Opinion

Ashamed to be Irish after result of referendum

On the day following the abortion referendum I realised a new sensation – I was ashamed to be Irish. Watching the ghoulish celebrations where laughing adults rejoiced in the future deaths of the innocent I was reminded of something satanic fromthe  darkest depths of Poe’s imagination. These were my fellow Irishmen and women who must surely be divorced from their senses. Did they not realise they were cheering the deaths of thousands of children whose only ‘crime’ was conception. Could they not have looked beyond the propaganda of the new world order and seen the grisly results of this wicked equation. A future where women boast of the number of abortions they’ve had at parties as they do in Britain. Where medical staff will be pilloried if they refuse to take part in what will be termed women’s health care, protest will be considered harassment and the deaths and mental anguish of many women who have abortions will be swept under the media carpet. 

Now they have turned their attention to Ulster – they will not be content until all of the island is made in their image. Pro-life people will fight to stop them but their allies are powerful and we must do all that we can to stop them even if we are fighting  as a rearguard.


For me I will start to vote for the DUP party whose only redeeming feature is their unequivocal defence of the unborn no matter what nationality their parents. A principled stand that by far trumps any of their shortcomings.


I would even vote against uniting Ireland, even though it was my dearest wish. My Ireland is dead, a precursor to so many of her children. Not at England’s behest, but by the hands of her sons and daughters. Who, as we have seen, did so with glee. Éirinn go Brách  should be etched on a monument to our innocent dead, not only as an inscription to their slaughter but as the final resting place of the Irish spirit for those yes voters.


The rest of us can still hold it in our hearts.

GERARD HERDMAN


Belfast BT11

Role of God’s ministers is not to exalt themselves

Paul Kinney, ‘Argument lost by deviating from scripture’s absolute authority’ (May 24), is in error concerning what he calls “the absolute authority” of scripture. God reveals His truth to us – not by scripture only – but by both scripture and tradition (II Thess 2:15) and it is in His Church that both are safeguarded (I Tim 3:15).

The Lord Jesus, in telling us ‘call no-one father’ (Mt 23:9), was using hyperbole much in the same way that He told us, ‘cut off your hand should it cause you to sin’ (Mt 5:30). He was not forbidding the legitimate use of the natural and spiritual title ‘father’.

St Paul called himself a spiritual father (I Cor 4:15 and Philemon v 10). Our Lord was warning us about the undue exaltation of any individual in the eyes of others – always a danger in any denomination. The role of God’s ministers and servants is to lead people to God, not to exalt themselves.

Furthermore, there is nothing of ‘man’s imagination’ when it comes to the change in the bread and wine at Mass but the plain words of Our Lord – nothing added to and nothing subtracted from them: “Whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I shall raise them up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” If we fail to receive Him in the Eucharist we will not have no life in us” (John 6:53-55).

These are the Lord’s own words. The Blessed Eucharist is not a “picture”. It is reality. We do not “eat something” in Holy Communion but the Son of the Living God comes into our hearts, nourishing us with His own life, for our eternal salvation.

Fr PATRICK McCAFFERTY


Belfast BT12

Who will pay for border solution?

There are a few questions arising out of Graham Gudgin’s report (Getting Over the Line: Solutions to the Irish border, May 9, 2018), which is prefaced by David (Lord) Trimble.

His group’s argument that mobile phone and GPS technology can be used to track HGVs after Brexit is arguably superficial at best.

For example, will the British government pay for this equipment to be installed?

If not, how much will it cost transport companies to install this equipment?

Is the assumption here that the British government will monitor the ingress and egress of all HGVs from and to the European Union, or will the EU also have to meet those costs as well.

And before Graham’s fan base respond it is important here to clarify that all HGVs entering and leaving the UK will presumably have to install this monitoring equipment, and not just those crossing the EU-UK border in Ireland, and that possibly millions of movements will need to be monitored each year. How much will this cost annually?

Secondly, what will happen to those HGVs that arrive at the EU-UK border, whether it be at British ports or the EU-UK border in Ireland, without this equipment fitted?

Will they be turned away? Waived through regardless with a caution? Or will the equipment be fitted there and then to allow them to continue their journey? How long will it take to install?

Thirdly, this tracker equipment may well track the HGVs but it won’t be able to verify the cargo within, and presumably this will require stringent manual checks to verify what is inside these containers? How much will this cost annually?

What Gudgin’s group really needs is someone who can crunch the numbers for them – maybe an economist, perhaps?

BERNARD J MULHOLLAND


Belfast BT9

Presbyterianism needs to accept reality

In two separate referendums almost a year apart the people of the Republic have voted to accept same-sex marriage and now abortion. It is obvious that the Catholic Church in Ireland can no longer influence or control what people do or think and the days of Holy Catholic Ireland are over.

It is now time for Presbyterian Ulster to accept reality and allow same-sex marriage and abortion to take place in Northern Ireland. The Province can no longer remain an outpost of Oliver Cromwell’s English Commonwealth. If the province does not acccept reality then Presbyterianism like the Irish Catholic Church and the Church of England faces terminal decline.

The young people of the north like the young in the Republic will bring about change. The ‘old guard’ in the DUP and the Free Presbyterian Church need to take heed or the young will desert unionism and Presbyterianism like rats deserting a sinking ship.

JAMES ANNETT


Popular Unionist, London

Mandate for change

Most of the secrets and shame have been shackled to us by the Catholic Church and the political establishment that never had the courage to act independently of that Church. The results of the referendum are a collective call for freedom from every patriarchal restraint that held women down in this country. Northern Ireland politicians should wake up to the 21st century and follow the example of its southern and hopefully united neighbour one day. All those who participated in the referendum can take pride in the fact their country is fast becoming one of the globe’s most tolerant and democratic to live in due to the yes vote, where women have choices over their own bodies.


The result of this referendum is a clear sign that there is a mandate to make changes in these areas.

NOEL HARRINGTON


Kinsale, Co Cork