Mags GarganDear Editor, In The Irish Catholic on 28/8/14, Archbishop Eamon Martin said “on matters relating to marriage and family, poverty and injustice etc, Irish Catholics must not be afraid to speak out with conviction in the public square”.
I wish to say that surely Church teaching on marriage and family life includes parents loving and cherishing their children, sons and daughters equally, guiding and serving them to realise their best potential. How can parents best pass on the Catholic faith to them and encourage them into the Christian way of life, when they see the example of leaders within the Catholic Church discriminating against its members, rather than cherishing them equally, serving and guiding them. If you are a woman or married person you are banned by the leaders within the Catholic Church from following the call of the Spirit to the priesthood, and reach your potential should this be your vocation and desire.
Examples of injustice do not bring unity of mind and heart, in family life, in Church relationships or draw especially younger people into the universal Catholic Church. Injustice and discrimination does not make common sense to parents and their young people in seeking God’s will for their children. “The Lord is just in all His ways.”
Yours etc.,
Donal Cleary,
Corofin,
Co. Clare.