Dear Editor, The statistics in the report in last week’s paper (IC 14/01/2016) about the rise in persecution of Christians made for some scary reading. Sometimes Catholics here in Ireland talk about being under attack or being persecuted by the secular culture around us. While it is fair to say our media, our Government and the pertaining atmosphere in our society, is quite ‘anti-Catholic’ or certainly against giving any credence to the institutional Church and certain Church teachings, we are not being persecuted for our faith. We are free to worship and to live in peace. The same-sex marriage referendum, whatever you think of the outcome, was a democratic process. If there is a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment, that will also be a democratic process and we will just have to work harder as Christians to get our pro-life message across.
What Christians in the Middle East and parts of Asia and Africa have to face is utterly terrifying. Millions are being forced to flee from their homes after violent killings, hostage-taking and extreme sexual violence against women and children. Christians in the west are turning a blind eye to what are brothers and sisters are enduring in other parts of the world.
Next time you feel upset at Ray D’Arcy or someone like that criticising the Church in the media, complain to the Broadcasting Authority by all means, but maybe also donate to a charity supporting Christians under violent persecution, and be glad that Mr D’Arcy is the most unpleasant thing you will have to face that day.
Yours etc.,
Majella Carolan,
Drogheda,
Co. Louth.
The farce around admission to Holy Communion needs to be resolved
Dear Editor, Following the 2015 Synod of Bishops the Holy Father has a once in a generation moral question to respond to in regard to divorce and remarriage and admission to Holy Communion. But it’s not that problematic. The real question is admission to Holy Communion for those couples/persons who have failed to be granted an annulment. Whilst one’s heart goes out to those who formally applied for an annulment, but were refused, there is a constituency of people who do not bother to apply for an annulment. Where this is the case – when a person denies Christ’s teaching in relation to marriage – does it really matter that they have excluded themselves from Holy Communion?
There is no de facto right to receive Holy Communion. Does not the teaching of the Church still apply that one must be in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion or at least seriously intend to confess known sins at an early opportunity afterwards?
This farce around admission to Holy Communion has been going on now since the initial synod in 2014, and appears not to have been successfully resolved at last year’s synod.
The Pope should lance this boil once and for all and I pray that he will follow the example of his blessed predecessor Pope Paul VI who with prophetic foresight saw the ruin of the contraceptive culture of the age and ruled as he did in Humane Vitae.
Yours etc.,
Christopher Keeffe,
Middlesex,
England.
Gentrification of rural Ireland is shameful
Dear Editor, The priests’ comments in last week’s front page story (IC 14/01/2016 ‘Government neglect killing rural Ireland, priests warn’) were welcome, and I applaud their willingness to voice an opinion on matters other than faith. Rural Ireland has been forgotten by many TDs and certainly by the Government.
Last week I noticed that the parts of Dublin in which I had business (Donnybrook, Rathgar and Castleknock) were busy and upbeat. There was little sign of recession or even post-recession blues. The cars were shiny, the shops were open and trading and people populated footpaths with their heads held high.
A day later I had business in a large Midlands town – it would be unfair to name it here – and the difference was palpable. I strolled along several of its streets and lost count of the number of vacant business premises. The people were as good as you’d find anywhere in Ireland, but they did not appear as affluent as those I had encountered 24 hours earlier. They did not look upbeat and many, in keeping with the streets around them, looked nothing less than depressed. They did not look confident and, given the number of ‘sale now on’ signs in shop windows, the town’s surviving businesses did not feel confident either.
I have nothing against those areas of Dublin or other cities which are enjoying something of an upward bounce after the recession, but it’s clear that for most parts of Ireland the same recession lives on and is having a terrible effect on families. Despite the hyperbole, little of significance has been delivered to or done for rural Ireland.
As an example, consider the recent flooding; I recently heard one Government minister say on television that it may be time to accept that parts of Ireland may have to be deemed uninhabitable because of climate change. Would the same minister say the same if the problem of flooding was being experienced by, for example, the good people of Donnybrook, Rathgar or Castleknock? I doubt it very much.
The gentrification of rural Ireland continues, and that is to the shame of us all.
Yours etc.,
Declan Rankin,
Donnycarney,
Dublin 9
Spirituality in everyday family life
Dear Editor, I just wanted to drop you a line to say how much I am enjoying Bairbre Cahill’s ‘Faith in the Family’ series in the paper. She has a very effective way of bring spirituality into the comings and goings of everyday family life. I particularly liked her latest article (14/01/2016) where she described how her experience of God changed when she was dealing with her brother’s illness and God became not a distant or forbidding figure, but someone who walked the road suffering with her.
Children need to be introduced to God as a real, loving figure who is part and parcel of daily home life, not just something for classroom discussion or weekly Mass.
Yours etc.,
Bernie Rogers,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
Minister Reilly wrong on Catholic schools
Dear Editor, Minister James Reilly should note that the Catholic Church does not ask parents to have their child baptised to be enrolled in schools under its patronage. Schools are funded by the people, 80% of us are Catholic and pay our taxes and are therefore entitled to the funding for our schools which are very inclusive of children of other faiths and none. It is only where there is pressure for places that our schools prioritise Catholic children, which is reasonable. What is needed is the provision of more places not talking about ‘State-funded schools’. The same ‘Minister for Children’ does not seem to be too enthusiastic about preserving the lives of children in the womb.
Yours etc.,
Murt McInerney,
Doonbeg, Co. Clare.
Faith education under Government attack again
Dear Editor, Cultural identity is a term Minister James Reilly should acquaint himself with. While not used by the rabid anti-clerical forces that attempted to extinguish a people’s faith during Penal times, this Government (and the ‘human rights’ lobby) which seek to snuff out the long tradition of Catholic education in Ireland, are emulating their historical forebears. The latest ham-fisted attempt to eviscerate the Catholic school ethos is part of growing trend, no doubt crafted ironically by those who have benefited by such an education, in an unjustifiable attempt to mould society to some unelected, unknown and uncaring committee’s multicultural tick-boxed vision. Given this year’s 1916 anniversary, such kowtowing to political correctness shows the depth of contempt this Government holds Catholic families by violating their distinctive identity at the foundation level.
Yours etc.,
Patrick Mullane,
Mallow, Co. Cork.