Madam, - In defence of Fr Tom Ingoldsby, who rightly gave praise where praise was due in the matter of Ryanair's charitable behaviour (May 29th), I am a little confused by Paul Hardy's response (May 31st).
He seems to be saying that because Ryanair are not well disposed towards unions this renders any charitable behaviour on its part meaningless and incidental. He is "shocked" that Fr Ingoldsby should praise this airline in the light of the support given to unions by the late Pope John Paul II and of "Catholic social teaching", which he claims supports the formation of unions.
I am not qualified to comment on the content of Catholic social teaching but I am well aware that the late Pope's identification with workers and unions was largely influenced by the struggle in Poland against Communism in which the unions had a central role. This is surely a very different context to that of Ryanair workers.
Regardless, it seems strange to attack a Christian priest for doing what is a basic Christian duty in giving praise and encouragement to someone when they do a good deed. None of us is perfect and there are areas of all our lives that need overhauling from time to time, but do these failures and weaknesses make us totally incapable of goodness and unworthy of praise in other areas of our lives? I sincerely hope not, for that would be a very bleak outlook for humanity indeed.
Is it not now widely recognised that "positive reinforcement" is a lot more effective than criticism and condemnation? - Yours, etc,
Canon STEPHEN NEILL, Modreeny Rectory, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary.