reviewed in these pages, strongly support Marchetto’s criticisms as do other scholars. I do not know their blogging habits. Faggioli is correct: there are many differing views. Thirdly, why is “revisionism” a justified term


of the position of Marchetto, who seeks patiently to read the texts faithfully? “Revisionism” is a polemical term that is pre- maturely applied until we have a firm consensus on interpreting the council’s texts. (Professor) Gavin D’Costa Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Bristol


I am surprised by the offhanded dismissal of Archbishop Marchetto’s work by Dr Faggioli and Professor Lash in response to Gavin D’Costa’s review. I have studied a wide range of histories of Vatican II, including the five volumes published under the editorship of Dr Alberigo and the study of the historiography of the council by Agostino Marchetto. A short review does not replace careful study. Marchetto’s collection of reviews carefully


cites texts and invites the readers to study and judge the historical and theological validity of


texts. This is the careful scholarship required as we approach the fiftieth anniver- sary of the council. Marchetto does not simply dismiss all the work assembled in the volumes edited by Alberigo, as any reader of his collected reviews will discover. Indeed, Marchetto cites the earlier editorial work of Faggioli and Turbanti on the sources of Vatican II to support a proper understand- ing of the council (see Marchetto, pages 691-92). D’Costa’s careful theological work, along with


Marchetto’s and others, illustrates the impor- tance of Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a hermeneutics committed to the reforms of Vatican II within a hermeneutics of continu- ity with the doctrinal principles of Catholic faith. This is hardly revisionism unless one accepts the vision of those who insist on the council as a rupture and break from those principles. (Fr) Matthew L. Lamb Chairman of the Department of Theology Ave Maria University, Florida, USA


Let the little children come Archbishop Hickey of Perth identifies frag- mented families as the obstacle against faith being handed on to children (The Church in the World, 18 June). There are two other fac- tors that should be considered as well. First, at no point in the life of Catholic chil- dren is there a proper occasion for them to make a deliberately thought-out decision of personal commitment to Christ. The sacra- ments of First Communion and Confirmation do not serve this purpose. They have become


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 | 25 June 2011


socialised rituals in which the element of a per- sonal decision of faith has been obscured, as Fr Peter McVerry pointed out (News from Britain and Ireland, 18 June). The second factor is the absence of a sup-


portive community to sustain a young person’s faith if an adequate decision has been made. The average parish is not a community, it is too large, and attending its liturgy is rather like going to the theatre. We should learn from the Jews. Their annual


Passover provides a year-by-year invitation to belief. After the child’s question, “Why is this night different from other nights?”, the father tells them about the Exodus and its signifi- cance. Because it is a supper party at home with about a dozen participants, this is also a perfect community to support a young per- son’s commitment to God. Actually, it reminds me of the Last Supper: could this be a coincidence? (Dr) Michael M. Winter London N19


Flourishing chaplaincy I was glad to read John Casey’s balanced account (“Much ado”, 18 June) of the fracas, raised, I gather, by three people out of the hun- dreds who attend Fisher House Masses, concerning women servers at the Tridentine Rite. Current teaching of the Church seems hesitant or uncertain on this question. What grieves me is the extraordinary ingratitude of this disproportionate complaint. Fisher House in Cambridge has had a long line of fine chaplains (I recall with special grati - tude Fr Allen White) but Fr Alban McCoy is a brilliant and long-serving chaplain who has been priest, shepherd, guide and friend to us all for more than 10 years, during which the chaplaincy has flourished and attendance at all forms of the Mass has risen. All this is as if St Peter were turned back from the gates of heaven on the grounds that he once failed to defer to a Pharisee at the supper table. (Professor) Howard Erskine-Hill Pembroke College, Cambridge


As a woman who acts as a local representa- tive in Arundel and Brighton of the Latin Mass Society, I find your claim (Leader, 18 June) that not allowing female altar servers at the Extraordinary Form insults me is quite absurd. I challenge you to provide your readerswith evidence for this bizarre claim that the tradition of male altar service has anything to do with “ritual uncleanliness” (sic). On the contrary, this tradition is quite obvi- ously a reflection of the fact that only men can be ordained as priests, and it is because male service at the altar emphasises the different roles of the sexes in relation to the sacrifice of the Mass that it has special value. The Extraordinary Form of the Mass represents the preservation for future generations of this and many other venerable traditions, and it is for this reason described by Pope Benedict as a “treasure” for the whole Church. Annie Mackie-Savage Eastbourne, East Sussex


The living Spirit


It seems to me that nothing better expresses the love in God’s Heart than the Eucharist: it is union, consummation, He in us, we in Him, and isn’t that Heaven on earth? Heaven in faith while awaiting the face-to-face vision we so desire. Then “we will be satisfied when His glory appears”, when we see Him in His light. Don’t you find that the thought of this meeting refreshes the soul, this talk with Him whom it loves solely? Then every- thing disappears and it seems that one is already entering into the mystery of God.


Bd Elizabeth of the Trinity Light, Love, Life


Ed. Conrad De Meester (ICS Publications, 1994)


I really enjoyed the Feast of Corpus Christi and the procession in the garden with the altar of repose. It was magnifi- cent! And at night, when I couldn’t sleep, I united with Masses celebrated in faraway countries.


St Jeanne Jugan 15 Days of Prayer with Saint Jeanne Jugan Michel Lafon


(New City Press, 2009)


No tongue is able to declare the greatness of the love that Jesus bears to every soul: and therefore this Spouse, when he would leave this earth, in order that his absence might not cause us to forget him, left us as a memorial


this Blessed


Sacrament, in which he himself remained; for he would not that there should be any other pledge to keep alive our remem- brance of him than he himself. St Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562)


Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish,


Looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God.


O Lord who fed the multitudes with five barley loaves,


Bless what we are about to eat. Arabic Grace from Egypt 366 Graces


Compiled by John Allport (Highland Books, 1998)


26 June is the Feast of Corpus Christi


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