Dear Editor, Pro–life people in the Republic of Ireland are very worried about remarks made by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in a TV interview on the Feast of the Apparitions at Knock, on August 21.
They were made in an interview on the Six One News on RTÉ with Teresa Mannion. In reply to a question, Archbishop Martin said that he hoped that Pope Francis would not become embroiled in the referendum that is promised for next year in the Republic of Ireland on the subject of abortion. Dr Martin described the subject as one that is marginal to the Pope’s visit.
In saying so, Dr Martin is ignoring Church teaching on when precisely the Church should intervene in politics: “It is part of the Church’s mission to pass moral judgements even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it” (2246, Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 485).
There is no doubt at all about it that the right to life is the most fundamental of human rights, and for Catholics to ignore it, and to vote for abortion, or for the further liberalisation of the same, is to put their eternal souls in jeopardy.
Therefore, on both counts it is imperative that the Pope and the bishops instruct their flock on the gross immorality of voting for abortion, or for its further liberalisation. We call on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, all the Bishops of Ireland, and on Pope Francis to speak out on this issue, as it is in no way marginal to the Pope’s proposed visit to Ireland in 2018.
Yours etc.,
Richard Greene,
ADFAM (Alliance for the Defence of the Family and Marriage),
Unit 104, 35 Upper Rathmines Road,
Dublin 6.
Breaking seal of Confession is impossible
Dear Editor, Greg Daly is to be commended for his analysis as “unsustainable and probably unconstitutional”, the recommendations of the Australian Royal Commission to compel priests to break the seal of Confession where child sexual abuse is disclosed (IC 17/08/2017).
His interview with Teresa Devlin, CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) on improvements to child protection policy and practice in Ireland, referred to Ms Devlin’s having been invited to give evidence to the Australian Royal Commission, but did not mention that during her testimony, available online, she described as “chilling” the fact that some people consider the seal of Confession to be more important than saving a child from abuse.
There are problems with this approach however. It would be next to impossible to draft suitable laws and implement them fairly; no evidence exists that such laws would achieve their stated aim and most serious of all is that the commission’s recommendation completely misunderstands the Sacrament of Confession and takes a completely secular approach.
Confession is one of the seven sacraments of the Church, instituted by Jesus Christ. It is a direct spiritual encounter with God through the priest and all that is said there remains “sealed’ by the sacrament, not just the confessing of sins. One of the Canon Law principles of the sacrament is that all information gained in the confessional should be regarded as not having been gained at all (CCL 983-984).
The Church’s current child protection practice is vastly improved from the past, but the use of criminal sanctions to force priests to break a sacramental seal, in the name of improving child protection practice, is not just a fundamental breach of religious freedom but betrays what God himself has entrusted to the Church through ordained priests. The NBSCCCI must be reminded of this.
Yours etc.,
Catriona Rooney,
Belfast,
Co. Antrim.
Definition of progressive
Dear Editor, Someone who opposes abortion and holds to the traditional definition of marriage is immediately branded a ‘social conservative’.
Why? If these values ensure the progress of human society into a safe and healthy future, surely that person merits the descriptive noun, ‘progressive’, i.e. ‘forward looking’?
Yours etc.,
Judith Leonard,
Raheny,
Dublin 6.
Prayers needed to save the Eighth Amendment
Dear Editor, An urgent plea to all, your prayers (especially the Rosary) are asked that we may continue to protect the unborn and that Ireland remains abortion free. There are many people in this country who wish to change the law concerning the Eighth Amendment, which would allow abortion to be carried out in Ireland with very few restrictions. Help us to stop this from happening. At present an unborn baby has equal rights to life as does its mother. This would not be the case if the Eighth Amendment is defeated. Help us keep Ireland abortion free.
Yours etc.,
Aodhan O’Fiachain,
Churchtown, Dublin 14.
SDLP is actually far from being dead
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny is mistaken when she refers to the “strange death of the SDLP” (IC 17/08/2017), because the SDLP is far from dead.
Yes, they took a hit in this year’s Westminster election, but that still leaves a substantial group in the Northern Assembly and a sizeable number of councillors. However, longer term decline has been due to an over-reliance on senior figures in the party, especially John Hume, who some SDLP supporters think will one day be made a saint.
Mary touched on the attitude of the Irish Catholic Church to the SDLP in suggesting that they helped bring Sinn Féin in from the cold into “the peace movement”.
I think it’s fair to say that the problems for the SDLP ran a lot deeper than that and went back to the formation of the SDLP in 1970 from the era of the civil rights movement.
My feeling is that the Catholic Church hierarchy never really trusted the SDLP because they “annihilated”, to use Mary’s word, the old Nationalist Party, run mainly by businessmen, and the SDLP was socialist in name and policy.
The Church was more comfortable, in my view, with Sinn Féin, with its hopeless policies and its support for the IRA, which meant that in the 1970s it was going nowhere politically. In 1981, all that changed and the hunger-strikes made Sinn Féin a problem for the Church. The SDLP were more valued then. So time will tell if the SDLP is dead. I think not but who am I to say.
Yours etc.,
John O’Connell, Derry.
Tremendous work of Legion of Mary goes unnoticed
Dear Editor, I was delighted to read in The Irish Catholic that five of the recently ordained priests stated they “were inspired in their vocation by the Legion of Mary”, having just read the book From Navan to China giving details of the success of the work of the Legion of Mary in China, where it was established and promoted by the late Fr Aedan McGrath, who was imprisoned there for almost three years.
What an inspiring story of courage and selfless devotion through imprisonment for many, and persecution of so many others. It is some accolade for the Legion that the Communists, when they came to power, described it as ‘Enemy No. 1’. We in Ireland do not seem to realise the tremendous work done by the Legion, not just in Ireland but worldwide and that, in fact, many countries have seen the Catholic Church grow there and expand because of it.
Frank Duff, who founded it, was honoured by a standing ovation at the Second Vatican Council, and what about the example of Legionaries like Edel Quinn and others who spent their lives in the spread of Christianity through their work in the Legion? It is indeed an instrument of evangelisation which has resulted in the sanctification of its members and through them the sanctification of so many others.
Yours etc.,
Mary Stewart,
Donegal Town.