It’s time to stand by our faith and clergy

HOW dare Jennifer Sleeman and Jeremie Pageot (Letters, August 16) suggest to me or anybody else to boycott Sunday mass.

Perhaps if they had done a little historical reasearch they would realise how important the eucharist and mass is to us Catholics, as it was to our forefathers who were persecuted and put to death because of their beliefs.

In nearly every parish you will find mass rocks on mountain sides and in woods where priests and their congregations fled at the risk of death to celebrate the eucharist. And let’s not forget the thousands of Catholic missionaries who left this land never to return and who died on the mission fields all over the world.

Our church has withstood many crises in its history, but we continue to survive. Our faith may have been tested within our church in recent times, but those who walked away from it have failed miserably.

This is the time to show solidarity with our priests and our religion. While there is no excuse for those among us who have brought their church into disrepute, we believe they will be judged eventually by the highest authority, Jesus Christ. As for the ordination of women priests, we will leave that to the infallibility of the Holy Father.

Liam Plante

Pilmore

Youghal

Co Cork