There may be Anglicans who otherwise would be considering the ordinariates, but the developments of the past five years have con- vinced them that they are better off remaining with Canterbury. They may feel that women priests and women bishops are less of a prob- lem than even a partial return to Trent, especially if they can obtain safeguards for con- scientious objectors. I wonder how many of those who came across from the Anglican Communion in the 1990s are wondering whether they have been hijacked and that per- haps it is time to consider jumping the Petrine barque and swimming for safety. Patrick Bryan Wolverhampton, West Midlands


Voiceless Church In a week that has seen serious cuts to the pub- lic sector and the welfare system which will impact greatly on the most vulnerable in our society, there has been no comment made by the hierarchy in the Catholic Church or for that matter by any church leaders. Have we forgotten so quickly that the Pope during his visit urged us to pay heed to Catholic Social Teaching? Surely this is just the time the Catholic voice needs to be heard. Margaret Hinman Swainby, North Yorkshire


A fine dinner I can say without fear of contradiction that the civic banquet given by Birmingham City Council (Notebook, 30 October) was an example of the warmth with which the civic authorities have responded to the visit of the Holy Father. Apart from the notables you men- tion, it drew together members of the City Equalities Department, leaders of other Churches and leaders of other faiths, Oratory Fathers, assistants from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Secretariat and notable local Catholics.


What was more important was the excel- lent speech that Councillor Alan Rudge made. He (a Methodist) and leaders of other Churches and other faiths have since com- mented on how the Holy Father’s visit has emboldened them to make overt the faith which had for years been kept private and silently underlying their policy decisions. This was even more notable in the speech that Alan Rudge made at the occasion of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service to the Sikh Nishkam Civic Assocation some weeks later, showing that the messages of the Holy Father had been heard and are still bearing fruit. On


For more of your correspondence, go to the new Letters Extra section of The Tablet’s expanded website: www.thetablet.co.uk


a financial note, it has been suggested that the visit to Birmingham benefited the city in income and publicity to the tune of something like £12 million. Bill Ozanne Birmingham


Kindness of Muslims I am surprised that Dr Joseph Seferta’s let- ter “Islam and love” (4 September) went unchallenged. Perhaps it just got buried in all the excitement of the Pope’s visit to Britain. He asserts that “while love is central in


Christianity, it is hardly relevant in Islam”. I wonder then why every chapter of the Qur’an begins, “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful”: no believing and practising Muslim would begin a venture without reciting this formula. As I remember my Latin, the root of the word “compassion” translates as “suffering with”. It seems to me that the Qur’an is here asking Muslims to believe in a “loving” God – for how otherwise can “compassion” be described? This, in fact, is how we Catholics describe Jesus. Dr Seferta further states that “the concept of love of neighbour does not exist either. There is only love for fellow Muslims.” This is not so either. In Surah 76, it is stated: “And they feed for the Love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan and the captive”, referring to “the Righteous”. No mention of “Muslim” here, or in Surah 2:177: “It is righteousness … to be steadfast in prayer and practise regular char- ity.” In fact, in the Qur’an, prayer and almsgiving are rarely separated. Having lived in an Islamic country for over 30 years, I see acts of love, kindness and char- ity daily from Muslims. There are many wonderful people here visiting prisoners, looking after orphans, tending the sick and abandoned, in the name of Islam and irre- spective of the faith of the recipients, just as there are, here and elsewhere, in the name of Christianity. In my view, we are separated in questions of dogma, certainly, but not by our mutual views on the essence of love of God or neighbour. Can it be that we are getting tied up in translation here? (Dr) Jenny Naseem Islamabad, Pakistan


Working-class Catholics Why does Fr Martin Boland (Letters, 23 October) think that working-class Catholics cannot take a full part in parish life? My grand- father, a hospital porter, would never have aspired to be a school governor or be on the parish council, if such had existed in his day, but he always took up the collections at Mass and was a Knight of St Columba, and a devout man. Some of the most valued and holy mem- bers of my parish live in council houses. (Mrs) Peggy Purslow Rotherfield, East Sussex


The living Spirit


What are they looking for, running to the summit of lost time? Hundreds of people vaporised instantly are walking in mid-air. “We didn’t die.” “We skipped over death in a flash and became spirits.”


“Give us a real, human death.” One man’s shadow among hundreds is branded on stone steps. “Why am I imprisoned in stone?” “Where did my flesh go, separated from its shadow?” “What must I wait for?”


The twentieth-century myth is stamped with fire.


Who will free this shadow from the stone?


Nobuyuki Saga


Trans. Kajima Hajime “The Myth of Hiroshima”


He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more.


Revelation 21:4


What is God? … He is the changeless and inflexible principle of rational justice, which spans the universe and must of necessity bring to naught any perversity colliding with it … What can be more hateful and frustrating for hostile wills than to be ever striving, ever in conflict, yet in vain? Woe to all wills in confrontation, which har- vest only the bitter fruit of their own animosity.


Ed. Pauline Matarasso


The Cistercian World: monastic writings of the twelfth century (Penguin, 1993)


Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. The measure of such a decision is the love of God who draws us to himself in spite of our sin. It has its perfect examplar in the forgiveness of Christ … Pope John Paul II


World Day of Peace, 1 January 2002


So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep ... The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.


John 10:7, 10 6 November 2010 | THE TABLET | 21


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