Dear Editor, The news that Fr Patrick Peyton, the famous ‘Rosary Priest’, is now firmly on the path to sainthood is one that will have gladdened many hearts, but perhaps a greater blessing is the prospect of this renewing Rosary devotion in Ireland.
Fr Peyton was, of course, a product of a different time, a man who grew up when family Rosaries were the norm, and it seems unlikely that the kind of mass Rosary rally he organised and promoted in the 1950s and 1960s, for instance, will be seen in Ireland on a regular basis again.
At the same time, however, there seems no reason why – especially in this year when Ireland will host the Church’s World Meeting of Families – Catholic parents might not lead their children in this most simple but instructive of devotions.
Perhaps, rather than leading their children through a set of five decades – the Glorious Mysteries, say – parents could simply focus on a decade a night, using that as a gentle way of teaching their children the realities of the Faith. It’s hard to beat the Rosary as a catechetical tool, after all, with the classic words of the prayers offering us a road from which the lives of Jesus and Mary can be contemplated in a steady and methodical way.
A famous theologian once described the Rosary as being like looking on the life of Jesus “through Our Lady’s spectacles”. He had a point!
If Fr Peyton helps – from Heaven – to draw the Irish back to their beads, he may yet do a greater service in death than in life.
Yours etc.,
Clare McMahon,
Tallaght, Dublin 24.
Abortion: we know the battle we are facing
Dear Editor, It’s clear now to all but the most naïve that our country is now the prime target of the international pro-abortion drive to destroy our protective Eighth Amendment.
Our near neighbour Britain now aborts 200,000 of its unborn young yearly, this figure climbing inexorably since the UK legalised abortion in 1967.
The massive Soros foreign funding of local pro-abortion, anti-eighth groups illustrates the viciousness of the attack on unborn children in the womb.
The constant “drip-drip” attacks on the Eighth and on those who defend it by our pro-abortion media campaigners, seek to frame the debate against the backdrop of the twin choreographed shams of the ludicrously unrepresentative Citizen’s Assembly and Catherine’s Noone’s Eighth Amendment Committee recommendation that unborn children should be allowed to be aborted “without restriction, up to 12 weeks”.
If you don’t want any part of the legalisation of abortion of our unborn in Ireland, then vote out of office and government, all those politicians who do want it, every chance you get. Support pro-life, anti-abortion politicians and groups with your voice, vote, money and pen. Remove your advertising and business sponsorship from pro-abortion media enablers who pave the public way for the anti-life, pro-abortion lobby.
Yours, etc.,
Oliver Maher,
Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6.
Build it and they will come!
Dear Editor, With your paper reporting that Pope Francis is surprisingly popular among Irish politicians (IC 28/12/2017) , and with surveys suggesting that he is Ireland’s favourite world leader, the bishops’ decision to request the use of Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families may prove far-sighted. We may need that much space!
Yours etc.,
Barbara Madden,
Swords, Co. Dublin.
No morality where arbitrary is presented as absolute
Dear Editor, Many of us have delightful memories of the wonderful occasion that was The Special Olympics hosted in Croke Park in 2003.
The Games celebrated excellence in many areas of human sporting endeavour. They warmed the hearts of our nation and clearly showed that each person, irrespective of level of ability/disability, can pursue the goal of human fulfilment. The trembling frame of that sporting icon and moral paragon, Muhammed Ali, added definition and beauty to an already wonderful celebration of life and living.
On a smaller but no less significant scale the annual Kerry Stars black-tie Ball allows the wider community to acknowledge and celebrate the lives and achievements of Kerry’s Special athletes. It is an occasion that clearly shows that we are all equal whether in sport or on the dance floor.
Those great occasions may soon be no more if the recommendation of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment become reality. Ireland may well be the new Iceland where the child in the womb that is adjudged less than perfect or unwanted is summarily aborted. The 12-week Deadline could well become precisely that.
Those people who sat on that Committee must as legislators surely know that proposing the totally arbitrary 12-week time frame for abortion is meaningless and ultimately time-less. They must know that where arbitrary is presented as absolute there is no morality.
The human being is the ultimate dignity. Let us ensure that that reality is protected at all stages of life.
Yours etc.,
Michael Gleeson [Cllr],
Killarney,
Co. Kerry.
The meaning of Christmas is buried under consumerism
Dear Editor, The Pope’s message to start 2018 with spiritual decluttering really struck a chord with me, and I’m sure many others (IC 04/01/18).
It seems like our culture nowadays, or at least how the media portrays it, has no interest in religion or spirituality. The meaning of Christmas, that is the birth of Jesus Christ and our Saviour, has been completely forgotten and replaced by needless consumerism. However true contentment doesn’t come about through accumulating the next best gadget, but is a result of a life rooted in prayer and love of Christ. Francis says that through our devotion to Mary we are asked “to leave behind all sorts of useless baggage and to rediscover what really matters”. What really matters is our neighbour: the fragile, the marginalised and the oppressed.
Like Christ who provided help and healing for those in need we too should be doing the same thing by praying, visiting the sick and doing volunteer work.
By setting aside the false comforts of consumerism and focusing on the ‘other’, we can all make a difference and make the world more like the one Christ envisioned.
Yours, etc.,
Mary Cadwell,
Leopardstown, Dublin 18.
WMOF18 is affordable
Dear Editor, I think it’s great news that the World Meeting of Families this August is going to be affordable for everyone (IC 28/12/17). The Church in recent decades has garnered among its critics, quite wrongly I think, a reputation for being extremely wealthy in the face of poverty rampant throughout the world.
But the fact that, as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said, the organisers are trying to make the events accessible to everyone and not charge for children’s admission, indicates that the Pope’s visit isn’t going to be used as a quick way to make some money. The affordability of the events is a symbolic gesture to show the importance of the family and the vital role that they play in society today.
Yours, etc.,
John Taylor,
Dundalk, Co. Louth.
Plus ça change…
Dear Editor, Dr Alison Forrestal makes a fascinating point in your interview about her new book on St Vincent de Paul (IC 21/12/2017). St Vincent’s opposition to direct attempts to convert Protestants indeed seems to have foreshadowed Pope Francis own approach, with its central insight that we must attract people with our goodness before we convince them with our arguments. Sadly, her observation that St Vincent’s approach wasn’t universally supported within the Church is as true now as 400 years ago.
Yours etc.,
Louise Clarke,
Clonsilla, Dublin