SIR – As a life-long lover of my Catholic faith and practice, and of music and singing in general and hymns in particular, the letter headlined “Save us from the four-hymn sandwich” (November 13), which seeks to “do away with” the said item, upsets me greatly, In many places in the Scriptures we are exhorted to sing our praises to God. For nearly 18 years I have helped the children, aged from four to 11, at our local primary school to learn hymns for Mass, from “Love is something if you give it away” to The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came. (One child came to tell me that her favourite line was “his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame”.)
Many of the children leave the hall singing the tunes as they go.
I hope and pray that most of them will, as I did, remember those words throughout their lives, even if, sadly, the majority of them stop going to church.
There are beautiful hymns with beautiful words and melodies, both old and new. They allow us, the “foot soldiers of the faith”, to participate in the Mass in a way that nothing else does. Why would anyone wish to take that away from us? If my family do not have Soul of my Saviour and Lord of All Hopefulness at my funeral, I’ll be back to haunt them!
Yours faithfully,
Janet Convey
Kidsgrove, Staffordshire
SIR – As an Anglican reader, I would question your assessment of the Reformation as a completely negative development (News focus, December 4). It can willingly be admitted that the Reformation wasn’t a high point in English history. Much that was good and beautiful suffered needless destruction at the hands of zealots, and both Catholics and Protestants weren’t especially good to one another.
That said, it would not be true to say that all was rosy in the garden of medieval Catholicism and, sooner or later, something had to give. Ignorance, superstition and corruption were rife. Without the Reformation we would not have had the English Bible or the sublime phrases of the Book of Common Prayer – words still uttered on a daily basis nearly 470 years after they were first used. Neither would we have had the flowering of Anglican scholarship under the 16th- and 17th-century divines – Herbert, Ferrar, Andrewes, Jewell, Taylor and Hooker.
It is quite true to say that the centuries immediately following the Reformation weren’t a good time for Catholics, as much on account of the political context as the religious one. The world would, however, have been a poorer place without it.
Yours faithfully,
Adrian Sunman
Newark, Nottinghamshire
SIR – It is somewhat disingenuous to blankly praise the Protestant Reformation for its (supposed) “theological and spiritual enrichment”, as Fr Cantalamessa is reported as having done in Westminster Abbey church. It was certainly a wake-up call to the Church. However, there are three questionable aspects regarding its relative value that should be noted.
First, it unleashed a process of division, strife and fragmentation, the effects of which have remained with us to the present day. Indeed, one might say that the weeds of further disunity and dereliction of doctrine which it sowed continue to germinate and spread – now alas, even occasionally within the wheatfield of the Universal Church.
Secondly, and just as significantly, the Reformation only increased exponentially in those states and territories where it was originally imposed by force. In England for example, even in those scattered few towns and cities, and in London, where it had adherents in the favourable reign of Edward VI (1547-1553), they never accounted for more than 10 per cent of the population. Thousands of them were from the continent, further reducing estimates of actual numbers of indigenous supporters.
Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity (bristling with severe penalties for those who acted or spoke against it and with no bishop voting for it) passed by just three votes in the House of Lords. It took her government 45 years with fines, force and occult surveillance and propaganda to effect a public eradication of the old religion. How successful it was privately is impossible to assess in every case.
Lastly, are we now to be expected to discount the utter repudiation by the martyrs of that time of any true benefit to the Church arising from the excesses of Reformation assaults on the Mass, the priesthood and the cult of the saints, to say nothing of the Petrine primacy?
Yours faithfully,
Antony Conlon (Dr)
Our Lady and St John, Goring on Thames, Oxfordshire
SIR – The articles “The Reformation was a tragedy” (Leading article, December 4) and “What’s good about the Reformation” focusing on the Reformation, Luther and Henry VIII can be emotive for many.
It was the selling of indulgences to finance the building of St Peter’s in Rome and to pay off the large debts of Archbishop Albert of Mainz that triggered Luther to seek reforms.
Looking back historically can be good if the lessons of the past are learned and past failures not repeated. Today the Church is in crisis and is again in need of reform. The scandals of clerical child sexual abuse and Church financial malpractice are clear indicators of the need for reform. So, looking forward and not backward, it is essential for all to support Pope Francis as he tackles the many problems and works to reform the Church.
Yours faithfully,
David Murnaghan
By email
SIR – I’m surprised that it’s necessary to write a letter in defence of female creativity in the 21st century, but Richard Ingrams (Notebook, November 27) makes an astonishing leap of logic when he claims that the lack of female Rembrandts or Mozarts is to be explained by a biological difference between the sexes.
Even if the original assertion is true (which is to overlook many great artists, including the giants of 19th-century English literature), I suspect any dearth of female genius might be better explained by millennia of discouragement and restraint. More often than not, a gifted woman has been a woman at war with her society’s expectations, and it would have been impressed upon her that she couldn’t, and shouldn’t, be engaging with the world as
an artist.
Throughout history, Mrs Genius has been busy washing Mr Genius’s socks and bringing him cups of tea – not because she is genetically predisposed to delight in doing so, but because it has been required of her. When, and how, is she supposed to have found the time and energy to resist universal expectation and produce her own work?
Yours faithfully,
Elizabeth Brooks,
Douglas, Isle of Man
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.