“patient-centred care”, apparently unaware that the phrase and the good practice it is intended to reflect can be traced to the thinking of Rogers and his colleagues. Theory and practice in any field develop and mature a great deal over 70 years, and the significance of Rogers’ influ- ence since the 1940s can be seen in a strong and growing body of research, and evidence- based practice in a wide variety of fields. It is an obvious truth that humanistic psy-


chology, to which Rogers made such an influential contribution, is not a branch of Catholic moral teaching and its history is cer- tainly not without error or blemish. However, Dr Thevathasan’s assertion that it is without a moral framework is simply untrue. Many contemporary humanistic researchers, theor - ists and practitioners address with integrity issues of profound ethical importance on both individual and societal levels. Examining the use and misuse of power and authority may be a particularly appropriate example. Dr Thevathasan’s scurrilous repetition of an earlier claim that Carl Rogers regretted and rejected his own life’s work has long since been comprehensively rebutted by his biog- rapher, Howard Kirchenbaum. The assertion of opinion in the forthcoming CTS booklet The Catholic Church and the Sex-Abuse Crisis that Rogers’ theories were per se a fac- tor in child abuse within the Catholic Church lacks any credible evidential basis and can only serve to further alienate and antagonise many who might otherwise be well disposed towards a Church which claims to champion the God-given value and dignity of each human being. Simon Spence Fortrose, Ross-shire


Wow factor In a footnote to the word “wow” (The Language Game, 18 June), it might be worth comparing ouai from the text of Mark 15:29 (vah in the Vulgate), where it occurs in mockery of Jesus. Cornelius a Lapide, the seventeenth-century commentator (and teacher of St John Ogilvie) associates it and Matthew 27:40 with the Flemish equivalent of “fie”, as in “Fie, for shame!”, and with the Hebrew expression huach. Peter Glare’s Oxford Latin Dictionary, however, records vahnot only for “any of various emotions … pain, dismay, vexation etc.” and “contempt for a person or idea”, but also for simply “admiration, surprise”. Lawrence Moonan Kirn, Argyll


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


Martyr’s reputation Lucy Wooding (Books, 11 June) does a great injustice to the memory of Margaret Clitherow. I do not fault her treatment of the historical facts of Clitherow’s martyrdom. But more prob- lematic is the treatment by both the reviewer and the book under review (The Trials of Margaret Clitherowby Peter Lake and Michael Questier) of the “hagiographical” account of her martyrdom by her priest John Mush and the propaganda put out by her Protestant adversaries. Reviewer and authors seem to give equal weight to the propaganda and the hagiog raphy. The criticism of Clitherow’s behaviour is paraded in the review with every appearance of impartiality, even including the astonish- ing accusation of “sexual relations with the priests she harboured”. Mention is made of other priests who joined in this criticism, such as “the priest Thomas Bell”, who was a notor - ious apostate, even to the extent of collaborating with the Protestant authorities in a series of books against his former fellow Catholics. Lucy Wooding writes of the “the difficult relationship between religion and politics”. But no mention is made of the fact that the dif- ficulty was that imposed from above, by a seemingly Protestant but really secular gov- ernment upon a Catholic majority (as the English were at least until the end of the Tudor period), who merely desired to be left to prac- tise their religion in peace. The reviewer also seems to echo the authors


in adding that “there seems to have been as much vitriolic prose as martyred blood spilled” during this period; but if she had read as much of the religious controversies of that period as I have, she would know that the vit- riol was largely on the side of the victors, and the blood (including that of Margaret Clitherow) on that of hapless victims. (Fr) Peter Milward SJ Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan


Seals and avocets Jonathan Tulloch (Glimpses of Eden, 28 May) described a bird hide in the shadow of Hartlepool nuclear power station. I grew up there and my brother and I often walked along the beach from Seaton Carew to the “seal sands” to try and catch a glimpse of the seals and watch the many birds, most of which we didn’t know the name of. It was a magical place. We had many days there pretending we were the only ones left in the world. We were very upset when building began on the power station for it seemed to drive away the birds and the seals. I am very happy to hear the birds are back, as well as a new one, the avocet. Next time I go back to Hartlepool, I’ll try the hide and have a peep! Hilda Joy-Jones Oxford


The living Spirit


When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been search- ing for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not under- stand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2:48-51


Let us allow the Virgin Mary to lead us, we shall be better for it and we shall resemble her.


St Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941)


Mother of Christ, I don’t come here to pray. I have nothing to give, and I don’t know What to beg for. I’ve come just to see you, mother, And to cry for happiness, because I am your child and you are there. Paul Claudel (1868-1955)


Poèmes de Guerre


We can say that the mystery of the Redemption took shape beneath the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth when she pronounced her “fiat”. From then on, under the special influence of the Holy Spirit, this heart, the heart of both a virgin and a mother, has always followed the work of her Son and has gone out to all those whom Christ has embraced and contin- ues to embrace with inexhaustible love. Pope John Paul II


Redemptor Hominis (3 April 1979)


Mary is the cause of our joy because she gave Jesus to us. We can also become the cause of joy for others by giving Jesus to them.


Mother Teresa


Like a Drop in the Ocean Ed. W. Bader


(New City Press, 2006)


2 July is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary


2 July 2011 | THE TABLET | 19


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