Madam, - It is one thing to have genuine, conscientious differences with that part of the church governed by the Bishop of Rome; it is entirely unreasonable and uncharitable to express those differences in the millenialist rhetoric of the 16th and 17th centuries. The controversial remarks of Mr Wallace Thompson (January 22nd), occasioned by his discovery of rosary beads for sale in St Patrick's Cathedral, has highlighted the fact that many Protestants in the North are seriously behind the times in their thinking. Rational, thinking Protestants must challenge these religious dinosaurs.
It disturbs me that people like Mr Thompson are able to point to the Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland as a justification for their extremism. Disingenuously, some Church of Ireland spokespersons will argue that the articles are historical formularies which have been made redundant by modern developments. That is simply not true. The articles, with their explicit anti-Roman Catholic bias, remain a doctrinal standard of belief until such time as they are repudiated by the General Synod. The fact that they remain in situ is due to a reluctance to challenge the sectarian element in the pews. The fear is that disowning the articles would drive the Orange and evangelical zealots into the arms of the Protestant sects.
The Church of Ireland is rightly offended when the Vatican and its representatives use unwarranted and hurtful language, questioning the validity of its sacraments and the validity of Anglican ordination. Just as Rome is wrong in its use of certain words and phrases, it is equally unacceptable that the Church of Ireland should retain statements of doctrine which refer to "the sacrifices of masses" as "blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits" and which condemn "Romish practices".
At its next meeting, the General Synod of the Church of Ireland must be asked to disown that language. After Drumcree, the church set up a Hard Gospel project to tackle bigotry and sectarianism. Clearly, there are some hard decisions that must now be faced. - Yours, etc,
Rev DAVID FRAZER,
Inse Bay,
Laytown,
Co Meath.
Madam, - With regard to Wallace Thompson's letter of January 22nd and his distaste at the sale of rosaries in St Patrick's Cathedral, I was wondering if he managed to look past the rosaries and just think about the crassness of an open gift shop right in the sanctuary of a church. If I'm not mistaken, you can see the altar from the cash register.
This was something I found a bit shocking when I visited (although it didn't stop me from buying a bookmark and a name plaque for my son). As far as rosaries go, wasn't St Patrick's originally a Catholic Cathedral anyway? But I guess that's a whole other issue altogether. - Yours, etc,
JANET BURKE,
Elmhurst,
Illinois,
USA.