SIR – Mary Kenny (Comment, February 12) is quite right that the loss of men from Catholic congregations is not confined to France. Research in the USA indicates that men make up only 35 per cent of the typical congregation, and anecdotal evidence suggests the same for the UK. Some have concluded that men are less religious than women, but the phenomenon is far from universal. Hindus, Jews and Muslims have no special difficulty attracting men, and nor do Orthodox churches in the West. The rule seems to be, rather, that the more liberal the group, the fewer the men.
I don’t think most lapsed Catholic men have a thought-through commitment to theological conservatism. The problem is rather that liberalism manifests itself liturgically in ways peculiarly difficult for men to bear: in emotionalism, informality, wordiness, and the worship of the community instead of God.
The form of Catholic worship which consistently attracts and retains men is the Traditional Latin Mass. A survey of Traditional Masses around the world found that congregations average about 55 per cent men. If you want the Church to include both sexes, you know what you have to do.
Yours faithfully,
Joseph Shaw
Chairman, the Latin Mass Society, London WC2
SIR – May I say, with respect, that I cannot see the justification for Fr Ashley Beck’s assertion (Letter, February 5) that “You cannot be a faithful Catholic and a Eurosceptic”.
In deciding how we shall cast our votes special attention will be paid to statements from our leaders in the apostolic tradition, then to reasoned input from other contributors. We will look at the EU and consider how we judge it is performing and what of its effects.
But the words quoted from St John Paul II, for example, are not an ex cathedra pronouncement demanding an assent of faith. In similar forays Father has said that a faithful Catholic cannot support a nuclear deterrent; in 2012 he told us we should not be part of the celebration of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.
Writing as from St Mary’s University brought to my mind a Gilbert and Sullivan sentence about “instilling some verisimilitude into an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative”.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Anthony Logan
Richmond, Surrey
SIR – I cannot be the only faithful reader of the Catholic Herald to be infuriated at the unqualified statement of Fr Beck that “You cannot be a faithful Catholic and a Eurosceptic”. Clearly upon myself and those who think like me judgment has been passed.
However, I cannot see that to refuse to support an organisation that has over 20 years of unaudited accounts, which would close any normal business, that promotes zealously doctrines on life, marriage and morality totally at odds with the teaching of Our Lord, that refuses to acknowledge the Christian roots of Europe in its formal documents, and whose supporters have lied to us about its real intent (I voted in the referendum in 1975 and believed I was voting for a common market, only to learn from the late Sir Edward Heath and others that I was deluded and of course the mission was a political union all the way along) is to be a faithless Catholic? Nor do I see that when virtual genocide was being practised in the former Yugoslavia it was not the EU but NATO that took the effective stand against it.
To vote No in the referendum is for many to vote for truth, for the rule of law, for democracy and for the ability to frame our own laws and, indeed, be freer to fight for the new evangelisation and the reclamation of Christian England so many of us believe is, despite the temper of our times, the pressing need for our beloved country.
The tone and content of Fr Beck’s letter, with all respect to his office, is one of the reasons so many of us wish to take back our sovereignty again. For the record, given my name, I was born and bred a Londoner, and the son of a solider whom this country alone would take in in 1940 when Europe last lay subject to a dictator.
Yours faithfully,
Edmund Matyjaszek
Ryde, Isle of Wight
SIR – One can sympathise to some extent with the frustration of Peter Saunders, who has been asked to step aside from the papal commission on safeguarding. As Fr de Souza (February 5) notes in commenting on the breaking of the abuse scandal in Boston, St John Paul II addressed the US cardinals: “So much pain, so much sorrow must lead to a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate, and a holier Church.”
It comes as no surprise therefore when reading Jack Carrigan’s review (February 5) of Cardinal Robert Sarah’s book God or Nothing that, as many among the hierarchy of the West offer “ambiguous messages to the faithful”, it is Sarah who declares: “A bishop, in order to fulfil his role, must do penance, fast, listen to the Lord and pray … in silence and solitude.” Since His Eminence asks nothing of others he does not live himself, perhaps his track record as Archbishop of Conakry in prioritising formation of priests and families simultaneously might be something the papal commission could look at to see what its fruits were fuelled supernaturally by his bimonthly three-day retreat without even food or water.
Yours faithfully,
Edmund P Adamus
Director for marriage and family life, Westminster diocese, London SW1
SIR – I am a researcher in the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London. I’m interested in finding out more about the history of the English pro-life movement and I’m hoping that former members might be able to help me. I would like to know more about pro-life supporters and activists themselves and their experiences in the movement. If you were a member of pro-life organisations or a sympathiser any time between the 1960s and 1990s and would be willing to be interviewed, I would very much like to record your experiences and memories of this movement. Please email if you have any questions and if you are interested, I will explain my project further. I can be flexible about the time and location of the interview, and am willing to travel. Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you. My email is Oralhistoryproject [email protected].
Yours faithfully,
Livi Dee
By email
SIR – On entering St Patrick’s Church, Soho, a couple of years ago I noticed some small cards for those coming to pray with a picture of Our Lord saying: “If you want to talk in here, can you talk to Me?” I thought it an excellent idea and perhaps a practice that all churches – particularly those plagued with talkative congregations – should promote.
Yours faithfully,
Julia Ashenden
London SW6
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