LOUIS POWER,
Sir, - As a committed and enthusiastic ecumenist, I was thoroughly dismayed at the content and tone of Dean McCarthy's letter in The Irish Times (August 10th) and subsequent interview on Morning Ireland.
To imply that the differences between the Anglican and Catholic Churches are merely trivial and scarcely worth discussing does a serious disservice to the cause of ecumenism. The nature of the Eucharist, the role of Mary, the Papacy, the Catholic Church's teachings on sexual morality, are all matters of serious difference and cannot be minimised. The suggestion that the Catholic Church is interested only in numbers is insulting and does Dean McCarthy little credit. A recent correspondent to your columns has described his intervention as "a low in ecumenism" - and many would agree.
One of the most helpful comments on ecumenism ever heard came from a wise and committed Christian woman, the Rev Ruth Paterson, at an ecumenical conference in Dublin some years ago: The key element in ecumenism, she said, is respect for your own tradition. She is absolutely right and I wish more people in positions of influence (like, for instance, the present Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral) would take cognisance of the truth of what she said. - Yours, etc.,
LOUIS POWER, Killiney, Co Dublin