Sir, – Reading Pól Ó Muirí's mini-review of my book, Tóchar: Walking Ireland's Ancient Pilgrim Paths (Books, November 23rd), felt like being accused by a parish priest of having made a "bad confession".
I am damned in 150 words, it seems, for not measuring up to his level of spiritual transcendence by walking our pilgrim paths for a year and spending at least another two reflecting on my experiences while writing a 298-page memoir/travelogue.
Firmly denied a plenary indulgence by “an tAthair Ó Muirí”, my undertaking was compromised from the start in his eyes because I am a “struggling Catholic and a healthy sceptic in matters of belief” with a strong distrust of the “institutional” Catholic Church. I don’t even get a partial indulgence for reconciling myself with many aspects of the faith of my fathers by the end of the narrative and my honest recognition that faith is always a work in progress.
The review slams my book (wrongly described as a “collection of essays”) as inadequate because it did not have the ending your reviewer wanted. – Yours, etc,
DARACH MacDONALD,
Castledereg,
Co Tyrone.