Madam, - According to Rev Joseph O'Leary (November 20th,) "we are living at a time when any physical contact between adults and minors, however natural, may invite suspicion. Even the 'pat on the head' that Fr [Tony] Flannery mentioned [ The Irish Times, November 17th] might well be regarded as suspicious by the hypersensitive vigilantes who are calling the shots in this area."
This talk of "hypersensitive vigilantes" is a classic example of the very paranoia he condemns. I know of no such people in my own context - and I have seen one of our own priests quite unselfconsciously hugging children as they leave the chapel with their parents. There wasn't a "hypersensitive vigilante" in sight. Anyone who objected to this would have been considered simply eccentric.
It's the huge reticence of clergy on all such issues that is causing the irrational fear that Fr O'Leary and Fr Flannery express - and this in turn is caused by the Catholic hang-up on sexuality that underpins the mandatory celibacy rule.
When priests can hug their own children in public we will finally be free of all this paranoia. - Yours, etc,
SEAN O'CONAILL,
Coleraine,
Co Derry.