Dear Editor, Your lead story ‘Boost as research reveals Irish are “astonishingly religious”’ (IC 9/11/2017) was a real shot in the arm, especially given the constant moaning and gloating we hear about our Church being in decline. Sure, the picture’s not great – in many ways the European Social Survey figures seem to tell us that of 18 countries across a continent where religion is in decline, Ireland is just doing less terribly than almost all the rest.
This seems undeniable, but I think we already knew that the Irish Church and the Church across Europe are struggling, with other Christian bodies – the Anglicans, say, or the Lutherans or Methodists – barely on life support.
What is new, though, is the notion that despite everything, despite the pressures, despite the seductions, despite the constant drone of commercial secularism that is the air we seem to breathe nowadays, even then the Church in Ireland can’t be written off.
Perhaps the most encouraging detail in your report was Prof. Stephen Bullivant’s comment that Ireland’s youth, even if irreligious by the standards of their parents and grandparents, are still remarkably religious when compared to their European peers.
This is the base from which the Irish Church can build for the future – the coming Synod of Bishops on young people may be not a second too late!
Yours etc.,
Barbara Madden,
Swords, Co. Dublin.
Good intentions don’t always pass to future generations
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny (IC 21/10/17) described some of the founding figures of the movement that became known as first-wave feminism as pro-life and pro-motherhood. This group included Josephine Butler, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. While their efforts are seen by many to have put forward a challenge to chauvinistic attitudes at the time, I think the legacy of their ideas and movement has given rise to the feminism we see today which clamors for access to abortion as part of the framework of equality with men. It is a litmus test for membership of almost every single feminist political organisation.
Every woman who has considered an abortion due to the obstacle the baby represents to her career, can trace that idea to the central tenet of feminism – that the only differences between men and women are accidents of biology, history and social conditioning and that they should achieve whatever status or rank a man attains in society.
The introduction of contraception was brought about by feminists as a tool of liberation from childcare and the domestic scene.
Today, abortion is mainly used as a back-up contraception. Many of the early suffragettes and feminists would likely not have approved of abortion but pro-abortion feminists of today certainly approved of the social changes those women brought about. Though many exalted motherhood and children, the changes of the time brought women further away from the domestic scene, from motherhood and from children. Sooner or later, these things would get in the way in the assertion of equality with men, denying any special roles, natural differences or mutual interdependence between the sexes.
Many early feminists may have had good intentions, but good intentions are difficult to pass on to future generations.
Yours, etc.,
Mark Hickey,
Irishtown, Dublin 4
A mobile solution?
Dear Editor, After visiting a friend in Direct Provision at Lissywoollen, Athlone a few weeks ago, I have been wondering whether a temporary solution to the homeless crisis would be Mobile Homes attached to a centre catering for the social needs of the residents?
The day I visited Lissywollen, it was freezing cold and wet but my friend’s mobile home was warm, inviting and clean, and a place offering privacy.
Yours etc.,
Mrs Judith Leonard,
Raheny, Dublin 5.
Pray for the Lord’s Supper
Dear Editor, Fr Pat Seaver’s letter (IC 26/10/17) states, “I am constantly disappointed at the way the ‘Our Father’ is usually recited during Mass”. The Our Father recited at Mass is Thomas Cranmer’s (1490-1556) poor translation. No Bible uses the words ‘trespass’ or ‘trespasses’ (see Mt. 6:9-13 and/or Lk. 11:2-4).
In the Latin language the words are ‘debita’ and ‘debitoribus’ and in the Spanish ‘deudas’ (debt) and ‘deudores’ (indebted) are used.
We ask God not to lead us into temptation, when we know that he leads us out of temptation. We can find our own ways into temptation. We should ask not to be put to the test. We continue to use archaic words like ‘thee’, ‘thou’, ‘shall’, instead of ‘you’ and ‘will’. All honours and glory should be, ‘Are yours’ not ‘is yours’. Finally, God is not the font of all holiness but the source of all holiness as Satan is the source of all evil. We should pray for the Lord’s Supper and not the supper of the lamb.
Yours, etc.,
Liam Duffy,
Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Higgins is anti-Trump
Dear Editor, The byline at the end of the article ‘Trump renders language meaningless’ (IC 2/11/2017) states that Michael W Higgins is Distinguished Professor of Catholic Thought at Sacred Heart University, etc. It could alternatively have said “Michael W. Higgins does not like President Trump”.
Yours etc.,
Sean Grace,
Malahide, Co. Dublin .
Diagnoses of ‘fatal’ are not always correct
Dear Editor, We would like to put on record our appreciation of the statement from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, who have pointed out that labels such as “fatal fetal impairments” and “incompatible with life” should not be used as grounds for abortion.
The Committee noted that diagnoses made in regard to preborn babies with disabilities were frequently incorrect in regard to describing conditions as ‘fatal’, and added that justifying abortion on disability grounds was a violation of the human rights guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We are parents whose babies were diagnosed with severe disabilities such as anencephaly and trisomy 13. Our children’s lives were severely impacted by these life-limiting conditions, but they were held and cherished for every moment, and they brought us nothing but love.
In 2015, we held a conference at the UN in Geneva for policymakers and medical experts, where parents explained how hurtful and misleading phrases such as ‘incompatible with life’ and ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ were, and argued that all children had a right to life, however severe their disability.
We asked that these labels be recognised as a form of discrimination because it undermined the humanity of our babies, and misled parents very often nudging them towards abortion. We are delighted that the UN Committee has now rejected these labels.
As the Committee pointed out, even if the diagnosis of a life-limiting condition was correct, the label “perpetuates notions of stereotyping disability as incompatible with a good life”.
It is interesting to note that the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are now in conflict with other UN bodies who are pushing abortion to be legalised on disability grounds – but that it is the Disability Committee that is actually sticking to the letter of international law.
It is our view that a disability should not take away a child’s right to life, and that disability rights advocates must be listened to. We believe that all children are compatible with love.
Yours etc.,
Tracy Harkin,
Every Life Counts, Dublin 1.
Say it to the people
Dear Editor, Your series of articles on Martin Luther (IC 26/10/2017) was excellent, impressive. In the same edition, Fr Pat Seaver sent in a letter referring to the lack of conviction of his parishioners in reciting prayers. I have no doubt he accurately describes what was before him. However, he himself was appointed to preach and teach, and to challenge. I would have thought this would be done by direct and personal communication with his parishioners and not by letters to the papers about them.
Yours etc.,
J. Monaghan,
Dunboyne, Co. Meath.