Madam, - I watched the RTÉ Prime Time programme on Tuesday evening. It was the first interview given by our new Archbishop Martin.
Was he asked about his general impression on returning to the Church and city of his birth? No. Was he asked about the Church of the future as he saw it? No. Was he asked about his new office as against his previous international missions for the church? No.
I heard him address the Catholic Press Association of America in Los Angeles a few years ago. He was brilliant. I looked forward last night to what he would have to say but he got no chance. Nor did we.
What did we get from RTÉ? We got child abuse among the clergy with one or two lurid and raw examples thrown in. Apart from the ritual nod towards the shortage of clergy, we got nothing else.
The recent scandals are a shameful chapter, especially for the innocent victims. But that chapter is not the Church, which must be taken and viewed as a whole - warts and all. The programme was so blinkered and unfair that it was incredible. What is Prime Time trying to do? - Yours, etc.,
K.H. DONLON, CSsR, Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6.