Madam, - The "concelebration" of Mass by four Catholic and Church of Ireland priests in Drogheda was shocking and a sham.
Catholics believe that the Mass's consecration transubstantiates water and wine into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ; Protestants believe these only symbolise the flesh and blood. Therein lies the essence of the irreconcilable difference between the faiths. Shared prayers are one thing, shared transubstantiation quite another.
For a consecration to have been "joint" and to have had any meaning, at least one of the priests had to have been denying his faith, which made him an apostate.
Fathers, which of you was it? I am calling on your personal honesty and integrity. - Yours, etc,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.
Madam, - How on earth can there ever be a real and lasting peace on this island when the reaction, from both Primates, to the recent revelation of a joint celebration is to warn against raising "false hopes"? Is the hope that people of other religions can live in peace with other so false or such a dangerous thing? Were the Primates shocked that no one who attended the joint service was struck down by lightning?
The religious who arranged this service ought to be congratulated and held up as a shining example of good Christians who had the courage and grace to honour the dead of 1916 and The Somme.
The reaction of the Catholic hierarchy is not so surprising but one would have expected a more open-minded response from Robin Eames. - Yours, etc,
DESMOND FITZGERALD, London E14.
Madam, - The events of Easter morning in Drogheda highlight yet again the lack of clear understanding of what the Mass is and indeed the lack of respect for the Body and Blood of Christ. This event has in truth transformed the Mass into a stunt and caused confusion and division among the faithful. The fact that it seems that we must now take our theological advice from government and not Rome shows how sad the Dublin 4 brand of Catholicism has become.
Hopefully, the view of Pope Benedict may all bring us back to reality and not to the wonderland offered last Sunday. - Yours, etc,
Fr J. McCALLION, Clonoe, Co Tyrone.
Madam, - Sometimes it is the people of God who need to point the way. Their joint act of worship last Sunday in Drogheda with Fr Iggy O'Donovan and Rev Michael Graham was an eloquent lesson in Christian brotherhood - one which the princes of the church would do well to emulate. - Yours, etc,
JEREMY CHAPMAN, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - How can a "joint Mass" between two religions on this island be (a) a "real danger of causing widespread confusion, (b) "raising false hopes" and (c) "creating situations that are open to misunderstandings and manipulation"? It was saddening to read the two primates' reactions (The Irish Times, April 19th).
I (a Danish Protestant, Lutheran) arrived to settle in Ireland, shortly after Vatican II. Many Irish Catholics were then breathing the new spirit of ecumenism and I was told I would not feel excluded because "we are all the same".
My experience over the years have proved somewhat to the contrary, however. Forty years on one wonders if anything at all has changed. I think Fr O'Donovan's initiative should be commended and welcomed as an example to other members of the respective clergy to follow - because we are, indeed, all the same before God. - Yours, etc,
KAREN HIGGINS, Mallow, Co Cork.