SIR – In your leading article, “The cost of unity” (September 23), you state that “St Gregory the Great sent out St Augustine of Canterbury and 40 companions to take the Gospel to Britain.”
In fact, the Gospel was already fully inculturated in Britain and the arrival of St Augustine in 597, following the earlier death of St David (587), the first Bishop of Menevia, and St Columba of Iona (597), coincided with the closing years of the “Golden Age” of the Celtic saints. This had witnessed the evangelisation of the native British population, and their conversion to the Catholic faith, during the 5th and 6th centuries.
There were four British bishops at Constantine’s first Church council at Arles in 312, and Augustine himself (according to Bede) had an unhappy meeting with the British bishops, who were left unimpressed by his lack of humility.
St Augustine was not sent to evangelise the British but the newly arrived pagan Anglo-Saxons. Christianity has had a continual uninterrupted presence in Wales since the last years of the Roman Empire, and the last British Catholic King was Prince Llywelyn of Wales, who was killed by the English King Edward I at Cilmeri in 1282.
We must hope that when the present Archbishop of Canterbury met Pope Francis, the centuries of the Catholic Church in Britain before the arrival of St Augustine were not overlooked or forgotten.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Neil Evans
St Joseph’s, Neath
SIR – Regarding the issue of whether opposing contraception can be a distraction from opposing abortion (Letters, September 30), the early birth control movement had the same problem, but in reverse.
Contraception campaigners saw the abortion campaign (which arose from the birth control campaign) as a severe embarrassment, because the strongest argument for contraception was that it would prevent women from seeking abortion, even although they knew that the reverse was the truth. The public would hardly be convinced that contraception prevented abortion if campaigners also supported abortion for contraceptive failure.
Admittedly, abortion campaigners demanded legalisation for medical “hard cases”, and also for “unfit mothers”, rather than for contraceptive failure, but since contraceptive campaigners were part of the abortion-supporting population control movement – the Eugenics Society was a leading advocate of both – it was clear that they used public revulsion against abortion as a “selling point” for contraception, and undoubtedly the “hard cases” were only the beginning.
Contraception and abortion are indeed two sides of the same coin; even if people who use contraception feel they would never countenance abortion, it encourages a false sense of security, thus increasing the sense of shock when it fails.
In creating the “planned pregnancy”, contraception also created the “unplanned pregnancy”, for which abortion all too often is the “solution”.
Yours faithfully,
Ann Farmer (Mrs)
Woodford Green, Essex
SIR – I’m sorry not to accede to Quentin de la Bédoyère’s request to avoid speaking of contraception and abortion in the same sentence (Science and Faith, September 16). Not only is it psychologically correct that love increases strongly in living with the truth that sexuality is to do with procreation, but also the papal encyclical on contraception itself is called Humanae Vitae (1968); although personally I would have preferred it to be called Humanae Amoris.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Bryan Storey
St Paul the Apostle,Tintagel, Cornwall
SIR – I would like to warmly congratulate Brother Philip Mulryne on his solemn profession as a Dominican (News, September 30). What a pity, though, that in reporting this wonderful event it was framed in terms of “takes step towards priesthood”.
Is solemn profession merely a stepping stone on the way to priesthood – can it not be celebrated in its own right? Surely religious life has a validity and value in itself? Regrettably, clericalism is alive and well in our Church and when it raises its unattractive head, there is an obligation on those who spot it to point it out.
Yours faithfully,
Brother Stephen O’Kane OFM
Dublin
SIR – If any should feel like Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757) – “Behold a universe so immense that I am lost in it. I no longer know where I am. I am just nothing at all. Our world is terrifying in its insignificance” – then let him read the excellent books that are available on the subject of the universe and humanity’s place in it. Some are an easy read and not too academic and can lead to further reading, if needed.
Following the letter by Eugene O’Neale (September 23), who says “To answer the non-believers we must be able to show that our beliefs have a statable and respectable philosophical basis”, to any such enquirers I can thoroughly recommend David Block’s book Starwatch to answer the Creationist’s position, though it may not be the philosopher’s position, on the most basic questions on why we should believe in God.
Yours faithfully,
John Lovett
Aiskew, North Yorkshire
SIR – As I flicked through the Catholic Herald of September 23, I could see there were a lot of serious issues to be thought about, then came the highlighting of certain contributors on the cover – but no mention of the gem awaiting me inside. I refer, of course, to Charterhouse by Leonie Caldecott, with the headline “The dog who taught me to pray”.
What a wonderful tribute to her pet Truffle, and how those of us privileged to share our lives with a dog could empathise with her pain as he was put to sleep after 14 precious years.
Personally, I was able to relate to the title of her moving article. I too have a (rescue) dog, the third one to attend daily and Sunday Mass in my parish church. She is there when I settle down to pray at home, sometimes sleeping, sometimes nudging me, reminding me that I am nudging God in prayer: “I’m here, Lord, love me and keep on loving me.”
So dogs do not have rational souls like us, but as they are created by God, do they need one to be with us in heaven? Surely their lives are not just snuffed out; they are part of the wonderful gift of God’s creation to us. To quote from Léonie’s article, a dog’s “love is unconditional. He is a harbinger of grace.” How true.
Rise again, Truffle!
Yours faithfully,
Sister Goldia Barton
Southport, Lancashire
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