Madam, - Alan Whelan (September 18th) rightly complains about Catholic clergy spending "an inordinate amount of time performing the functions of laity", but then defines these functions in inward-looking, "churchy" terms. Meanwhile, the future of many of our urban and rural communities has never been more seriously challenged, and we are suffering plagues of violence, addiction, depression, loneliness, youth suicide and abuse.
Surely all Christians, including all Catholic lay people, have a vital calling to address these challenges, and to apply our spiritual resources to that task - and not confine our attention to those activities the priest has traditionally performed? I strongly believe our church will deserve to die if it becomes entirely self-absorbed.
It was always my understanding of the Second Vatican Council that the most important role of the layperson was a communitarian one - looking outward and seeking to be of service. The great tragedy of the past four decades is that those charged with leading the church never actually convened the lay people of God to commission us for that task.
Lost for an adult role and real Christian responsibility, most Irish Catholics either resigned themselves to passivity, or lost hope that their church would ever change.
Now, still totally without a Catholic Church forum within which we could discuss all of this fruitfully, we are obliged to do that in secular spaces - such as this page. It is surely time all Catholics concerned for the future put their minds to changing this intolerable situation. - Yours, etc,
SEAN O'CONAILL,
Greenhill Road,
Coleraine,
Co Derry.