Pope must take action on clerical child abuse
I HAVE been very conflicted all week as to whether to attend the World Meeting of Families event in Croke Park on Saturday for which I have a ticket.
Last weekend, I was veering towards not attending until the Pope released his letter on Monday saying ‘we showed no care for the little ones’. I then began to think again about attending until I listened to the reactions of many people in the media, including clerical abuse survivors.
However, on Tuesday it was announced that the Pope would meet abuse survivors. This was also criticised in many quarters. Yesterday, Leo Varadkar was quoted as saying the Pope was saying ‘all the right things’ but ‘words needed to be followed by actions’. On Tuesday evening I attended the opening of the World Meeting of Families in Galway Cathedral. In his address to the congregation, Bishop Brendan Kelly devoted some of his time to addressing the child abuse issue.
To paraphrase abuse survivor Marie Collins, just because you attend one of the events doesn’t mean you think everything is hunky dory in the Church.
The Catholic Church is at a crossroads. The Pope must follow up on these announcements with concrete actions. On this occasion I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. I will attend the Croke Park event, but this is a beginning, not an ending.
I hope his visit will not be remembered for what he doesn’t say rather than what he does.
TOMMY RODDY, Co. Galway.
Short stories for kids
YOUNG people have given up reading books, at least physical ones and are getting their stories from Twitter and Facebook – or at least 140 characters of the story.
There are a number of great stories that they may potentially miss out on, so some 140 character summaries are provided below so that they can decide what stories may be worth following up with.
Romeo and Juliet: a couple of kids in love. Moby Dick: a dude goes fishing. Dracula: an old dude sucks. Lord of the Flies: kids don’t always play nice.
Hamlet: every family has a few problems.
Frankenstein: don’t do surgery at home. Les Misérables: a very long story about a man who is wrongly jailed and ends up a good guy. Tell your children that the story of their lives should take more than 140 characters to tell. DENNIS FITZGERALD, by email.
Moving the GPO
OUR Government is allowing the GPO in Dublin to dismantle itself and relocate to an even bigger office block at great expense to the taxpayer.
If Jesus had been born in a stable in the middle of Dublin’s O’Connell Street, you can be sure the manger would have been flogged off to the nearest Oxfam shop with the stable being removed and a McDonald’s burger joint erected in its place. I am honestly expecting an Ann Summers sex shop to replace the GPO building. DESMOND FITZGERALD, Co. Dublin.
Failing our nurses
THE Government has failed the nurses in this country who do a fantastic job with low pay.
Every one of us will rely on nurses and medical staff when we are sick, and the work these people do on a daily basis is incredible.
Therefore, the provision of good pay and working conditions for our medical staff is essential.
We have elderly people left on trolleys for days, some of whom have had strokes. This is due to overcrowding and it’s not getting better.
Wake up, Simon Harris, and do your job please. NOEL HARRINGTON,
Co. Cork.
Cruelty of coursing
IT is one of Ireland’s pretty offshore islands, but Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay hides an ugly secret.
Every year, it allows coursers to round up defenceless hares and remove them to the mainland for use as live lures for greyhounds to chase at cruel coursing events. Recent National Parks and Wildlife Service documents seen by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports reveal that hares are taken from Whiddy Island by at least two coursing clubs.
For example, 26 hares were netted on the island last November for one of those meetings where they were caught by greyhounds and pinned to the ground.
Two of those hares were injured and required veterinary treatment.
Coursers claim that 26 hares were later returned to Whiddy Island but with no wildlife ranger present, it cannot be confirmed.
Regardless, hares released back to the wild after the ordeal of being captured, kept in captivity, manhandled and forced to run for their lives are at risk of subsequently dying from capture myopathy.
Hares hit and mauled suffer painful injuries, including broken bones and dislocated hips.
In December, more hares were sadly taken from Whiddy Island for another coursing meeting.
What a shame that even on an island that lists nature-watching as a tourist attraction, the Irish hare is not safe from persecution.
PHILIP KIERNAN, Irish Council Against Blood Sports.