Madam, - Patrick Kenny (April 7th) takes exception to my use of the term "chauvinist Catholic dogmatic" in relation to Fr Séamus Murphy (April 2nd), who erred in assuming that parents can exert a real and meaningful choice over the religious attachment of the school their children attend, and who further mocked the idea that all religions should be taught equally and without preferential treatment in schools. Allow me to parse this simple phrase so that Mr Kenny might better understand it (all definitions from the OED).
Chauvinism: "excessive loyalty to or belief in the superiority of one's own kind of cause, and prejudice against others" Catholic: "a member of the Roman Church". Dogma: "a tenet or doctrine authoritatively laid down by a particular church".
If we assume that Fr Murphy adheres to the dogma laid down by his church, and if we accept that his mockery displayed a belief in the superiority of his own cause and prejudice against others, then this simple phrase looks much less like an "irrational attack" and much more like a bland statement of fact. - Yours, etc,
OWEN CORRIGAN, Jesus College, Oxford, England.
Madam, - The three letters published in your edition of April 3rd each amply demonstrates the blinkered view of the secularist.
None of the letter-writers seems capable of conceiving any positive role for the Church in modern Irish society. It is from this wholly negative stance in relation to the Church that their opposition to faith schools springs.
In fact, according to them, faith should be an entirely private affair. Owen Corrigan looks forward to the day when church influence will be "removed" from Irish civic life, while for Séamus McKenna the "proper place" for religious instruction is "in the home" (echoes of misogyny are surely unintended).
But if faith is the sort of thing Christians claim it to be - an integral attitude of the whole person, and not merely a set of beliefs - then this privatisation is neither possible nor desirable (and yes, implementing such a privatisation does amount to totalitarianism).
On the more specific point of education, the letter-writers' position is misconceived: the fact that the Catholic Church has historically been quite good at setting up schools in no way interferes with our human rights, nor is it "irrational and grossly unfair" (David O'Callaghan). Neither does the fact that the State supports these schools, since the vast majority of (tax-paying) parents are quite content, and even keen, for their children to receive a Catholic education (which, incidentally, involves a lot more than simply religious instruction).
As a teacher at a Catholic school, I see the benefits of such an education. Our secularist friends would too, if only they could see through the red mist that clouds their vision. - Yours, etc,
CONOR McDONOUGH, Ampleforth College, Ampleforth, York, England.