Madam, - The eucharistic readings for the past weekend, the Second Sunday of Easter, give us two profoundly different pictures of the Church. In the first, from the Acts of the Apostles, we see an open, caring and united community of believers; indeed, it is said that St Augustine founded his first monastic community on the inspiration of this reading - idealised, perhaps, as it was.
In the other, the Gospel, we see an embattled community, fearful of the religious establishment and the authorities. A community behind locked doors who are visited by the risen Christ, whose body is scarred by the wounds of Calvary. His message is of peace and reconciliation and it is also a challenge and a mission.
On Easter Sunday, in the Augustinian Church in Drogheda two priests, and their two communities came out from behind their closed doors to break down the barriers and speak to one another of peace and reconciliation in the most powerful sign we have of that peace, the Holy Eucharist.
It was a truly courageous action, true to the mission of the Risen Lord, and the reaction of the pharisees on their respective hills in Armagh shows us just how deep the wounds in the Body of Christ run.
Each day of our lives brings us painful reminders of those wounds, but the action of Fr Iggy O'Donovan and Fr Michael Graham gives us a glimpse of the glory that is to be revealed. - Yours, etc,
Rev JOHN McKAY, St John the Evangelist, Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Madam, - I was wondering how long it was going to be before the "WWJD" contingent sprung into action following the "concelebration" of Mass by three Roman Catholic priests and a Church of Ireland minister? You ask what WWJD means? It is short for "What would Jesus do?" If anything, the reactions prove the need for a strong adult faith formation. If people do not see anything wrong in what occurred on Easter Sunday in Drogheda I would recommend an introductory course on theology with some electives on the Eucharist and church history.
To concelebrate the Eucharist implies shared faith and understanding, not only of my faith, but of the faith of the Church into which I am ordained. This is painfully not so between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. We pray that one day unity will be achieved,but it is not there yet. There remain fundamental differences between the two traditions especially in relation to our understanding of the Eucharist, the place of the successor of Peter, the ministerial priesthood, the seven sacraments, the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary in salvation history - the list is endless.
Do not get me wrong: I welcome and foster credible expressions of ecumenism, but not by attracting controversy to the celebration of Easter Sunday Mass. Certainly have a joint prayer service, but do not put publicity and well meaning gestures before truth.
To the WWJD contingent I say: think with your mind as well as your heart; do not allow yourselves to be swept along by emotive feelings of unity. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus: "Go, be reconciled, and then present your offering". - Yours, etc,
Rev MICHAEL O'GRADY, Rossmore Road, Dublin 6W.
Madam, - Fr Paul Clayton-Lea (April 22nd) should lighten up. Two Christian priests concelebrating the Eucharist on Easter Sunday. How scandalous is that? - Yours, etc,
Fr KEVIN HEGARTY, Belmullet, Co Mayo.
A chara, - The controversy surrounding the stunt pulled by Fr Iggy O'Donovan in Drogheda on Easter Sunday has, at least, exposed the serious crisis of faith within the Irish Catholic Hierarchy and clergy.
The fruits of this are everywhere to be seen, not least among the "in this day and age/let's move on" brigade of lay Catholics, whose enthusiastic support of Fr O'Donovan suggests they have little or no grasp of even the most basic tenets of Catholicism.
Only a validly ordained Catholic priest can celebrate Mass, and Mr Graham's involvement on this occasion was nothing short of sacrilege.
Bearing in mind that if a Catholic priest was to publicly say the traditional Latin Mass without the "permission" of his bishop he would soon find himself under censure, it is to be hoped that the Hierarchy will speedily defend the faith in light of Fr O'Donovan's recent antics and not, once again, bend to secular opinion. - Is mise,
GERRY McGEOUGH, Editor, The Hibernian, Drogheda, Co Louth.
Madam, - The real scandal that the Drogheda Eucharist has highlighted is the continuing disunity within Christianity and for that the priests involved deserve our gratitude. Tony Allwright (April 21st) believes that "at least one of the priests had to have been denying his faith, which made him an apostate". Such language is more appropriate to the era of the Inquisition.
In actual fact he has it totally wrong when he declares solemnly that there are "irreconcilable differences between the faiths" as regards the Eucharist. He adds that that Catholics "believe that the Mass's consecration transubstantiates water and wine [ presumably he means bread and wine] into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ; Protestants believe that these only symbolise the flesh and blood".
I refer Mr Allwright to the 1971 Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission statement,elucidated in 1979, which clearly stated: "We have reached agreement on essential points of Eucharistic Doctrine". The members of this high-level commission were all official appointees of both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.
The real scandal is that we still await the imprimatur of the Vatican to this document. We all should be demanding real and meaningful action by the Churches on the restoration of unity when there evidently is no further irreconcilable differences on the essential doctrinal meaning of the Eucharist between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.
The unity of the church is both signified and brought about by the celebration of the Eucharist and we owe a debt to all the ministers involved at Drogheda for bringing unity among Christians another step forward. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, Malahide, Co Dublin.