Madam, - The Rev Joseph Bergin (March 15th) writes from New York to claim that he is "the first Irish clergyperson to become an Anglican priest".
Sadly, he is wide of the mark. One John Butler, Roman Catholic bishop of Cork, beat him to it by about 200 years - and there have been others.
John Butler inherited the title of Lord Dunboyne and (despite his age and dreadful appearance) made the journey to Anglicanism and a wife - to provide himself with an heir.
His little girl did not qualify for that honour, so the title passed elsewhere.
However, Butler was smart in another way - he provided himself with a return ticket for his trip from Rome to Anglicanism, and he made use of it on his death-bed, leaving his vast fortune to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Dunboyne House of theological studies was built with his wealth.
Return tickets are a useful insurance - at least clergyperson John Butler found it so.
Of course, many people would claim that he was not much of a
loss to either of the churches from which he took his departure. -
Yours, etc,
Fr JAMES GOOD,
Church Street,
Douglas,
Cork.