Sir, - I find the public admonition by Bishop Willie Walsh (April 26th) of the diocese of Killaloe of Father O'Hanlon's criticism of President Robinson quite at variance with comments he has made in print about his duty as a bishop and also on dissent and freedom of speech.
Shortly alter becoming bishop he said: "As bishop I believe that my first duty is to the priests of our diocese of Killaloe" (The Furrow, February 1995). Now, since Fr O'Hanlon is a priest of "and in good standing" with another diocese, why, I ask, has Bishop Walsh taken on extra duties rounding up one maverick from the meadows of Meath? Are Bishop Walsh's priests all safe men who never break from the fold with an opinion of their own? If they did it seems they'd never have made it to Shannon - much less to Rome! In the same article, Bishop Walsh wrote: "It seems to me that too often in the past Churches and Church ministers have presented themselves as righteous and holier than thou." Really and, pray tell us did it happen only in the past and not last Saturday too? He then went on to say: "Differing points of view presented honestly and listened to with open minds and hearts may not achieve unanimity but they will surely lead us in the direction of truth to which we all aspire" (p. 76).
According to a spokeswoman for President Robinson, Fr O'Hanlon "was entitled to his view" (April 26th). It seems the President is more tolerant of dissent than Bishop Walsh who made the mind boggling statement, in the same magazine I referred to above, that: "We are not in the business of politics, we are not even in the business of democracy but we surely must be in the business of freedom of thought" (June 1996, p 334).
Many women and children of the State must be asking: why have these church men been so slow in rushing to print, for decades, in "dismay, embarrassment, outrage" over many other clerical errors, at home, and far more serious than using the word "cheap" in a letter from Rome? A Meath man munching mimosa pales into insignificance in comparison.
The care of these people, ravaged by wolves, in sheep's clothing, is really bishops' business - not fleecing one from another's flock for exercising his citizen's right of "freedom of thought" in a democracy. Yours, etc.,
Inch,
Killeagh,
Co Cork