Sir, - Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, November 21st) once again studiously writes out his indictment of triumphalism and repression in the Catholic Church in the modern era. Of course, Mr O'Toole is broadly correct in his historical criticisms, but why does he continue to present such material as if it were a new-born and vibrant truth? In reality, this argument deserves honourable retirement, as it has fought the good fight since the years of Vatican II.
His analysis, honest and heartfelt as it may be, has ceased to be progressive. Indeed it is becoming increasingly out-dated in the steadily maturing debate about the place of religion in our society. We need to welcome a new generation of thought, informed but not imprisoned by past glories or by past sins. There is little to be gained in present-day writers endlessly censuring the church to pay back past censorship. The changing church deserves and needs an evolving critique.
A hopeful contemporary sign of progress emerged through the recent presidential campaign. The election of Mary McAleese to some degree involved a recasting of old notions of religious conviction and secular liberalism; in accepting her complexity, there was a sense of pluralism coming full circle. This was in sharp contrast to the artless portrait of Rosemary Scallon and her beliefs inflicted upon us by Mr O'Toole last August: an unwanted and unloved gift now lying face down in the nation's attic.
Finally, in discussing clerical film roles, I am surprised that Mr O'Toole links Bing Crosby's escapism with Karl Malden's character in On The Waterfront. His dramatic assertion, in the hostile scene in the ship's cargo hold, that Christ was also "down here in the docks" was an uncomfortable and worthy expression of what many would consider a timeless truth. - Yours, etc.,
Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow.