SIR – Michael Warren Davis (US news analysis, March 22) notes that dozens of US bishops have quietly permitted priests of the
Society of St Pius X (SSPX) to celebrate nuptial Masses in their dioceses. He cites the example of Archdiocese of New Orleans, which announced the new policy with a minimum of fanfare.
Pope Francis is often referred to as “the pope of surprises”. Nothing, for me, has been more surprising than his encouragement of efforts to reconcile the SSPX fully with Rome. Just this week it was reported that he has appointed a distinguished French priest to oversee the Vatican’s outreach to the Society. Mgr Patrick Descourtieux, a Patristics scholar who is highly respected in traditionalist circles, previously worked at Ecclesia Dei, the pontifical commission responsible for relations with the SSPX until it was abolished in January. His appointment is another sign that Rome under Francis is serious about drawing the group back into the fold.
It was said during the reign of Benedict XVI that the SSPX could never hope to have a more sympathetic pope and that they were foolish to waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when they rejected an agreement reportedly authorised by the German pope. This just goes to show the folly of attempting to predict the future in the Catholic Church.
But the question remains: will the SSPX seize this unexpected chance to be drawn back into the heart of mainstream Catholic life? Pope Francis has given them almost everything they could hope for. It’s time for them to respond generously.
Paul Rogers
Jericho, Vermont, United States
SIR – Boris Johnson writes in the Daily Telegraph: “It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – let my people go.”
Tragically, it is not Pharaoh who is to blame for our present predicament but our own elected representatives who, in sympathy with the Hebrews escaping from Egypt, are now nostalgic for the comforts and pleasures of enslavement (Numbers 11:5).
Where is the Moses to lead us into the land we were promised, or the Churchill to take us into those “sunlit uplands” of a free and self-governing nation? (Tim Stanley, March 29).
Who can doubt that, in these apocalyptic days, a spiritual battle of historic proportions is being fought in “heavenly places” above the turrets of the Palace of Westminster in this second great Battle of Britain, whose fate hangs precariously in the balance as perhaps never before in our island history.
Fr Neil Evans
St Joseph’s,
Neath, South Wales
SIR – It seems quite common these days to hear of near-death experiences. One type is where the person sees Jesus and feels the bliss of heaven, and the other is where a great sinner is reprimanded and given a second chance and sent back with a warning for humanity.
The other day I found a German Catholic pamphlet from the 1930s with something a bit different. It was called “A Soul in Hell: the Story of Annette”.
Annette, who had died in her 20s, was (and therefore still is) in hell. Her testimony was given (by God’s command) to a friend who had been praying for her since her untimely death in a car crash. First, she told her not to pray for her as there was no point. Then she told her about her life; her father and mother didn’t go to church more than twice a year, nor did they teach her to pray. She narrated how she had ignored the many opportunities of grace or conversion that were offered her by God even to the day of her death, including the many admonishments given by her friend.
What I found most astonishing was that there had been nothing startlingly evil in her lifestyle. She was charitable and served her mother during her illness. She was not a murderer, or an adulterer, or thief, or anything out of the ordinary; she was happily married and liked going out for the day or to the movies. She probably had a pleasant enough eulogy at her funeral.
But her heart rejected God.
It was full of earthly desires, pleasures and strong attachment to creatures. The habit of prayer never formed in her, there was no meaningful communication with God nor desire to be reconciled and united with Him. And so at the moment of death, as she was shown her life through His eyes, she hurled herself directly into hell, having by then no desire to repent nor change. Her indifference and coldness to all things holy was the reason for her loss. How many people do we all know who are just like her?
As to the torments of hell, apparently no one has ever exaggerated them.
The one thing that could have saved her was much prayer and sacrifice, her own and that of others on her behalf. As Annette put it, “especially prayer to Her who is Christ’s Mother, and whose Name we never speak here [in hell]”.
It’s a stern lesson.
Stephen A Clark
Manila, Philippines
SIR – I have just read the two fine articles on Pope Francis’s visit to Abu Dhabi, both stressing how it builds on the Regensberg address of Pope Benedict XVI (February 8).
However, if my memory serves me well, it was not the latter’s teaching on faith and reason that caused the hullabaloo; but rather the example he chose, from Islam’s history, when he could have found an equally unedifying example from the history of the Church.
Sadly but inevitably, that received the greater attention by the media.
Fr Raymond Hickey, OSA
St Monica’s Priory, Jos, Nigeria
SIR – How refreshing to read about the increasing interest in ovulation-awareness methods of family planning (Letter, March 22). Considerable progress has been made since the time of John and Mary Billings. For those having problems conceiving, the methods are 30 per cent effective, thereby saving many couples a fortune in IVF fees.
Fertility apps are attractive fertility recording devices. But for them to be reliable the user must know the workings of the ovulation cycle, as the adage still pertains: rubbish in, rubbish out.
Dr Olive Duddy
Bury, Greater Manchester
SIR – The new mayor of Gdańsk states: “While I value the presumption of innocence principle, there can only be one decision given the current level of emotions” (News analysis, March 22).
This is a dangerous statement. Why? Because the presumption of innocence – not the presumption of guilt – must be held sacred as a rule of international law and jurisprudence. And because “there can only be one decision given the current level of emotions” is just another way of saying there can only be one rule – “the rule of the lynch mob”.
Richard W Symonds
The Bell Society,
Crawley, West Sussex
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