Madam, - Fr Victor Fitzpatrick (August 2nd), despite being an ordained priest of the Catholic Church, seems to take satisfaction in sneering at that to which he voluntarily belongs.
He certainly does not speak for me, nor for many other priests who for many years have laboured in the vineyard to maintain sound Catholic teaching for the edification of the faithful, and to ensure their continued sanctification.
Fr Fitzpatrick is incorrect when he seems to suggest that Catholic teaching was jettisoned during the Second Vatican Council. Neither Pope nor Council has that capacity. The status of the Church remains as Christ established it. I recommend that as a priest he should re-read St Paul's second letter to Timothy, in which he exhorts Timothy to "zealously preach the truth in season and out, welcome or unwelcome", and warns him of those who seek to follow new novelties, straying from the teaching of Christ.
If this priest was ordained after 1970, he probably never learned Latin nor experienced the richness of the age-old Roman liturgy. If the Mass in the old rite is incomprehensible, why are so many young people joining the traditional orders, where that rite is used?
These are the communities which will be the backbone of the teaching church in years to come. - Yours, etc,
Fr PATRICK MARIE O'FITHCHILL, OCRMD, Annamoe, Co Wicklow.
