Madam, - Irene Redmond's letter of May 11th is interesting in a number of ways, but I will confine myself to the question of confession. She claims that many Catholics including herself no longer go to confession but still receive Holy Communion.
She wishes the Church to conform to her idea of the faith as she practices it. She does not recognise the fact that the same divine person who instituted the Blessed Eucharist at the Last Supper also gave His Apostles the power to forgive sins, saying, "Receive you the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them and whose sins you shall retain they are retained" (John XX. 23)
How does she justify accepting one teaching and rejecting another? There can be no question of choice of belief. The Church was founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all. Not to be a member is to be outside it. - Yours, etc.,
ARTHUR McDERMOTT, Belgrove Lawn, Chapelizod, Dublin 20.