Madam, – Fr Ronan Drury is to be complimented on his extraordinary work in making the Furrow a forum in which Irish Catholics can openly discuss the problems facing the church today. Fr Owen O’Sullivan must also be thanked for his efforts to remedy the Catholic teaching that gay people are intrinsically disordered, a teaching that contributes to bullying directed at gay teenagers, often leading to suicide.
Instead of repressing open discussion, the Vatican might begin to reflect on the wisdom of its own teaching, invented in 1986, that a vast number of human beings are suffering from an objective disorder – particularly given that the scientific support the Vatican claimed for its view has long since crumbled. – Yours, etc,