A different view of Catholicism

Sir, – I found Fintan O’Toole’s piece (“JFK embodied an idea of what Ireland aspired to be, Biden embodies an idea of what we used to be”, April 11th) to be a proxy attack on Irish Catholicism; superficial; lazy; lacking insight and unfair.

I feel, for the record, I should express my unequivocal abhorrence and condemnation of the innumerable abuses, in particular of women and children, that were perpetrated and covered up so many religious, priests and nuns and by the institutional Catholic Church. It is hard to state this strongly enough.

That said, for me and many others, being Catholic means working and advocating for social, economic, environmental and climate justice. It involves ministering to the poorest in Ireland and undertaking humanitarian work abroad among our sisters and brothers in need.

To be a Catholic involves a commitment to working for the “upside down kingdom” (where the last will be first, etc); reclaiming the subversiveness of Christ; showing solidarity with the excluded in society (prisoners, people with a disability, the homeless and so on). – Yours, etc.