Letters to the Editor: Mary McAleese playing to the gallery with remarks on the Church

Readers respond to the former president's comments about the Catholic Church, while others reflect on remarks made by President Michael D Higgins about Israel's actions in Gaza

Mary McAleese receiving an honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. File picture: Maxwells

I am really perplexed by comments made in Rome by our former president, Mary McAleese. In her speech to the ‘alternative’ Synod, she lambasted the Church’s failure to uphold the “inalienable and indivisible human rights” of each member. Then at the follow-up press conference, Ms McAleese castigated the Church’s support of the right-to-life provision of the Constitution, citing the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar.

Sometimes it seems to me that such outbursts, ridiculing the Church, are fuelled more by playing to the gallery than praying to God. Sometimes we can become so fixated with our demands for equality, that we become blind to life’s eternal significance.