Dear Editor, I agreed 110% with Fr Chris Hayden ‘Be quick to listen’ [The Irish Catholic – March 13, 2025].
Irish Catholics really need to move on from the stereotypical desire for ‘quickie’ Masses and homilies. It’s quite immature, minimalistic and lacking in generosity to the God to whom we owe our very existence. It doesn’t consider the importance of being spiritually fed from the table of the Lord’s word in addition to the table of the Lord’s body and blood.
Once a devout woman visited Ireland thinking it was still an idyllic ‘Island of Saints and Scholars’. She was scandalised by a 20-minute Sunday Mass that skipped the Gloria, homily and Creed. With some embarrassment I explained that some Irish were in the mind-set of the Penal Times when British soldiers might be a few 100 yards away and brevity was of the essence.
Fr Hayden spoke about the blessing of living with the benefit of God’s truth. Why is this truth so important?
I have been kept alive for the past 12 years of my cancer journey by the truth of high-tech medicine, most recently here in New York. The ultimate ‘cancer’ in life however is sin which can separate us from God and eternal life with him. Especially in today’s secular world we need all the more this saving truth which sets us free (John 8:32) to live for God.
Can I finish with an advert? A brilliant catechetical programme by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen can be heard at www.tiny.cc/AFJSTALKS.
Yours etc.,
Fr Morty O’Shea SOLT
Queens, New York, USA
Reduce and eliminating the causes of violence
Dear Editor, As an army veteran, allow me a brief comment on Maire Mhic Fhearghusa’s letter on Jesus and non-violence. The practice of non-violence is a very high ideal, but unfortunately not always possible in our world.
In a time of crisis Jesus gave this advice to his followers: “But now…if you have no sword, sell your cloak and buy one…” Lk.22:36).
Jesus was also a realist. This is reflected in a Vatican Document titled – ‘The International Arms Trade, an ethical reflection’, published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and signed by Cardinal Roger Etchegary, President, and Diarmuid Martin, Secretary.
I quote: Paragraph 5: “In a world marked by evil and sin, the right of legitimate defence by armed means exists. This right can become a serious duty for those who are responsible for the lives of others, for the common good of the family or the civil community. It is this right alone that can justify the possession or the transfer of arms. It is not, however, an absolute right; it is coupled with the duty to do all possible to reduce to a minimum, and indeed eliminate, the causes of violence.”
Yours etc.,
Domhnall Mac Cionnaith
Letterkenny, Co. Donegal