Sir, - I have been upset for a number of years by the level of clerical abuse existing within the Catholic Church - so much so that in March 1996 I wrote to the Pope expressing my concerns about the subject. In addition, I posed what I considered to be a very relevant question:
"Can a priest who, over a long period, has been engaged in the abuse, sexually and otherwise, of innocent children properly and religiously celebrate Mass in the eyes of God and, in doing so, change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ himself?"
I was shocked by the reply I received from the Vatican Secretariat of State, not only because of its obvious ambivalence but because, in my opinion, it bordered on heresy. It said, and I quote: "In any event, according to the Church's teaching, the sacraments are validly though unworthily celebrated by a priest who is not in the state of grace."
In effect, I was told that a priest who is steeped in grievous mortal sin and who might even be a disciple of Satan himself, can change bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ!
I did not believe this to be so before I wrote the letter, I do not believe it to be so now, and I will go to my grave disbelieving it. I wonder what your readers think. - Yours, etc.
W.G.A. SCOTT,
Friars Hill,
Wicklow.