From Mr Tim Kilbride SIR – Your report on July 22 of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s outburst in the Dáil, and Fr Vincent Twomey’s call on a number of Irish bishops to resign, while belatedly overstating the obvious, will find a resonance throughout Ireland and beyond.
The shame of decades of abuse, however, should be shared and acknowledged by the Irish state, whose lack of curiosity about the treatment of those of its youngest and most vulnerable citizens incarcerated in industrial schools almost amounts to tacit approval.
In proposing legislation prescribing the conduct of Confessions relating to child abuse, however, the Dáil is advocating the same inappropriate interference in religious practice which it has alleged the Church has committed in relation to state legislation. Would it be stretching the imagination too far to recall the Penal Laws in Ireland in the context of state control of matters religious?
In the meantime, should anyone know the whereabouts of a certain Bishop Magee, perhaps they could inform Rupert Murdoch et al.
Yours faithfully, TIM KILBRIDE By email From Mrs Elizabeth Price SIR – Many Catholics may have strong feelings about the recent attack made on the Vatican by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny. A way to form a clearer view is to read the Cloyne Report for themselves.
A copy of it is obtainable by mail order from: Government Publications, Postal Trade Section, Unit 20 Lakeside Retail Park, Claremorris, Co Mayo. Tel: (from Britain) 00353 647 6834 or fax 00353 647 6843. It costs €10 plus postage. It is A4 size and 421 pages long including the index.
Yours faithfully, ELIZABETH PRICE Linton, Kent