Sir, - Dr Thomas O'Flynn OP (January 8th) calls for mutual respect, understanding and friendship to be priorities for Irish Roman Catholics and Irish Anglicans in 1998. I wholeheartedly agree and it is my daily prayer that it may be so. However, if the tone of his letter is anything to go by, then my prayers may be in vain.
Far from encouraging "mutual respect", his letter is full of barely disguised contempt for members of the Church of Ireland. Far from being "understanding", he reveals a lamentable ignorance of Anglican belief that is very disappointing in an Oxford-based Dominican. The "friendship" he would seem to offer is based on a pre-Vatican II concept of the Church emphasising Roman Catholic superiority over all other Christians. Questions about "parity of esteem" currently being asked in another sphere of Irish life came to mind.
As for his suggestion that the Church of Ireland's "open altar" policy is really a dastardly plot to convert Roman Catholics, the idea is so ridiculous as to preclude a serious response. It is reminiscent of the fantastic conspiracy theories beloved of Protestant fundamentalists with regard to the "evils of Rome" and it is equally absurd. It's bad enough trying to counter Protestant religious bigotry without having to deal with the Roman Catholic equivalent. I trust and pray that Irish people, "Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter", will have more wit than to be taken in by such appalling nonsense. - Yours, etc.,
From (Rev) Brian Stewart
The Parish Church of St George, High Street, Belfast.