Sir, - Are they Catholic or Roman Catholic? While watching the recent RTE programme The Irish Empire I observed that while some people used the expression "Roman Catholic", most who spoke referred to that particular group simply as "Catholics".
When I was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s there was no such thing as "Roman Catholics". There were Catholics and Protestants and if you were well up, you knew that within the Protestant fold you had Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist and so on.
Nowadays, however, more and more Irish Catholics, especially those involved in ecumenical discussion, use the expression "Roman Catholic". I am also involved with an ecumenical group and for the sake of good relations, I have tried to add the Roman tag to Catholic but find it very hard to do so. It goes against the grain. It is almost like being asked to change your own name that you have become accustomed to for 40 or 50 years.
People find it offensive to have unchosen titles affixed to them. Could we not simply call one another what each group wishes?
I have no problem in referring to my neighbours as Church of Ireland, even though I could argue that the Church I belong to has at least as strong a claim to be known as the Church of Ireland. We speak of the Orthodox Church without conceding that they are the only ones with correct doctrine. The use of the expression Episcopalian does not mean that they are the only ones with bishops. People speak of the Church of God and the Church of Christ without implying that they are the only ones who have God or Christ on their side.
So, I maintain that we should be allowed to call ourselves Catholic without being made feel guilty. Why should we be the only church in the world that is not permitted to be acknowledged by its own chosen name? In doing so we do not in any way imply that the other Christian Churches cannot claim to belong to the Catholic Church of the Creed. - Yours, etc., Rev John O'Connell,
Herbert Road, Bray.