the Forum on Diversity’s Professor Coolahan that Catholic schools be financially penalised for not takings a proactive stance in handing over Catholic schools to secularists. His proposed discrimination is most alarming. Two years ago the Department for Education undertook a massive patronage survey in the…

Dear Editor, Your editorial (“One Church but a very different Catholicism”, IC 08/01/2015) was an important event. To read in a Catholic paper that “History proves that, when the Church lusts after political and secular power, the Gospel is soon relegated”, is to pinpoint the dilemma upon whose horns the Church has been impaled ever…

Dear Editor, Your front page article of January 8, (“Church same-sex marriage campaign under question”) tells of the letter from the Irish Episcopal Conference on marriage that received little attention from the laity, or even the clergy for that matter. The reason was simply that not enough copies were circulated to reach more people. Of course, the…

Dear Editor, I enjoy reading Mary Kenny’s article every week in your esteemed newspaper. She is a rock of sense and a fountain of knowledge. But I suppose there is no such thing as absolute perfection. Nollaig na mná? (IC 08/01/2015) Mary, mo náire thú. Tuiseal ginideach, uimhir iolra of bean, as you learned at school. I like to climb…

Dear Editor, It was interesting to read Peter Costello’s timeline of some philanthropic Irish millionaires and their laudable generous contribution to Irish society (Book Reviews IC 08/01/2015). There were possibly many smaller, and possibly more personally impactful, acts of generosity going on that also need to be lauded. Take the case of Canon Molloy –…