Religion must remain separate from the State

FATHER Tom Kelleher seems to miss the point entirely (Letters, May 31). It is not that the Catholic Church in Ireland should withdraw from public life and stay in the sacristy.

Indeed, it would be imprudent and irresponsible of the State to allow the affairs of the Church to be a matter only for the Church, especially in the light of recent events.

The State has a duty to maintain surveillance on the activities of the Church and its officers. Failure to do so in the past led to grave abuses of the vulnerable going unnoticed and, worse, uninvestigated. The Catholic Church, however, has no more rights to access to the State than, as has been said, a golf club.

As far as I know, neither President Mary McAleese nor the Irish Army are officers of the Catholic Church and I wonder what exactly Madam President and the Army were doing in Lourdes. As I presumably helped pay for this collective act of obeisance, can I ask that question without fear in a republic?

I assume President Bush met the Pope as an act of political courtesy, as the Pope is technically a head of state.

Sure, the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland is ambiguous in relation to the State. But President McAleese’s public enthusiasm for visiting Rome and then Lourdes does little to reduce this ambiguity, which is a shame. Many of us here do not want the President to show such partisan loyalty. She has to represent us all equally, not favouring the majority. Let her do as she wishes as a private citizen but let her be more circumspect in her displays as President.

Perhaps Fr Kelleher would remind us who it was who said, “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and give unto God that which is God’s.” Christ himself, it seems, preferred the separation of the religious from the state. In Islam, such division is often not preferred, thus the theocracies of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Perhaps that is where Fr Kelleher’s heart lies — in a theocracy.

Peter Griffin

Rooska

Cahir

Tipperary