Sir, - John Redmond's provocative letter of July 16th, concerning Southern Irish members of the Church of Ireland, would take more than a short letter to reply to in full. But I would like to raise two points.
He says ". . . our Southern Irish counterparts are proud to be Irish, do not like the British connection, and regard the Tricolour as their flag of duty and loyalty. They are, in effect, no friends of us Northerners". Considering that the Anglican Church worships in almost every country, under hundreds of different flags, it is sad that he sees loyalty to the Tricolour as an unfriendly act towards Northern Irish Protestants. The Tricolour symbolises a unity between the orange and green traditions. A person can be loyal to the Irish state and a "friend" of somebody loyal to another state. In fact, I was under the impression that this was the point of the peace process.
Secondly, the Anglican/Episcopalian Church admits all baptised Christians, including Catholics, to worship and take Holy Communion. Unless I have been misinformed, the Orange Order admits only practising "Protestants" and will expel any member who marries a Catholic - or even enters a Catholic church. This seems so utterly at odds with C of I principles that I fail to understand how a person can, in conscience, be a member of both.
Mr Redmond is outraged at the opposition of the C of I synod to the parades in Drumcree. I think the synod has shown remarkable restraint towards an organisation that continually fails to uphold the Christian principles it claims to promote. - Yours, etc.,
Mark Tottenham, Great Denmark St, Dublin 1.