Who could have stood up to Church power?

IN his somewhat confusing column, Ryle Dwyer (Irish Examiner, December 3) says Irish people “shirked their responsibility to inform their own consciences and think for themselves” in relation to past abuses by the Catholic Church.

He seems to be under the naive impression that the Irish people had the freedom to protest at a time when the Church was all-powerful, all-oppressive and enjoyed the full backing of the State.

Any citizen foolish enough to challenge this religious power faced immediate religious and social punishment.

He then goes on to say the Irish people have matured, presumably meaning we can now think for ourselves.

However, he contradicts this view by implying that we are now under the power of the media: “As a people, we are now ready to believe any allegation against the religious.”

The truth is that people are well capable of differentiating between the serious but relatively few instances of false accusations against the religious and the countless thousands of innocents who have had their lives utterly destroyed by a Church that was irresponsible and out of control.

Anthony Sheridan

1 Carraig Eoin

Cobh

Co Cork