Sir, - May a visitor to Fr Nolan's beautiful church in Tralee comment on his letter of August 2nd? His claim of charity for the Magisterium of the Church seems to me to be seriously open to question, judging by its exercise over the centuries. Is this the same Magisterium which condoned resort to torture of suspected heretics by members of Fr Placid's order during the Inquisition? It was only in 1952 that the Pope condemned torture as a grave evil.
And it was only after several hundred years of cruel exploitation that the Pope made it clear that slavery was another appalling evil. Now it seems that the crusades, which even the saintly Dominican tertiary Catherine of Siena backed enthusiastically, are seen by the Vatican as grave evils. Even the execution of Savonarola was sinful.
I think that all thinking Catholics today would see slavery and torture as intrinsically evil. Most of us see discrimination on grounds of gender or race or creed also as grave evils, and more reprehensible than homosexual acts. Does this not suggest that the Church's sensitivity to evil - like that of its laity - develops with revelation over time? I personally doubt whether homosexual acts will ever be regarded as other than evil in the eyes of the Church, but I think that Fr Placid needs to show a little more humility and love, and acknowledge that the Church's teaching has not been clear in its condemnation of evil in the past, and has to develop even greater sensitivity to the evils of the present. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Walsh, Cappagh, Castlegregory, Co Kerry.