Sir – When I was young, my widowed mother would gather her children together for prayers at bedtime. She always included this: “Gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon a little child; pity my simplicity, make me good to come to Thee.” Simplicity is a beautiful, childlike quality when it is present both in childhood and adulthood; now, in my old age, I feel it has become undervalued.
The Ten Commandments may be difficult to keep, but they are simple to understand; I have found during my lifetime that the Second Commandment is given too little attention. Graven images are pagan idols; likenesses are ideologies. Idolatry and ideology are closely connected. Paying service to national socialism, communism and fascism in the last century brought about catastrophe – although now the Church seems to be reaching out to Communist China – but their legacies remain and have been added to in recent decades.
Ideologies are increasing exponentially, and they risk replacing God with the individualism that is so attractive to fallen humanity. A Church that embraces ideologically driven movements produces confusion, discord and disunity.
A Church divided, which has lost simplicity, risks scandalising its children. The Commandments, in contrast, provide boundaries that do not destroy our freedoms but rather secure them. They appeal to our reason, and following them allows us to grow in holiness and in love of God and our neighbour. They are the foundation of our Christian faith, and the second one in particular deserves closer attention.
Carole Leret Bristol, UK
Fourth Gospel
Sir – In the April edition, Fr Henry Wansbrough wondered, in his illuminating piece “The Astonishing Fourth Gospel” (April 2024), what exactly was fulfilled when Christ said: “It is accomplished.” Could those words have meant that the Jewish Passover was fulfilled by Christ sacrificing Himself? They may have had other meanings as well.
On this topic, I commend to your readers The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth and The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross, both by Scott Hahn, and Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper, by Brant Pitre.
William Jolliffe Oxford, UK
All are welcome
Sir – I could not agree more with Flora Watkins regarding children in church (April 2024). Hearing babies and young children during Mass is a delight. They are there because people have managed to get themselves and their children ready and into Church.
It would be wonderful if our priests would thank these parents now and again. Those who help out in some way are often thanked from the altar, but the parents of young children need to hear that their efforts are also appreciated.
Stephen Cotter Dumfries, UK
More empathy
Sir – I was disappointed and upset by the language used in Flora Watkins’s article “Children at Mass” (April 2024). Referring to elderly female members of the congregation as “old bags” sounds disrespectful and misogynistic. Although this insulting epithet is widely used, I would hope for more empathy in a church setting. It is precisely this lack of intergenerational respect and understanding that gives rise to much of the conflict and resentment that we see all around us.
When does a woman become an “old bag”, anyway? The complaining “old bag” might have been suffering from loss, loneliness or illness – and might also have made Herculean efforts to attend church in search of words of peace and comfort. Mutual respect and tolerance are vital if we are to welcome all generations to our churches.
Joyce Ashton Wallasey, UK
Catholic schools
Sir – “Should a school be more Catholic?” (April 2024) raised a number of important points. Of course the historic ideal was that “Catholic children should be taught by Catholic teachers in Catholic schools”.
The Church found excellent models in the schools run by monks and nuns, but their decline in numbers have made that option unviable; furthermore, as we sadly know only too well, some monastic schools have recently had to be totally restructured in the light of serious and well-documented instances of abuse. Priests are also now much more thinly spread, and some Catholic schools are only rarely visited by the clergy.
For the most part, then, at least in Britain, the Church has to rely on the laity. The problem there is that many Catholic teachers have often been poorly formed in the Faith over the last few decades.
And so it is all too believable that a Catholic school in Britain today might forget to include time for Mass on a Sunday, and no surprise at all that “Tom says many of his teachers disagree with Church teachings”.
Where Catholic schools are good, they are excellent; where they are less than good, they can frequently be woeful. The bishops need to take this in hand urgently and personally to ensure that the next generation of Catholic children are properly taught, formed and catechised.
Marjorie Hogan Blackburn, UK
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Photo: Detail from ‘Echo and Narcissus’, 1903, by John William Waterhouse; image in the public domain.
This Letters page originally appeared in the May 2024 edition of the Catholic Herald magazine. To read further insightful and counter-cultural writing, subscribe here.
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