Hi °C | Lo °C The article by Paul Hopkins, headlined 'The Boychild's Mary' (Saturday Review, December 22), in which he uses a religious book by Colm Toibin as a vehicle to offer his own views on religion, was factually wrong in numerous ways.
As far as I am concerned, it was aimed at creating mischief among Christians, by perpetuating half-truths about the Catholic Church and the honour it gives to Mary as the Mother of God.
Chief among these errors was the assertion that the Catholic Church teaches that Mary mediates directly with God. This is true to the extent that she mediates with Jesus, her son, who is both true God and true man.
The Catholic Church recognises that only Jesus can mediate with God in the fullest sense.
It is especially reprehensible when ignorance and age-old prejudices are veiled beneath an air of scholarly reflection. As for me, I am just an ordinary Catholic, so if your readers would like to know more about what the Catholic Church really teaches, then please check out www.catholic.com.
SEAN TAGGART
Omagh, Co Tyrone
