Sir, - I write to protest at the comments by the Very Rev Robert MacCarthy, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, against single-parent families.
Perhaps he should take "time out" to reflect on the pain he imposes on others by such comments. I myself have gone from married to single parent status, through widowhood. It is hard enough to contend with the grief and bereavement, without our "esteemed?" clergy lashing out with vicious attacks. I have raised two well adjusted children on my own and have done a very fine job to date (even though I say so myself). It is sweeping statements like this that stigmatise and discriminate against single parent families.
I would ask the very reverend to engage in some "reality therapy" and to think before he leaps. Live and let live and perhaps his next sermon could be devoted to the merits of single parent families and their wonderful contribution to society. - Yours, etc.,
Mairead Mangan, Park View, Blackrock, Co Dublin.