Sir, – Eimear Burke (November 8th) vows to deprive herself of the sacraments of the church as a protest against the latter's teaching on same-sex marriage.
From a faith perspective, this metaphorical act of throwing her toys out of the pram is surely a classic case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. When I was a child I learned the hard way that a petulant sulk in order to bully for more sweets invariably backfired and resulted in even more tears.
What is of note so far in this debate is the surprised reaction of those in the Yes camp to Bishop Nulty for having the temerity to state his church’s timeless teaching on this subject. Bishop Nulty stated his position with great clarity combined with compassion. In fact, he is constrained to do so by virtue of the church’s teaching on this subject, as set out in para. 2358 of the catechism of the Catholic Church, where compassion, respect and sensitivity are emphasised. One only wishes that those who disagree with the bishop could do so in like manner. – Yours, etc,
ERIC CONWAY,
Balreask Village,
Navan, Co Meath.
Sir, – While Dr Rachel Cave (November 7th) is bemused by the position of the Catholic Church on the planned referendum on gay marriage, I am astounded at the remark in her letter that "the church does not rail against the bringing up of children by widowed men, hence the gender of the caring parents is clearly not an issue in its view" by which she seems to be trying to justify the right of a same-sex couple to adopt someone else's orphaned child by comparing it to the right of a widowed father to bring up his children.
As someone whose first wife died and left our young daughter to me to raise, such an attitude makes me very very angry. The two situations are radically different. First, denying the right of the child to be brought up by her father would mean a double blow to the child who having lost her mother would then suffer the loss of her father. Second, the father would lose his child in whose existence both he and his wife had rejoiced, at whose birth he was present, whom he loved, to whom he read bedtime stories, whom he tucked into bed at night, whose nappies he changed and generally helped care for. To even seem to equate the position of that father vis-a-vis his child to the position of a same-sex couple who wish to adopt a child is a total distortion of reality. Dr Cave should have more sense. It is possible to make a case for same-sex marriage but not with nonsense like this.
Dr Cave might note that her statement of the Catholic Church’s position above is not quite accurate and should be more accurately stated as “the church does not rail against the bringing up of children by their widowed fathers”. The Catholic Church has been stupid at times but not, I think, that stupid. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL T KANE,
Professor Emeritus,
NUI Galway,
Dangan, Lower Galway.