Madam, - I have been following some of the correspondence on this topic with some sense of unreality.
On Easter Sunday morning I attended a Eucharistic celebration in Lucan with my nine-year-old son and I suggest that if we were to interview the morning congregation and the congregation who attended the evening vigil on Easter Saturday, the degree of commitment to the "differences" between the Christian Churches would not mirror Rev Michael O'Grady's letter of April 25th, where he refers to "an endless" list of differences.
On the same Letters page, Rev John McKay uses the word "courage" to describe the action of the celebrants; this suggests danger. Gerry McGeough seems to express the hope that the Catholic celebrant will be soon "under censure".
I wonder in whose interest it is to maintain Rev Michael O'Grady's "endless list" of differences. Perhaps the greatest difficulties are political rather than theological: each church has its own power structure and it is in the interests of both to maintain a friendly distance.
Why not simply tell the truth? The churches are not theologically driven; they are institutionally driven; and they manage and administer in accordance with political wisdom and expedience sometimes, perhaps, at the expense of spiritual vision. - Yours, etc,
CAITRIONA McCLEAN, Weston Avenue, Lucan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Reading your letters pages in recent days I have seen a number of correspondents dismissing the Easter Mass in Drogheda as a sham or, worse, a direct attack on the divinity of their religion.
I believe that this kind of attitude drives another nail into the coffin of organised religion which apparently cannot, and will not compromise on any meaningful level and thus will alienate a further generation in this country. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD KING, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Could it be that the celebrants at Drogheda understand the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2 and the resurrection story at the end of Luke's Gospel, where the friends recognised Jesus at the breaking of the bread?
When bread is shared and broken in gratitude and reconciliation, is Christ not present, however we strive to express that presence in dogmatic beliefs? The origin of the word Eucharist means thanksgiving.
Writing of the early Christian community, Luke says: "These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers." The two friends on the road to Emmaus, inconsolable after the death and absence of Jesus, recognise Him in the breaking of bread. - Yours, etc,
GINA MENZIES, Churchtown, Dublin 14.