Madam, - I would like to congratulate Patsy McGarry on his remarkably clear-sighted response to the Vatican instruction excluding people with homosexual orientation from the priesthood (Opinion & Analysis, November 30th).
The document has been leaked for months, giving bishops and religious superiors time to calibrate their "interpretation". Yet the sting remains for ordinary gay men and women who are once again subjected to abusive language that will be repeated over and over again by those who fear and hate them.
The Church has learned much from its mistake in speaking of Judaism with contempt over many centuries, a mistake that contributed to the horrors of Nazism. Pope Benedict has been to the fore in expressing repentance for this, and he is loved by the Jewish people for it.
But in issuing venomous oracles against homosexuality, which are not based on any rational process of dialogue and consultation, the Curia is again making itself an instrument in the hands of hatemongers.
I fear that such dismal texts, however much the interpreters try to sugar them, are sowing a bitter harvest both for gay people and for a Church whose authority they further undermine. - Yours, etc,
Rev JOSEPH S. O'LEARY, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan.
Madam, - If priests are to remain celibate, what difference does it make whether they are straight or gay? - Yours, etc,
JIM STOKES, Bigwood, Co Kilkenny.