Sir, - If the writer of the letter (January 23rd) on the pulpit in Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow had to preach from it, in petition with its beauty, he might change his mind. As one who has attended Mass there for over 60 years, its craftsmanship is still a distraction to my prayers.
I am amazed at the skill of the carvers who got so many figures into small panels. Even as an altar server in my young days, sitting on the steps of the pulpit, waiting to escort the preacher back to the altar, I was admiring the birds and acorns on the balustrade, which is carved as branches of a tree.
Now that pulpits are no longer in use, its proper place is a museum, where it can be admired and examined in detail. To paraphrase Pope John XXIII, a church is "not a museum to be guarded, but a garden to be cultivated".
Yours, etc.,
Graiguecullen,
Carlow.