A letter from a viewer who is questioning the cost of building new churches in Ireland .
A viewer The sender describes their outrage at the building of expensive churches at a time when homelessness is on the rise.
A proposal has been set out to build a church in south county Dublin at a cost of £250,000 and thousands of has already been spent enlarging the church currently on the site. A mile away is another new church, The New Church of the Guardian Angels' with debt still unpaid. Nearby another church opened just a few months ago.
We seem to have our values wrong somewhere when banks and builders grow fat not on housing but on the building of churches and public houses.
Much of these buildings are funded by The Planned Giving donations from parishioners.
I most honestly feel that the spate of church building in Dublin while thousands are homeless is little pleasing to God. Human beings are also the temples of the Lord.
He goes on to say that fifty years ago, before the advent of the car, churches were few and far between. Now, it seems to be felt that nobody should have to drive more than a mile to attend mass.
This episode of 'Newsbeat' was broadcast on 2 February 1968.
