Madam, - What an extraordinary letter you published on Good Friday from Fr Gregory O'Brien, a parish priest in Cabra, who has decided that certain people should not be given a church funeral service.
He asks: "Is it not reasonable that in a mature secular state a citizen who lives without the Church should die without it? Is it not unreasonable for a citizen who gives no support, no time and no energy to a religion and in some cases actively undermines it throughout their life, to expect that religion to conduct that person's funeral using some of its most sacred rites?"
Will he now award attendance points to his parishioners to determine whether they are worthy of a funeral service? Will those who occasionally attend Mass be given a small funeral and those who attend only at Easter and Christmas be given a tiny funeral? How will people, like myself, who attend church only for weddings and funerals, fare? And will there be any brownie points awarded for supporting the real Christian work performed by missionaries in the Third World?
Has Fr O'Brien given any thought to the families and friends of the deceased, who would wish for a Christian funeral for their loved one? After all, the deceased is now out of the loop.
Fr O'Brien would also refuse a service to those who undermine the church. Having seen the film Deliver us from Evil this week, I would suggest that many clerics of the Roman Catholic Church would fall into this category and should not qualify for a funeral service in Cabra. - Yours, etc,
JOHN T. KAVANAGH, Braemor Road, Dublin 14.