Sir, - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin has every right to speak to members of his own denomination about the matter of receiving Holy Communion and they are in conscience free to decide their response to the stated position of Dr O'Connell and the Vatican. However, the Archbishop has no authority to tell the Church of Ireland what it should or should not do.
The Church of Ireland says that all baptised Christians are welcome at the altar, if their conscience allows. In so doing, it recognises that the Eucharist does not belong to the Church of Ireland but to all who follow Jesus and acknowledge Him as Lord and Saviour. No one is compelled to come; the response of each person is a matter of free choice.
Jesus was able to sit down at the Last Supper with Judas, the one who was to betray Him. There was certainly no complete unity at that table. If Our Lord did not exclude, who gives the archbishop or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith any right to do so? The law of love supersedes any man-made rule and to turn any believer away from the Lord's Table is to undermine the loving purposes of God.
The Bishop of Rome and his advisers have no God-given right to tell people to refrain from receiving Holy Communion in a reformed church or to turn away reformed Christians from the altars they administer. The Eucharist is the property of all who believe and call on the name of the Lord for help.
The archbishop's views on church-state relations are also a cause for concern to many. What has he in mind exactly, when he speaks of a "formal relationship between the State and the Church", as he did in the Sunday Business Post interview? As things stand, the churches have the same right to be heard and consulted as any other interest group in society. Why should they have any special rights?
The archbishop mentions the French practice of appointing a bishop to liaise with the state. Most people would have no problem with that, I'm sure, if similar representatives were appointed from other denominations and if the actions of the individuals appointed were above board and open to scrutiny. There will be many who will wonder if the archbishop's idea is about the Roman Catholic Church having an easier path to Government ministers to tell them what to do, however. Those of us who believe in liberal democracy and pluralism (whatever church we belong to) can never allow a new cosy relationship to develop between Drumcondra and Kildare Street.
Archbishop Connell should not imagine that he can ever don the mantle of John Charles McQuaid. He has succeeded where John Charles failed - in getting the cardinal's hat - but he shouldn't allow that go to his head! The days of informal theocracy are at an end. The Roman Catholic church has every right to have its views made known publicly but it should not think of ever trying to pressurise the government or the citizenry of this country into accepting that its counsel should become law. It may be the church to which most Irish people still nominally belong, but experience has shown that it is out of touch with its people.
I wish Archbishop Connell well in his new position as cardinal. I hope he will use his office to proclaim the Good News and that he will co-operate with other Christian churches in making known God's love for all. - Yours, etc.,
Rev David Frazer, St Michael and All Angels Rectory, Millicent, Sallins, Co Kildare.