Sir, - In his reply to Bishop Murray C S Sp., Kevin Hegarty writes: "May I say that the anecdotal evidence on which I based my comment is at least as impressive as the solitary experience offered by the bishop in contradiction?" (October 22nd).
In a reply to Fr. Brian Godden's claim that "in Africa the rules of celibacy are widely broken", the national director of the Pontifical Missions Society, London, and the superior general of the Mill Hill Missionaries, London, jointly write in the current issue of the Catholic Herald and Standard (October 25th):
"From our personal experience of living and working in East and West Africa during the Seventies and Eighties, and from recent contact with many priests and religious in Africa, we can without hesitation state that the vast majority of priests and religious in Africa respect the rules of celibacy and live loving, celibate lives. General accusations of breaches of the vow of celibacy are an injustice to the many fine people who for the sake of the Kingdom endeavour to live the promise that they have made." It would seem that Bishop Murray's African experience is not a "solitary" one.
I do not know what personal experience of living and working in Africa Kevin Hegarty may have. Presumably he has some, although he has not said so. But a priest bishop who lived and worked there for 43 years, or a superior general of a missionary society who himself lived and worked there, might be more familiar with the situation in Africa than one who admits to basing his implied criticism of a continent of nuns, brothers and priests on "anecdotal evidence". - Yours, etc.,
St. Saviour's,
Upper Dorset Street,
Dublin 1.