Sir, Donal Kennedy (August 1st) quotes a clergyman as saying that the Angelus prayer is "in the New Testament and could not be a bone of contention between Christians!" However the Angelus is actually a prayer to the Virgin Mary, which consists of three Hail Marys, versicles and responses.
It includes some words which the Angel Gabriel spoke to Mary but it is a misuse of Scripture to employ those words in a prayer to Mary. Prayer should be directed to Almighty God, and to God alone. Prayer should not be offered to those who are dead. Nowhere in the Bible is there the slightest suggestion that prayer should be offered to Mary.
Moreover, about the middle of the 16th century the Pope added to the Angel us the clouse "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." But Jesus Christ alone is our great high priest, and He alone is our mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Angelus prayer is therefore not "a biblical prayer" and the praying of the Angelus is contrary to the Word of God. As regards the Angelus bell on RTE, the custom of ringing a bell for the Angeus dates from the 13th century and the Angelus bell was introduced as the 6.00 pm time signal on Radio Eireann on August 15th, 1950, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On that day, the sound of the Angelus bell in St Mary's Roman Catholic Pro Cathedral in Dublin was introduced as the time signal. An automatic time switch ensured accuracy, and two hours before the first broadcast the equipment in the Pro Cathedral and in the General Post Office was blessed by Dr J. C. McQuaid, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland.
At the blessing, Archbishop McQuaid expressed the hope that all who heard the Angelus bell in particular our people at home and our exiles throughout the world whom the voice of Radio Eireann links together" would recite the Angelus "in union with Our Blessed Lady". He also thanked the Eire Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, the director of Radio Eireann and others who had co-operated in the project.
The situation regarding the Angelus bell on RTE is therefore rather different from that suggested by Donal Kennedy. Yours, etc., Councillor Members' Room, City Hall, Belfast.