Madam, - Here we go again! Let's blame the Church for everything wrong in the country. It is an undeniable fact that the influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland has seriously diminished over the past 20 years (not altogether a bad thing.) The Church now has a negligible influence on the attitudes and morals of the under-50s. Many in that age category revel in the fact that they are free from the yoke of "Catholic oppression".
It is now the media that are the most influential in shaping attitudes and morals in and in many cases their message is diametrically opposed to the Church's. Why, then, does Declan Kelly seek to blame the church for attitudes to sexual orientation held by people of whom the vast majority reject the Church's teaching?
If there is still prejudice in this country about people's sexual orientation the blame cannot be attached to the widely ignored teaching of the Church; it must lie elsewhere. When are people going to accept personal responsibility for their attitudes and actions and stop the infantile habit of blaming the big bad Catholic Church? - Yours, etc,
DOMHNALL O'NEILL,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.