IRELAND
Irish Times
August 11, 2018
By Colm O’Gorman
Executive director, Amnesty International Ireland
We invite a range of people to write the Pope an open letter in advance of his Irish visit
about 5 hours ago
Dear Francis,
I won’t lie. It has been a tough few months. I hadn’t imagined that your visit to Ireland would cause me any upset, but to my surprise it has.
It started when the media here began to recall the iconic moments of John Paul II’s visit back in 1979. I was 13 years old then and, like most children of my generation, heavily involved in the church. I had been an altar server; I sang at Mass every Sunday.
I went to a Christian Brothers School and the youth group I attended every week was a Catholic group that met in a convent. The church was a massive influence in my life back then, and central to every part of it.
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