The Church teaches (C.C.C. 390) that our first parents Adam and Eve committed Original Sin (Genesis 3) at the beginning of the history of humanity. However, C.C.C 404 states that this sin is not committed by all Adam and Eve’s descendants but is contracted by them from one generation to the next. Over 70 years ago when I was first taught this at primary school I used to complain that since we were never in Eden with Adam and Eve and never committed Original Sin, why should we be treated as guilty and suffer all the adverse effects. Baptism cleansed the soul so that it could receive sanctifying grace but an understanding was still darkened, our wills weakened, and we retained a strong inclination to evil. A classmate joked that Adam ate the apple, offered by Eve but we suffered the stomach pains because it was sour.
Many years later after huge development in science we now appreciate that the adverse effects due to Original Sin are everywhere, in all matter energy with disorder, and then pain and death in all living forms, due to the process of evolution right back to the Big Bang, long before the first man and woman emerged.
Since I believed in the doctrine of Original Sin and wished to remain a Christian I tried for many years to resolve the problem. The answer seems to be that Eden is a state of being of creation not a garden on earth. This state is transcendental above space and time present in the Eternal Now of God. The initial state is one great idea, living knowledge in the divine mind. The original idea intends that the whole universe should be one immortal body perfectly shared by all, but each distinct.
Humanity in its true transcendental reality is therefore universal as well as personal in the image of the Trinity so we all committed Original Sin and the whole universe is expelled from paradise and actualised in the finite constraints of space and time. All matter-energy is fallen and all is blemished by Original Sin, including the souls and bodies of all living forms. The only exception is the souls and bodies of Jesus and Mary in the actualised ideas of their humanity This adds to my previous letter (December 28) on the subject, supporting the view that all doctrine is subject to development of understanding.
Jesus taught his Apostles that he had much more to teach them but it would be too much then for them. But the Holy Spirit would enlighten them from one age to the next. Scientific knowledge increases as the years pass and helps us to understand better God’s creation, so our understanding of true doctrine should also increase.
PROF JOHN ROONEY
Belfast BT9
Sinn Féin should help stop desecration of a Mid-Ulster jewel
I am heartened to read that Sinn Féin is opposed to unsustainable extraction of Ireland’s non-renewable natural resources (Michelle O’Neill on gold-mining, January 19).
A more insidious kind of extraction is also deserving of the party’s attention, namely that of space.
David Attenborough’s Dynasties focuses on how nature is running out of space and how, like our extravagant use of plastics, this is harming mankind.
Within the past two generations we have witnessed the falling silent of corncrake, curlew and skylark from Ireland’s summers. Come the spring, we now risk losing the inspirational landscape of Heaney country. Yet, combined with the natural heritage of Lough Beg’s wild swans and wetlands, this ancient space could be the cornerstone of a diversified economy founded on people’s well being and world heritage status.
In March the annihilation will resume in earnest of a host of places made famous by the poetry of Seamus Heaney: Aughrim Hill, The Creagh, Lagan’s Road and The Strand at Lough Beg. I share with Heaney an attachment to place, a deep affection for Lough Beg and his vision for a more sustainable future.
Mid-Ulster celebrates Heaney’s literary legacy in the new cultural and visitor centre HomePlace in Bellaghy. It was a direct rule minister who announced this short-sighted route through the Nobel Laureate’s ‘precious wetlands’, the swan meadows of the Creagh; there are other routes. Seamus Heaney pleaded for an alternative.
Sinn Féin can contribute towards this economic, environmental and social regeneration by calling for a public inquiry into a 4km section of the A6 upgrade, from just beyond the Moyola River to the Elk Inn. The public has been denied
the opportunity to scrutinise
the impacts. Visionary and bold thinking, beyond a mere two generations, beyond the brutally limited horizon of one government department’s crass determination to desecrate one of the jewels of Mid-Ulster – is Sinn Féin willing to step up to the plate?
CHRIS MURPHY
Killough, Co Down
Quotes have no basis in fact
in an article entitled ‘Priest raises fears over plans to develop gold mine in Sperrins’ (January 16) it was alleged that the company behind the scheme, Dalradian, wanted to make “a quick buck” and that “Destruction is the name of their game”. For the record, the statements by Fr McVeigh quoted above have no basis in fact. Dalradian has been operating in west Tyrone since 2009 and employs 40 people. As part of its long-term commitment to the area Dalradian has supported 215 local community groups through its Tyrone Fund. We have also provided 70 student placements and internships as part of our ongoing strategy to develop mining related skills locally.
More than £100m has been invested to date and our intention is to create 1,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, and spend $1bn in the project’s supply chain over the course of its 20 to 25-year lifespan.
Dalradian is also committed to meeting and exceeding all environmental regulatory standards, and has submitted a 10,000-page planning application detailing the project’s environmental management approach.
If Fr McVeigh would like to join one of our tunnel tours or meet us to discuss the facts before he comments again on this transformative project, we would be glad to welcome him.
PETER McKENNA
Community Relations Manager, Dalradian
Disgraceful comments
Leo Varadkar shocked many when he suggested the Brexit issue could see a return to violence in Ireland. Why did he say something so dangerous?
At that time some wrote he was by his careless talk giving permission to any headbanger with an excuse to ‘do his thing’, yet Leo said it when it was the last thing he should have allowed himself to do. Did he believe Westminster would be shocked into doing what he wishes regarding Ireland, north and south? Did the “new IRA” take encouragement from the taoiseach’s disgraceful comments about violence and decided to give themselves a new name and to have a go?
Where is responsibility when political language is so used in a time of established peace?
ROBERT SULLIVAN
Bantry, Co Cork
Jingoistic language
Now that the SDLP and Sinn Féin are braying to the moon over Brexit, one wonders if there ever will be reconciliation between the Ulster Gaels and the Ulster Britons?
Some of the language used by those parties is jingoistic to the marrow. It’s as if they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. A mark of the shift towards nihilism.
I have nothing against the British. They have the same rights as me. I just wish that we would just dust ourselves up and keep going without an assembly.
DESMOND DEVLIN
Ardboe, Co Tyrone
