Sir, - Speaking on radio recently, Fr Brian D'Arcy said that he thought that the "Father Ted" comedy was so stupid that it could only be enjoyed by national school children. This comment is, of course, nonsensical in the light of the huge audiences the production attracts and the number of prestigious international awards won by the show and by the actors therein.
Fr D'Arcy also said that he thought the portrayal of Mrs Doyle was "an insult to women". As a member of a Church which consistently treats women as less than equal beings, it would surely have been wiser for him to remain silent on the subject of insults to women.
His failure to do so illustrates his total and blissful ignorance of the pain, hurt and bewilderment felt by female members of the Catholic Church at their exclusion from all but menial roles in the Church of Christ, on the spurious grounds that because they have never been equal before, it is impossible that they should now become equal! - Yours, etc.,
Sandyford Road,
Dublin 16.