SIR – We are writing to express our deep distress at the current campaign to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics (Cover story, October 14).
The Good Counsel Network, which has been so resoundingly criticised in the recent Dispatches programme on Channel 4, offered us our only way out of abortion. All of us were having abortions for a wide array of reasons: domestic violence, abandonment, lack of rights to stay in the UK, no recourse to public funds, pressure from family, lack of money, joblessness and homelessness. None of us sought abortion as our choice, but we sought abortion as the only choice we had. Many of us upon entering Marie Stopes or BPAS centres were not asked about our reasons for wanting to abort. Some were, but none of us were offered any help or support to continue our pregnancies by these centres.
Only through meeting Good Counsel employees and volunteers did any of us receive any offers of help that actually tackled our real problems (housing, ongoing moral support, financial help and legal advice).
If buffer zones are introduced this chance will be denied to hundreds of other women.
The Good Counsel Network has repeatedly asked journalists to interview us and hear our views. This offer has been rejected time and time again. On the issue of buffer zones we want our voices to be heard.
Yours faithfully,
Delushka De Silva and 37 others
Mary’s Turnarounds,By email
SIR – Jonathan Luxmoore’s article (Comment, October 7) led me to reflect upon my own experience of clerical “visibility”, both at home and abroad, after nearly 25 years as a priest.
There are, of course, priests and Religious who, for a variety of reasons, do not regard the wearing of clerical dress or an identifiable habit as necessary or desirable. It is often argued that such attire sets up barriers between themselves and those to whom they seek to minister. That has not been my own experience.
Naturally, “the habit maketh not the monk”, nor indeed the collar the cleric. Personally, however, I have always regarded the wearing of clerical dress as being not only a sign to the world of the presence of Christ and His Church, but also a reminder to myself of my vocation.
The article led me to recall places and situations where, for example, I have been asked to hear confessions (coffee shops, railway platforms, the top deck of a London bus), to give advice about having a child baptised (sitting in a barber’s chair), to bless a car (while on a zebra crossing) and to visit a house where there was a suspected poltergeist (waiting in a fish and chip shop queue).
Moreover, as a non-driver, when “doing the visits” in a parish I have frequently been stopped by complete strangers of every or no religious affiliation who wanted advice on a personal issue or to have prayers said for some special intention.
Clerical dress has also allowed me to confront potentially awkward situations, such as quelling a fight on a Tube train and diverting the attentions towards my fellow rail passengers of a gentleman who was highly inebriated.
In all honesty, apart from the usual “Hello, vicar” banter that one must always expect and which is not only fairly harmless but can also offer an opportunity for evangelisation, I can say that only once have I encountered truly hostile behaviour or insulting language. That was in the aftermath of widespread reports in the media of a Catholic bishop having fathered a child.
On that occasion, even had I wished to respond to those mocking me and what I represented, I could not have done so, since I was carrying the Blessed Sacrament en route to a hospital ward. Clerical dress may sometimes act as a barrier, but I do not regret wearing it.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Stewart Foster
Brentwood, Essex
SIR – RR Reno has pinpointed a great truth about contemporary society (Cover story, October 7). In Britain those who wished to stay in the EU believed, mistakenly, that we benefit economically from doing so, while opponents were concerned about the less tangible but immensely more valuable matter of the right to govern ourselves.
This argument is an ancient one: is it better to be a prosperous slave or a poor freeman? In the New Testament Christ states that man does not live by bread alone, as man also has spiritual needs, but we also have the need for freedom and the right to follow our own destiny. Clearly those whose main priority is short-term financial gain will never find common ground with those who value other qualities more highly.
The sad truth is that the politicians can no more be trusted to vote to implement Brexit than turkeys could be expected to vote for Christmas. Outside the EU they will no longer be able to look forward to well-paid sinecure in the European Parliament, or in its overweening bureaucracy, while as MPs they would not be able to hide behind the excuse that executive competence has passed to Brussels.
In truth, we face the fact that the clearly expressed desire of the people may yet be negated by the manoeuvrings of their own representatives, who will put their self-interest first.
As RR Reno indicates, this fight is not about economics but greater aspirations for freedom and democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Colin Bullen
By email
SIR – Regarding the global elite of “indispensable technocrats” described by RR Reno, surely Bill Clinton epitomises today’s ruling class. On its guiding philosophy, Clinton’s presidential campaign of 1992 emphasised the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid”.
At Fort Myers, Florida, on October 11 this year, Bill Clinton explained that he had started out as a redneck from Arkansas. This, he said, enabled him to understand Donald Trump’s popularity. Are we destined for more of the same with a Hillary Clinton presidency? Washington desperately needs to change.
Yours faithfully,
Benjamin Hazard
By email
SIR – I enjoyed Libby Purves’s article “What I Owe my ‘Crazy’ Nuns” (Notebook, October 21), but I have to point out an error.
The wonderful Telstar was recorded by the Tornados, not the Shadows (could she be thinking of The Shads’ Apache, which also reached number one?)
We went to an excellent tribute to Cliff and the Shadows last week, by coincidence. The Shadows’ music is timeless and sublime. Cliff did some great records too!
Yours faithfully,
John Roberts
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
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