Dear Editor, With the World Cup coming to an end on Sunday, it really struck me during the celebrations the sense of unity that football was able to create. Throughout the world, people of different nationalities, creeds and perspectives came together for a common cause and hope. They supported their own teams, but they, like the players, were not cruel or spiteful if their team happened to lose.
There was a sense in which we were all in this together, and so should respect one another. This type of behaviour reminded me of my own Catholic tradition, in particular, the concept of solidarity. Solidarity doesn’t just mean common interest or support, but it actually goes much deeper. This is because solidarity has a vivacious ethical character – individuals don’t come together for the sake of doing so, rather when speaking in terms of solidarity, we are called and motivated by our shared humanity to help and support each other – much like Christ did for us.
This concept also came to its full fruition last week during the evacuation of the ‘Wild Boar’ football team who were trapped in a flooded Thai cave.
The attempt to rescue the boys and the coach became a global rescue mission, and divers from all of the world came to their aid.
The efforts to save them were immense and entailed working endlessly in torrential rainfall and developing complex mechanisms by which the team could escape.
So difficult was the mission that one diver even lost his life. Like the World Cup, although much more serious, people of different nationalities, creeds and perspectives came together for a common cause and hope. Solidarity certainly does go a long way.
Yours etc.,
Paul Fitzgerald,
Co. Galway.
Church cannot alter that which is handed down
Dear Editor, The issue of the role of women in the Catholic Church, and their absence from the ministerial priesthood continues to exercise your letter writers.
To start with, there are no ‘roles’ in Christianity other than living out one’s Baptismal vocation – giving oneself completely and receiving 100-fold.
The Church has, from the beginning, faithfully passed onto the next generation that which she has received from the previous generation, without adding or discarding anything. Even where something seems inexplicable, this too is preserved as part of the ‘deposit of Faith’, in anticipation that someone, somewhere will find it helpful. We call this process ‘tradition’.
It predates, gave rise to and accompanies Scripture. Hence, the Church has no authority to alter that which has been passed down to us as the universal practice since the Last Supper; namely that Jesus calls only men to be ordained into the service of continuing to accomplish the exercise of His ministerial priesthood, in each successive generation.
Given that Salvation has come through the Jews and that theirs was uniquely an entirely male priesthood, it is not at all surprising that Jesus – the Everlasting High Priest – and those acting in the person-of-Christ today, would be male.
Finally, as we see the male-female dynamic to be complementary and indispensable to the fruitfulness of our bodily reality, Scripture employs this same parallel when speaking of God’s relationship with us His People; the individual’s soul is spoken of as feminine, God as masculine; the Church, a bride, Jesus, the bridegroom; the Church/Mary, a mother of our Faith, the one ministering to us, as fathering our Faith.
Once we discover the unfathomable love God has for each of us, his ways become reminders of that love.
Yours etc.,
Gearóid Duffy,
Lee Road, Co. Cork.
Protest, don’t hinder
Dear Editor, I was very upset by the fact the people have been deliberately obtaining tickets to see Pope Francis for the World Meeting Families, with no intention of actually going to the event. I understand that some people have protestations against the Church, especially given arguably its harrowing Irish history, but many believers find in the message of the Gospel the values of joy, love and hope. I believe that the Church, and Pope Francis, the vicar of Christ, communicates this message to everyone. Whether or not you like the Church, I think it’s important to remember that others are vivified by it and given that an Irish papal visit is so rare, to deny believers the opportunity to attend the event is cruel and unfair. Like any democratic society, feel free to protest the Pope’s arrival, but to hinder someone seeing such an esteemed and praised figure in the Church, I think is petty.
Yours etc.,
Joe Callaghan,
Tallaght, Dublin 24.
A challenge to take the first step
Dear Editor, I thoroughly enjoyed Fr Rolheiser’s piece entitled ‘Real Miracles’, (IC 05/07/18), and it left me admiring the powerful action and meaning of Christ dying on the Cross and resurrecting from the dead. He writes: “Forgiveness is the greatest miracle, the pan-ultimate miracle, which, along with everlasting life, is the real meaning of the resurrection of Jesus.” The Resurrection is a message to all of us, that we should love one another, and attached to this, forgive one another. Often lives and relationships can be destroyed by perennially holding onto resentment, with one or both parties too stubborn or frightened to make the first move of outreach. How much better would this world be if pride was swallowed and humility reigned, leading to people saying how they really felt, and creating a framework where forgiveness is possible?
Although Jesus rose around 2,000 years ago, this profound message challenges us all to emulate and live out the love he had for us. So to any readers, if you’re holding onto residual resentment or are afraid to reach out to someone, I challenge you to take the first step and grab a hand, or be strong enough to forgive.
Yours etc.,
Miriam Fitzgerald,
Donegal Town.
Elections offer the perfect opportunity
Dear Editor, It’s clear now that having destroyed the Eighth’s protection of unborn children and their mothers from abortion, many Government politicians and others are determined to impose abortion on demand on our Irish society, culture and our medical and legal system.
As happened elsewhere, yearly escalating piles of healthy babies of healthy mothers, aborted to death, will be the inevitable bloody result. Medics will be bullied into supporting abortion on demand.
Who’s responsible? Government politicians who with others campaigned for ‘Yes’ are. Our pro-abortion media cheerleaders are, who waged their 35-year attack on the Eighth, in order to introduce abortion of children on demand. Google and Facebook, who danced to the Government pro-abortion tune, and blocked the prolife message to voters, are responsible also, for the coming Irish abortion death-toll.
Shortly, we will have presidential, general, local and European elections. Any candidate, or party, tainted with supporting the pro-abortion attack on the Eighth, or supporting this Government’s abortion-on-demand policy should be voted out of office, before they destroy more human lives with their pro-abortion policy.
Identify and withdraw your advertising and financial support from pro-abortion media, and the journalists who waged war on the unborn. If you were conned, cajoled or brow-beaten by Government and media campaigners into voting ‘Yes’ to their abortion-on-demand policy, now is the time to rectify matters.
Use your next pro-life vote to oust pro-abortion anti-Eighth politicians, support pro-life groups, financially, physically and electorally. Contact your public representatives to protest their abortion-on-demand proposals. Ask them what the Irish abortion death-toll will be in five, eight, 10 years, when they are well-pensioned off.
Yours etc.,
Oliver Maher,
Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6.
Collaboration and understanding
Dear Editor, It was awful to hear about Canon Tom White, who was attacked by a group of Orange Order supporters in Glasgow, just outside a Church (IC 12/07/18). They spat on him repeatedly and called him vile names, he said, and noted that children were laughing. Just when I think we are moving forward on sectarian issues, events like this always make me wonder how far we’ve really come. No one, regardless of their religious beliefs, should be treated in this way and I hope that justice is served. I also hope that events such as these are anomalies, and don’t reflect a Scottish loyalist mentality in general. If parents are teaching their children that behaviour like this is acceptable, then sectarian attacks will continue to be perpetuated. Instead of causing division, we need to collaborate and understand one another, and in this way unity and friendship can be created. I would bet a lot of money that supporters of opposing traditions aren’t as different as they might think they are!
Yours etc.,
John Murphy,
Newry, Co. Armagh.