A rebel fighter guards the street in front of Lady of Damascus Church in Syria December 11, 2024, after rebels seized the capital and ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Photo: OSV News/Amr Abdallah Dalsh, Reuters. Dear Editor, I had a short review in Books of the Year in The Irish Catholic of Up from the Ashes [The Irish Catholic – December 12, 2024].
I just want to draw attention to how certain minorities in Syria are fearful for their security and very lives under their new rulers, the HTS.
Before 2011, Syria was a very beautiful, historic country with lots of tourists. Syria had a secular constitution which respected different religions. All of this changed with the arrival of fanatical Jihadists in 2011 who came from various parts of the world to impose strict Islamic rules on the country. There followed a horrific, terrible war which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. We saw the personification of evil and barbarism in ISIS.
The Jihadists have returned now and overthrown Assad. They claim to be more moderate now. The new leaders of Syria, the HTS, have promised safety and security to the different religious factions in Syria and we hope and pray that this promise will be honoured, but various Jihadist factions from other countries have arrived and they are threatening the Alawite community and other minorities. A number of minorities have been murdered or injured. The Alawite people are ordinary poor people who are trying to feed their children just like other people in Syria. They too suffered from the terrible US and EU sanctions imposed on the country when Assad was in charge. The unfortunate Alawite community are terrified by the violent threats coming from foreign violent Jihadists who have come into Syria. It’s important to highlight this injustice and danger in the media and we must all pray that all poor people in Syria will be safe and at peace. We ask God also to protect Christians and all people in Syria.
Yours etc.,
Anthony Redmond.
Drimnagh, Dublin, 12.
To talk of ‘flower potting’ is awful
Dear Editor, I do not often feel that I should raise an issue about something which someone else has written. I believe passionately in freedom of speech.
Yet I was very perturbed by the ‘Notes in Haste – An Irish Pastor Writes’ article last week [The Irish Catholic – January 9, 2025]. I found the tone of them unpleasant and in many ways rather dismissive of that which should be sacred. In particular I was angered by the contribution on weddings – a wedding is a unique occasion for each couple. That they have faith and choose to pledge their love for each other before God and their Church community is a wonderful thing when so many couples no longer believe in God, or if they do are content to celebrate their marriage in a secular environment. To talk of “flower potting” is awful. The references to readings, to stipends for “flower potting” and most of all the penultimate sentence, “Weddings are taxing in every way, whether one is running the show or sitting pretty – but at least there are not too many to endure now” must have caused pain to many.
I do not think this contribution or the sentiments and attitudes which seem to underlie it will help to bring people to faith. What I think it may do, is cause people to ask: “Why are we paying this man to do something he does not appear to want to do, and which does not seem to involve faith, hope or love?”
Yours etc.,
Baroness Nuala O’Loan DBE MRIA
House of Lords, London
Christmas turnout and cultural Christianity
Dear Editor, It is important to keep attitudes such as hope, optimism, pessimism and realism in a careful balance. Include naivety in the mix too.
I found myself reflecting on the optimistic view of the large Christmas Mass attendances in the recent edition of The Irish Catholic [The Irish Catholic – January 9, 2025]. ‘Packed churches for Christmas, priests report’ was the page one headline. There was no reflection on the proportion of the “packed churches” who might be true believers in Jesus, be in the ‘state of grace’ or attend the following Sunday.
Was this Christmas turnout any different to the cultural Christianity evident in our celebration of St Patrick: parades, shamrocks, green costumes, Irish dancing and trad music, drinking, etc.?
Another headline on page eight declared ‘We ran out of hosts at Midnight Mass’. Was any guidance provided about the worthy reception of Holy Communion? The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches “we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment… [and] examine our conscience… Anyone conscious of a grave sin (like deliberately missing Mass on Sunday or Holy Day) must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.” (#1385).
In my local New York parish, the priest gave clear guidance at Communion time about receiving worthily.
Yours etc.,
A.P. Breen
Bronx, New York, USA
Lay participation in the recent synod
Dear Editor, The suggestion that the laity somehow participated in the magisterium of the Pope in the recent Synod, is absurd.
The magisterium of the Church is exercised first of all by the Pope and secondly by the College of Bishops, with the Pope at their head. They are known as the ecclesia doscens, or the ‘teaching Church’. The rest of us – priests, deacons, religious and laity belong to the ecclesia discens, or the ‘learning Church’.
The approval given by the Pope to the final document of the Synod is more in the way of a nihil obstat, i.e. the document is free from error in matters of faith and morals and is a reasonable record of what was said at the Synod. I hope this helps to clarify things.
Yours etc.,
Fr Noel McKeown OP
Newry
An audacious confidence to proclaim the Faith
Dear Editor, Fr Swan’s invitation [The Irish Catholic – January 9, 2025] to yet another talk about priesthood is a wearisome prospect! Ever since the concept of the synodal process, the Church seems unable to even understand her mission and what the priesthood does.
Why does the Traditional Mass continue, despite recent restrictions, to have a growth in attendees and in vocations to the priesthood and religious life? I believe that the vast majority are not sedevacantist loons but that the holiness of beauty speaks deeply.
They know what they are about and have the audacious confidence to proclaim that and damn the consequences; and maybe it is time to ask what we must learn to enable such confidence to flourish for the good of souls?
Yours etc.,
Fr John McCallion
Coalisland, Co. Tyrone
Pilgrimages are indeed a cornerstone of Catholic life…
Dear Editor, In relation to Matt Brady’s Letter of the Week (‘Pilgrimage is a symbol of life itself’) in The Irish Catholic of January 9, pilgrimage is indeed a cornerstone of Catholic life. However, it is possible to undertake a pilgrimage without travelling by air – less convenient and more time consuming, perhaps, but still possible.
In my opinion, although the late Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House in 1979 (to be removed by his successor!), he did the planet a disservice by deregulating air travel, one of the consequences of which is being experienced by rich millionaires and billionaires in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California today.
If one has to fly, one can compensate for one’s carbon footprint by, e.g., planting 1,000 trees in Kenya. Pilgrimage can be undertaken by land and sea. In this Holy (Jubilee) Year of Hope, my fellow pilgrims and I are following in the footsteps of Saint Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681) from Loughcrew to Downside, via Drogheda, Rome, Ghent and Tyburn. We will be staying overnight in Benedictine monasteries in France, Italy and Belgium. Pilgrimages are indeed a cornerstone of Catholic life and long may they continue to be so.
Yours etc.,
Fr Oliver Skelly
Coole, Co. Westmeath.