Dear Editor, I disagree with the view of Bro. Richard Hendrick, OFM Cap., that mindfulness is part of the Christian tradition. (‘Call for mindfulness to be made mainstream in the Irish Church’, IC 03/08/2017). One comes as one is “in the present moment” to Christian prayer.
However, neither the Buddhist nor the Hindu traditions relate to a transcendent God.
True to their Eastern origins, in the West, mindfulness uses the breath and Hindu-based contemplative practices use the sound of a prayer word, to aid the closing down of the faculties of the mind. By contrast in Christian prayer the whole person, mind and heart, is involved in a loving relationship of dialogue with God who is ‘other’ or greater than oneself.
Carmelite mystic St Teresa of Avila frequently cautioned against closing down the faculties of the mind. In The Interior Castle, she points out that, what is most essential is that one is mindful of God’s honour and glory and forget oneself and she questions how a person could do this if they close off the intellect and desires (4th Mansion Ch 3 V6).
Later she speaks of it being a great mistake, however spiritual one may be, not to keep before one’s mind the humanity of Jesus Christ, his passion and life (6th Mansion, Ch 7, Introduction).
Marking the 500th anniversary of her birth, Pope Francis, on March 28, 2015 spoke of Christ’s humanity being central to St Teresa’s experience of prayer.
Prayer for her was continuous dialogue with God, he said, adding that such an experience is available to everyone, because it consists simply in “a relationship of friendship – with him whom we know loves us” (Life, 8, 5).
Eastern-based practices, by their nature, preclude dialogue in “a relationship of friendship”.
Yours etc.,
Eileen Gaughan,
Strandhill,
Sligo.
Targeting of unborn Downs Syndrome children
Dear Editor, Niamh Uí Bhriain (IC 27/07/2017) wrote about the “inspiring, amazing Karen Gaffney”, the first person with Down Syndrome to receive an honorary doctorate for her achievements. The article made reference to the fact that the mainstream Irish media refused to give Karen a media platform when she visited Ireland to address the Save the 8th Rally for Life in Dublin recently. I was present to hear Karen speak that day and I watched her also on a Ted Talk, ‘All lives matter’, when she referred to the 60s and 70s, when doctors encouraged families to place their Down Syndrome children in institutions; the progress that was made in the 80s and 90s, when parents advocated for school integration and sadly to today when medical scientists work hard on designing tests to detect and potentially eradicate all unborn Down Syndrome children.
Every Sunday in my parish two well-dressed men in their 40s bring up the gifts at Mass, they smile and bow their heads when they greet the priest and they also happen to have Down Syndrome, but like many with such a diagnosis, they are respected and loved by everyone. If I had any doubts about the importance of working to protect our Eighth Amendment, I certainly do not have now.
Yours etc,
Frank Browne,
Templeogue,
Dublin 1
Enough of the mindfulness
Dear Editor, Is it wrong for me to say I am sick of hearing about mindfulness? I understand Bro. Richard Hendrick’s point that we should look to our own Catholic tradition of mindfulness rather than elsewhere (IC 03/08/2017), but I think the popularity of mindfulness has now gotten out of control. It is laudable to want live within the moment and try to connect to God, but isn’t that just prayer?
Yours etc.,
Bernie Buckley,
Douglas, Cork.
Access for Catholics to public office
Dear Editor, The Archbishop of Dublin states that after Irish Independence Catholics began for the first time to have access to public office (IC 13/07/2017). The archbishop is misinformed. Catholics were appointed to senior judicial and administrative posts soon after Emancipation. One of the few positions barred to them by the 1829 Act was the Lord Chancellorship of Ireland and even that office was opened up in 1875 – soon afterwards Lord O’Hagan was appointed as the first of a number of Catholics to hold that office before 1922. Others became Under-Secretary of Ireland – that is, head of the civil service – (e.g. Thomas Burke ) or Lord Chief Justice (e.g. Sir Peter O’Brien ) or Chief Baron of the Exchequer (e.g. Christopher Palles). The process of the integration of Catholics into the Irish Establishment is described in the late Lawrence McBride’s The Greening of Dublin Castle (1991).
Yours etc.,
C.D.C. Armstrong,
Belfast, Co. Antrim
Countering modern media distractions
Dear Editor, Like Dr Andrew Maxwell (Letters IC 20/07/2017), I too spent almost all my working life in South Africa and have a similar view to his on the situation of Catholicism here after those years.
I agree that the younger generation mostly seems absent from participation in Church matters in Ireland today and would broaden the influences from the GAA to such things as pop music, seen in massive open-air congregations of delirious audiences responding and even singing the words of the songs, plus more philosophic affects from media of a secularist or even anti-religious nature.
It seems that the articles both by and for youth in your esteemed journal, encouraging social development in faith-inspired activities, as well as the excellent example of the synod seen recently in Limerick diocese, point to ways of countering those other distractions.
Yours etc.,
Pat Morgan, Wexford.
Direct provision will be our next scandal
Dear Editor, The excellent article and important research by Mags Gargan showing that the Government does not know the cause of death of more than one in three asylum-seekers who die in State care, once again exposes this country’s attitude towards ‘foreigners’ (IC 27/07/2017).
The sheer carelessness of this is hard to exaggerate. The State has a duty of care to the people who are de facto in their custody and yet does not think it is important to ascertain how they have died. The people living in direct provision have no voice in our society. They have no vote so politicians have no personal interest in helping their situation.
As Fr Paddy Byrne said “we have learned nothing from the secrets of the past” and this is a scandal that will come back to haunt us.
Yours etc.,
Janet O’Sullivan,
Enniscorty, Co. Wexford.
Not enough notice for collection
Dear Editor, The Sunday collection in aid of the famine-stricken countries of Africa was a very laudable action which had the potential to raise many millions.
However, the opportunity was somewhat wasted by the lack of preparation. Most Mass-goers only knew of the collection when it was announced at Mass on the day and they duly put their one pound coin in the small leather collection bag.
This collection should have been the subject of the homily the previous Sunday and Mass-goers encouraged to give until it hurt as the people of Africa are hurting.
Furthermore, I think that Christian Aid and other denominations could have been invited to join in a joint collection on the day. Perhaps it is not too late.
Yours etc.,
Joe McCann,
Belfast, Co. Antrim.