Sir, - I read with great attention Mr Simon Kennedy's letter (November 28th) and was deeply touched by the tremendous pain and depth of anxiety out of which it must have been written. While in no way seeking to underestimate the depth of his past and current pains, I do feel it necessary to pen a word on behalf of the many hundreds of thousands of Irish people whose experiences of the Catholic Church are altogether different.
What Archbishop Connell said last week (Rite and Reason, November 24th) resonated greatly with my own past and present experience of church, clergy and religious for over half a century now. He spoke of a church I not only remember; he spoke of a church of which I still feel very proud to be part of.
I would be very anxious that Mr Kennedy should not feel that I am seeking to minimise his pain or difficulty. Such would not be the actions of a Christian. Yet I do believe that his painful experiences are not the whole story and they need to be viewed within a wider and perhaps more balanced context. No one is well served by a one-sided version of any story, a point well made by Mr Kennedy. - Yours, etc., Christopher Lynch,
Sea Road, Knappaghmore, Sligo.