they have experienced. Simply cracking the whip and excluding their children from Catholic schooling cannot be the answer and will only further alienate these parents. Barbara McGowan Coventry, West Midlands


Averting a housing crisis Alison Gelder (“Filling the housing gap”, 6 November) points out the social conse- quences of cutting housing benefit. Nearly 800,000 households will be affected, some of whom will also be losing jobs or other bene- fits. We may see whole families becoming homeless, with their children uprooted from schools where they are settled, and adults torn away from friends and neighbours. We can- not ignore such results, even if they may not affect the owner-occupying majority. The con- sequences of selling off most of municipal social housing are now to be seen. There are some things we should immedi- ately demand of Government. Families with young children should be safeguarded from reductions in housing benefit. Cuts should be phased in over three or four years, as is pro- posed for the single universal benefit. This would allow time for sensible planning. The minimum wage should be increased in cities with the worst housing shortages. Public opinion must be mobilised, as I remember it was in the 1960s and 1970s when I was a member of the Catholic Housing Aid Society. Cathy Come Homewas shown, Shelter was started, Housing Advice Centres multi- plied and the Housing Corporation began to fund Voluntary Housing. The Churches must help, by mobilising potential housing sites and filling up their surplus presbyteries (as Alison Gelder suggests). Church leaders and laity should now combine to demand that Government does not place burdens too heavy to be borne on the unemployed and those earning low wages. The Lord Hylton House of Lords, London SW1


A cross quietly borne Thank you for your coverage of Mary MacKillop’s canonisation (“MacKillop – a holy pioneer”, 23 October). However, she did not report or seek the removal of Fr Keating. She was far away in Queensland when the Sisters at Kapunda alerted her mentor, Fr Julian Tenison Woods, to his “scandalous conduct”. Fr Julian took action to have him removed. That was one of the things that made Fr


Horan, friend of Keating, an implacable foe, asserting that he would have revenge on Fr Woods and that he would achieve his ruin through the sisters. Ingratiating himself with the bishop, Horan denigrated the sisters, engineering the “excommunication”. Alana Harris’ reference to her as “an anti- authoritarian female” is quite misleading.


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


20 | THE TABLET | 13 November 2010


Bishop Reynolds’ trying to circumvent the deci- sion by Roman authority made things very difficult for her. She never spoke against him and always deferred to his legitimate author- ity, showed him continuous respect and counselled others to respect him, too. Your editorial in the same edition (“How a nun makes a difference”) ends on an import - ant note. To put Mary in the pantheon of leading Australian humanists would down- play her importance. It is difficult for many to understand what is meant by the Church declaring her to be St Mary of the Cross. (Fr) John Woods Scone, New South Wales, Australia


Crossing the Tiber As a 1990s convert from the Anglican Communion to the Catholic Church, I can assure Patrick Bryan (Letters, 6 November) that I have no intention of “jumping the Petrine barque” as a result of developments in the Catholic Church over the last five years. My guess is that most Anglicans now consider- ing the ordinariate will be encouraged rather than put off from moving in that direction by the present pontificate, especially since the recent papal visit to this country. What is dis- couraging to this convert is the suggestion that Vatican II acted as some kind of corrective to the perceived mistakes of Trent (and perhaps of Vatican I and of other past councils, too). All such councils have been influential in devel- oping the doctrine and practice of the Church, and take their place within the developing tradition of Catholic theology. Conciliar decrees require prayerful and thoughtful reception within the life of the whole Church, a process which takes a great deal of time. Today, our proximity to Vatican II should make us hesitate before we claim a clear understand- ing of how to implement the reforms of that very important council. Certainly those “swim- ming for safety” should find greater security in an interpretation of Vatican II which emphasises continuity within a developing tradition than one which suggests a rupture from a regrettable past. Paul Oxborrow


St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex


Can someone explain why these bishops are being welcomed into our faith when the main motivation for joining is negative: a refusal to accept female bishops in their own Church? Catherine Brady


Loughborough, Leicestershire


Patriarchal dignity Following Dr Joseph Seferta’s letter (30 October) on the status of Eastern patriarchs, I wonder if many people remember that at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Maximos Saigh IV, Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, refused to walk behind the cardinals. He demanded of Pope John XXIII that he and his fellow patriarchs should go before them, as is their right. The Pope agreed. Bill Phillips Southsea, Hampshire


The living Spirit


We are to love our enemies not only in thought and word but also in deed. We are to be taken along the way to the Cross and into fellowship with the crucified. The more we journey along this path, the surer will be the victory of our love over the enemy’s hatred. Then will we express no longer just our love but the love of Christ also. We are to remember that Christ went to the Cross for the sake of his enemies. This self-sacrificing love is a mark that distinguishes the Christian lifestyle. We find it easy to love those who love us. Nevertheless, the Christian is called by Christ to do more than what comes nat- urally. Christians are called to an extraordinary, unusual and peculiar kind of loving … This is the love of Jesus Christ, who went to the Cross. J. Deotis Roberts Bonhoeffer and King


(Westminster John Knox Press, 2005)


But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you, and guard you from the evil one. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, 5


Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,


In the light of his glory and grace. Helen Lemmel Glad Songs


(British National Sunday School Union, 1922)


Holy Spirit, you moved over the earth at its creation.


You brought order out of chaos and life out of randomness.


Help us to cherish this beautiful, fragile world from which our life comes, and to seek justice for the many vulnerable peo- ple who work to produce food for our tables.


Bless this food, the world and its


people, that we may live as you intended, in harmony with Creation and with thankful hearts and lives. Amen. Frances Hawkey Blessed Be Our Table Neil Paynter


(Wild Goose, 2003)


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