Sir, - Writing in his column, "The Jesus Report" (The Irish Times, July 10th), Patsy McGarry refers to Mary of Magdala as a woman "who is well known to men in this part of the country". I was surprised at this reference as I had written to your paper last May to say that modern scholarship does not support such a a view of Mary of Magdala. My reason for writing to you at the time was Mr McGarry's reference to her then as a prostitute.
In his piece of July 10th, Mr McGarry also imaginatively tries to explain the attractiveness of Jesus to women by having a woman at the house of Simon attribute it in part to Jesus having "a sort of innocence. The little-boy lost look." Mr McGarry names women who were attracted to Jesus and the movement he founded. Modern scholarship about these texts and the life and times of Jesus does not support such a trivial reading of the character of Jesus and the way he came across to women. It also does not demean the character of women and their responses to Jesus in the way that Mr McGarry's representation appears to do. - Yours etc.,
Michael O'Sullivan, SJ, McDonagh Tower, Ballymun, Dublin 9.