Dear Editor, I am writing in response to Mary Kenny’s thought-provoking article on modern parenthood, particularly its emphasis on ‘positive parenting’ and the potential consequences thereof [The Irish Catholic – February 29, 2024]. As a grandmother reflecting on the evolution of child-rearing practices, I’m particularly interested in Ms Kenny’s pertinent questions about the impact of…
Dear Editor, A USA lady bravely faced applause when she declared she sleeps with Bill Clinton every Christmas. She brought to mind people having a similar ‘durable relationship’ with our very own Taoisigh. All of this gains fresh relevance as our Government asks us to vote in a referendum, March 8. They say existing definition of…
Dear Editor, In the upcoming referendums we are being asked to delete reference to the ‘home’ and to hand over to the courts a hot potato, that of redefining the ‘family’; as they interpret the phrase “other durable relationships”. The human rights implications of cutting our understanding of family adrift from being founded upon marriage…
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny in her article on St Brigid’s many adaptations by various elements in society refers to St Joan of Arc, who has suffered the same treatment [The Irish Catholic – February 1, 2024]. The great Pucelle of France has been adapted by some unlikely groups from war mongers to radical feminists. Joan…
Dear Editor, I write as others have already done to express my gratitude to Michael Kelly for his many years of dedicated service as editor of this paper. I wrote several letters during the unquestionable lockdown period and found any dealings I had with Michael Kelly very helpful and supportive. I am glad he continues…
Dear Editor, I read with great interest the interventions of my learned brother Prof. Tom Whelan. Fr Tom is very right that the local Catholics in these territories need the priests ‘ten times more than we do’. I am very much aware that my brother being versed in liturgy knows more than I do that…
Dear Editor, There has been a lot of controversy recently regarding immigration with one side expressing concern over its level or type and the other condemning them as simply hating foreign people and being far right. Polarisation is the order of the day and the possibility of a meeting of minds on the subject seems…
Dear Editor, Esther Ranzen has been pressing for the UK to embrace so-called ‘assisted dying’. The former BBC journalist might wish to consider neonatal medicine advances and English abortion practice. Consider two unborn children at just under 24 weeks into pregnancy. One is for ‘resuscitation’ in a London hospital but ‘termination’ awaits the other. Remember,…
Dear Editor, Over the past few years, dioceses around the country have been debating how to balance the demand for funerals with the diminishing numbers of priests. Before this issue can be addressed, there is however a more fundamental conversation that needs to be had: the question of what a Requiem Mass is and what…
Dear Editor, In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four world the bandwagon effect has made people so timid that all enrol for the brainwashing programmers; nobody wants to incur the sanctions of ‘Big Brother’. In the real world many hide their firmly held beliefs and give way before public opinion. By not daring to speak the truth…