BRENDAN BURKE,
Sir, - One can understand how a bishop may become frustrated with the administrative and financial headaches of his diocese. However I fear that, in his frustration, Bishop Michael Smith of Meath may be peering down the wrong end of the telescope.
He asks whether a parish should be asked to provide school places for families with no stake in the Church (The Irish Times, August 30th). I'm not sure that is the right question.
I respectfully suggest that the question should be: "To what extent does the provision of church school places to such people match the Church's mission to proclaim the Good News?" And surely the answer to that question is: "Very well indeed."
The school provides a unique contact point between the Church and those who have left it or find it irrelevant. Business would give its eye teeth to have such a ready-made entrée to potential customers and consider it folly to abandon it.
Christ did not tell his apostles to proclaim the Good News to the practising and contributing. He told them to "go out to the whole world" and that mandate is as imperative today as it was then. To abandon the non-practising is hardly an option for anybody who takes seriously the parable of the lost sheep.
Reversing the telescope enables us to focus on the opportunities, rather than the problems. When the focus is right the problems can be seen in perspective and dealt with more effectively. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN BURKE,
Millview Lawns,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.