Dear Editor, It is some time now since I read Andrew O’Connell’s article of 18/09/2014, but I am totally clear that Terence Gallagher (Letters, 16/10/2014) has completely missed Andrew’s point. All that wasted steam over Mel Gibson. He says: “It is beyond belief that his conclusion about the state of Catholicism should base itself upon such a premise as a Mel Gibson film.”
I am wondering if he actually read the article. Mel Gibson’s film was totally irrelevant to Andrew’s argument apart from the fact that it caused a companion to make an utterance that indicated a lamentable lack of knowledge of the Catholic faith.
The man was speaking about the crucifixion. Any image of the crucifixion would most likely have prompted the same remark.
And therein lay Andrew’s point. The ignorant companion was not presented as “a worthy proponent of the nation’s ethos” but simply as an example of the pervasive ignorance of the Catholic faith that Andrew has encountered throughout Ireland on his travels.
Terence Gallagher must be walking around with his eyes closed if he cannot see: (a) what is currently happening to the Church in Ireland from Government level right down to the grass roots, and (b) that Andrew was completely correct in his conclusions.
Yours etc.,
Brian O’Hare,
Newry,
Co. Down.
