Sir, – Donal Deasy (October 9th) thinks that former president Mary McAleese gratuitously insults the "synod fathers" by referring to them as "300 celibate males".
“This reductionist view categorises people in such a way that a person’s other qualities are ignored,” he writes.
When 300 people come together to reflect on what constitutes “a family”, it would seem logical that there should be a reasonable balance between “synod fathers” and “synod mothers” among them.
Since quite a few families actually have a mother as a member, Mrs McAleese is hardly out of order to question the absence of synod mothers.
That she also noted the “celibate” state of these “fathers” is surely also a reasonable observation, given that few families ever came into existence with the help of a celibate father.
Mrs McAleese does not ignore the “other qualities” of the synod fathers simply because she highlights the obvious – that the exclusively male and celibate nature of this body renders it unsuitable and unqualified to speak on family matters.– Yours, etc,
DECLAN KELLY,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.