Sir, - When a non-Catholic minister of religion publicly welcomes Catholics (among others) to receive Communion in his church, knowing that to do so the Catholic must violate the laws of his own church, surely that shows a lack of respect for the Catholic Church.
Some have mistakenly interpreted Cardinal Connell's statements as "an attempt to make other persuasions co-operate in imposing his [sic] rules" (Irish Independent, February 19th). The Archbishop is not as naive as that! He is merely stating an obvious truth, namely that the Catholic Church's norms for its own members should be respected. That is the minimum required by ecumenical good manners.
These who fault Cardinal Connell for his forthrightness in proclaiming to Catholics the teaching of the Catholic Church might well recall the admonition given by Vatican II in the context of ecumenism: "The manner and order in which Catholic belief is expressed should in no way become an obstacle to dialogue with our brethren. It is, of course, essential that the doctrine be clearly represented in its entirety. Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false irenicism which harms the purity of Catholic doctrine and obscures its genuine and certain meaning (Unitatis Redintegratio II). - Yours, etc.,
CT Greenan, OP, St Saviour's, bUpper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.