Sir, - Aren't the distortions of common sense and reason to which people in power sometimes resort in order to maintain the status quo and perpetuate their own authority and influence quite extraordinary?
According to the current Papal Nuncio (The Irish Times, November 29th), if the priest unanimously nominated by his fellow clerics in the Diocese of Killala were to be appointed bishop he would be subject to "a terrible burden", he would be "beholden to those who supported them", and he "could lose his freedom as bishop". Much better, therefore, that the priests of the diocese "accept with faith and joy whomsoever the Holy Father chooses to send them".
On this logic every person elected by his/her peers to a position of leadership and authority within a group is automatically emasculated. This would include leaders of political parties, leaders of religious orders, leaders of sporting organisations, chairpersons of boards - and, dare one say it, even the leader of the Catholic Church itself.
May the Lord hasten the day when the Catholic Church will put a higher premium on objective truth than on the defence of its own autocratic structures. - Yours, etc.,
Paul Feighery, Torquay Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18.