Dear Editor, I write with reference to your Web Watch article regarding American blogger Simcha Fisher (IC, 26/01/2017) who is quoted as expressing strong (some might say strident) anti-Trump views which in some respects echo those of the mainstream liberal media, and who takes the ‘pro-life establishment’ to task for supporting Mr Trump.
While, on the face of things, Mr Trump’s qualifications to be a pro-life champion are less than ideal, the stark reality on November 8 last was that only he or the unequivocally pro-choice Hillary Clinton would win the election (and previous statements attributed to Mrs Clinton and her team suggest that she was not a friend to the Catholic Church). Under these circumstances, what does the outspoken Ms Fisher think conscientious pro-life American Catholic voters should have done on November 8? This is a valid question.
As for the gender dimension in Mr Trump’s election as president, it’s worth noting that approximately 30 million women voted for him, a figure not much publicised in the mainstream media but far in excess of the numbers who participated in the hugely-publicised demonstrations against him on January 21.
One more thing: not surprisingly, and in stark contrast to media coverage of the demonstrations on January 21, I’ve seen no mention in any of the secular newspapers I’ve looked at of the March for Life in Washington, DC, held on Jan 27. This highlights the importance of the internet as an alternative to the mainstream media as a source of news, comment and analysis.
One wonders if newspaper editors will ever wake up to the fact that they’re damaging the reputations (and maybe the sales) of their own publications by engaging in such easily-detectable bias.
Yours etc.,
Hugh Gibney,
Athboy, Co. Meath.
Doing nothing is simply not an option
Dear Editor, In regard to the incident on The Late Late Show two weeks ago where the Eucharist was openly mocked and ridiculed, it’s difficult to know what was the worst aspect of the whole sorry episode.
Was it the ignorance, the gratuitous contempt shown, the studied insult to those who actually pay to keep RTÉ afloat, the abuse of privilege, or was it the fact that only one priest stood up publicly, alone and isolated, to object and say “Stop! Enough is enough!”?
The level of indifference and fear and sheer cowardice among priests and senior members of the Catholic Church in the face of these attacks at the moment is quite extraordinary.
Is it an exaggeration to say that peaceful coexistence with even the worst enemies of Christ in society today seems to be the priority? Where is the witness and where is the leadership that’s needed now? Many seem to be just men of
straw!
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us, “Do not cast your pearls before swine, do not give dogs what is sacred lest they trample them underfoot and turn and tear you to pieces.”
He uses dogs and pigs as representative of those who would ridicule, reject and blaspheme the Gospel and sacred things and while the context is only slightly different with this incident, nevertheless all believers are obliged to counter these direct diabolical attacks in whatever way they can and seek redress.
Doing nothing is not an option because history abounds with examples of where sustained mockery and ridicule first precede incitement to hatred and then when – the climate is right open – violence inevitably soon follows.
So, what can people do? Well, every parish in every diocese now has a pastoral council so a suitable structure or network is in place to collect signatures and register disapproval to demand an apology and that the offending remarks be withdrawn.
Again, it’s all down to leadership and witness.
Yours etc.,
M. O Riada,
Tralee, Co. Kerry.
The peril of moving from a natural state
Dear Editor, Prof. William Reville asserts that defining meaning in our lives is a precursor to happiness, as he concords with author Emily Esfahani Smith in her book, The Power of Meaning (IC, 12/1/2017).
Taking this approach is to miss the whole point of happiness, that it is the natural state of a human being. Happiness is what Adam and Eve had before the Fall.
The search for meaning arises when we have moved away from the natural state (of happiness) and are struggling to find a new happiness which we sometimes find in a meaning acquired after a search of some kind.
The meaning found is usually a distraction. But it may help to bring a person some happiness. We may then confuse this happiness with the happiness found in our natural state.
In that happiness, meaning is inherent and does not involve searching for it. It is simply there. It is implicit.
My feeling concerning suicide in Ireland is that it is due to a loss of happiness rather than meaning, as Prof. Reville suggests.
It is more likely to be born of depression than to be born of someone’s search for a philosophical answer to their pain.
Yours etc.,
John O’Connell,
Derry, Co. Derry.
The term ‘post-truth’ is a contradiction in terms
Dear Editor, I have been puzzling over the term ‘post-truth’ and its latest incarnation ‘alternative facts’ (courtesy of Donald Trump’s press people) over the past week.
I agree with Anthony Redmond’s letter in The Irish Catholic of January 19 but would just add that the term ‘post-truth’ is a contradiction in terms or it is, as has been pointed out by others, a ‘performative contradiction’ i.e. as soon as you say it you have contradicted yourself because you say it as if it were true which, of course, it can’t be because, according to you, there is no such thing as truth. If there is no truth then there is no difference between truth and lies. To tell the truth is to tell a lie.
And so we have landed ourselves in the double-speak world of George Orwell’s nightmarish vision in his novel 1984 and have touched down in the heart of his propagandist ‘Ministry of Truth’ where truth is whatever I say it is.
Yours etc.,
John Cleary,
Rathaspeck, Co. Wexford.
A sincere thank you
Dear Editor, A heartfelt thank you to the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference for their letter: ‘Two Lives, One Love’ – their submission to the Citizens’ Assembly. It is a beautiful document – clear and compassionate in its teaching. I do hope it will be promoted in Parishes throughout the country.
Yours etc.,
Judith Leonard, Raheny, Dublin
A word in your ear
Dear Editor, Apparently Pope Francis told the Irish bishops on their ad limina that they should exercise a “ministry of the ear” (IC, 26/02/17).
It might have been better if they had been instructed to concern themselves with the ‘ear-after’.
Yours etc.,
Kieron Wood,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.