Sir, – Along with half a million others I had the pleasure of attending the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.
May I recommend to Maria Steen that she join in the fun next year (“Maria Steen: St Patrick’s Day is a celebration of everything other than Christianity,” March 17th).
Anyone can rightly look to celebrate the Christian history of this country and equally from both traditions. St Patrick is revered by all Christian denominations in Ireland. I am not sure why Maria seeks to single out Catholicism for special mention. I seem to remember that we fixed our Constitution on that particular one.
St Patrick’s Day is also Ireland’s national day and it seems correct that we celebrate all Irish culture new and old.
READ MORE
We are not perfect but Ireland has changed in many ways for the better and the recognition that there are different types of Irishness is surely a sign of confidence and strength. – Yours, etc,
RONAN QUINN,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
Sir, – I read Maria Steen’s argument that our Christian and specifically Catholic heritage should be celebrated on St Patrick’s Day as I prepared to sing all nine verses of St Patrick’s Breastplate at my local Church of Ireland church.
While she argues that “our religious differences with Protestant Britain” were the reason we became “an independent nation with our own flag”, it is equally arguable that we held on to Catholicism as a form of political resistance against British rule.
Either way, it is important to remember that the religious feast of St Patrick belongs to the Protestant and many other Christian denominations on this island as much as it does to Catholicism. – Yours, etc,
VICTORIA WHITE,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin.
Sir - Maria Steen complains about those who “would rather see us return to a superstitious, uneducated pre-Christian era of Druids and magic, rather than the science, logic and scholarship of Christianity, with its sophisticated and systematic philosophy and theology”.
The irony is deafening. It’s a shame that Steen didn’t follow up with one single iota of scientific evidence for the existence of a Christian, or any other, god. - Yours, etc,
DONAGH MCINERNEY,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
