Sir, - When I was growing up in Galway (a town where Protestants were thin on the ground) I remember feeling a sense of surprise when hearing that a Church of Ireland neighbour was going to be confirmed. And almost shocked to learn that he also received communion. Could a Protestant receive a sacrament? Were not sacraments the exclusive rights of Catholics? (Holy, Roman and Apostolic - of course).
Those were in the pre-Vatican Council days when Catholics and Protestants in Southern Ireland were still separated by a fog of misunderstanding about each other's beliefs. On reading Patsy McGarry's account of Cardinal Connell's opinions on his Church of Ireland counterpart (The Irish Times October 31st) that he "wouldn't have much theological competence", it is sad to learn that one of the leading figures of the Catholic Church in Ireland still has such childish views about Protestants and harbours such peevish opinions about his own sense of importance at receptions in Trinity College. - Yours, etc.,
Bernard O'Grady, Sπo Paulo, Brazil.