FRANK FLANAGAN,
Sir, - In an era when Christians have been lulled into a comfortable secularism, the barque of Peter is hit by a violent storm, and the crew are screaming, the Spirit of Truth blows where he wills. Rev David O'Hanlon enters the scene, not to spread peace but fire, the fire of true faith - and oh, how many cannot stand it!
Like Patrick on the Hill of Slane, he challenges the darkness with this fire and he confounds the druids. Like Christ he crashes in on the scene with whipcords, overturns the tables of the moneylenders and confronts the hypocrisy of the blind who do not want to see.
Like his master he rightly proclaims that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. The truths He teaches are not negotiable, they cannot be watered down or misrepresented to suit the needs of respectable pluralism.
I challenge his knockers to disprove his beliefs that:
1. The validly consecrated Eucharist is the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ.
2. Ecumenism in Ireland is a dead duck, because those who should be involved show little active interest in meaningful participation.
3. The vast majority of Irish lay Catholics are profoundly ignorant of what the Church stands for.
Keep up the good work, Father O'Hanlon; the sheep are hungry for truth. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK FLANAGAN,
Dublin 7.