An insult to the faith I love

WRITE in response to Suzanne Harrington’s recent article on the church.

I I am a 19-year-old Catholic university student and I found both the article and the attached picture very offensive to the faith I love. Firstly, it is indeed true that the Catholic Church has always been strict on its members regarding sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage.

But has Ms Harrington even begun to wonder why, or even considered the possible benefits of such an attitude before taking off on her scathing rant against the Church? Has she bothered to find out the reasons behind the Church’s attitude on this matter, which is based on the Pope trying to follow God’s will? The Church’s attitude to this topic is in fact, both reasonable and compassionate towards its members.

The God that Catholics adore is not a God of hatred, peering down from heaven to squash any bit of pleasure people may be experiencing on earth. God was the one who created sexuality in the first place, as something good, blessed, and beautiful. See the “Song of Songs” in the Bible — is there anything repressive, restrictive or joyless about it? The Church has always maintained that sexual love in the right context (the context which God designed — a man and a woman joined in marriage) is something wonderful.

God designed the sexual act as an expression of love between a man and a woman for the procreation of children.

The so-called “sexual liberalisation” of men and women in recent decades has in fact brought a huge amount of problems with it. The widespread absence of morals in society has been both destructive and damaging in many ways. People of all ages, but especially young people, are told they can be as sexually active as they like.

One might ask: “what’s so wrong about that?” Well, look at the prevalence of STDs, HIV/Aids, the lack of trust between partners, the pain suffered by women who have had abortions, the side effects of the pill, and the grief felt by so many girls and boys when their partner breaks up with them after they have been sexually active together. Free sexual licence is often at the heart of all these problems.

Just a word regarding clerical sex abuse among Catholic priests: I do not deny that these priests sinned grievously. What they did was horrific and they will be judged by God in due course. But, how does the scale of Catholic clerical child sexual abuse compare with that of other religious/secular groups?

Finally, unlike what the majority of people think regarding the Church’s attitude to homosexual people, the Church does not hate them. It simply advises them what God’s will is on this matter for the good of their souls.

Veronica Farrell

Sallybrook House

Glanmire

Co Cork