VINCENT TWOMEY,
A chara, - The much-heralded entrance of the Very Rev Robert McCarthy into the Dunboyne Gaelscoil controversy (letter to the editor, front page notice of same plus colour photograph, article on same on page 2, August 10th) turned out to be at best a damp squib, at worst mischievous.
What is clearly lacking in the letter is any appreciation of what Holy Communion and Confirmation mean to Catholics or how these two sacraments (which rites are part of Christian initiation) could possibly be at the core of religious education at primary level.
Disquieting is the attack on the Catholic Church by a senior Anglican cleric, more or less accusing it of bad faith - only interested in numbers and rites of passage - and equally disquieting is how this attack could be so positively highlighted by The Irish Times.
One can imagine the outrage if a senior Catholic cleric made a similar accusation in the opposite direction! While the Rev McCarthy's "intervention" marks a new low in ecumenism, the inflated attention given to it is only typical of the anti-Catholic bias of your otherwise so distinguished newspaper. Yes, mischievous. But then it is the silly season. - Is mise,
VINCENT TWOMEY,
St Patrick's College,
Maynooth.