Comment 1

I read the article you mentioned (Bill Farrelly) just before mass started this evening. I was going to give a response and ask to have it kept private, but having written this now I don't really care either way - I am most interested in what Jesuits in particular think about my opinions (because I trust them and have been educated by them over many years), and not the general population. I mentioned to James O'Brien of St  Francis Xavier that I thought I was an extremist (half jokingly) - but I am really not sure because I don't actually know what other people think - most of my high level opinions were derived theoretical/experientially and not from other people directly - I was actually surprised the other day when I received some direct confirmation by a friend's wife that what I was doing was right. So, if you have time to read further, here is what I wrote:

Comment 2

I was greatly moved by Mr. Farrelly's piece which I read in the Parish Bulletin this morning. I have a particular niece who was baptised into the Church and whose Godfather I am. She has a beautiful special needs daughter who is almost 4 years of age and who has never been baptised. My niece and her husband have decided very firmly that my great-niece will not be attending a Catholic school.  My niece herself no longer practises her Faith.  She and her husband, not a Catholic, and their daughter live abroad.  I try to visit them once a year, and it saddens me greatly to see my great-niece growing up deprived, as Mr. Farrelly so correctly points out, of the opportunity to decide, in responsible adulthood, whether or not to continue in the practice of the Faith.