Sir - I found the reading of Jim Duffy's article "Backlash against clergy was inevitable" (Opinion, September 14th) a humbling experience. I agree with the gist of what he wrote. Some of his own sad experiences, however, were unrepresentative. His remark that there was "a belief that not merely the Pope but just about every ordained cleric and nun was infallible" is, in my experience, exaggerated. Indeed, many priests felt very fallible and suffered from low self-esteem and shyness because of the kind of training we received.
What Jim Duffy might not fully realise is that as students and as young priests we were also victims of the "powerful" Church that he refers to, but we just had to hang in there and try to be faithful to the promises we made at ordination. Those of us who tried to do that, however inadequately, find the word "arrogant" hard to take. If we suffered from arrogance, it was a harmless and foolish arrogance.
I found Jim Duffy's concluding remarks very consoling and I agree with his diagnosis. I think that when all the poison is out in the open and when those who have been deeply hurt have experienced greater healing, we will enter a new era in the Church. This, I believe, will be preceded by a period of indifference (which has already begun). The priests who survive into the new millennium have a challenging task ahead of them to motivate those who have no interest in the spiritual any more.
It is a task that Jim Duffy and the media in general should take seriously as they, too, work for the common good of society. Without being "preachy", I suggest that the decline in religious practice and the neglect of the spiritual dimension in life are creating a society in which basic values are being disregarded and even human life itself is no longer seen as sacred. Whether we are laity or ordained priests, we all have reason to be concerned. - Yours, etc.,
Fr. Pat Griffin P.P., The Presbytery, Waterville, Co. Kerry.