Sir, – I write in relation to the report by Patsy McGarry (Home News, October 16th) on part of the speech made by Archbishop Jackson at the Diocesan Synod of Dublin and Glendalough.
The archbishop states that sectarianism has been a “bitter experience” for him and that he has experienced it in Dublin and Wicklow, not least within the Church of Ireland.
As one who has served there as archbishop I am deeply shocked by this statement. He refers to a people whom I served to the best of my limited ability and whom I came to love dearly. Certainly I can recall individuals uttering sectarian sentiments, but they were very few and far between and in no way could they be considered to be representative of the vast majority of our people.
It is true that there are many people deeply concerned about the fear of losing our ethos in the field of education; of losing the link with Trinity College Dublin in the training of our teachers and of any possible deterioration of our ethos in Tallaght hospital. However, such views are not sectarian but rather a drive to maintain our ethos as a minority church. I am among that number, but I do not think that anyone could accuse me of sectarianism.
I am deeply shocked and saddened by the archbishop’s remarks at the Dublin and Glendalough synod. – Yours, etc,
WALTON EMPEY,
(Former archbishop of
Dublin), Tullow, Co Carlow.