Ireland used to be "more Catholic than the Pope". Not anymore! In a BBC documentary entitled "Mission in reverse: Ireland on the brink", the editor of an Irish Catholic newspaper said that the Catholic faith in Ireland "is in a rapid decline, and it shows no signs of abating".

Many Irish parishes are struggling to survive. Attendance at Mass is down to about 20 per cent. The largest church in Dublin is going to be demolished and most of the land on which it stands will be used for social housing. In a town in county Tipperary, the bishop's palace has been converted into a hotel. So much for the "triumph" of faith!

A student at the Catholic Rockwell College was perceptive enough to affirm what some scientists and philosophers have long acknowledged: "there are more reasons not to believe in God than to believe in God".

John Guillaumier

St Julian's