Sir, - The sterile re-introduction of the inter-communion issue on the eve of Dr Connell's elevation to the cardinalate owes more to journalistic enterprise than to any widespread real concern about the underlying issue.
If the Sunday Business Post hadn't seen fit to isolate a small section of a wide-ranging interview to front-page prominence, purely on news evaluation, this disorderly inter-church row would probably never have erupted. In even referring to the issue anew after the previous debacle it can only be assumed that Dr Connell allowed his guard to slip, as it followed immediately in response to a question by the interviewer on his media projection. The archbishop's words were: "if you talk to people and you know that they have a knife, you are not going to be entirely at your ease." Precisely.
A pity too that it wasn't made clear that what was being said on inter-communion was to be seen in a doctrinal context, that what was being referred to was a principle rather than an issue of serious pastoral concern.
In practical terms what seems to have been overlooked almost entirely is that the number of Catholics seeking Communion in a Church of Ireland place of worship on any given occasion must be very small indeed. Even in the context of the differing approaches to the reception of the Eucharist in the two traditions, would it not seem to have been more constructive if the two leading churchmen in the archdiocese had got together for a friendly exchange on their respective positions? Surely that would have constituted genuine ecumenism and avoided unedifying public controversy on aspects of the sacrament probably above the heads of the vast majority of members of either Church. - Yours, etc.,
Des Cryan, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, - Your rather testy Editorial of February 20th suggests that Dr Connell's toothache is not the only raw nerve touched in the present controversy, the other being Church of Ireland sensitivities. They are certainly not risible, though you are fortunate if you find that toothache is.
It is clear by now that ecumenical issues are much deeper and more difficult than some had imagined. Advocating easy inter-communion between Catholics and Anglicans jars. The sane and suitably anaesthetised way is to confine joint ecumenical prayer to services of the word (Vespers and Lauds), not the Eucharist or Holy Communion. That way we can all smile happily, and our editorials will be sweeter too. - Yours, etc.,
Myles Rearden, CM, St Vincent's College, Castleknock, Dublin 15.
Sir, - It was interesting to note the difference in messages from the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Dr Murphy O'Connor, as they departed for the consistory in Rome.
Dr Connell's article in The Irish Times was in line with all of his statements since his appointment to the see of Dublin. It bears the stamp of a cleric with little pastoral experience, and a life led in the groves of academe. In contrast, Dr Murphy-O'Connor's press interview was from a man who is worldly wise and versed in the political battle that ensues from dealing with the Vatican. He delights in the fact that the church in England and Wales "punches above its weight". He sets out his determination to speak on behalf of his flock, to lead them in "a world of miasma and confusion".
The current impression of the Vatican's view of the Catholic Church in Ireland is one of an organisation that will always toe the line in the most obsequious and unquestioning manner. It manifests itself in the wholly parochial manner in which the church is run, and in the lack of real intellectual heft on the part of the present Hierarchy.
Fr Jackie Robinson of Athboy once said that he wouldn't really know what many of his fellow seminarians thought about anything, so afraid were they of ruining their career prospects. What can one expect from them when they aspire to the higher echelons of the Hierarchy?
The Catholic Church in this country will only regain its real authority when one of its bishops addresses the fact that we live in the 21st century, and grasps the problems that face every single one of us on a daily basis. Oh! that we had someone of the calibre of Milan's Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. Then we could expect to be led forward into the next stage of the development of the church. - Yours, etc.,
Desmond Graham, Collins avenue East, Donnycarney, Dublin 5.