A chara, – I'm concerned about former president Mary McAleese. It is reported that she has written to Pope Francis about possibly leaving the Catholic Church (News, March 4th).
I too was shocked at the reports of the ongoing inquiry into Jean Vanier by L’Arche Community. I have many reasons to be critical of the Catholic Church. But I have much more reason to be severely critical of the Republic of Ireland, whose successive governments have so badly failed to provide for the safety of the vulnerable. I think not just of current crises like the failure to ensure the basic need for adequate housing, but also, for example, of the long-standing failure seen in the far higher mortality rates among the Travelling people because of poor living conditions.
I continue to speak and write about these failures, although my voice rarely seems to be heard, and when I contact politicians, I might as well, as my mother used to say, be talking to the wall.
Perhaps Mary McAleese might consider whether to renounce her citizenship of this republic which she has served so well?
Or perhaps she, and I, would prefer to continue to work within both church and state in the hope that eventually truth will begin to shine through the dark? – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Sandyford,
Dublin 16.