Sir, - I lift up my hands to the Lord every time Cardinal Ratzinger issues a letter to the faithful and my arms are growing weary.
Dominus Iesus does not only, as your Editorial puts it, "test ecumenism"; it also tests the loyalty of many Irish Catholics who see themselves as not just members of the Roman Catholic Church but also as members of the wider Christian family. By insisting on reasserting papal authority in an explicit and aggressive manner, it succeeds in calling into question the justness of the doctrine of papal infallibility.
On a personal level I have moved from assent to acquiescence and as I lie on my back, close my eyes and think of Rome, I am determined not to opt out. I will stay inside the Catholic Church secure in the knowledge that the church Jesus founded will ultimately survive in spite of corruption, power-mongering and intellectual arrogance. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Healy, Hampstead Avenue, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.