Sir, - Jim Duffy's article "understanding. . . the unfair attacks" on priests and religious (Rite and Reason, September 14th) runs as follows: the Church has done her own fair share (he offers instances) so she had better not complain. He does hope that a healing process may see the ghosts of the past being exorcised and people learning to differentiate those in religion who, as he puts it, "deserve the bitterness and condemnation" from the rest. If this is to happen, however, the anger of recent decades must first be expressed.
Many groups of people, many individuals too, have done wrong in our recent past and are objects of anger. The Catholic Church is unique, however, in having anger against her prescribed as therapeutic. I fail to see how this sort of writing in a newspaper of your quality can contribute to that sense of balance which Jim Duffy - and many others - would like to see returning. - Yours, etc.,
Rev Patrick Gorevan, Hume Street, Dublin 2.