Dear Editor, David Mullins’ article on the interview that Dr Rhona Mahony gave to Newstalk was very revealing (IC 07/09/2017). Time and again we see the media accepting the idea that women’s lives are being put in danger in this country because doctors are not allowed to perform abortions.
Yet, whenever you look more closely at the examples being cited, such as Dr Mahony’s example of a pregnant woman at 14 weeks presenting with ruptured membranes, we see that the Eighth Amendment does not prevent doctors from responding appropriately.
The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar is still being cited as an example of how Ireland’s abortion legislation is putting women at risk, even though subsequent investigations have shown that the actual cause of her death was infection and a series of systems failures that had delayed the realisation by her medical team of the gravity of her condition.
Under Irish law doctors can give pregnant women life-saving treatment, even at the expense of the life of their unborn child. That is a very different scenario to the deliberate targeting of the life of a child in an abortion procedure.
Our Constitution protects the life of both mother and child, and from that point of view I think it is actually the most ethical approach to the situation.
Yours etc.,
Maureen Kelly,
Bray,
Co. Wicklow.
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There is no positive element to the First World War
Dear Editor, I disagreed totally with a recent article “Divided by tradition – united in a common cause” (IC 24/08/2017) which attempted to paint a positive picture of Christian involvement in World War I.
Whatever the common “cause” of this mass slaughter of Christians by Christians, it can have nothing to do with the will of God as revealed by Jesus Christ and the New Testament. I speak specifically of: “You shall not kill” (Matt 19:18); “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven” (Matt 5:43-45).
Furthermore this war was condemned by Pope Benedict XV. In his exhortation to European leaders he said: “In the holy name of God, in the name of our heavenly Father and Lord, by the precious blood of Jesus, the price of man’s redemption, we adjure you, whom Divine Providence has placed in authority over the nations now at war, to put a final end to this horrible butchery which has been disgracing Europe for a whole year. It is the blood of brothers that is being poured out on land and sea…”
The Act of Contrition that we teach children in schools ends with the words: “Help me to live like Jesus and not to sin again.”
If Jesus is really Lord of our lives, we need to see the utter inconsistency of Christians partaking in such “horrible butchery” to quote Pope Benedict XV.
Yours etc.,
Máire Mhic Fhearghusa,
Walkinstown,
Dublin 12.
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Deserving and undeserving poor
Dear Editor, I see that the vigil organised for the homeless man found dead on Dublin’s Suffolk Street has been cancelled after it was revealed he was convicted of sex abuse. The general attitude has changed from his death being a tragedy to being thoroughly deserved. The crime of sexual abuse is absolutely abhorrent, but we are taught to believe all life is sacred.
Yours etc.,
Michael Mooney,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.
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Favouring the wealthy
Dear Editor, Mary Kenny is right in stating that “Catholic education is still the gold standard” (IC 31/08/2017), but sadly her naming of certain schools as top schools arises from a misunderstanding of the Irish Sunday Times tables. What they show is that the greatest percentages going on to Irish universities are from schools that are fee-paying, in more prosperous areas, are Irish-speaking, etc. Deeper analysis would show that in respect of disadvantaged DEIS area schools fewer students go on to university.
How sad it is that successive Irish Education Ministers have done nothing to introduce value-added measures and help raise the spirits of teachers and students in Ireland’s less economically favoured areas.
Yours etc.,
Alan Whelan,
Killarney, Co. Kerry.
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Traditional versus inclusive
Dear Editor, Bríd Ní Rinn asks “Where have all the Catholic men gone?” (Letters IC 07/09/2017). Has she asked herself why men outnumber women at the papal-approved Extraordinary Form of the Mass, instead of women outnumbering men “by at least seven to one”?
She mentions altar servers. Has she asked herself why the other eastern-rite Catholic Churches (or the Orthodox) have always done without girl altar servers? Does she wonder why young boys no longer serve on the altar? She also refers to “inclusive language”. Has she considered why priests who use ‘inclusive language’ so often refer to “sisters and brothers”, rather than “brothers and sisters”, and frequently use the outdated word ‘all’ – instead of ‘many’ – at the consecration of the chalice?
Do priests know better than Jesus Christ at the Last Supper?
Yours etc.,
Kieron Wood,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
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Comments on Fatima prayer
Dear Editor, I write in answer to Fr Joe McVeigh’s letter (IC 24/08/2017) entitled “Be careful of wording of old prayers”. Would it be helpful and perhaps interesting for Fr Joe to learn that the prayer he mentioned recited after each decade of the Rosary was in fact first spoken by Our Lady to the three children in Fatima July 13, 1917?
Yours etc.,
Fr Pat O Donovan,
Glounthaune, Co. Cork.
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Comments on Fatima prayer
Dear Editor, I write in answer to Fr Joe McVeigh’s letter (IC 24/08/2017) entitled “Be careful of wording of old prayers”. Would it be helpful and perhaps interesting for Fr Joe to learn that the prayer he mentioned recited after each decade of the Rosary was in fact first spoken by Our Lady to the three children in Fatima July 13, 1917?
Yours etc.,
Fr Pat O Donovan,
Glounthaune, Co. Cork.
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The Church as it is
Dear Editor, The Catholic Church is 2,000 years old, the foundations of which are the Bible, tradition and divine revelation. It was instituted by Jesus Christ and is led by the Holy Spirit. It spans all centuries and is for all people. The Church is not an institution that must keep up with the times we live in. It is there to lead us to Heaven and provides all with the necessary graces from God, to help people live good lives and avoid evil.
Yours etc.,
V. O’Hara,
Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
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A prayer worthy of belief
Dear Editor, In response to a letter to the editor by Fr Joe McVeigh (IC 24/08/2017), I would like to make the following points: This prayer was given by Our Lady to the three visionaries on July 13, 1917; Our Lady asked for this prayer to be said at the end of each decade of the Rosary; This vision has been recognised by the Catholic Church on October 13, 1930; Two of the visionaries Francisco (9) and Jacinta (7) Marto have since been beatified at a Mass in 2000 by Pope John Paul II; The two were solemnly canonised by Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in Portugal on May 13, 2017 – the first centennial of the first Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.
This prayer is worthy of belief and has been recited by Catholics for the last hundred years and to state that it should be abolished forever is a grave inaccuracy.
Yours etc.,
Michael Cregg,
Athlone, Co. Roscommon.