Letters to the Editor: Benedict represented a repressive church

The coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is placed at St. Peter's Square for a funeral mass.

The lasting legacy of the late Pope Benedict XVI was not just his resignation as Pope in 2013 but the influence he exerted over the direction of the Catholic Church for 22 years from being head of the supremely powerful Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith until his resignation as Pope.

During these years he consolidated immense personal power which he used to ruthlessly silence dissent and theological opinion different from his own. He will be remembered for his silencing of at least 7 Irish priests because of their open-minded views on gay people and the ordination of women. It was not just Irish theologians who were silenced and excommunicated but over a hundred international liberation theologians as well.

In his confronting of the endemic clerical abuse within the Irish church he looked for scapegoats rather than admit it was a structural problem within the church. He unduly scapegoated the Irish Bishops and the loss of faith in Ireland for clerical sex abuse as outlined in the Ryan and Murphy reports.

His commission of Inquiry into Irish clerical sex abuse led by Archbishop O’Malley, at which I gave evidence, was a whitewash as it reported widespread doctrinal dissent in the Irish Church as a cause rather than an effect of clerical sex abuse.

He refused to accept that clerical sex abuse and its cover up had anything to do with Vatican policy. Yet, in 2001 with the authority of the then Pope John Paul II he sent secret letters to every Bishop in the world instructing them not to report any credible allegations of clerical abuse to the civil authorities but to forward them to the Vatican instead. It was the failure of the Vatican to hand over reports of clerical sexual abuse in the Cloyne diocese to the Irish authorities that led to the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, delivering his Dáil bombshell attack on Vatican hypocrisy and intransigence.

Even in his retirement, he became the centre of Vatican intrigue and a focus of those who resisted Pope Francis’s new openness. He continued to wear the papal white soutane, called himself a Pope emeritus, and issued controversial public statements.

His death signals the demise of a repressive Catholic Church.

Brendan Butler

Dublin 9

Benedict’s legacy is tainted by scandal

The death of Pope Benedict will be a time of great sorrow for some but for many children who were abused while he was an Archbishop in Germany and as a Cardinal in Rome there will be no tears.

While some will see his tenure as Pope as a great period for the papacy others will see it as a reversal and a return to a strict form of theocracy.

His failure to understand a changing world was blinded by his hardline vision of the Catholic faith by silencing those who offered a more libertarian view.

His lack of vision and understanding of those who felt marginalised or those within the church who promoted a more libertarian theology created friction within the church and its followers.

His censoring of priests in this country and the scandals surrounding sexual abuse within the Church drove many committed Christians to reevaluate their commitment to the church and especially to a Rome dominated by old men wielding too much power.

While he instituted safeguards for children his lack of contrition and apology at a time where he knew of abuses within the church will taint his papacy.

May he rest in peace.

Christy Galligan

Letterkenny

Co Donegal

Praise for injection centre plan 

I was heartened to read that Merchants Quay Ireland has been permitted to open Dublin’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Facility (MSIF) — “Ireland’s first medically supervised injection facility gets go-ahead”, Irish Examiner, Dec 31.

As a local resident and community campaigner for Victoria’s first MSIF in Richmond (which opened in June 2018), I applaud this decision which will address a major public health crisis in your beautiful city.

Many community members who live near our MSIF approve of the facility which provides support for people who have used illicit drugs in our community for years.

Three immediate benefits of our MSIF:

— the non-judgmental provision of compassionate, professional support and rehabilitation services that are improving the health and wellbeing of its clients 

— a reduction in residents finding and managing overdosed human beings in laneways and gardens, and 

— a reduction in the distressing sound of ambulance sirens.

All of the above have provided much-needed improvement in the life of our local community.

Well done, Dublin: a compassionate, humane and evidence-based decision.

Judy Ryan 

Melbourne

 Victoria Australia

Engage employees on apprenticeships

In relation to the article, ‘Minister announces 10 new apprenticeships across different sectors’, Irish Examiner, Dec 29.

I have experienced the benefits of apprenticeshps at first hand having worked for the last year with a firm that had 42 apprentices on their books.

I have a child with fantastic apititude for all things programming and IT but who isn’t suited to the academic environment, with classroom focus, written exams, deadlines etc.

She pursued the well-publicised avenue of IT apprenticeships a couple of years ago, but the entities purporting to facilitate such appointments talked a great game but produced no apprenticeship opportunities for her whatsoever.

My request is that focus shifts from the design and annuncement of more and more apprenticeship programmes to engaging with potential employers to actually create apprenticeship positions and actually hire folks.

This is particularly pertinent for people with varied disabilities, such as neuro diversity, who need is a chance to start low and slow on their journeys to success and fulfillment in a commercial or civil service environment.

Patrick Byrne

Booterstown

Co Dublin

Do politicians fear civil servants?

Micheál Martin, shortly after taking up the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs, issued a statement praising passport office staff.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin TD.

It seems to me, from listening to national and local radio over the past year and reading items in newspapers, the performance of staff of our passport office can best be describes as “shameful” and or “disgraceful”.

Yet once again a minister commends what many would consider an unacceptable performance by civil servants.

So my question is: why do politicians appear to fear the civil service?

Michael A Moriarty

Rochestown

Cork

ICCl criticism of gardaí unhelpful

While I have been critical of the direction An Garda Sìochana is going, the constant criticism by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is unwarranted.

Why would any organisation oppose body worn cameras that will protect gardaí and public alike.

While they concern themselves with people’s “rights to privacy” and “freedom of expression” they are willing to forego the safety and security of frontline gardaí to justify their claims of “protection of personal data” and right to protest.

Assaults causing harm and other serious offences perpetrated against gardaí and the public have become the norm.

The introduction of legislation under the Garda Siochana ( Recording Devices) Bill will give added protection to our frontline gardaí in an ever increasing violent society, despite the ICCL’s criticism or the Data Protection Commissioners finding into alleged breaches of ANPR and CCTV use by the force.

While these armchair critics expound those freedoms that we have long taken for granted we must protect those whose job it is to protect those very freedoms.

Maybe these critics should don the uniform and face the dangers gardaí experience everyday before they take their high moral stance.

Christy Galligan, (Retd.Gda.Sgt.)

Letterkenny,

Co Donegal