Dear Editor, I was very disappointed in scanty coverage by RTÉ on Philippines disaster; again RTÉ seems out of touch with international news compared to BBC, ITV and SKY News which give extensive coverage. Irish people are indebted to the thousands of Filipino nurses and care workers in our hospitals and health clinics. Of course the…
Category: Opinion
Defending the review of Philomena
Dear Editor, Fionn O’Grada took issue with my review of the film Philomena (IC 14/11/13) citing the review header ‘The Sins of the Mothers’ as apparent evidence of the fact that I ‘only’ saw sin in the fact that Philomena became pregnant outside marriage and not in the cruel way she and the other young…
Some Catholic colleges are not really Catholic
Dear Editor, As Open Days in a variety of third-level colleges approach, prospective students and their parents would do well to familiarise themselves with the real ethos of these colleges and the values that are being promoted in them and not rely on college propaganda. For instance, St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, which was established as…
Relics of the saints are not trophies
Dear Editor, As usual this week (7/11/13) I read The Irish Catholic and got a lot out of it. However I was surprised to read the letter from Margaret Ahearne denouncing relics. Her ignorance is appalling! The Church has venerated relics even from the time of the catacombs to give us hope in the work…
Relics are precious gifts from God
Dear Editor, I wish to respond to Margaret Ahearne’s letter regarding relics (CI 7/11/13). I am afraid she is very much mistaken that the use of relics is not biblical. In fact, the concept that contact with the bones or other objects once belonging to saints can facilitate miracles goes right back through the Gospel (where…
Dealing with media is a priority
Dear Editor, David Kelly (Letters IC 7/11/13) questions the need for the Church, as the body of Christ, to learn how to deal with the media and argues (quite correctly) that a bishop’s first duty is to his flock. It is to be argued, however, that Mr Kelly poses a dilemma for the modern bishop…
Facing the challenge to forgive
Dear Editor, Aubrey Malone titles his review of the film Philomena ‘The Sins of the Mothers’ (IC 31/10/13). He clearly sees sin only in the young mothers like Philomena Lee who were locked in the Magdalen Homes and not in how they were treated. He sees the film as an attack on ‘the Church’ which…
Surrogacy fragments the family
The Irish Times carried an extraordinary story recently of a woman who got pregnant on her lunchtime break, using anonymously donated sperm from the Danish firm, Cryos. What gave the story an added twist is that the woman is adopted, and had spent her whole life wondering “what it was like to look like somebody”.…
Are we missing something?
Globalisation is not something that is done to us, it reflects our choices, writes John Bruton
Challenge to re-engage young adults in faith
I had occasion to be in radio studios over the weekend with Oireachtas members from Fianna Fáil, the Labour party and Sinn Féin. One of the subjects was a poll conducted by the Sunday Independent and Today FM on the attitudes of Irish people in their 30s towards morality in general and religion in particular.…

Breda O'Brien
Michael Kelly