Madam, - In response to my recent article on "haute cuisine Catholicism" (Rite and Reason, July 25th), Michael Foley declares (August 8th): "A Catholicism which fails to uphold in word and deed the 'equality in dignity' of all human beings is not just a 'mis-identification of Catholicism' but a contradiction in terms."
Agreed - but no verbal contradiction is nearly as scandalous as a contradiction between avowed principle and action. This is called hypocrisy. If Mr Foley is claiming that our church always acts on the principle of the equal dignity of all its members, why have those seriously injured by church servants in the ast four decades had no alternative but to appeal to [ secular] laws and institutions for vindication? And why is that still the case?
RC Canon Law 221 §1 declares that "Christ's faithful may lawfully vindicate and defend the rights they enjoy in the Church, before the [ competent ecclesiastical forum] in accordance with the law". Where does the Irish Catholic Directory identify this "competent ecclesiastical forum"? Does Mr Foley know what it is in his own diocese? And does he know of an independent Catholic canon lawyer in Ireland who might help any lay person make use of it?
If Mr Foley doesn't know that a chasm often yawns between the highest principles espoused by our church and their application within it, he is uniquely oblivious to facts known to most readers of this newspaper.
We are currently awaiting the results of two State inquiries into the mishandling of clerical child sexual abuse on this island for that very reason. - Yours, etc,
SEAN O'CONAILL, Coleraine, Co Derry.