Congratulations to Alan Whelan (Irish Examiner, Letters, March 25) for rightly identifying the dereliction of duty inherent in the cowardly decision by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP0 not to preach the Church’s teaching regarding the nature of marriage.

The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) has lost all credibility in our household, and I suspect with many other Catholic families, by its unwillingness to speak out on the forthcoming referendum which seeks to change the meaning of both equality and marriage.

"Our history is a living history, that has throbbed, withstood and survived many centuries of sacrifice… The peoples of Guatemala will mobilise and will be aware of their strength in building up a worthy future."

So, Minister Pat Rabbitte proclaims it a retrograde step for a Catholic bishop to teach and proclaim that all human life is sacred and abortion is wrong.

The unchristian actions and attitude of the lay principal of a so-called Catholic-ethos school in refusing admission to his school of a teenage mother beggars belief.

IN my years as principal in an English school I was only too aware of the financial benefit that attached to each student because, like all other schools, my school was funded according to the exact number of students on roll.

THANK you for your coverage of the ongoing saga of the Sacred Heart statue at Killarney Community Hospital.

A man who was caught transferring €2.75m worth of cannabis resin into a van before driving off has been jailed for seven and half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

AS an Irish Catholic committed to ecumenism I was deeply affronted by the accusation of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to the effect that the Irish Catholic Church has lost all credibility.

I WRITE to record my absolute horror at the suggestion of so-called Human Rights Watch that abortion should be freely available in Ireland.

ONE of two cousins detained in the United States for two months after being caught without a valid visa described how they were transported by plane, shackled and surrounded by armed guards.