Sir, - Few would disagree with Father Patrick McCafferty's assertion (November 30th) that a minority of Protestants in Northern Ireland hold to "a religious mentality of implacable anti-Catholicism". He is right, too, to underline the work that has been undertaken by many mainstream Protestant ministers to challenge prejudice.
Unfortunately and self-servingly, though, Father McCafferty seeks in his letter to define sectarianism as a purely Protestant phenomenon. Perhaps he should reflect on the advice in Matthew's Gospel to "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
Protestants do not have a monopoly on sectarianism any more than Catholics do. Failure to recognise that reality is itself reflective of a sectarian mindset. Only when there is a common acceptance of the problem can there be any hope of tackling this curse on the Northern landscape. - Yours, etc.,
Steven King, Knockdene Park, Belfast 5.