Sir, - Over the past week I have been following, with increasing unease, the media coverage of the proposed presidential candidacy of Rosemary Brown, or Dana, as friend and foe rejoice to call her. Her intention to run for this office has unleashed a wave of derision and intolerance which devalues any claim to a truly liberal Ireland. The nadir of this high-minded onslaught was the column offered by Fintan O'Toole (The Irish Times, August 8th). It is important to state that I have no connection with the aforementioned lady; indeed, my only predisposition was my admiration for the journalism of Mr O'Toole. However, the comments contained in this column were deeply offensive, both in their arrogant dismissal of the life's experience of another human being and in their appallingly prejudiced views on the Catholic religion.
I fully understand why the prospect of a Dana presidency would be opposed by those "in the know", but why the commentary has to sink to a "banjo on her knee" level is troubling and raises many questions.
Rosemary Brown's life surely did not go into deep freeze in 1970, as this article seems to suggest. I would assume that her work and her profile has given her a privileged insight into the lives of many, many people from all walks of life. She is self-evidently a grown woman with a family, not some children's doll. It is ironic that one of the first acts of the post-Robinson era is to rubbish and discard even the possibility of this woman's contribution.
Again, I am not promoting Rosemary Brown or thinking of her in presidential terms, but 1 feel that there is something fundamentally wrong in the treatment she has received as a person. A liberal Ireland is founded on our capacity to listen to other opinions, how we make room for different views; not by substituting heartless comic references for serious debate.
Yet if the foregoing left a sour taste in the mouth, the following paragraph was truly sickening: "Do they think that no one remembers that at the last great outbreak of happy clappy fundamentalism in Ireland - the Pope's Youth Mass in Galway in 1979 - the warm up-men were Eamon Casey and Michael Cleary." The gross distortion and crass sensibilities of these remarks is simply inexcusable. The only thing this argument demolishes is my respect for Fintan O'Toole.
At the end of his article Mr O'Toole blithely mentions that possibly a third of the population would be open to the kind of "hardline orthodoxy" which he has so ardently belittled. The condescension inherent in this thinking is epic in scale; no less is the self-congratulation regarding the alienation of intellectuals from the Church.
The unfulfilled constituency that is alluded to above deserves the respect, not the intellectual pity of Mr O'Toole. The democratic deficit regarding public representation for the "No" campaign in the divorce referendum was a legitimate concern for our society and should have been shared by all shades of opinion. Yet, instead of acknowledging people's rights, there is a sense of a new triumphalism, a new ascendancy that cares little for those who are disenfranchised.
Again, it is necessary for me to restate that I am definitely not a supporter of the forces of conservatism. I simply want to register my objection to the cultural and religious exclusion imposed by Mr O'Toole.
In the spring, a cleric in Rome was rightly criticised for his gauche and strangely bitter views on President Robinson. However, the prolonged feeding frenzy was ultimately distasteful - a point well made in letters to this paper by others who, like myself, do not want the discussion of current affairs reduced to some crude Punch and Judy sideshow. Unfortunately, this call has obviously escaped Mr O'Toole.
The pantomime characterisation which underpins his column is a sad reflection of the general media understanding of the nature of the Catholic faith and those who follow it.
It is frustrating in the extreme to realise that the Catholic Church in Ireland is still rigidly labelled as a conservative monolith. The frozen, institutional Church that many criticise is increasingly past history. The signs and reality of this thaw are all around us.
The very nature of relationships at the heart of the Church is evolving. There is certainly more individual independence, especially in the area of conscience, but also more interdependence in the understanding of being Church together. 1 often wonder how it is that most media commentators and politicians are stuck in a pre-1970s mindset regarding the Church.
The bedrock of one's religious experience is the local one, yet only on a scant few occasions have I heard or read any comment in the media that does justice or gives recognition to the real milieu of Catholic identity - the local believing community. It is there that change takes place. The media's fascination with hierarchies completely bypasses this truth.
It must be admitted that the Church needs to develop the prophetic voice that will allow it to escape the stereotypes that commentators stubbornly perpetuate. One hopes that the appointment of Fr Martin Clarke as Episcopal spokesperson will mark a new beginning. The Church needs to break free of the reactionary image set for it by others and move into a more pro-active position where it is free to offer its own message.
Mr O'Toole has made a significant contribution to standards in public life in this country in recent years. However, the unqualified derision and reckless generalisations contained in this column demeans only himself and has harmed the development of the truly liberal Ireland which he has so piously championed. - Yours, etc.,
Bill Kemmy c.c.,
Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow