Dear Editor, Here in Ireland, up to relatively recently, children absorbed the faith of their parents in the home, where religion, in all its forms, was part of living. What happened in school was simply a reinforcement of that same religious ethos. In such a climate, it was only natural that the schools should prepare the children for First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation. At that time, home, school and parish were truly agents of the Church – the Holy Triangle.
Unfortunately, the only time most children now hear about God is during the religion class, and generally from a teacher who is ‘going through the motions’. So! Do our Church leaders not get the picture? I suspect that they do, but don’t want to admit it, and so are in need of a large dose of reality therapy. ‘Is there a problem? What is the problem? Who has the problem? How can we solve the problem? Who can help us solve the problem?’ (Glasser, W. 1975).
Yes! There is a problem: the Church in Ireland is dying fast. This is a problem for each diocese and each parish.
So, take sacramental preparation out of the schools, and let the parishes devise a programme for their young neophytes, like they have in every other country outside of ours. Finally, the Department of Education could help by removing religion from the schools.
If this were to happen, and a parish programme were to be established in each parish, I’m convinced, without being too optimistic, that up to 10% of our young people and their parents would rise to the challenge and make a real commitment to follow Jesus as members of their local parish community.
Yours etc.,
Rev. Patrick Seaver CC,
Farranshone,
Limerick.
James Joyce and Irish Nationalism
Dear Editor, Peter Costello writes on June 15 in his review of my James Joyce Unplugged, that books about Joyce should be based on original research. He is entitled to his opinion. I find that Joyceans are so enamoured with ‘reading’ and interpreting Joyce’s fiction that they have lost sight of much of the reality of his life.
There is little doubt that as I wrote in my book that at one stage Joyce was an Irish nationalist and a republican, though the reviewer demurs. My source is his letters, especially those to his brother Stanislaus.
James wrote: “One thing alone seems obvious to me. It is way past time for Ireland to have done once and for all with failure. If she is truly capable of revitalising, let her rouse, or let her cover her head forever and lie down graciously in her grave forever…But though the Irish are articulate, an insurrection is not made of human breath and negotiations…If she wants to put on the show for which we have delayed so long, this time let it be comprehensive and conclusive. But telling these Irish actors to hurry up, as our forefathers before us told them not so long ago, is hopeless. I, for one, am certain not to see that curtain rise as I shall have already taken the last tram home”.
Joyce like so many others never foresaw the Easter Rising and when it came he was engaged in ‘taking the King’s shilling’ and like Yeats before him, was taking no chances.
Yours etc.,
Anthony J. Jordan,
Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Theology of the Body
Dear Editor, Delighted to see the article on St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in The Irish Catholic – please do more in the future.
Congratulations to Pure in Heart Ireland for promoting Christopher West’s Irish tour – by the way, his book Theology of the Body Explained is an important book to read.
Yours etc.,
Patrick Gibney,
Oldcastle,
Co. Meath
Thank God for short sermons
Dear Editor, I heartily agree with the view as expressed by Fr Paddy O’Kane on short sermons (IC 22/06/2017). His sabbatical in the US has encouraged the Derry priest to keep his sermons to five minutes – and so say all of us!
While the Church is not short of brilliant orators who deliver worthy sermons (some of lengthy durations) at Masses around the country weekly, there are also those who have the charisma of a cardboard box with poor oratory skills; sadly, some of these deliver homilies which are a mixture of boring, incoherent or, frankly, ignorant of the lives Catholics lead in Ireland today.
Perhaps the Vatican could address the problem and issue an edict that all sermons must not exceed five minutes, except by licences granted to priests who have something to say that is actually worth listening to?
Yours etc.
Mary O’Brien, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
Bríd Smith TD merely compounded her insult
Dear Editor, The effort of Ms Bríd Smith TD to retrieve her situation following her remarks about the Catholic Church, merely compounded her insults. Moreover, the Catholic Church is one living body, all of its members belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ, so to insult “The Catholic Church” is to do so to all Catholics. Many questions could be raised about Ms Smith’s comments but to deal with one issue – the nuns who provided homes for mothers and babies. Did the girls not have parents or any family willing to take care of them in their need? Did the State at the time make any effort to provide ample help to the sisters?
What Ms Smith calls “the privileged position of the Church in our society” overlooks the reality that nobody else offered refuge to those who were unwanted and were shunned by society. Religious orders were left with the task of trying to manage with what little they had. It bears out the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.
Yours etc.,
Aoibheann Ni Ruairdhri
Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
Dear Editor, With the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialism was put in the dustbin of history. But no one told our Marxist TDs. What about the legacy of Socialist states? National Socialism of the 1940s incinerated millions because they would not bow to the state. The Soviet Union had its gulags. Mao’s socialism in the People’s Republic is responsible for the mass murder of 60 million Chinese men, women and children.
By all means put us members of the Church in the recycle bin. After all, we are children of the Resurrection. Socialism was dumped nearly 30 years ago.
Yours etc.,
Declan Cooney,
Birr, Co. Offaly.
Dear Editor, Having announced in the Dáil that the Catholic Church, or at least its “privileged position” in Ireland, belongs to “the dustbin of history”, Bríd Smith TD has now taken her arguments (IC 22/06/2017) to the pages of The Irish Catholic.
With the active support of the media, politicians like Ms Smith demonise Ireland’s Catholic past, placing all their emphasis on the scandals that have indeed been extensively documented but failing to acknowledge the great good done over centuries by the Church and its members.
The socialist record on religious freedom is by no means unblemished. In Eastern Europe in the post-war period, to give just one example, Catholics and other Christians were subjected to very harsh persecution by the Communist Governments of that time. Ms Smith may argue that her brand of socialism was not involved but the persecution of believers certainly took place in the name of ‘socialism’.
At the last election, Ms Smith’s party won around 4% of the vote. This gives her a limited mandate to speak for the rest of us on fundamental questions of faith and politics. She is fully entitled to her opinions but other citizens are also entitled to offer an alternative vision for the future in which the social contribution of Catholics, as well as of other citizens, is encouraged and supported instead of being binned.
Yours etc.,
Tim O’Sullivan,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.