Sir, - I write to set the record straight concerning an article by your Religious Affairs Correspondent, Patsy McGarry, in your edition of November 16th. The article states that Bishop Flynn of Achonry reflected in July 1998 that his preachings in Achonry Cathedral was the first time that a Roman Catholic bishop had preached in a Church of Ireland cathedral since the Reformation.
His lordship was mistaken, as in my time as Church of Ireland Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry I invited the late Cardinal Thomas O Fiach to preach in the sister cathedral of St Patrick, Killala on January 25th 1985 during the Octave of Prayer for Unity. At the service in a thronged church the Cardinal remarked in his address that it was the first occasion that a bishop of his church had been invited to preach in a Church of Ireland cathedral. It is true to say that the people of the west have often taken the lead in ecumenical matters. - Yours, etc., John Coote Duggan,
Bishop, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.