SIR – I write to offer my gratitude to Bishop Richard Moth for highlighting the desperate fact that “Britain is failing prisoners” (February 24). Indeed, levels of suicide, self-harm and difficulties around issues of mental health are at a record high, and this situation is deplorable in any civilised society and needs the urgent attention of Government.
Speaking for myself, I know why I was sent to prison. I know that I deserve a prison sentence; I believe that many prisoners would say the same. What prisoners do not deserve is to be dumped within a system awash with drugs, where threats and actual violence are a daily occurrence, suicide levels are an obscene reality, and prison officers are stretched physically and mentally to breaking point.
This is the sad situation within many of our prisons (thankfully not at all here at the prison from which I write). Thus we can all share Bishop Moth’s hope “that the Government seriously considers options to safely reduce prison populations”.
As a Catholic, I would add a hope to that of Bishop Moth’s: I would hope that the Catholic community do all they can to support the work of Catholic chaplains within our prisons. In the prison where I reside we rely upon the sacrifice of two already overstretched priests who as “volunteers” attend to offer the Mass twice a month, and a volunteer lay woman, whose dedication to our welfare is nothing short of saintly. But because of work commitments she cannot attend other than for a couple of hours on Saturday morning to bring us Communion when Mass is not available.
Most of all, I would hope that you would remember all prisoners, all prison staff and all victims of crime in your prayers, for which I thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Name and address withheld
SIR – Matthew Schmitz (Cover story, February 24) is right to describe the post-Vatican II onslaught against the cherished religious practices of the poor as a form of class war. Not only were ritual fasts abolished but so too were the images, statues, hymns and the very sanctuaries that were paid for by the “pennies of the poor”. This was an act of violence akin to hatred not dissimilar to the destruction inflicted on the Church during the French and Russian revolutions.
As in those events, the principal movers were intellectuals who wanted the Church to resemble themselves and their views rather than the uneducated poor. The result is a self-referring middle-class Church increasingly involved in bureaucracy and raising the money needed to pay for it.
Liturgically the result is cacophonous music and “songs” of such banality, both musically and verbally, as to make you wish you were elsewhere.
The lack of awareness by Church leaders of this continuing situation and its contribution to the emptying of our churches is a reflection of the secular political world preceding the referendum, where a smooth, educated elite deceived themselves into thinking they knew what was happening in the country and what people were thinking when in fact they did not.
Yours faithfully,
John Hoar
South Molton, Devon
SIR – I am aware that New Zealand meat is halal and money is paid to the Muslim Federation of New Zealand for rituals to be carried out at slaughter. This meat, available in the United Kingdom and beyond, is sold without any halal labelling.
Many supermarkets (including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons) and fast food chains (including Subway, Pizza Express and KFC) sell or use halal meat, again without any information or labelling. This is imposition by stealth contributing to Islamification.
Christians have been free from this form of ritual restriction since the Council of Jerusalem in AD 48. Now it is being imposed on us.
We have food labelling to alert vegetarians, calorie-conscious people, source and origin of produce, allergies, etc. But this matter is being allowed and imposed without regard for others’ sensitivities. I have contacted the New Zealand meat board and received no reply, and the Secretary of State at Defra, Andrea Leadsom, whose department replied that this is a commercial matter and may possibly be addressed if we introduce domestic laws after Brexit.
While respecting some provision of halal and kosher for those who need or want it, I hope Catholics would exercise their freedom of choice to ensure this underhanded practice is brought to an end.
Yours faithfully,
Fr Chris Whitehouse
Sacred Heart, Luton
SIR – In addressing Catholic and Mormon doctrine about the nature of God, Alan Fimister (Feature, February 24) omits one of the most important developments relating to both churches over the past century. Partly because of the acknowledged global threat to religious freedom, Mormons, Catholics and others have found themselves aligned in seeking to protect those freedoms.
The relationship today between the Latter-day Saint and Catholic leadership has never been stronger. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, last October emphasised the mutual aspects of the two faiths. He said they had a “real cherished concord” on many issues, including “religious freedom, the dignity of the human person, the sacredness of human life, a solicitude for the immigrant, the poor; a preference for peace over war in the world; [and] the defence of marriage and family as God has revealed”.
Referring to Catholics and Mormons, Cardinal Dolan added: “We believe the sovereignty of Almighty God. We believe in the objective truth of revealed religion. And we believe, yes, that one of our sacred responsibilities is to bring the truth of that religion to the public square.”
The late Cardinal Francis George, then president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, also pointed out that our two churches have different systems of belief and practice but “we acknowledge a common reference point in the person and the Gospel of Jesus Christ”.
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm Adcock
Head of public affairs,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Solihull
SIR – Your arts columnist Will Gore should be congratulated on his prescience re La La Land versus Moonlight (Review, February 17).
Could he please tell me which horse will win the 2.30 at Chepstow next Thursday?
Yours faithfully,
Dr PE Pears
Coleshill, Warwickshire
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