Sir, - In the late 1950s my parents attended the wedding of close friends who were Protestants. My mother, a devout Catholic, felt obliged to mention the fact at her next confession. Here she was told that the act of entering a Protestant Church for such a service was so heinous that she had committed a reserved sin and the priest was unable to give her absolution. Her distress over this incident remained with her for years.
Hopefully, in another 40 years' time we will look back at some of the current responses to the President's taking of Communion and they will seem just as archaic and alienating. - Yours, etc.,
Rathdown Villas, Dublin 6W.