Dear Editor, A leaked Irish cabinet document has revealed that the Government expects the number of Irish abortions to rise similar to other countries, after abortion legalisation. In the UK, the number of abortions increased by over 600% in the first five years after the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act. One in five UK babies now die by abortion. 92% of UK Down babies now die by abortion.
Our doctors, nurses and all hospital staff now face being bullied and coerced by our state-sponsored pro-abortion lobby, into aiding and abetting abortion on demand, at risk of prosecution should they conscientiously refuse, as now happens in Britain, Sweden and elsewhere.
A memorandum sent to the cabinet this summer says the exact levels of abortion cannot be predicted, but it adds that, “it is expected that, as in other jurisdictions, an increase in the expected numbers could be anticipated in the early years”. Individual ministers who campaigned against the Eighth should now publicly give their own future Irish abortion death rate estimate. After all, this figure will be the deadly results of their own vocal anti-Eighth campaigning. So tell us your future projected abortion death-rate, would you, Taoiseach and Ministers?
Yours etc.,
Oliver Maher,
Harold’s Cross,
Dublin 6W.
What of Archbishop Viganò’s credibility?
Dear Editor, Your article ‘The Viganò File…interrogating the evidence’ (IC 6/9/2018) should be praised for sticking to the facts of the recent attack on Pope Francis by a former papal nuncio.
One aspect that could do with more attention is the question of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s own credibility. The last fortnight has revealed him to be someone who attends conferences where the Pope’s Catholicism is called into question, who lied to Pope Benedict to justify staying in Rome, and who sought to quash an investigation into an American bishop’ sexual misconduct.
Other things have been claimed of him, but one thing seems clear: he is not somebody whose claims should ever be taken at face value. That’s not to say that they’re utter nonsense, but they need very careful examination.
Unfortunately, it seems far too few are willing to do this, and I have been amazed by the number of people who respond to evidence about how flimsy the archbishop’s statement is or how incredible he is as a witness by saying this is what whistleblowers are like and what we should expect his statement to be like.
We should expect the former nuncio’s statement to be utterly contrary to known reality, to be illogical, to make hysterical claims based on assumptions, to omit such basic details as when sanctions were supposedly imposed or supposedly lifted, to be lacking in any supporting evidence, and so we should regard all these failures making it more believable?
We should be inclined to trust the former nuncio because of his prior record of lying to a Pope, trying to obstruct an abuse investigation, and associating with people who have made their opposition to Pope Francis all too clear?
Are we to treat vices as virtues too? Have people lost their minds?
Yours etc.,
Gabriel Kelly,
Drogheda,
Co. Louth.
We sinners need Francis
Dear Editor, It was very obvious the people of Ireland were joyful in their welcome for Pope Francis. They beheld Pope Francis in his true light as vicar of Christ on earth: in his humility and very happy demeanour but also frail and imperfect in his words.
Christ chose faulty people as his first bishops to bring Good News to us in this chaotic world. God bless and protect Pope Francis. We sinful human beings need him very much.
Yours etc.
Fr Con McGillicuddy,
Raheny, Dublin 5.
True Catholics cannot conform upon demand
Dear Editor, While I accept and abhor the horrific events that have occurred at the hands of those especially called by God to shepherd his people, I am still a Catholic but – unlike Mary McAleese or certain Government ministers – one without a voice in the media. Nonetheless, my trust remains in Christ and the belief in His words that “the gates of the underworld can never overpower” his Church.
For the last number of years there have been calls for the Church and State to be separated. It has happened. So now I respectfully ask, for example, the LGBT community and others to stop calling for reform. The Church can never adapt herself to the ways of the world. Wake up and live a life in Christ, or do your own thing and hope in his mercy.
For all my sisters and brothers in Christ who are Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, I call on you all to step down if you have voted for the annihilation of the unborn child in preference to the woman’s right to choose.
The Church does not accept abortion so be true to yourselves and step aside. Leave the Church to do what she must do and continue on your merry way in the secular society that we live in today. While you have many voices, who are given tremendous coverage in the media to defend and make demands for your way of thinking, I am just one of the many practising silenced Catholics who love their Church despite the atrocities that have occurred.
Although devastating to each and every one of us we still trust in Jesus. The Church must continue to obey the commands of Christ and cannot conform to suit a secular society. Back off, live your lives and let us live ours.
Yours etc.,
Bernadette O’Connor,
Kilcloon, Co. Meath.
Magical mystery tour was unnecessary
Dear Editor, Thank you for your wonderful commemorative souvenir edition celebrating the historic visit of Pope Francis to Ireland. It is a pity that the planning for the visit did not come up to the same high standard and had such a negative effect on the attendance at the Phoenix Park. Many buses dumped country folk on the outskirts of the city and expected them to walk a 16km (10 miles) round trip to the Mass. The driver of our bus distributed tickets for a non-existent shuttle. No congratulations are due for this bit of deception.
Yours etc.,
Thomas Mooney,
Rathnapish, Co. Carlow.
Cornerstone well laid
Dear Editor, I offer my heartiest congratulations on the new Cornerstone section which made its debut in The Irish Catholic last week. What a wonderful idea – a section for those of us who smell like sheep, who don’t have degrees in theology and who aren’t much interested in the politics of the Vatican!
The promise of Cornerstone’s editor, Eoin Walsh, of “features relating to Scripture, Sacraments and service, as well as shining a spotlight on vibrant pastoral ideas being realised in parishes around the country”, is indicative of welcome additions to your newspaper.
I was heartened by Donal Harrington’s insistence that parish councils are not the right place for parishioners to get together and see “where they were going as a parish”. While parish councils can provide a valuable role in the maintenance of a parish, moving it into mission-mode requires a broader input – it’s an area which needs a lot of ideas by a lot of people.
I particularly liked the feature on a saint (last week it was St Ita) and the ‘Parents’ Prayer a Day for Your Children’ – what a clever feature.
I have made Cornerstone the cornerstone of my weekly reading of The Irish Catholic. Bravo!
Yours etc.,
Declan Rankin,
Donnycarney, Dublin 9.
Is there no plan already?
Dear Editor, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s call for parishes to find concrete ways of reflecting on how they might renew the Irish Church (IC 6/9/2018) is welcome, but in some ways puzzling. Is the archbishop saying that the clergy, or at least the hierarchy, does not know what should be done? Is he admitting that Dublin hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of Church dynamism over the last decade or so, such that even after hosting 2012’s International Eucharist Congress and 2018’s World Meeting of Families the institutional Church doesn’t see a way forward?
Yours etc.,
Bernadette Quigley,
Limerick.
