Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist party is arguably one of the most strident anti-Catholic political groupings in the world. David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist party is little better. A few years ago, the grandmaster of the Orange Order, at a Belfast rally, publicly castigated Tony Blair simply because he is married to a Catholic.
Add to that the shameful section of the British constitution which formally debars any Catholic from sitting on the throne, and it is obvious that the need to address anti-Catholicism needs to begin at home.
Tony Fearon
Portadown, Co Armagh
Advertisement
OLD HABITS: Burleigh’s article is indeed timely. In this post-9/11 world, the badge of ethnicity and religious affiliation is being used to curtail freedoms and make judgments based on little more than suspicion, hearsay and fear. Once again in this climate, the Catholic Church is being seen as an easy target. Whatever the circumstances in the US, our own position is essentially different.
There is a continuous thread of prejudice that has permeated our political and social history since the Tudor upheaval and the conflicts that redefined the national identity. We don’t have to look too far to see how the badge of religious belief has blighted the politics of Ireland since the first visit of Cromwell to those shores.
Nearly 500 years later, that tap root of suspicion still exists. The church is expected to be perfect and any shortcomings of its members is judged a sign of inherent dishonesty or of terminal failure of the whole institution.
Advertisement
Dr Michael Doyle
Parish Priest
Great Haywood, Staffordshire
Chris McDonnell
Retired Headteacher
Little Haywood, Staffordshire