Sir, - I am delighted that Cardinal Desmond Connell has expressed regret for any hurt caused to Dr Walton Empey by his recent interview.
In 1998, when the European Parliament was debating the directive on patenting life, technically known as the "Directive on the Legal Protection of Biological Inventions", I, as a director of the Irish environmental organisation VOICE, wrote to many of the bishops of Ireland, Catholic and Church of Ireland, pointing out the ethical and theological issues involved in voting this directive into law. Dr Empey was the only bishop to respond. He acknowledged the serious moral issues involved in this extraordinary change in the way we view and treat life.
Regardless of whether Cardinal Connell considers him to be a "theological high-flyer" or not, he possesses a quality, greatly prized by Pope John X111, namely the ability to "read the signs of the times" and respond to them. - Yours, etc.,
Fr Sean McDonagh, Navan, Co Meath.