Sir, - If I understand correctly the drift of his letter (April 24th) in the myopic eyes of Fr Ingoldsby, I and the lady with whom I have had the privilege and pleasure of living with for the past 36 years are no more than a couple of adulterers. We thought we had been married at The Caxton Hall Registry Office in July 1990, but according to Fr Ingoldsby we were only married". What are we to tell our children and grandchildren now?
The crux of Fr Ingoldsby's letter, which I presume was a response to a previous correspondent "questioning the nullity procedures of the Roman Catholic Church, was that only a marriage ceremony conducted by a Roman Catholic priest at an appropriately consecrated place is a real marriage. And the God of Fr Ingoldsby only blesses real marriages. Well, I have news for Fr Ingoldsby, which is that God clearly blessed our marriage, enabling us to withstand all the various problems which afflict most, if not all, married couples, regardless of the official startpoint of their married life.
The God who created life and the literally wonderful universe "which we occupy could not possibly be the pettifogging lawyer, obsessed with the small print of theology, so zealously worshipped by Fr Ingoldsby. - Yours, etc.,
South Park,
Foxrock Dublin 18.