Sir, - I have never read an article by Fintan O'Toole that gives the slightest evidence that he is aware of what Catholicism is, but I believe you, Sir, should be more far-seeing than to allow this journalist the rein of his contempt (Opinion, June 18th) for the considerable numbers of our people who follow its teachings.
What is this "moral civil war" that threatens him? Has anybody here brandished a weapon outside a family-planning clinic? Has anybody threatened anyone? Certain Catholics (and others) have asked that their numbers be acknowledged and recorded by a political minority that has become so middle class that it no longer recognises the ordinary lump from which it originally hailed.
There is no "rusty pike of righteousness" that Mr O'Toole's own righteousness does not equal. He calls it "realism", of course, but presumably he lives with the best thoughts he can muster, just like the rest of us. Has he not asked himself just where "embitteredness" comes from? - Yours, etc., Patrick Pye,
Piperstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24.