JACK FITZSIMONS,
Sir, - Charlie Kavanagh (January 5th) states in relation to Dean Furlong: "If I were in the dean's position, holding views as strongly as he does contrary to the mainstream doctrine of his church, I would resign my ministry and look elsewhere for my crust." Mr Kavanagh's projection of himself as a paradigm of honesty is very affecting, but is the innuendo fair?
Firstly, he declares that he is a somewhat "lapsed" Roman Catholic but still holds to the basic beliefs of his religion. But if he is faithful to the fundamental tenets of the Church, how can he be lapsed? A lapsed Catholic generally means one who has fallen away from the faith. Perhaps he means that he does not behave according to his beliefs. That may, indeed, be eminently understandable, but it would appear to be a rather illogical position from which to lecture the dean on honesty!
Then there is the early history of the Church. We know that Jesus and the apostles taught what was effectively Jewish apostasy in the Jewish synagogues. The first Christians were Jews and they used the synagogues, within and outside Judea, as centres for evangelism. We are told that St Paul always started by preaching at the synagogue when he first arrived in town. It was only in AD70 that Jews took strong action against this practice. Is there not a considerable analogy with Dean Furlong's predicament?
The dean is not condemning or castigating his religion - in fact, quite the opposite. What he is saying is that his belief in Christianity is so strong that he wishes to continue devoting his life, as a minister of that creed, in the service of mankind, even without the divinity of Jesus. That is surely an extraordinary faith. - Yours, etc.,
JACK FITZSIMONS,
John Street,
Kells,
Co Meath.