Sir, – Michael Harding’s piece on confession (Life, September 7th) brings to mind the story a former colleague liked to dine out on about a penitent in the confession box rattling off his misdeeds and infractions, when he gets the uneasy feeling that the confessor isn’t present at all, and calls through the grille, “Are ye in there, Father?”
The fellow on the other side shouts across: “If he’s after hearing the half of what I’ve heard, he’s gone for the guards!” – Yours, etc,
SÉAMUS PHELAN,
Dublin 5.
