Sir, - In his article Two Tribes (Weekend July 7th) your Religious Affairs Correspondent, Patsy McGarry, suggests that the publication of the document One Bread One Body was postponed from May 1998 until September of that year so as to eliminate "any implied indifference to (its) effect on community relations in the North".
In fact, as One Bread One Body was published jointly by the three Bishops' Conferences of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the timing of its publication was attributable not to any "political" considerations but solely to practical logistical issues regarding the approval, printing and distribution of the document in three ecclesiastical jurisdictions and the co-ordination of press launches in London, Glasgow and Dublin on the same day, viz. September 30th, 1998. - Yours, etc.,
Rev Martin Clarke, Director, Catholic Communications Office, Irish Bishops' Conference St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co Kildare.