Sir, – Further to Padraig S Doyle's letter (September 24th), while Vincent de Paul himself may not have handled the logistics of the UCD conference that President Michael D Higgins used to launch a new phase in his ethics initiative aimed at civic society, I would be loath to scoff at the notion that the saint's spirit of compassion might not have contributed to the event.
The President’s address emphasised the legacy of the man in the quiet work of the St Vincent de Paul Society, of which Mr Higgins said, “Day after day, you seek out the forgotten; you listen to the voices of the voiceless; you support those who have to cope with unemployment, indebtedness, a relationship breakdown, a disability, or loneliness, and sometimes several of these plights at once”.
Whatever about our deserved scepticism about institutional religion and even the notion of an afterlife, this is one “spirit” that we should all want to keep alive. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL ANDERSON,
Moyclare Close,
Baldoyle, Dublin 13.