The loneliness of the long-distance believer
Dear Editor, Like so many of my friends, I find myself alone at weekly Mass in our small local church. Lately my granddaughter, who has recently made her First Holy Communion joins me; ‘girl Friday’ to my ‘Robinson Crusoe’, both cast adrift on our island of obligation, striving to endure in the faith. I explain that her witness is the best gift she can give her family and community. I stop short in saying that the future of the church may rest on her generation. How will they endure in the faith alone? They need to be assured that going to church and receiving the sacraments is an obligation for all, not just for grannies!
Wake up you parents! Your children will have God when they won’t have you, if they have a relationship with Him. This relationship must be nurtured from an early age and strengthened as they grow. Parents, please, give your children the things that will last; say prayers with them, speak to them about God, bring them to mass; you will not regret it.
Yours etc,
Bríd Ward
Inver, Co. Donegal
Christians in the West Bank and the Israeli viewpoint
Dear Editor, The recent article by Dr Toni Pyke is totally partisan, takes facts out of context and fails to give any Israeli perspective on the Gaza conflict.
Israel holds regular elections and the Arab population of 20% has the same economic, legal and political rights as Jews. However there has been no election in Gaza or the West Bank since 2005.
After the 1948 war about 800,000–850,000 Jews were displaced, fled, or were evicted from the Middle East and North Africa. Unlike the Palestinians they received no aid from the UN.
It is surely unprecedented that 48 years after this war the Palestinian “refugees” are still receiving aid from the UN. Unfortunately Hamas has used much of this aid to fund their own militia, build hundreds of miles of underground tunnels and to create their own armaments industry with help from Iran.
The war in Gaza started after about 1,200 people were killed, men, women and children, by Hamas. Approximately 251 people were taken hostage and brought into Gaza. It took Israel over two years of a war to eventually recover these hostages or their bodies.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only county there, where the Christian population is increasing. By the end of 2025, the figure had risen to approximately 184,200 Christians, about 1.9% of the population – increasing by 0.7%.
The Christian population of the West Bank is estimated at about 45,000–50,000 people, representing roughly 1–2% of the West Bank’s population of around 3 million.
In the Palestinian West Bank the Christian population has been decimated. The city of Bethlehem was once overwhelmingly Christian: Christians were about 84–85% of Bethlehem’s population in the 1920s and 1940s. By 2007 they had fallen to about 28%. By 2017 they represented roughly 10% of the wider population.
Yours etc,
Liam de Paor
Carrickane, Co. Cavan
Pushing ourselves and taking action for Palestine
Dear Editor, I recently read an article in your newspaper written by Dr Declan Hayes regarding the town Taybeh in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. I found it to be a moving and sobering piece. It certainly exhorts every individual among us to step up and make a difference! We are shown a wonderful example of the tireless efforts by Fr Bashar Fawadleh, assisted by a number of orders of nuns and indeed other Christian clergy. The odds are stacked against them holding their communities together and maintaining their presence and protective vigil of the Holy places where our faith was founded.
Are we really going to do nothing concrete? Perhaps I feel differently from Dr Hayes as I believe there is merit and value in the persistent protests and voices chanting. This emphasises that ordinary people are willing to raise their voices in all weathers and demand to be heard by those in positions of power. But he would certainly be right to suggest that words alone are not enough. I would endorse his call to action! Every one of us, who purports to be Christian or humanitarian, needs to actually take action! We must make an effort to find out how we can be involved – volunteering, fundraising, lobbying or taking part in a Pilgrimage to Palestine. All can participate in some way. I have become involved in a twinning project at parish level near to where I live.
If we all push ourselves a little, then our combined efforts will not go unnoticed by those who have power to push further!
Further information can be sought from your local Solidarity Group such as Christians4palestine.org, Gaels against Genocide, and Ireland Palestine Solidarity Committee (IPSC).
Why not have a conversation with your local parish priest, as I did, and suggest that the parish should explore twinning with a parish in Palestine?
Yours etc,
- A. Malone
Belfast, Co. Antrim
Becoming disciples of Jesus at an early age
Dear Editor, I am happy that you have revived interest in synodality for The Irish Catholics. I am a priest of the Diocese of Nelson in Western Canada and I want to share my small experience.
I have understood synodality, in the vision of Pope Francis, as inspired by the Holy Spirit to renew the mission of the Church for the advantage of our times – to bring forward a united world (Matthew 18:20). In this, all the parishes are called upon to deliver “disciples” who will be “participants” in living the Gospel in their homes, professions and everyday life. I have found this to be the most amazing development over my 59 years of priesthood. I take every opportunity: at Masses, funerals, weddings, Baptisms and most of all in Confessions: asking everyone to become disciples of Jesus in real human life; putting his love in their world, starting in their homes and continuing everywhere – day after day. A man with Parkinson’s disease has become a disciple of Jesus to his care givers.
All this leads to a new ‘Communion’ among parishioners. All the children in our Catholic schools and catechism classes I visit, asking them to put love in their homes everyday. They become involved in the mission of the Church at an early age. Can you imagine what would happen if all the Churches become ‘partners’ – in putting Christ’s love in the world everyday.
Lastly, there will be no vocations to priesthood and religious life in Ireland until we first have committed disciples in our parishes and schools. Also no one should be allowed into decision making in the Church until they have first lived as disciples of Jesus.
Yours etc,
Fr Harry Clarke
Diocese of Nelson, Canada
Fueling the impression of independent journalism
Dear Editor, I found Fr Gaughan’s review of Miriam O’Callaghan’s new book somewhat worrying, mainly because it seemed to fuel the impression of independent journalism in the Irish media.
A difficulty here is the confusion of individual popularity with the profession of journalism, and the reach of that confusion well beyond the metropolitan centre, helped, often, by the media personality’s ancestral roots in this or that remote region.
Indeed, the leaders of the ‘blame the Church for everything’ cell of Irish journalists feature big names who were born and raised in the provinces.
Too many blocking mechanisms continue to operate against the fixing of priorities to reflect the good of people. Self-review of mechanisms such as feedback arrangements are thin or non-existent; likewise of the cancel culture dictating zero human engagement for people who question our many holy cows.
It was significant that the Holy Father, in his trip to Spain recently, stood independent of forums such as parliaments and courts of justice. In the Cortes (Parliament) he spoke explicitly of abortion, to the obvious discomfort of the Members. Televisual coverage here in Ireland seemed to leave that bit on the cutting-room floor.
The literary festivals which Fr Gaughan and I attend became the substitutes (in effect blocking mechanisms) for the round tables and town halls which exist in more mature democracies. They succumbed easily to a card filled with media people, replicating too often the prime-time formula of division and adversarial debate.
In better days you had Groucho Marx in an interview with William Buckley on main channel television, and see how they praise each other and disagree in different parts of the conversation. Unthinkable now.
Yours etc,
Gerald O’Carroll
Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
Issue of climate change missing from pre-synodal meetings
Dear Editor, Thank you for publishing so much on the upcoming National Synod in October. The information revived my interest and enthusiasm after a period of quiet. It is good to know the names and short background of participants, the title of the seven topics which have emerged to be discussed, and the names of the Bishops in attendance. Fr Dorr reminded us in his letter to the editor of the huge issues in the wider world also, and hopes, like myself, they too will get a hearing at the synod. If not, the fear is that we live in a Church–centred world.
I was shocked by the fact that the huge issue of climate change/care for our common home (Earth) was not one of the seven topics emerging from the pre-synodal meetings. For twenty years now scientists have been warning us of our human contribution to the warming of our planet. Vatican II reminded us to discern the “signs of the times”, and surely if future generations are to survive we need to be in conversation and action re our lifestyles today. Presently we don’t have to look far to see its effects — heatwaves at home and Europe burning. And on the other side of the world subsistence farmers are coping with poor harvests because of the effect of climate change. The Bishops and Trócaire have done valiant work over the years with pastoral letters, booklets (Care of the Earth) and much more. We thank them for their efforts.
In conclusion, the above topic — ‘Climate Change/Care of the Earth’ could be woven into some of the topics already chosen e.g. “healing” our relation with the Earth, or “belonging” to our only home.
Yours etc,
Mary Maher
Thurles, Co. Tipperary