Sir, – I write in response to the article “The Yes Woman: I return to Mass and the room reminds me of a closed fist” (January 1st). It seems to me that “The No Woman” would have been a more appropriate sobriquet for the author of this article. Ms Kennedy is restating her previously expressed negative view of the Catholic Church, rejecting also, in this article, her own religious education, all religious people and the older generation. Her ageist description of the latter as “grey heads” who are “holding back progress” reveals a surprising ignorance of the fact that older people differ in their beliefs and views just as much as any younger age group.
The older churchgoers dismissed so contemptuously by Ms Kennedy are people of Christian faith who, however, do have some things in common – their recognition that lives lived by Christian ideals can make this world a more humane one, enough humility to acknowledge the limitations of human knowledge and hence a willingness to keep their minds open to all possible answers to the questions and mysteries of life. – Yours, etc,
ORLA DAVIN CARROLL,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – Laura Kennedy, while highlighting how challenging some aspects of the Catholic faith can be for many, her critique of the Mass and the Catholic Church ironically turns into a series of judgmental statements with assumptions that “grey heads” are holding back progress. As a father of young children and a Mass-goer, I experience a sense of community at Mass with encouragement through the liturgy to live an honest life based on Christian values. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BROWNE,
Templeogue,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – So Laura Kennedy went to Mass in a totally negative frame of mind and had a totally negative experience. What did she expect? Did she think God was going to pick her out personally, reach down and pat her on the head for coming back? – Yours, etc,
MARTIN HARRAN,
Castlefinn,
Co Donegal.
A chara, – Laura Kennedy speculates that some of the congregation at a recent Mass she attended were thinking uncharitable thoughts about her and her non-white male companion. Perhaps, as this was the parish she grew up in and it is likely she was known to those she thought were staring and whispering about her, they were speculating as to what uncharitable things she was planning to write about them. – Is mise,
Rev PATRICK G BURKE,
Castlecomer,
Co Kilkenny.