Madam, - What a breath of fresh air and a clear and concise summing up by Liz O'Donnell on the failure of the Catholic Church on this island.
The potential of any religion to follow its own self-serving interests at a terrible cost to the innocents who look to it for spiritual guidance is now coming to be realised by more and more of our hitherto unquestioning churchgoers.
Her call for the end of the "special relationship" is correct as was her assertion in respect of the church's "private financial settlements without liability" which have been carried out with the full knowledge and collusion of the governments of this country.
No longer can Irish citizens have full confidence in a church whose hierarchy feels a simple apology suffices for the interminable suffering it has wrought upon the children of its parishioners and for whom no prison sentence will be imposed and which has been covered up from the Vatican down.
I would like to thank Liz O'Donnell for speaking out and saying what needed to be said. She has shown remarkable leadership on this issue in a way that our dithering Taoiseach would do well to emulate.
For myself I have never needed religion to be close to God. I need it even less today. - Yours, etc,
DEREK ROSS, Blessington, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Several contributors to The Irish Times have asked readers to remember, in the wake of the Ferns Report, that not all priests can be tarred with a single brush. The ministries of some religious arose from a real desire to do good in the world. True. But such letters ignore the fact that these commendable intentions are not the substance of our many Catholic ceremonies - baptisms, confirmations and weekly masses alike. Rather, we listen to words chosen by powerful bishops - a group that has lectured us on bowing our heads to the Almighty, while allowing brutal priests to take horrific advantage of our averted gaze.
Fr Matthew Ring's letter (Nov 9th) clearly illustrates the disconnect between the good intentions of individual priests and the institutional hierarchy that is the Catholic Church. His account elucidates the trauma of a priest who felt a duty of care to his community but who could not protect his innocent parishioners from predators under the protection of a church whose rot is "endemic in the root and branch of the institutional structure".
I commend Liz O'Donnell's impassioned words in the Dáil (Nov 9th) on this issue. Irish Christianity should not be about serving Catholic dogma but instead about following Jesus's timeless message - love one another. - Yours, etc,
IAN KELLEHER, Camberwell, London.
Madam - Liz O'Donnell's speech on the shortcomings of the Catholic Church leaves her open to a charge of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Her statement that if the "hierarchy were a cabinet it would resign en masse" is especially pharisaical. No less than the hierarchy, many in the political system have shown themselves to be outrageously irresponsible.
Resignation and contrition were never an option for these politicians. Brazen contempt was more in evidence. While the church has much to be humble about, the politicians are in no position to throw stones. All political parties are financed by, and beholden to, a small number of very well off insiders.
The same "veil of deference" to which Liz O'Donnell refers is now shown to these people as was shown to the hierarchy in the past.
Millions of taxpayers' money is spent on spin-doctors. The political discourse has been reduced to a celebrity competition in which the leader who gets his photograph displayed most often and spends most on cosmetics will win the next election. The words "systemic failure" which Liz O'Donnell applies to the church apply equally to politics. Liz O'Donnell's contribution to an important debate on church/state relations is of the ad-hominem, personal abuse variety rather than any attempt to analyse issues. A more introspective, and much more humble, approach from Liz O'Donnell and her fellow politicians to the important issues raised in her speech would be more appropriate. - Yours, etc,
A LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.
A Chara - Liz O'Donnell's intemperate outburst today against the Catholic Church was ill-considered, over the top and demonstrative of either poor judgment or desperation to secure votes from that growing niche sector of Catholic-bashers on Dublin's leafy liberal southside.
Certainly the church had and has many failings, and few would disagree with the call for an end to the day when bishops hold sway over government policy. Many, however, would argue that this day is long gone and that today's church instead plays an important and necessary role as a spiritual and moral guide, though more in an advisory than dictatorial capacity.
Though I consider myself proud to be a raving liberal who disagrees with much of church doctrine, I nevertheless welcome the church's input where appropriate, and I find calls such as Ms O'Donnell's for the church to be silenced or banished from public discourse to be most illiberal and repressive indeed. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, for one, has expressed extremely progressive opinions on many of the topics Ms O'Donnell mentions. Perhaps she might consider a conversation with him rather than leading a witch-hunt, or would that not go down too well with the voters? - Is mise, le meas,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.