Madam, - The passing of Pope John Paul II has presented the world with a challenge. In life his intransigence on certain matters polarised opinions around the globe, the most telling being his upholding of Paul VI's stance against contraception.
However, many of us (including this writer) are perhaps guilty of focusing too much on these issues at the expense of a central truth - a truth which affects all humankind.
That truth is what challenges us. Pope John Paul's life was one of unfailing selflessness, love, devotion and peace. None of his actions was for personal gain, as his lack of earthly possessions shows. He lived in the hope of accomplishing freedom for all oppressed peoples, and not just those disadvantaged politically or economically. The oppression which he sought to vanquish was that which is in people's hearts.
So often our motives in life can seem cynical, selfish, even disloyal. The pope's life and death are a wake-up call for everyone to gain perspective on what life means. Is the relentless pursuit of money, prestige and superiority any recompense for unconditional love and commitment to good?
Few of us achieve these ideals, but few reach their material goals either. It seems fitting to pay tribute to this extraordinary man by learning from his sincerity and trying to be the best human beings we can. - Yours, etc.,
RONAN MURRAY, Brookview Gardens, Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Someone concluded a recent radio discussion on the Pope and the Church with the disparaging comment "It's all myth". It sounded as though she had no realisation that "myth" is a profound source of wisdom made by people as they touch on the mystery of things.
Humankind is forever engaging with myth, mystery and discovery. In our times, science and religion are more and more involved together in researching the ultimate mystery which many of us call God. To sense this mystery and be challenged by it is always part of being human.
We need another pope who will live according to what he truly believes. This means change must necessarily happen because at all times the truth of now is bursting to come forth. There is, in many of us, the hope that the Vatican Curia and our local churches will not hold back the bursting forth of new life - whatever the perceived risk. There is also the hope that local churches will engage with the laity, really listen humbly to people's voices. Every heretic has a grain of truth to speak.
Finally, there is the hope that the new pope will direct that every priest be trained in such a way that he will be drawn to becoming primarily a man of personal prayer, capable of giving spiritual direction. It may come about that women will be more active in this formation of the priest for today. - Yours, etc.,
ANGELA MACNAMARA, Lower Kilmacud Road, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Over the past week we have been bombarded by the praises of the late Pope with only the most muted references to the failure of this pillar of morality to apply his spirituality to the real circumstances of those to whom he was the final authority on religious matters.
Perhaps we should balance the picture by bringing to mind the millions of Aids orphans in Africa. By his dictates forbidding the use of the simple condom the late Pope condemned many of these children to the utterly preventable loss of parental love and support, and ultimately to the loss of their own desperately sad lives.
This was not some abstract theosophical pronouncement to be filed away and forgotten about. This moral guidance has been and will continue to be the indirect cause of thousands of individual Aids tragedies - innocent lives that are wasting away even as the memory of this supposedly saintly man is celebrated.
We may add to this some consideration of the millions of poor and oppressed women in South America - women denied birth control, economic justice or equal participation in the ministry of the Church, who have been left in the degrading trap of poverty while being told what a special contribution they make to the world as members of their sex.
Their priestly defenders were sidelined and reprimanded by the late Pope and his conservative Hierarchy who have always shown more interest in appeasing the wealthy oppressors than following the gospel examples of siding with the poor and marginalised.
Alongside this one could reflect on the murder, suicide, legal discrimination and frequent physical and verbal abuse suffered by ordinary homosexual women and men in all strongly Catholic countries (I include, from personal experience, Ireland). Condemnation by the late Pope of any expression of our basic human need for love and partnership created, underpinned and justified homophobic hatred.
No doubt this letter, if published, will attract abuse from those who cannot see that recognising failure is an important aspect of evaluating a man who affected so many. However, all of us for whom religion is a powerful and personal reality finally have to face the fact that true morality can only be discovered and verified in the one tool we all have: the human heart. Here we may only hope that, by some miracle, the next Pope may learn from these appalling failings and discover the courage and insight to combine ageless wisdom with the compassion evoked by the particular circumstances of our ever-changing human present. - Yours, etc.,
DOMINIC Ó CEALLAIGH, Circular Road, Galway.
Madam, - I wish to say to journalists throughout the world, and particularly to our Irish journalists: thank you for your positive approach, your sensitivity and your coherence in conveying to us readers, listeners and viewers the story of the life and death of Pope John Paul II. The late Pope valued the media. You have used it to remind us of the message that he put into words and deeds for us all.
I understand that you already had three patron saints - Paul, Francis de Sales and Maximillian Kolbe. Now you have one more - John Paul the Great Communicator. - Yours, etc.,
Sr AGATHA McLOUGHLIN, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Goatstown Road, Dublin 14.